Category: Goobermint

We landed on the moon. Now we can’t even keep the Gaza aid pier afloat.

America is famous for doing great things.

Tomorrow [yesterday] is the 55-year anniversary of one of our greatest accomplishments: landing man on the moon. As millions around the world gathered around their TVs and radios in 1969, three bold Americans had traveled 240,000 miles to plant a flag beside the Sea of Tranquility.

The United States summoned its scientific, financial and moral will to achieve something endless generations of mankind had barely considered possible.

Can America still do great things? It hardly seems so.

We popularized use of the internet about 30 years ago and that certainly changed things; for the better, and the worse. The fall of the Soviet Union was another herculean accomplishment, a few years before that.

Since then, there hasn’t been a whole lot. Smartphones, Bitcoin … Vaping? That hardly swells the patriotic heart.

Just last month, we celebrated the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The United States led more than eight nations, using 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by more than 195,000 sailors to deliver nearly 133,000 troops in a single day.

We haven’t had much American ingenuity of late
More recently, we fled a hard-won victory in Iraq and were chased out of Afghanistan by tribesmen sporting small arms. Today we can’t seem to stop the Russians in Ukraine and mostly ignore China’s increasing threats against Taiwan.

We can’t even keep a small pier afloat off Gaza.

Remember the pier? In his March State of the Union address, President Joe Biden announced its deployment to “enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”

‘Secure the Border Act’is a racist lie. Voters must defeat it

A small flotilla of ships and 1,000 soldiers and sailors built the modest dock offshore, taking more than two months to do so at a cost of $230 million.

Once installed, trucks delivered humanitarian aid a few yards into Gaza. There, much of the aid remained, unused. In its first month, about 250 truckloads made it through – 4,100 tons worth – which is half of the daily deliveries in a single day before the war. Not exactly Operation Overload.

Pier has experienced one problem after the next
Since its installation, the pier has only been functional for about 20 days. Excuses were legion: bad weather, rough seas, no trucks to bring aid off the beach, attacks from the locals.

Pray that shooting of Trumpwill unite America to rethink our angry division

“The pier is humanitarian theatre,” Refugees International President and former USAID senior adviser Jeremy Konyndyk said. “Much more about political optics than humanitarian substance.”

Though it was intended to last until at least September, it was heavily damaged in a storm and parts of it washed up on the shores of Ashdod. The U.S. military got it working again on June 8 … then suspended operations for two days and hauled it back to Ashdod, fearing a storm.

On June 20, the Pentagon insisted the pier would return soon and would be in Gaza to stay. “We have not established an end date for this mission as of now, contrary to some press reporting on the matter,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said.

The Biden administration agreed, with one official stating that “the maritime pier is a critical additional conduit for aid deliveries.”

If only we could have given pier a quiet burial at sea
This week, they gave up and hoped no one would notice. “The maritime surge mission involving the pier is complete,” Navy Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, said at a news briefing Wednesday. “So there’s no more need to use the pier.”

During its brief deployment, an estimated 8,000 metric tons of aid were delivered via the pier. That’s the equivalent of about 600 trucks worth — the number humanitarian agencies claim need to enter Gaza every day.

Meanwhile, the war continues.

At this point, few Americans expect another “giant leap for mankind.” But “one small step” would be nice.

Trump Gunman Flew Drone Over Rally Site Hours Before Attempted Assassination
Discovery adds to growing list of stunning security lapses that almost led to former president’s killing

The gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump was able to fly a drone and get aerial footage of the western Pennsylvania fairgrounds shortly before the former president was set to speak there, law-enforcement officials briefed on the matter said, further underscoring the stunning security lapses ahead of Trump’s near assassination.

Thomas Matthew Crooks flew the drone on a programmed flight path earlier in the day on July 13 to scour the Butler Farm Show grounds ahead of Trump’s ill-fated rally, the officials said. The predetermined path, the officials added, suggests Crooks flew the drone more than once as he researched and scoped out the event site.

The 20-year-old would-be assassin fired at least six rounds from the roof of the American Glass Research building roughly 400 feet away from where Trump spoke, killing one spectator, critically injuring two others and leaving Trump with a graze wound to the ear. A Secret Service sniper team shot back, killing Crooks, whose motive remains a mystery.

Multiple investigations are under way into how a gunman was able to climb onto a rooftop with a clear line of sight to Trump and open fire with an AR-15 rifle. Police had become suspicious of Crooks more than an hour earlier, when officers saw him milling about the edges of the rally with a range finder and a backpack.

Secret Service agents respond after the Trump rally shooting on Saturday in Butler, Pa. PHOTO: EVAN VUCCI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The use of the drone was just one way in which authorities have said Crooks planned his attack. Crooks, described by friends as very smart yet withdrawn, began researching the site shortly after the Trump campaign announced the rally on July 3, and registered for the event on July 7, officials said. He visited the farm show grounds a few days later to scope it out.

On July 13, officials said, he returned with a pair of homemade bombs that appeared to be designed to be set off by remote control, as they were fitted with a receiver like the kind used to set off fireworks remotely. Investigators found the rudimentary explosives in Crooks’ car parked close to the grounds, along with a ballistic carrier, or vest, with three, 30-round magazines in it, an indication that he might have wanted to cause greater carnage.

Crooks in recent months had received several packages to his home marked “hazardous materials,” officials said. He did online searches for dates of Trump rallies, but also searched for information about next month’s Democratic convention and President Biden, providing a mixed bag of clues for investigators to sort through as they try to determine what, if any, ideology he ascribed to.

Judge dismisses Alec Baldwin’s ‘Rust’ case amid trial over evidence suppression

In a stunning turn of events, a New Mexico judge dismissed Alec Baldwin’s “Rust” case Friday, on day three of his manslaughter trial.

The judge granted the defense’s motion to dismiss the case, in which they claimed live ammunition that came into the hands of local law enforcement related to the investigation into the deadly on-set shooting was “concealed” from them.

Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said the state’s discovery violation regarding the late disclosure of a supplemental report on the ammunition evidence “injected needless delay into the proceedings,” approached “bad faith” and was “highly prejudicial to the defendant.”

“There is no way for the court to right this wrong,” Sommer said in granting the motion to dismiss with prejudice, meaning Baldwin cannot be tried again on the charge.

Baldwin reacted emotionally as the judge explained her ruling and could be seen hugging his wife, Hilaria Baldwin, in the courtroom.

He had faced 18 months in prison if convicted.

The decision followed a day-long motion hearing Friday amid the actor’s involuntary manslaughter trial over the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was fatally shot by Baldwin on the Santa Fe set of the Western in October 2021 when his revolver fired a live round.

The court discussed the defense’s motion in the absence of the jury. In an unexpected move, the special prosecutor on the case, Kari Morrissey, also called herself to testify on the matter.

During cross-examination of Morrissey, it was revealed that the other prosecutor in the case, Erlinda Ocampo Johnson, resigned from the case on Friday. Morrissey said it was because Johnson “didn’t agree with the decision to have a public hearing.”

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What Is This ‘Team’ Karine Jean-Pierre Is Referring To?

Tuesday’s White House press briefing wasn’t much better than the one from the day before, though at this most recent briefing, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did make a telling and concerning point beyond those specifically to do with President Joe Biden’s health. As she and other Biden allies have been claiming, we don’t need to worry about concerns with the president, because he has a “team.”

As Fox News’ Peter Doocy pointed out that “we know the president says that his health is fine, but it’s just his brain, and that he’s sharpest before 8:00,” Jean-Pierre cut him off to insist the president “was joking,” deciding to emphasize “I just want to make sure that that’s out there.”

Before Doocy could get to the heart of his question, he and Jean-Pierre ended up getting into a back-and-forth about “what’s the joke,” with the press secretary offering “he was speaking off the cuff, and he was making a joke, arguing “you know the president, he likes to joke a lot.”

After Jean-Pierre insisted several more times that “it’s a joke” when Biden himself makes comments about his age, Doocy finally was able to get to his original question.

“He’s sharpest before 8:00p.m.,” Doocy pointed out once more. “So, say that the Pentagon at some point picks up an incoming nuke; it’s 11:00 p.m. Who do you call? The First Lady?”

Jean-Pierre’s answer was that Biden “has a team.”

“He has a team that lets him know of any–of any news that is pertinent and important to the American people. He has someone–or–that is decided, obviously, with his National Security Council on who gets to tell him that news,” she offered.

Comments from former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and his experiences with Biden have been frequently coming back up. Doocy quoted him saying how First Lady Jill Biden “was there as well” for their meetings.

“When the First Lady is in these meetings, is she making decisions, or is she just,” Doocy started to ask, also asking if she’s “advising the president.” Jean-Pierre cut him off, though, to insist “no,” that “the president is the president of the United States” and “he makes decisions.”

Jean-Pierre became even more testy when Doocy asked about First Son Hunter Biden, who is now a “gatekeeper.” Like the first lady, Hunter has been instrumental in keeping Biden in the race for reelection.

“President Biden has told me before he and his son don’t have any business dealings together,” Doocy reminded as he asked a key question. “So, what is Hunter Biden doing in White House meetings?”

Jean-Pierre stuck to Biden being “very close to his family, as you know” and the timing of the 4th of July holiday for Hunter’s presence, despite how “there is a report that aides were struck by [Hunter’s] presence during their discussions,” as Doocy reminded. Earlier this month, NBC News reported on Hunter being at meetings, and how that presence concerned aides.

“Look, I can’t — I’m — I’m certainly not going to get into private conversations that o- — that occur,” Jean-Pierre also insisted.

When Doocy asked “can you say if Hunter Biden has access to classified information,” Jean-Pierre responded with a “no.”

Jean-Pierre is hardly the only one to reference that Biden “has a team.” Immediately following that disastrous debate almost two weeks ago now, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a surrogate of the president, offered “we have a great team of people that will help govern. That is what I’m going to continue to make the case for.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who on that same day as Khanna’s remarks filed a resolution calling on Vice President Kamala Harris to make use of the 25th Amendment, pointed to such remarks as further reason why the cabinet needs to be convened.

Roy also brought up concerns with “a team” with Fox News recently, specifically this idea of “hav[ing] a president by committee” making clear “that is unacceptable, our founders rejected it, it is deeply offensive and unconstitutional.”

We continue to see such examples as the reason why a president coming off as increasingly unfit is supposedly fit to serve another four-year term.

Great Divide: As Cal. Enacts Retail Code Law, Four Other States Say ‘No’

It is the latest warning sign of a great divide in the U.S.; a political and philosophical chasm growing wider in an election year which appears headed toward a collision of monumental proportions between the woke far left and traditional conservatives, with guns and the Second Amendment in then eye of this brewing storm.

As noted by News Nation, California’s new law requiring mandating the creation of specific retail codes that credit card companies provide to banks so the sales of firearms and ammunition at gun stores can be tracked just took effect.

At the same time, four states—Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee and Wyoming—have prohibited the use of such retail codes.

Next year, similar retail code requirements are scheduled to take effect in Colorado and New York.

There is more division on the table, with the U.S. Supreme Court declining to review two cases—one in Maryland and the other in Illinois—challenging their bans on semi-auto rifles, leaving the country divided with ten states and the District of Columbia banning the guns and the other 40 states allowing ownership. Presently, 29 Republican-controlled states allow permitless carry, and the remaining 21 states controlled by Democrats still require licenses or permits.

The retail code issue could be a Fourth Amendment cause as well as a Second Amendment because critics say it violates the privacy of gun owners, and lays the foundation for gun registration, despite what CBS News is reporting.

“The idea behind a gun merchant code is to detect suspicious activity,” the CBS report explained, “such as a person with no history of buying firearms suddenly spending large sums at multiple gun stores in a short period of time. After being notified by banks, law enforcement authorities could investigate and possibly prevent a mass shooting, gun control advocates contend.”

Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel at the National Shooting Sports Foundation, was quoted by the Associated Press stating, “We view this as a first step by gun-control supporters to restrict the lawful commerce in firearms.”

Many activists have already decided to pay only cash for their gun and ammunition transactions as a result of these tracking laws.

There is also a legitimate concern among gun owners that the California law equates all gun purchasers to criminal behavior.

This was illustrated in a remark by Hudson Munoz, executive director of Guns Down America, a gun prohibition lobbying organization, which states on its website, “Guns Down America is successfully building a future with fewer guns by weakening the gun industry and building political and cultural support for policies that will keep us safe from gun violence. Small but mighty, Guns Down America has led the gun violence prevention movement by ending the NRA’s lucrative insurance program, pushing major American banks to end their business relationships with irresponsible gun manufacturers, and forcing large retailers like Walmart to dramatically shrink gun sales.”

In his view, the new California law is as “first step.”

“The merchant category code is the first step in the banking system saying, `Enough! We’re putting our foot down,’ Munoz told News Nation. “You cannot use our system to facilitate gun crimes.’”

So the question arises, how can there be any progress when one side treats the other side as criminals? Eventually, that philosophy could collide with common sense, plus the Constitution.

Biden’s Physician Met with Parkinson’s Disease Expert at White House, Visitor Logs Show.

A top Washington D.C. neurologist had a meeting with President Biden’s personal doctor at the White House earlier this year, visitor logs reviewed by The Post show.

Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease expert at Walter Reed Medical Center, met with Dr. Kevin O’Connor, and two others at the White House residence clinic on Jan. 17, according to the records, which emerge as questions continue to swirl about the 81-year-old president’s mental health in the wake of his debate debacle last week with former President Trump.

Dr. John E. Atwood, a cardiologist are Walter Reed, was also in the 5 P.M. meeting, the White House visitor logs show.

Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease specialist, met with President Biden’s personal physician at the White House in January.

The fourth person has not been identified in the logs from that day, when Biden was at the White House and hosted House and Senate leaders to press them for more Ukraine funding, according to his official schedule.

Cannard is an authority on Parkinson’s who has worked at Walter Reed for nearly 20 years.

Since 2012, he has served as the “neurology specialist supporting the White House Medical Unit,” according to his LinkedIn.

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Who are they trying to kid? SloJoe has been POTUS (Puppet of the United States) since day one.

BLUF  The President Has Lost All Independence

Biden staff “miserable,” alarmed as pressure builds

Many White House, Biden campaign and Democratic officials are increasingly worried that President Biden isn’t up to continuing his campaign or finishing a second term, despite his insistence that he won’t be pushed out.

Why it matters: Outside pressure for Biden to drop his re-election bid grew wider and louder on the Fourth of July, especially from major donors. Doubts also are rising inside the house.

The big picture: “Everyone is miserable, and senior advisers are a total black hole,” a White House official told Axios. “Even if you’re trying to focus on work, nothing is going to break through or get any acknowledgment” from bosses.

  • A high-ranking Democratic National Committee official told Axios: “The only thing that can really allay concerns is for the president to demonstrate that he’s capable of running this campaign.”
  • “Everything else feels like ‘Weekend at Bernie’s’ by his inner circle to prop him up.”

Between the lines: Some Biden aides believe those closest to the president have created a cocoon around him that initially seemed earnestly protective, but now appears potentially deceptive in the debate’s aftermath.

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BLUF
Imagine what could happen if the enemies of our country, our freedoms, and our way of life were to gain access to military bases. It’s a frightening situation to think about, so it’s a good thing we don’t have to because the sentries at the gate (unlike many in the current administration) know the stakes and won’t kowtow to DEI, political politeness, or whatever the sucker-punch game of the day is. Beyond those gates are the very reasons they are willing to give their lives.

Concerning Trend: Foreign Nationals Probing Military Bases While Commander-in-Chief Naps.

We won’t soon forget KJP saying it’s “inappropriate” for anyone to assume that the President needs a nap, especially because Joe Biden himself told Democratic governors two days ago that he was no longer scheduling events after 8 p.m. so he can sleep, according to CNN. While President Biden catches up on his ZzZs, America’s enemies are actively working to bring death and destruction to America.

It’s been a month since the public became aware of a disturbing trend: foreign nationals attempting to penetrate U.S. military bases and surveil the homes of high-ranking officers. Acknowledged by the Navy when Admiral Daryl Caudle, U.S. Fleet Forces Commander, sat down with Fox News’ Bill Hemmer on America’s Newsroom:

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Gun Rights Groups Challenge California’s New Firearm Tax

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), along with several other gun rights groups and individual plaintiffs, has filed a lawsuit in San Diego County Superior Court challenging California’s recently implemented 11% tax on firearms, gun parts, and ammunition.

The lawsuit, named James v. Maduros, targets Nicolas Maduros, director of the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.

Gun Owners of America Files Suit Against New Jersey’s “One Gun a Month” Law

The pro-Second Amendment group Gun Owners of America (GOA), along with its sister organization the Gun Owners Foundation, filed suit against New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew Platkin, challenging him to defend the latest attack on Second Amendment rights in the Garden State.

The attack, clearly an act of derision for and challenge to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bruen (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen) in 2022, was instigated by anti-gun Democrats who used a thinly disguised excuse to pass the law: straw purchases.

BLUF
So there you are.  A return to the rule of law, being treated as just the opposite.  Par for the course in today’s political discourse, alas.

The Supreme Court, Chevron, and the Political Class’s Worst Nightmare: Accountability.

Goodbye, Chevron deference.  Larry Tribe is already mourning the Supreme Court’s overturning of NRDC v. Chevron, in the Loper Bright and Relentless cases, as a national catastrophe:

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Oh, the humanity!

Well, speaking as a professor of Administrative Law, I think I’ll bear up just fine.  I’ve spent the last several years telling my students that Chevron was likely to be reversed soon, and I’m capable of revising my syllabus without too much trauma.  It’s on a word processor, you know.  As for those academics who have built their careers around the intricacies of Chevron deference, well, now they’ll be able to write about what comes next. And if they’re not up to that task, then it was a bad idea to build a career around a single Supreme Court doctrine.

And that wasn’t the only important Supreme Court decision targeting the administrative state, a situation that has pundit Norm Ornstein, predictable voice of the ruling class’s least thoughtful and most reflexive cohort, making Larry Tribe sound calm.

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Sure, Norm, whatever you say.

But how about let’s look at what the Court actually did in Chevron, and in the Loper Bright and Relentlesscases that overturned it, and in SEC v Jarkesy, where the Court held that agencies can’t replace trial by jury with their own administrative procedures, and in Garland. v. Cargill, where the Court held that agencies can’t rewrite statutes via their own regulations.  I don’t think you’ll find the sort of Russian style power grab that Ornstein describes, but rather a return to constitutional government of the sort that he ought to favor.

At root, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council is about deference.  Deference is a partial abdication of decisionmaking in favor of someone else.  So, for example, when we go out to dinner, I often order what my son-in-law orders, even if something else on the menu sounds appealing.  I’ve learned that somehow he always seems to pick the best thing.

Deference doesn’t mean “I’ve heard your argument and I’m persuaded by it,” (though something like that is misleadingly called “Skidmore deference, “ but isn’t actually deference at all).  Deference means “even if I would have decided this question differently, I’m going to go with your judgment instead.”

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The Dangers of a Desperate Biden Campaign

After Thursday night’s disastrous debate performance, Democrats are officially gameplanning how to get Biden to step aside as the Democratic candidate for president, even though Biden’s surrogates claim he’s not going anywhere. If Biden does decide to stay atop the Democratic ticket, he’s going to be desperate to keep his base of support as intact as possible, and desperate people do dangerous things.

That’s especially true when we’re talking about politicians. So what steps could Biden take between now and November to ensure the gun control lobby spends tens of millions of dollars to promote his doomed candidacy?

We’re not going to see a gun ban or any other gun control bill approved in Congress between now and November. Biden’s options are really limited to executive branch actions, and thankfully the Supreme Court has taken a big step toward reining in executive branch overreach by overturning the Chevron Doctrine. That doesn’t mean, however, that Biden can’t propose new ATF rules, nor does today’s decision prevent the ATF from putting those rules in place. Loper Bright makes it much easier to invalidate agency overreach after the fact, but it won’t stop abuses from being implemented or enforced.

So what, if anything, could Biden do to thrill his anti-gun allies ahead of Election Day? As retired ATF deputy assistant director Pete Forcelli told Bearing Arms just a few days ago, his sources within the agency have informed him that Bidens’ White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention is putting pressure on ATF director Steve Dettelbach to go after Glock by reclassifying the company’s semi-automatic pistols as “machine guns” because of the rise in illegal switches that allow semi-automatic firearms to function as fully automatic arms.

I have heard from some good sources that the White House, and don’t forget that the Office of Gun Violence Prevention is run by Rob Wilcox, who’s formerly from Everytown.

He has a lot of influence at ATF now, and I know that from a number of sources because I didn’t retire from there all that long ago. One of the things they kicked around was trying to force ATF to reclassify Glocks as machine guns, because they’re so easily converted, in their minds, to a machine gun through the use of a switch.

And people within ATF pushed back and Dettelbach didn’t bite into that fishhook and get caught on that… yet. Who knows what happens if the Biden administration has nothing to lose.

I think we’re officially at the stage of Biden not having anything to lose… at least if he doesn’t drop out of his re-election campaign altogether. Dettelach too might be more inclined to go for broke if Biden remains the nominee, knowing that he’ll be removed from his post if Donald Trump wins election.

They also contemplated putting out a ruling to gun manufacturers stating that if you sell to government entities, then you would be prohibited from selling to the civilian markets. So, think about that for a second.

ATF agents use the Glock. If Glock wanted to sign on and sell guns to the ATF or to the military, they would be prohibited from selling to the civilian market. Again, that did not happen, but these are the things that the White House is trying to push the ATF to do. It may be gently now, but once there’s no worry about being re-elected maybe it’s not such a gentle nudge.

Conversely, if there’s a huge worry about being re-elected, then maybe Biden and Dettelbach decide to roll the dice and release this proposed rule as well. Again, desperate times call for desperate measures, and Biden’s reelection bid is in dire straights right now.

Heck, even if Biden does decide to fall on his walker and allow for a candidate who can complete a sentence to replace him as the nominee, he may very well decide to give the gun control lobby these parting gifts before he leaves office. The gun control groups have been very good to him, and I’m sure he’d like to repay the favor while he still has the chance.

Whether Biden remains the Democratic candidate for president or steps aside and allows for a chaotic race to replace him, gun control activists like Wilcox are almost certain to push Biden to go big on their issue between now and Election Day, and it’s crucially important for Second Amendment advocates to keep up with their machinations behind the scenes.

Justices rule for Jan. 6 defendant

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-5572_l6hn.pdf

The Supreme Court on Friday threw out the charges against a former Pennsylvania police officer who entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks. By a vote of 6-3, the justices ruled that the law that Joseph Fischer was charged with violating, which bars obstruction of an official proceeding, applies only to evidence tampering, such as destruction of records or documents, in official proceedings.

Friday’s ruling could affect charges against more than 300 other Jan. 6 defendants. The same law is also at the center of two of the four charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith against former President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on April 25 on Trump’s claims of immunity and has not yet issued its decision in that case. But Smith has argued that even if the court were to rule for Fischer, the charges against Trump could still go forward because they rested, in part, on efforts to use false electoral certificates at the joint session of Congress.

The law at the center of Fischer’s case is 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2), which makes it a crime to “otherwise obstruct[], influence[], or impede[] any official proceeding.” U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols concluded that because the previous subsection, Section 1512(c)(1), bars tampering with evidence “with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding,” Section 1512(c)(2) only applies to cases involving evidence tampering that obstructs an official proceeding, and he dismissed the obstruction charge against Fischer.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed Nichols’ ruling, concluding that the “meaning of the statute is unambiguous,” so that it “applies to all forms of corrupt obstruction of an official proceeding, other than the conduct that is already covered by” the prior subsection.

On Friday, the Supreme Court vacated the D.C. Circuit’s decision, interpreting the law more narrowly to apply only to evidence tampering.

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Despite Strict Gun Laws, California Leads Nation in Mass Shootings

New figures from the FBI reveal that California, despite having some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation, led the country in active shooter incidents in 2023. AWR Hawking’s over at Breitbart News called out the obvious fact after the FBI documented 48 active shooter incidents across 26 states last year, with California accounting for eight of these incidents. That number was the highest for any state.

The FBI defines an active shooter as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” The report highlights that open spaces, including roads, neighborhoods, parks, and outdoor venues, were the most common locations for these shootings, Fox News and ABC News reported.

California’s eight active shooter incidents in 2023 occurred in various settings, including open spaces, businesses, and educational centers. This marks a continuation of a troubling trend, as the state also led the nation in 2021 with six such incidents.

Federal investigators reported a total of 105 deaths and 139 injuries from these incidents nationwide. Texas and Washington state followed California, each with four incidents.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has frequently touted the success of his state’s gun control measures while criticizing the more lenient laws of other states. In a tweet on May 13, 2023, Newsom remarked, “It HAS to be the humidity. Why else would California’s gun violence rate be 57% lower than Florida’s?” However, FBI data shows that Florida had only two active shooter incidents in 2023, a quarter of California’s total.

Newsom’s comments highlight a paradox in California’s approach to gun control. While the state has implemented some of the nation’s toughest gun laws, it continues to experience a high number of mass shootings. Something clearly isn’t working. Will Newsom and his fellow anti-gun politicians ever figure it out?

FBI ‘Active Shooter’ Stats Shoot Holes In Biden’s ‘Mass Shooting’ Argument

President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, anti-gun legislators and gun-ban groups like to tout the number of mass shootings in America, often saying there have been more mass shootings in the country than there have been days in the year.

Of course, these anti-gun activists are using numbers from the Gun Violence Archives, a website known for using criteria that greatly inflates such numbers. And that’s very easy to see when compared to the just-released Federal Bureau of Investigation report on “active shooter” incidents.

GVA’s “mass shootings” criteria is all events where four or more people are injured in a shooting. These incidents are often drug gang attacks and the like—not at all what Americans think of as mass shootings. In fact, they would include a botched arrest where two cops and two suspects are shot, and even self-defense shootings! By their criteria, they reported 656 mass shootings in 2023.

The FBI, on the other hand, classifies an “active shooter” how most Americans likely envision it—“an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.” By the FBI’s count, there were 48 active shooter incidents in 2023, only about 7% of the total reported by GVA and constantly regurgitated by politicians and the press.

Of course, President Biden and other gun-ban advocates have full access to the FBI report, but you never hear them talking about it. They prefer the bloated numbers from GVA, even though they aren’t a true picture of what most think of when they hear the word “mass shooting.”

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