Category: Goobermint
Germany Is Revoking Gun Rights from AfD Supporters—and It’s a Warning Shot for the West
In Germany, owning guns is a privilege that can be taken away—not for breaking the law, but for holding the wrong political opinion.
Members and supporters of the right-leaning Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party are now facing mass gun license revocations. The reason? The German government has labeled the AfD a “right-wing extremist” group—a political designation that suddenly makes its members “unreliable” under the country’s gun laws. And just like that, firearms must be surrendered or destroyed.
If that sounds outrageous, it should. But it’s not surprising.
Here in the U.S., we’ve already seen our own political establishment flirt with these kinds of tactics. Remember when New York’s then-Governor Andrew Cuomo said pro-gun conservatives “have no place” in his state? Or when San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors labeled the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization”? Label first. Punish later.
That’s the playbook being used in Germany right now. And it’s worth paying attention to.
Government Labels a Popular Opposition Party “Extremist”—Then Comes the Crackdown
In 2021, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), designated the entire AfD as a “suspected threat to democracy.” That move allowed the government to surveil, wiretap, and investigate the party and its members.
It didn’t stop there.
Courts have now upheld revoking gun licenses from AfD members, based solely on their political affiliation. In one case, a couple in North Rhine-Westphalia lost legal ownership of over 200 firearms. They weren’t criminals. They weren’t accused of wrongdoing. They were just AfD members.
Another court in Thuringia blocked a blanket gun ban for all AfD members—but left the door wide open for revocations on a case-by-case basis.
In Saxony-Anhalt, officials are reviewing the gun licenses of 109 AfD members. As of last fall, 72 had already been targeted for revocation, with the rest under active review. The justification? Supporting a party the state now claims is “working against the constitutional order.”
And the courts are backing it up. According to a March 2024 ruling, former or current AfD supporters “lack the reliability” required to legally own firearms.
Why the AfD’s Platform Sounds Familiar to American Ears
You don’t have to support the AfD to see the dangerous precedent here. In fact, many of their stated positions would be right at home in American politics:
- Support for limited government and individual liberty
- Stronger penalties for violent crime
- Calls for unbiased law enforcement and judicial independence
- Opposition to political censorship
- A demand for simple, fair taxes for middle- and low-income citizens
On gun rights, their platform is clear: “A liberal and constitutional state has to trust its citizens… The AfD opposes any form of restrictions of civil rights by tightening firearms legislation.”
Sound extreme to you? Or does that sound like something a lot of Americans already believe?
Lest we forget:
As promised, I have declassified the Biden Administration’s Strategic Implementation Plan for Countering Domestic Terrorism.
– DNI Tulsi Gabbard
Salient page for violating RKBA
Lawsuits Inbound After Colorado Governor Signs Semi-Auto Ban
The original version of the semi-auto ban was pretty simple: gas-operated semi-automatic long guns capable of accepting a detachable magazine would be prohibited for sale and manufacture in the state of Colorado, and though residents who possessed one before the law could take effect could keep theirs, it would be a criminal offense for anyone else to acquire or keep on in their home.
Polis said the measure would help push Colorado toward its goal of becoming one of the top 10 safest states. He also advocated for the legislators to look at creating scholarship opportunities for the training, which would be run through Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and permits would be maintained by county sheriff’s offices. He said the current goal is to ensure CPW’s firearm training costs are under $200.
He also advocated for legislators to find a way to ensure prior firearm training and experience, such as peace officer or military training, to allow that training to qualify the citizens for purchase.
Colorado’s violent crime rate has soared since 2012, when the state enacted its first real gun control measures, including a ban on “high capacity” magazines. Polis is deluding himself if he believes that SB 3 is going to make the state a safer place. Any criminal who wants to obtain a firearm for illicit or evil purposes can either steal one, go through the state-mandated training and be approved for purchase, or simply head out of state and buy a rifle or shotgun there.
It will be lawful residents who feel the brunt of SB 3s impact, with Polis essentially admitting that the permit-to-purchase process will add hundreds of dollars to the price of a modern sporting rifle. Firearm retailers will feel the pinch as well, since many Coloradans who want to purchase one of these guns will likely head to FFLs across the border in states like Wyoming and Kansas to do so.
Immediately following the signing on Thursday afternoon, the Colorado State Shooting Association, which is the official state association of the National Rifle Association, said it would be filing a lawsuit against the new law.
“This legislation, which imposes unprecedented restrictions on the purchase of semi-automatic firearms through a burdensome permit-to-purchase scheme, represents a direct assault on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Coloradans,” CSSA said in a release.
The group has contended that the measure will create a “de facto gun registry” that is maintained by state or local authorities. CSSA also noted that it had presented a petition with over 40,000 signatures urging Polis to veto the bill.
The NRA also vocalized its opposition to the bill.
“Behind closed doors, Governor Polis cowardly signed into law the most anti-gun, anti-freedom bill in Colorado’s history. Instead of respecting the individual liberties of gun owners and hunters in his state, he bent the knee to the radical gun control element of his party,” the NRA said in a release. “In Jared’s Colorado, you need a ‘Polis Permission Slip’ to exercise your constitutional rights. If this proposal was popular with his citizens, it would not need to be enacted in secret.”
The preparation for the inevitable lawsuits has already begun, but don’t be surprised if nothing is filed immediately. The law won’t take effect until August 1, 2026, and any litigation filed now might be dismissed because the issue isn’t ripe for court review.
That extended deadline also gives Coloradans more than a year to continue to purchase the most commonly sold and popular rifles in the country, and in the short term, Polis’s ban is likely to lead to a spike in sales for the rifles and shotguns he and gun control activists want to restrict.
How Did an Honors Student Who Says She Can’t Read or Write Get Into College?
Aleysha Ortiz, 19, alleges she cannot read or write yet says she graduated with honors from Hartford Public High School in 2024. She has since filed a lawsuit against the Hartford Board of Education and city officials, accusing them of negligence in failing to provide adequate special education services throughout her schooling, per reporting from Connecticut’s News 8 WTNH.
Ortiz, who is now enrolled at the University of Connecticut (UConn), said she relied heavily on assistive technology such as speech-to-text and text-to-speech programs to complete schoolwork, according to CNN.
Why It Matters
Ortiz’s lawsuit underscores broader concerns about systemic failures in public education, particularly in providing adequate support for students with learning disabilities. The case has drawn attention to how academic achievement is measured and whether special education students are truly receiving the skills they need to succeed beyond high school.
Additionally, it raises questions about how colleges assess applicants, especially those facing severe academic challenges.
Ortiz told CNN she was promoted through school without acquiring fundamental literacy skills. In a May 2024 city council meeting, she testified that after 12 years in Hartford Public Schools, she was unable to read or write, despite being awarded an honors diploma.
Days before her graduation, school officials reportedly offered her the option to defer her diploma to receive additional support, but she declined, according to CNN.
How Did She Get Into College?
Her admission to UConn was possible due to the school’s holistic application process, which does not require SAT scores. According to UConn admissions, the university evaluates applications based on GPA, coursework, extracurricular activities and essays.
Ortiz, who told CNN she used voice-to-text software to complete her application, also received financial aid and scholarships to support her education.
Once in college, Ortiz faced academic difficulties. She shared with CNN that while UConn has provided support services, she took a leave of absence starting in February 2025 for mental health reasons. She has stated she intends to return to her studies but has faced challenges in adapting to the rigor of college coursework.
Experts have pointed out that Ortiz’s case is not unique. Literacy advocates argue that disparities in educational resources disproportionately affect students in underfunded districts, contributing to cases where students graduate without essential skills.
Colorado Governor Signs Semi-Auto Permit-to-Purchase Scheme into Law
It will soon be much harder for Colorado gun owners to continue purchasing modern semi-automatic firearms.
In a closely guarded ceremony Thursday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D.) signed SB25-003 into law. The “Semiautomatic Firearms & Rapid-Fire Devices” bill criminalizes the manufacture, distribution, transfer, and purchase of any semi-automatic rifle, shotgun, or gas-operated handgun that accepts a detachable magazine. The law also carves out an exception from the ban for those who undergo an extensive permitting and training process—the first of its kind for purchasing firearms in Colorado.
“This legislation builds on our commitment to improve public safety, reduce gun violence, uphold our freedom,” Polis said in a statement.
The bill enacts some of the most sweeping gun regulations ever considered in the Centennial State, even compared to the few dozen restrictions Colorado lawmakers have been stacking up over the last decade. It fulfills gun-control advocates’ longstanding goal of cracking down on the availability of certain semi-automatic firearms and is almost sure to draw legal challenges from gun-rights groups.
The Colorado State Shooting Association (CSSA), the state’s NRA affiliate, threatened as much in a statement blasting the Governor’s decision to sign the bill.
“We are resolute in our response,” Ray Elliott, CSSA president, said. “The Colorado State Shooting Association is actively exploring every legal option to challenge this unconstitutional law. Our legal team is preparing to contest Senate Bill 3, and we are committed to pursuing justice through every available avenue.”
The group said it submitted 40,000 petition signatures to the Governor urging a veto earlier this week.
The bill’s controversial nature could explain its unceremonious entry into law. Polis, a Democrat with a libertarian streak, kept his opinions on the policy close to the vest throughout the legislative process. He did not publicly indicate whether he would sign the bill until Thursday, even as he faced immense outside pressure from groups on either side of the issue.
His office did not respond to a request for comment.
While he hesitated to increase public scrutiny of the measure, his office was heavily involved in making the final product less restrictive than its original form. As introduced, the bill envisioned an outright ban on semi-automatic firearms that did not have a permanently affixed magazine capable of holding 15 or fewer rounds—a policy even broader than typical “assault weapon” bans that Polis has expressed skepticism of in the past.
Working closely with the Governor’s office, the bill’s sponsors added several pages to its provisions to craft an entirely novel process for Coloradans to continue purchasing the weapons in question. It includes a prospective buyer having to first obtain a newly established “firearms safety course eligibility card” from their local sheriff, which requires paying a fee, submitting fingerprints, and going through a background check.
Once issued, a firearms safety course eligibility card would be valid for five years. The issuing sheriff would be required to submit cardholders’ data to a newly created “Firearms Safety and Training Course Record System” administered by the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife, an agency that currently does not handle anything involving firearm sales.
With a valid eligibility card, a prospective buyer could enroll in either a “basic firearms safety course” or an “extended firearm safety course.” The basic firearms safety course is open to eligible cardholders with a hunter education certification and requires four hours of in-person instruction. Prospective buyers without hunter education training will be required to attend the extended firearm course, which must include at least 12 hours of in-person instruction spread across at least two days.
The bill requires both courses to include curricula on safe weapons handling, secure storage and child access prevention, firearms deaths and mental illness, extreme risk protection orders, and “victim awareness and empathy.” Completing each course would be contingent on receiving a score of at least 90% on a final test.
If a cardholder wants to continue buying the affected firearms, they must undergo the process again after five years.
In addition to restricting the availability of certain guns, the measure also contains provisions going after bump stocks, binary triggers, and similar accessories. It bans the possession of any “rapid-fire device,” defined broadly as any combination of parts that has the effect of “increasing the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm above the standard rate of fire.” It also codifies increased criminal penalties for violating the state’s twelve-year-old ammunition magazine ban, now a class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
The law’s provisions are set to go into effect on August 1, 2026.
Bombshell Report Exposes Biden’s Massive Chinese Spy Cover-Up
The Biden administration has been caught red-handed prioritizing Beijing’s feelings over American national security. In a shocking revelation, we now know that Biden officials engaged in secret discussions with Chinese counterparts about their spy balloon before bothering to inform the American public that our sovereignty had been violated.
According to a report from Fox News Digital, Internal State Department documents reveal that on Feb. 1, 2023, while a Chinese surveillance balloon was floating across our nation collecting intelligence, Biden officials were more concerned about how exposing this breach would affect our “relationship” with China. Seriously?
That’s right — instead of immediately shooting down this obvious threat to national security, then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his team were busy playing diplomatic footsie with Beijing. According to Trump administration officials familiar with the documents, Blinken fretted that public disclosure would have “profound implications for our relationship” with China.
Think about this. The Biden administration knew about this threat on Jan. 28 yet waited until Feb. 2 to inform the American people. That’s five days of silence while a hostile foreign power’s surveillance equipment drifted across our country — a threat we wouldn’t have known about had it not been for civilians who discovered it. It was only afterward that the Biden Pentagon issued its statement. It likely wouldn’t have said anything at all if it could have gotten away with it.
The Idiocy of Trying to Ban Possession of 3D Printer Files
I’m part of the last generation to grow up without the internet. That didn’t really happen until the 1990s, and much of the popularity that followed was well after my high school years. Yes, I’m old.
I was still young enough to embrace this new technology. I remember the early days when it was difficult to find stuff on the internet, especially with the terrible search engines we had available, but then stuff changed. We had Google make it easier to find whatever you were looking for–it sucks now, for the record–and then we got social media where it was easy to connect to folks and build relationships.
So I understand the internet and how it works about as well as anyone who doesn’t get into the technical aspects in and of themselves probably can.
Which is why the push from some anti-gun states to prohibit the files for 3D printers that allow people to make their own firearms and accessories is absolutely idiotic.
Proving that some folks aren’t sure how the internet works, several states are striving to make it harder to make firearms and firearm components privately.
In recent news from California, New Jersey, and New York, blue state prosecutors and lawmakers are making an extra effort to curb the availability of digital gun plans and devices that can help legally produce home-built guns, which are allowed under federal law.
In New Jersey, the Democrat-controlled state Assembly passed A4975 last month in a 50-26 roll call along party lines. The bill makes it a crime to possess digital instructions to manufacture guns and gun components, including receivers or magazines. Under the proposal, a person who is not licensed or registered to manufacture firearms but possesses any digital firearm instructions is guilty of a fourth-degree felony, which is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.
Meanwhile, in New York, Manhattan’s Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg has penned a letter to Creality, a Chinese 3D printer maker – one of the largest in the world – to urge the company to do more to block its machines from having the capability to make gun components. Further, Bragg wants Creality to police its cloud community for such CAD files.
That first sentence, though, says it all.
Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that the Constitution doesn’t apply for a moment. In such a case, you can make anything you want illegal. You can prohibit anything at all.
What you can’t do, though, is stop people who don’t respect the law.
Now, here in the real world where there is a Constitution and the right to keep and bear arms is supposed to be protected by the Second Amendment, there are major problems with such laws beyond the fact that they don’t work, especially since making your own gun has been legal since well before the founding of this nation. I think one would be hard-pressed to find a law from the time of the founding that would serve as an analog.
So there’s that.
But we also have to acknowledge just how ridiculous the law is with regard to preventing criminals from doing anything. I mean, this is the era of the internet. People can find whatever they want.
Even sites that try to prohibit people from IP addresses in those states–which may impact people living just across state lines or others who have IP addresses that may not accurately pinpoint their homes–will run into an issue because VPNs can be set to make it appear you live in a completely different state.
You can’t stop the signal.
Yeah, the law will allow prosecution of people who happen to have these files, but so what? How are they going to enforce it unless they’re tipped off that someone has these files? They’re not. How will they most likely get tipped off that someone has them? They’re using them to print gun parts and likely selling them.
By then, they’ve already broken the state laws against printing the guns in the first place, so the damage is done.
Yes, this is idiotic.
But then again, considering which states are looking at this, nothing at all should be shocking about the idiocy.
Where Is the DOJ’s Second Amendment Report?
On February 7th, President Donald Trump gave Attorney General Pam Bondi 30 days to finalize and submit a policy plan of action for enacting pro-gun reforms. Nearly two months later, the Trump Administration hasn’t released any plan.
“Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Attorney General shall examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies (agencies) to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens, and present a proposed plan of action to the President, through the Domestic Policy Advisor, to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans,” the order stated.
The 30-day due date for that report would have been March 9th, but that day came and went without any movement from Bondi or the White House. When this omission got some attention, the Department of Justice (DOJ) told ABC News that the deadline was extended to March 16th. Since then, the department has not provided any additional progress updates and did not respond to a request for comment for this article.
The administration’s apparent slow-walking and opacity surrounding its progress raises questions about how much it plans to follow through with the order’s proposed scope.
Trump promised gun voters swift action in undoing all of President Biden’s gun-control achievements during his “very first week back in office.” But he took three weeks before even broaching the subject, and only ordered a review to eventually consider which, if any, of his predecessor’s policies to reform or reverse.
To date, that has not resulted in the initiation of any new rulemaking to repeal any Biden-era regulations.
The few concrete indications of DOJ compliance with the order have mostly taken the form of requests for pauses in various ongoing gun cases to allow it to consider what position it wants to take. The department also began to push for a new framework for restoring the gun rights of former convicts. The New York Times has reported that move could benefit actor Mel Gibson and at least nine other as-yet-undisclosed individuals, though they haven’t announced any action yet.
While each of those fronts may eventually play out in gun-rights advocates’ favor, the administration’s restrained approach, especially in contrast to actions it has taken elsewhere, has already resulted in one significant loss for gun-rights groups. Though it could have immediately started rolling back Biden’s gun rules without Bondi’s review as an intermediate step, the Trump Administration’s decision to wait left the “ghost gun” kit ban case uninterrupted. That culminated in the Supreme Court issuing a 7-2 ruling upholding that ban at the end of last month, which could make undoing the ban down the line harder.
Delaying legal challenges while the department decides what position to take also risks drawing out the gun-rights movement’s longer-term project of stacking up court decisions permanently invalidating federal gun laws. Even if the DOJ decides not to defend a given gun law or de-prioritize enforcement, subsequent administrations can simply reverse that discretion. The same holds true for the new gun-rights restoration process, which risks undermining gun-rights advocates’ legal challenges to the federal ban on non-violent felons possessing firearms.
To be sure, the administration has also offered gun voters policy changes with more straightforward upsides. It unceremoniously dispensed with the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, for example, which was set up by former President Biden to promote gun-control policies. Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services also scrapped a 2024 surgeon general advisory calling for an “assault weapon” ban, among other new gun restrictions.
It has also, at times, broadened its view beyond the federally-focused executive order. For instance, the DOJ last month announced a civil rights investigation into Los Angeles County over its practice of subjecting concealed carry permit applicants to lengthy wait times and high application fees, and it suggested that additional investigations could soon follow. Shortly thereafter, Trump also issued a separate executive order establishing a new federal task force charged with, among other things, “increas[ing] the speed and lower[ing] the cost of processing concealed carry license requests in the District of Columbia.”
Those moves have no doubt been welcome developments for Second Amendment advocates. Still, they are less potentially impactful than the areas Trump ordered the DOJ to review, and those have seen little to no movement.
Well, how about you just get rid of the who NFA scheme anyway, since the FOPA ’86 banned federal gun registries (except for guns regulated by the NFA)?
Rep. Hinson & Sen. Cotton Reintroduce Bill to Repeal Firearm Transfer Tax
On April 1, 2025, Representative Ashley Hinson (R-IA-02) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) reintroduced the Repealing Illegal Freedom and Liberty Excises Act, or the RIFLE Act. These bills (H.R. 2552 and S.1224 respectively) would remove a $200 excise tax that is imposed on law-abiding gun owners when they purchase certain firearms and accessories that are governed by the National Firearms Act.
Repealing Illegal Freedom and Liberty Excises Act, or the RIFLE Act
Since 1934, gun owners wishing to purchase items such as suppressors and short-barreled rifles have been forced to pay a $200 “sin tax” to the federal government.
This tax is, according to the ATF, intended to “curtail, if not prohibit, transactions” of these lawful items. But this legislation would remove that imposing financial barrier.
Speaking on this important legislation, Representative Ashley Hinson said, “The Second Amendment is a Constitutional right that is not to be infringed. Law-abiding gun owners should not be forced to pay an unconstitutional firearm tax. This bill will remove unnecessary financial barriers on lawful gun owners from the antiquated 1934 National Firearms Act and protect the Second Amendment rights of Iowans and Americans.”
“Law-abiding Americans who exercise their Second Amendment rights should not be subject to unnecessary taxes and restrictions preventing them from doing so. Passed into law in 1934, the National Firearms Act needs to be amended. Our legislation will remove the red tape that places an undue financial burden on would-be gun owners,” said Senator Cotton.
“The National Rifle Association applauds Representative Hinson and Senator Cotton on their leadership on the Second Amendment and their reintroduction of the RIFLE Act,” said John Commerford, Executive Director of NRA-ILA. “This $200 punitive tax has only ever served as a financial barrier for law-abiding Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
Representative Hinson has been joined by 28 of her colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Senator Cotton has been joined by 12 of his colleagues in the U.S. Senate. NRA-ILA will continue to update you as this important legislation makes its way through the legislative process.
I’ve had a change of heart on federal income tax. On the surface, it’s just a way for the government to generate revenue—it has to get its funding from somewhere. But I now see that the method of taxation itself fundamentally alters the relationship between the government and its people.
When the government relies on taxing individual income, it shifts from serving its citizens to exploiting them as a revenue source. This dynamic creates an inherent friction, where the government no longer answers to the people but to the system that extracts from them. And if you look around, it’s clear—whatever our tax dollars are funding, it’s not serving us.
This is what modern economists fail to grasp when they dismiss tariffs, sales taxes, or luxury taxes as harmful. The structure of taxation matters, not just the amount collected. The income tax distorts governance itself—and it needs to go.
ATF facial recognition: Chairman Andy Biggs seeks records as gun owners sound alarm
The fact that @ATFHQ is using facial recognition to identify gun owners is UNACCEPTABLE.
Thank you, @RepAndyBiggsAZ, for fighting to protect the privacy of law-abiding gun owners by taking action on this GOA-breaking report & bringing it to Kash Patel.pic.twitter.com/wPahwbIgWy https://t.co/nIoB6XNMUa
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) March 28, 2025
Gun owners across America have every reason to be outraged. According to a March 27, 2025, letter from Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been secretly using facial recognition technology to track and identify gun owners—all without sufficient oversight, transparency, or even basic training for agents.
Biggs, who chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, is now demanding that Acting ATF Director Kash Patel hand over all documents relating to the agency’s use of facial recognition software. The call for answers follows multiple bombshell Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports and revelations that the ATF conducted at least 549 facial recognition searches between 2019 and 2022, often on law-abiding Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights.
“The Subcommittee has concerns about ATF’s use of facial recognition and AI programs and the effects that its use has upon American citizens’ Second Amendment rights and rights to privacy,” Biggs wrote.
A Pattern of Overreach
This latest scandal adds to a growing list of examples proving that the federal government simply cannot be trusted with gun owner data. As AmmoLand News previously reported, the ATF has flirted with or outright pursued unconstitutional surveillance for years—compiling digitized firearm transaction records and maintaining nearly 1 billion records at its National Tracing Center.
Senate Bill 3: Gun licensing scheme much broader than claimed
The Colorado legislature is close to final passage of Senate Bill 25-003, to impose one of the most restrictive licensing systems in the nation on many, but not all firearms. Legislators and the public should understand that the bill would apply to all semiautomatic centerfire handguns. The kinds of handguns that Coloradans typically choose—from companies such as Glock, Ruger, or Smith & Wesson—would become much more onerous to purchase.
Senate Bill 3 seems cunningly written. It purports to apply only to the “gas-operated semiautomatic handgun.” (p. 4). The bill then provides five types of gas operation. Cumulatively, the definitions cover almost every centerfire semiautomatic handgun.
The bill does not apply to semiautomatics that fire the puny .22 rimfire cartridge.
There is only one centerfire semiautomatic handgun model that does not fall within the bill’s definitions. That unique item is the Benelli B-80, a collector’s item last manufactured in 1990. The identical gun was produced in six different calibers, model numbers 76 through 82.
As for every other model of semiautomatic pistol, Coloradans will be forced to navigate their way through one of the most onerous systems in the nation, far exceeding even California’s.
Manhattan DA calls on 3D printing companies to deter creation of ghost guns
With crimes involving ghost guns on the rise, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., is calling on a 3D printer manufacturer to put more safeguards in place to prevent the spread of 3D-printed guns and gun parts.
Bragg penned a letter to Shenzhen Creality 3D Technology Co., Ltd. (Creality), which produces 3D printers available to individual consumers, to install their printers with an available 3D-printing software program that detects the shapes of common gun parts and blocks their printing. Bragg also called on Creality to take down any online blueprints, also known as CAD files, from its cloud platform, and to ban the creation of illicit weapons in the company’s user agreement.
Creality printers have been previously seized during searches by law enforcement in New York City, including recent cases; the DA’s office cites the cases against Luigi Mangione and Robert Guerrero, which are still in progress, as well as Cory Davis and Cliffie Thomspon, both of whom plead guilty to manufacturing ghost guns.
Since 2020, the DA’s Office has been cracking down on use and possession of ghost guns and illegal firearms, creating the Ghost Gun Initiative with the NYPD. Between 2021 and 2024, homicides decreased by 20%, and shootings decreased by 45% in Manhattan.
In 2023, Bragg introduced legislation to close loopholes in New York’s gun laws to make manufacturing 3D-printed and ghost guns and gun parts a felony. The legislation would also make it a misdemeanor to share, sell or distribute files containing blueprints for 3D-printed firearms components.
Bragg will be sending similar letters to other leading consumer brands of 3D printers in the coming weeks. Click here to read the full letter.
We got rid of this here in Missouri 18 years ago, and the Sheriffs who administered it were thankful they didn’t have to deal with the annoyance of it anymore and it wasn’t anywhere near as restrictive as what this proposed legislation is. This is nothing more than goobermint harassment.
Permit-to-Purchase Measure Advancing in Washington
Washington State already has a “universal” background check law that requires everyone who purchases a firearm to go through a background check, but now Democrats in Olympia want to add a second check, along with training mandates, for every would-be gun owner in the state.
E2SHB 1163 has already passed out of the House of Representatives, and last Thursday cleared the Senate Law and Justice Committee on its way to the Senate floor.
Republicans, according to The Center Square, argue the bill violates gun rights protected by the Constitution. Critics also believe the bill will cost hundreds of dollars and take weeks before someone can buy a gun.
“To be rather blunt about this, I think this is another imprudent piece of legislation that probably will pass out of committee today, but I want to be real clear about it — I don’t think this will survive the brewing historical analog test,” Senator Jeff Holy, R-Cheney, said during Thursday’s Senate Law and Justice Committee meeting. “I could pretty much guarantee litigation is going to immediately come forward once this bill does pass both Chambers.”
Holy, added the media outlet, believes the cost of buying a firearm and taking a safety course is too much of a burden.
“The cost of the permit we’re talking about here is, we’re guessing, maybe $200,” Holy said, as reported by The Center Square. “It’s going to disproportionately impact lower and middle-income people. The last thing we’re going to want to have is people with a need for self-protection to have to go off-market and buy guns from inappropriate sources.”
It’s not only the cost that will send some people to the illicit market. The state currently has a 10-day waiting period on all firearm sales, which is already bad enough. But under the permit-to-purchase scheme making its way through the legislature, the Washington State Patrol would have an additional 30 days to approve or deny a permit application, which can’t be dropped off until after someone has passed the approved firearms safety course. The WSP has already indicated they’d have to hire or more staff or re-allocate existing personnel to process the applications, so you know there’s not going to be a quick turnaround.
What happens when a woman leaves her abusive partner and wants a handgun to protect herself? As things stand, she already has to hope and pray that he doesn’t come after her in the ten days she has to wait between buying a gun and picking it up, even if it only takes a matter of seconds for her background check to come back clean. Under Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1163 she could easily be forced to remain defenseless for over a month, at least if she wants to remain in compliance with the law.
There is simply no way for someone who’s not already a gun owner to be able to take possession of one in a timely manner, even if they have reason to believe that their life is in danger. Washington Attorney General Nick Brown claims this bill will save lives. The truth is that it puts the most vulnerable Washingtonians at risk, either of losing their life or being charged with a crime for daring to exercise their Second Amendment rights without a state-issued permission slip.
Actually I have no problem at all believing this
You Won’t Believe What Insanity HHS Was Funding
Do you want your taxpayer dollars funding studies on preventing pregnancy in “transgender boys” or HIV stigma in Thailand? Fortunately, Trump’s Health and Human Services secretary also considers that a waste, so he’s cutting numerous idiotic woke studies.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Trump’s new agency heads have uncovered billions of dollars of egregious fraud and waste, including the previously unknown agency whose employees lived “like kings” and the Social Security funding for 150+ year olds. Now HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is looking to streamline the massive, unwieldy, unconstitutional, and harmful federal healthcare agencies. It’s time to cure the woke mind virus. Read on for mind-blowing craziness.
First reported on Fox News, the woke HHS grants — presumably Biden-era, though there’s been deep government corruption for decades — included one for over $5 million to study “Harnessing the power of text messaging to reduce HIV incidence in adolescent males across the United States.” A Stanford University study, “Sex hormone effects on neurodevelopment: Controlled puberty in transgender adolescents,” received over $3.6 million from HHS.
A whopping 61 grants from HHS subsidiary NIH for California DEI and “gender” studies were also slashed, per Fox. The scale of federal fraud and waste is so vast it is difficult to comprehend. No wonder the Deep State was panicked at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House and at the appointment of Kennedy as HHS secretary.
“#TranscendentHealth – Adapting an LGB+ inclusive teen pregnancy prevention program for transgender boys,” reads another $1,319,024 grant awarded to the Center for Innovative Public Health Research.
The University of California, San Francisco’s $2,554,402 grant for “Structural Racism and Discrimination in Older Men’s Health Inequities” also was canceled, Fox Digital learned, as was a $822,539 grant to UCLA called “Buddhism and HIV Stigma in Thailand: An Intervention Study.”
Meanwhile, Americans are more chronically unhealthy than ever. What a joke the federal bureaucracy is.
Altogether, hundreds of NIH grants on “gender” or DEI topics have already been canceled, including research on “multilevel and multidimensional structural racism” (whatever that means), “gender-affirming hormone therapy in mice”, and “microaggressions.” I think I lost brain cells just reading those inanities, and yet supposedly serious researchers were receiving taxpayer money for this.
Kennedy has already announced a reduction of some 20,000 HHS employees, as multiple of HHS’s subsidiary departments and agencies will be “merging… into a new organization called the Administration for Healthy America or AHA.” Imagine healthcare agencies actually working to make people healthy! Now if only we could have some major accountability for the former HHS leaders who ruined so many lives with their disastrous COVID-19 lockdowns and vaccine mandates…
Civilian gun club wins lawsuit against Fort Devens for violating their rights
Gun club had to file a lawsuit against the Fort in 2022.
A small civilian gun club located just 50 miles northwest of Boston has won a “landmark” lawsuit against nearby Fort Devens for violating their rights and federal law by denying them access to military rifle ranges at reasonable rates.
The Ft. Devens Rifle & Pistol Club, Inc., filed suit in 2022 claiming that Fort officials were charging range fees in violation of federal law, according to club treasurer Jim Gettens, a retired attorney who assisted with the legal fight.
Gettens said Monday that his club’s victory was a major “David vs. Goliath” event.
“They were running an illegal profiteering racket,” he said. “That’s the best way to describe it. This was a landmark case.”
Gettens and other club members noticed that their problems with the range began only three days after Joe Biden took office in 2022, which they said would never have happened under President Donald Trump’s Administration.
At issue was a little-known section of U.S. code that requires the Army to make rifle and pistol ranges available for civilian use as long as it does not interfere with military training, and it prohibits officials from charging exorbitant fees for range access.
Another federal statute requires the Army to provide logistical support to the Civilian Marksmanship Program. The Fort Devens Rifle & Pistol Club, Inc., is an affiliate of both the Civilian Marksmanship Program and the National Rifle Association.
For decades prior to the 2020 election, club members had been using a wide array of rifle and pistol ranges at Fort Devens free of charge. Club members supplied their own targets, ammunition, Range Safety Officers and other supplies. They even policed their own brass. Most of the club members are veterans, so they are intimately familiar with range safety protocols and other best practices. To be clear, in terms of taxpayer dollars, the club cost the Fort very little, which is why club member were so surprised when the Fort began charging them.
Just days after the 2020 election, the club was notified in writing that they would have to start paying a minimum of $250 per range, and that the fees would increase based upon the total number of shooters.
The bottom line was that Fort Devens tried to charge personnel costs for Range Safety Officers and technicians who were never there. In addition, a range staff member admitted in a memorandum that the range was unable to prove maintenance, supply and repair costs because the Fort never kept any such records.
“The odds were certainly stacked against us,” Getten said Monday. “As it turned out, the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Devens croaked themselves with their own administrative records. A range officer filed a memo for the record admitting they kept no maintenance, supply or repair records—one of the most egregious abuses. We detailed all of this stuff in a memorandum in support for summary judgement. We just destroyed them.”
While the gun club won and can stop paying fraudulent fees, hundreds of civilian police officers are still charged for their time at the range, which Getten said is a legal problem for their agencies.
“Non-DoD law enforcement officers, state police and municipal police departments are still paying out the wazoo for all of those costs,” Getten said. “Non-DoD law enforcement agencies should not be getting hosed the way they are. Also, ICE, FBI, U.S. Customs and other federal law enforcement agencies pay out the wazoo for their range time and pass the costs onto taxpayers.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Julian N. Canzoneri, who defended the government against the gun club’s lawsuit, did not return phone calls or emails seeking his comments for this story.