Category: Goobermint

Colorado town scales back gun control proposals

I’m a fan of preemption. In fact, I wish we had federal preemption when it comes to gun control laws, though there’s no chance of that happening anytime soon.

In Colorado, they don’t have it. They used to but don’t anymore, which is causing a bit of a problem, to say the least.

But public outcry forced one city to at least scale back its attempts at gun control.

The Edgewater City Council has significantly scaled back — at least for now — most of what it planned to consider in way of new gun rights restrictions being encouraged by an anti-gun advocacy group, after dozens of residents and others emailed and showed up at an April 19 work session to express their displeasure on possible ordinances targeting gun owners.

Edgewater is a metro-area home rule city of just over 5,000 people bordered by Denver to the east, Lakewood to the south and west, and Wheat Ridge to the north.

The potential ordinances that the council decided to continue discussion on were:

  • Prohibiting open carry of guns city-wide.
  • Prohibiting licensed concealed carry in city-owned buildings and parks.
  • Prohibiting licensed conceal carry in daycare centers and preschools.
  • Banning so-called “ghost guns,” a name given by anti-gun activists to guns made by individuals, but that do not have serial numbers.
  • Setting a waiting period for buying a firearm of 3-10 days.
  • Dealer regulations with an effective date grandfathering in Edgewater’s one gun dealer.
  • Mandatory reporting requirement for lost or stolen guns, which is already covered under state law.

The initial proposal included a local assault weapon ban and a ban on 50-caliber ammunition as well as “armor-piercing” ammo.

Local officials claim reporting of the earlier proposals was “misinformation” despite the information coming from the city’s website.

I guess the city is promoting the fake news and everyone else is wrong for taking them at their word.

Anyway, they got pushback. That’s a very good thing, especially since not everyone who spoke up is on the right politically.

Numerous Edgewater residents spoke out at the April 16 meeting against the proposed measures, with some saying they don’t expect the council to listen, nor do they believe the items taken off the list will remain off the list.

“I’ve watched our city council make laws restricting the freedom of the law abiding in line with progressive political philosophy for a long time,” said resident Larry Welshon. “In this case they are gutting the Second Amendment through incremental disassembly. I’d be delighted to be wrong, but past history proves this council is progressive.”

Welshon reminded the council that in a survey conducted by the city in 2021, only 47 percent of residents believe the council acts in their best interests.

But not all who spoke out against the ordinances could be considered conservative in their viewpoint.

“I am about as liberal as the day is long,” said resident Randy Novack, who said he was a neighbor to one of the council members whom he agrees with most times. “However, I’ve been shooting since I was a kid.”

So it’s not just that the council is progressive, but they’re anti-gun despite some self-described liberals in the city not being anti-Second Amendment.

That’s quite fascinating.

It’s also why preemption is such an issue. Edgewater, Colorado is a city of fewer than 6,000 people. It’s not difficult to imagine someone passing through such a city and running afoul of at least one of these anti-Second Amendment proposals, especially if this is just the beginning as some believe.

Suddenly, someone who intends to abide by the law may well find themselves facing criminal charges. Preemption helps to mitigate much of this.

Of course, since Colorado decided to drink the gun control Kool-Aid, this is the kind of thing we’re going to keep seeing from them.

And people in places like Edgewater, which borders Denver, are ultimately going to pay the price for this particular flavor of stupidity.

The one saving grace, though, is that the people of these cities still get a say and they’re not afraid to tell their community leaders to back off.

Now they just need to shut down the rest of these proposals that will accomplish absolutely nothing.

Biden’s Earth Day Remarks Show Just How Much He Is Deteriorating.

I wrote about how Joe Biden’s confusion and delusion went into overdrive when he was in Portland on Thursday.

But if it’s possible, I think it might even have been worse Friday in Seattle, during his Earth Day remarks.

First, we’ll note that it took Biden’s visit to do something about the homeless problem near the Westin Hotel where Biden was staying. Local media reported they removed two homeless camps nearby. According to the mayor’s office, the camps were cleared “to ensure safety” for Joe Biden.

Oh. How nice. It would be nice if they would care about the safety of the residents of Seattle, as the problem has burgeoned out of control. This is just a face-saving temporary measure, unfortunately, as the camps will likely be back. But that was the good part. Then came Biden’s remarks.

He went into word salad on our “natural wonders.” But his word salad is different from that of Kamala Harris, because his brain seems to break mid-sentence, while she just goes on and on, saying essentially the same thing.

He went into that creepy, weird whispering thing, when talking about offshore windmills.

“I don’t want to hear about it anymore, you don’t like looking at them…They’re pretty,” he intoned.

Continue reading “”

This was ruled on by the Supreme Court way back in 1968 in Haynes v U.S.

Excluding Criminals from Gun Checks is Bad
Biden/Harris Gun Plan Omits Criminals. New Plan Only Affects Innocent People

Mass media has overlooked, or failed to recognize, that the core of the Biden administration’s announced plan for so-called “gun control” would overlook criminals and the arsenals they have already. Strict laws to stop this have been passed, but enforcement tools, budget and most crucial a crime-stop attitude is missing. The Administration has adopted a take-guns-from-the-innocent mindset. For crime control, we must move past defund-the-police, police-are-oppressors and guns-are-evil mindset now in the curriculum. Biden and his team must recognize that if courts and cops don’t enforce the laws, disarming the public will only make things worse.

The recent focus on newly vilified so-called “ghost guns” is a perfect case in point. Murders, primarily in disadvantaged neighborhoods, are in the tens of thousands. Where’s the media? At a rose garden presser attacking a new gun concept. The murderers walk free. Meanwhile newshounds take the bait and assault homemade firearms—constitutionally protected property. This is sleight of hand by leadership, ignoring crime control and scapegoating arms—that criminals basically don’t use! “Gun control” doesn’t stop criminal behavior, it lets it thrive.

Proposed gun registries for specialty firearms cannot even address the “guns-on-the-streets” narrative. There are no guns “on the streets,” ghost-like or otherwise. Guns are in criminal hands, from lack of attention. Armed street criminals cannot legally possess guns in the first place, you cannot expect them to register.

Mandating it would require them to self-incriminate, a blatant violation of the 5th Amendment—criminals cannot be forced to use any proposed ghost registry. The new plan is mainly a way to compel more government databases—small requirements, with illegal compulsion, inching up to massive bans. Mass media should make this clear if they’re doing their job but they aren’t. Mass media wants you registered, and it shows. Even logic dictates this glaring flaw in the proposal—if you could require people banned from guns to register, you could just round them up and their illegally held firearms.

 

To recap:
CDC APPROVES BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S APPEAL TO BRING BACK AIRLINE MASK MANDATE.

Psaki Admits Appealing the CDC Mandate Ruling Is All About Preserving Power

In Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Jen Psaki was asked about the Biden administration’s rather disjointed reaction to a federal judge in Florida striking down the CDC’s mask mandate for travelers and its delayed response to the ruling — as Townhall reported earlier this week.

But when given the opportunity to explain and justify the Biden administration’s decision to appeal the federal judge’s invalidation of the CDC’s federal mask mandate, Psaki admitted that the White House would fight the ruling in order to “preserve that authority for the CDC to have in the future.” That is, it’s not about The Science(TM), it’s about protecting power.

Continue reading “”

I can guarantee with near metaphysical certitude that if you hear this on the MSM, it’ll be spun to appear as racist as possible.

Experts Say the ‘Defund the Police’ Movement Led to a Massive Spike in Black Murders.

The immediate aftermath of the murder of George Floyd saw a dramatic increase in violent crime across the country. But the political movement Floyd’s death spawned — “Defund the Police” — ended up creating a massive spike in the murders of black people as law enforcement pulled back from policing black communities in what’s referred to as “The Ferguson Effect.”

The left sniffs at the Ferguson Effect because it, in essence, blames their coddling of violent protesters for the spike in crime. But given the anecdotal evidence from every large city about the reality of the effect —some police making a conscious effort not to get involved — it would seem that the Ferguson Effect can certainly be included among any causes for the increase in violent crime.

The year 2020 may have been unique because of the pandemic and conditions surrounding the lockdowns.

Continue reading “”

LAPD chief blames guns for California’s gun control failures

California has the toughest state-level gun control laws in the nation. They heavily restrict pretty much every category of firearm imaginable and they’re constantly looking at how they can further restrict them.

And yet, cities in the state aren’t necessarily safer than anywhere else in the nation.

Despite that, the chief of the LAPD blames…wait for it…guns.

Thirty-four people were shot in Los Angeles last week, a bloody spike in what is already shaping up to be a violent month and year in the City of Angels, according to authorities.

The bulk of the shootings — 23 — of them occurred in a “remarkably small area” of the Los Angeles Police Department’s 77th Street and Southeast divisions, Chief Michel Moore told the Los Angeles Police Commission Tuesday. Moore called last week a “troubling week,” in a year when violent crime has increased 7.1% year-to-date. So far this year, the LAPD has responded to 575 more violent crimes than this time last year.

Barely halfway through the month, 70 people have already been shot in Los Angeles, up from 55 during the same period last year. There have been 107 homicides so far in 2022, while at this point in 2021 there were 109. While the number has decreased slightly in 2022, Moore said it represents a 37% increase over a two-year period. Overall, violent crime — aggravated assaults, street robberies, and commercial robberies — have climbed 15.2 percent over a two-year period.…

“The problem that we have throughout Los Angeles is too many guns in too many hands,” Moore said, reiterating a belief he frequently shares with the commission. The added enforcement in the 77th Street Division resulted in 16 gun arrests involving 20 firearms, including “a number of assault rifles,” Moore said.

So, the issue is guns in the most heavily gun-controlled state in the nation?

Sounds to me an awful lot like all the copious amounts of gun control has managed to accomplish is just make the state more hostile toward law-abiding gun owners, rather than actually do much to curb gun possession by violent criminals.

This isn’t much different than the gang heyday of the 1990s when LA was the epicenter of criminal culture. Since then, the state has passed tons of gun control, ostensibly to impact those same criminals.

As we can see, it worked like a charm.

Look, I get the desire to do something. I also get that people think the problem is the wrong people having guns. I’m not going to argue about armed criminals. But the laws on the books were designed to stop precisely them from having them, yet it doesn’t appear to have accomplished a blasted thing. Meanwhile, Californians who want to comply with the law are treated like criminals for even wanting a firearm.

It’s just not right.

Then again, it’s never been right to restrict the rights of the ordinary citizen because of the actions of a handful of criminals. Yet when the LAPD chief talks about too many guns in too many hands rather than the wrong hands, what do you think he’s proposing? Is he acknowledging that gun control has failed the state, or do you think he’s suggesting more of the same?

Well, since he says the problem is “too many hands” and nothing about criminals in possession, it’s clear where he stands on the issue.

It’s also clear that more of the same isn’t going to make things better.

What is he so afeared of?

Maryland AG Asks Supremes to Deny Review of Gun Ban Challenge

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh has filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking that a challenge to the state ban on so-called “assault weapons” be denied review, arguing that such firearms have been used in several mass shootings, according to a report in The Daily Record.

Frosh may be facing a daunting task because 25 of his colleagues—attorneys general from literally half of all the states in the nation—have already submitted an amicus brief to the high court, supporting the petition for review from plaintiffs in the case. It is one of several amicus briefs submitted in the case, but because of its nature, it may be one of the most influential.

The case is known as Dominic Bianchi et al. v. Brian E. Frosh et al., No. 21-902. Plaintiffs include the Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Firearms Policy Coalition, Field Traders gun shop in Anne Arundel County and three private citizens.

According to the Daily Record, Frosh was “chief sponsor of the 2013 Firearm Safety Act and shepherded the bill” through the state Senate, when he served in that body as a state senator. Therefore, he has what might be considered a special interest in preventing the legislation from being overturned, because it was his legislation. The law bans 45 “assault-style weapons, including the AR-15,” the newspaper noted.

In his argument, the newspaper said, Frosh cited several attacks involving semi-auto rifles including Sandy Hook Elementary, the Pulse nightclub attack in Orlando, the Las Vegas music festival attack and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

There was a signal from the Supreme Court that it could be giving serious consideration to accepting the case for review in January when the court asked Frosh to respond to the plaintiff’s petition for review. Initially, Frosh’s office did not offer a response.

This is the second time the Maryland ban has been challenged, but that was when the court did not have a strong conservative majority. The majority will not change with the seating later this year of Ketanji Brown Jackson to replace retiring Associate Justice Stephen Breyer.

The support shown for this case has impressed SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb.

“When the possession of commonly-owned firearms by private citizens is criminalized, it is imperative for good, like-minded people to stand together and defend constitutional rights,” Gottlieb observed. “The support we are receiving in this case is both humbling and reassuring. We are hopeful the Supreme Court grants our petition for review. Banning the possession and transport of a whole class of commonly-owned firearms is an affront to the Second Amendment that cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.”

Grassley To Biden: Stop Blaming Lawful Gun Owners For Democrat-Caused Crime Wave
ATF Nominee, So-Called Ghost Gun Rule & Onerous New Requirements on FFLs Impose Burdens on Americans, Do Nothing to Solve Spike in Violent Crime

BUTLER COUNTY, IOWA – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to President Joe Biden to urge that the administration turn away from partisan, anti-gun rhetoric toward policies and nominees that will actually address the rise in violent crime. Grassley also raised serious concerns with the recently announced nomination of Steven Dettelbach to serve as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

“A director must, at a minimum, demonstrate that he or she respects the Second Amendment rights of Americans and can deal fairly with the firearms industry,” Grassley wrote. “…but even a cursory review of [Dettelbach’s] statements about gun ownership demonstrate a lack of awareness of the circumstances surrounding legal gun acquisition, or outright favoritism of expansive gun control.”

Grassley goes on to highlight specific instances of Dettelbach’s troubling record of comments and affiliations with anti-Second Amendment groups, including one occasion on which he apparently used a debunked statistic to push for gun control.

“The ATF Director’s roles should include having an appreciation for the role that firearms play in the lives of Americans, as well as serving as a credible, effective liaison with the firearm business community. In this light, Mr. Dettelbach’s writings and social media activism are concerning and serve to undermine his ability to carry out those important roles,” Grassley emphasized.

Continue reading “”

What the left gets wrong about ‘ghost guns’

The spike in crime has nothing to do with firearms enthusiasts building guns in their garages and home workshops.

Citing the need to curtail rising crime rates, President Joe Biden recently announced a final rule by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The chief objects of the president’s wrath are so-called “ghost guns” — a made-up, pejorative term that anti-gun leftists use to refer to homemade firearms.

These guns have been legal and unregulated since the time of the Pilgrims. But long before the president’s announcement, Pennsylvania Democrats were already pushing six “ghost gun” bills that would make privately made firearms illegal.

In the announcement of these regulations, Vice President Kamala Harris said that “ghost guns pose an especially grave threat to the safety of our communities.” That claim is demonstrably false.

According to the Department of Justice, privately made firearms were found at 692 homicide or attempted homicide crime scenes over a six-year period. That means that, at worst, out of more than 16,000 yearly murders, homemade guns are used in around 115 homicides per year. That’s far fewer murders than many common items that are easily found around one’s house — such as knives (1,476), hammers or blunt objects (397), or fists and feet (600).

So why isn’t the Biden administration trying to regulate those objects?

The answer is that this president is not as interested in protecting public safety as much as he wants to implement a radical gun control regime. The new ATF rule could incarcerate gun owners for committing nonviolent, highly technical violations of complex and unconstitutional laws while doing nothing about the rising number of crimes committed by real criminals.

For two years, the anti-gun left has looked the other way while rioters destroyed cities, attacked civilians, and assaulted law enforcement officers. The president’s allies in leftist cities — including Philadelphia — began releasing criminals early from jail and defunding the police where they were needed the most.

Predictably, the murder rate, which had been on a downward trend for over 20 years, spiked. In fact, 12 Democratic-controlled cities from Philadelphia to Portland, Ore., broke homicide records last year. These are 12 cities where leaders have coddled criminals, yet inexplicably, did everything possible to discourage law-abiding individuals who merely wish to exercise their Second Amendment-protected rights. Philadelphia was no exception.

The spike in crime across our country is the result of the failed leadership and the social policies of left-wing radicals. It has nothing to do with firearms enthusiasts building guns in their garages and home workshops.

The anti-gun left may try to demonize these firearms by referring to them as “ghost guns.” But the fact remains that hundreds of thousands of honest gun owners today are making their own legal guns — and virtually none of these guns will be used in any crime.

The White House claims that serializing firearms is necessary to stop criminals, but in reality, there is no evidence that registering firearms — or stamping them with serial numbers — prevents crime. Virtually every gun used in a crime already has a serial number.

So why has Joe Biden declared war on legal gun owners? In a word: control.

Serialization is not designed to stop criminals. It’s intended to register the law-abiding, which history shows is the first step toward confiscation. And if you don’t think confiscation could ever occur in this country, just recall Beto O’Rourke yelling: “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47!”

The double standards by the anti-gun left are breathtaking. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro was at the Rose Garden ceremony, applauding the president’s restrictions on homemade firearms. Never mind that Shapiro’s office has been accused of illegally transferring a homemade gun to a television journalist preparing a story on the issue without conducting a background check; that would violate both state and federal law. Shapiro has denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the allegation was “ludicrous on its face.” The transfer was made to facilitate an NBC News report on a local supplier of P80 kits.

With the anti-gun left, we constantly see “rules for thee but not for me.” The Biden administration openly admitted that he ordered this “ghost gun” regulation because he “was having trouble getting [gun control] passed in the Congress.” That is lawless and anti-constitutional behavior. The president is not a king who can issue decrees on a whim.

In our system of government, Congress makes the laws. Gun Owners of America will be working with pro-gun representatives and senators to overrule this unconstitutional decree.

Anti-Gun Politicians Lie About Violent Crime Because Telling the Truth Is Politically Costly

Last month, a man murdered his three daughters, ages 9, 10 and 13 in Sacramento, California. He also murdered the court-ordered chaperone who was supervising their visit. The murderer then shot himself. He used a modern rifle.

Democrat Governor Gavin Newsome called it, “Another senseless act of gun violence in America – In a church with kids inside – Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and their communities.”

Democrat State Attorney General Robert Bonta said, “We need to enforce more of the laws that we have. The rise in violent crime throughout the country is almost entirely because of guns.”

Of course they said that. They have to blame “the gun” because to speak the truth about what happened would offend of too many of the Democrats’ special interests. Here is some of what these Democrat officials couldn’t say out loud.

  • Democrat politicians couldn’t tell us the murderer was an illegal immigrant who overstayed his visa five years ago.
  • They couldn’t tell us that the murderer had an active restraining order that made him a prohibited possessor, and his possession of a firearm illegal. They left out that in legal documents the murderer swore he didn’t have any firearms.
  • They didn’t tell us that the murderer’s ex-girlfriend said he had mental health issues and had threatened her with violence and threatened to take his own life.
  • Democrats politicians didn’t tell us that the murderer was under a detainer request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement so that he could be deported.
  • They can’t say that the murderer was arrested and in police custody only five days ago for driving under the influence, resisting arrest, and assaulting police and medical staff who tried to help him.
  • Democrat politicians have to ignore that 85 percent of violent crimes don’t involve a firearm.

Democrats can’t speak these truths because those admissions would upset the special interests that keep these politicians in power.

Continue reading “”

Media Has a New Talking Point to Defend Joe Biden – but It Makes Him Sound Even Worse

While sometimes you get a little truth from the liberal media, such as when CNN polling guy Harry Enten said how “really, really, really bad” the polling numbers for Joe Biden were — indeed, the worst ever for anyone at this stage of their term — a lot of the liberal media is still an acid bath of people hidebound to push the Democratic narrative to do what they can for Joe Biden.

One of the worst shills for the Democratic narrative is CNN’s John Harwood. But his excuse for Joe Biden — the latest Democratic talking point to excuse his failures — isn’t going to help him. Indeed, it makes him sound worse. According to Harwood, there’s not much Biden can do about any of the problems that are plaguing the country.

There’s just not much President Joe Biden can do about it.
There’s not much he can do to curb inflation.
There’s not much he can do to stop migrants from reaching America’s southern border.
Or to reduce crime,
or to make vaccine resisters get shots that would hasten the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
There’s not much he can do to compel cooperation from defectors within his thin Democratic congressional majorities. There is nothing at all he can do to compel it from Republican adversaries who would rather aggravate than alleviate his burdens.

But this appears to be the new talking point for some of the media. Here it is on ABC, as well, on Sunday.

Harwood even admits that Joe Biden’s policies led to inflation, “Liberal and conservative economists share a growing consensus that Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan last year pumped too much money into the economy.” But his response? “Yet the White House can’t fundamentally alter that reality now.”

Oh, great, so we should just suffer when he was told it was wrong and he did it anyway? When he lied to us about inflation being “transitory” for months? When he continues to lie about it being Putin’s fault? And the worst thing is that Biden would have spent even more on the plans that he was trying to push through Congress which — if he had gotten them — would have driven up inflation even more. So either he was still ignorant as to what causes inflation or he’s just so wedded to spending for the Democratic agenda that he doesn’t care how much it might hurt Americans.

Harwood’s excuse for Biden on the border crisis was even worse.

Continue reading “”

Analysis: Biden’s Aggression Elevates Gun Politics Before the Election

Will gun control become a top election issue?

It didn’t seem likely for a while. The high visibility of pressing concerns like 40-year high inflation rates, a burgeoning humanitarian crisis in the ongoing war in Ukraine, and domestic culture warring over education policy have been at the top of most Americans’ minds.

But actions taken by President Joe Biden this week may very well have foisted the issue of guns back onto the radar of voters going into November’s midterm elections. Largely at the behest of a sustained pressure campaign from gun-control groups, President Biden announced his new nominee to head the ATF on Monday. He also announced the accelerated release of the final ATF rule banning “ghost gun” kits.

Either action taken on its own would be enough to raise the political stakes. Gun control by executive fiat is a policy route that draws the ire of gun owners and energizes gun-control advocates. But combining that announcement with the another attempt to successfully confirm a permanent ATF director takes the political stakes up a notch.

Getting a permanent ATF director confirmed is a tough battle in any political environment, as evidenced by the fact that only one director has been confirmed since 2006. The Trump administration was not even successful in confirming a nominee despite Republican control of the Senate at the time.

But the failure of David Chipman’s nomination to the ATF director role was perhaps the most high-profile political loss for Biden thus far in an administration that has seen its fair share of contentious confirmation battles. The fact that the Biden administration would return to that well after burning so much political capital in vain last time around suggests a commitment to making gun control a key selling point for his party.

Dettelbach may not have the same political baggage as his ill-fated predecessor. Chipman was a professional gun-control advocate employed by Giffords prior to his nomination. He also had a history of making controversial and derisive statements about the industry and gun owners he would be in charge of regulating at the ATF. Plus, serious concerns about his character while working as a federal agent were uncovered after his nomination.

Dettelbach supports many of the same gun restrictions Chipman did. He was endorsed by the gun-control groups during his failed 2018 AG campaign, but has never directly worked for them like Chipman did. He has used heated rhetoric to question the integrity of Ohio’s elections. But much of his background is still unexplored to this point.

The renewed push for a permanent ATF director is likely part of the White House’s attempt to dissuade voter concerns over rising crime. Dettelbach’s background as a prosecutor and the bipartisan support he has received thus far from other prosecutors and law enforcement officials provides some support for that idea.

However, Dettelbach is on record as supporting contentious gun-control policies like “assault weapons” bans and universal background check mandates. His backing of those policies will undoubtedly raise the salience of gun politics alongside crime concerns in his upcoming confirmation battle.

The president is taking a political risk by announcing another gun-control advocate to lead the agency charged with regulating the firearms industry while releasing controversial new gun regulations. It isn’t immediately clear this nominee will fare better than the last in terms of securing the support of moderates in the Senate, and another tense confirmation fight this close to election season could be a political liability for Democrats. At the same time, his final “ghost gun” kit ban has already mobilized Republican political opposition, and the forthcoming pistol brace ban–which will directly impact millions of Americans–will only add more fuel to that fire.

The President’s handling of gun policy has been underwater for nearly a year. Now, Democrats as a party are polling behind Republicans on guns too.

As election season draws nearer, it’s unclear how enthusiastic moderate Democrats from vulnerable states will be to vote for an ATF candidate with an established history of support for gun restrictions.

But it is clear that the President has set in motion the potential for gun politics to be a motivating issue for voters just months away from a midterm election poised to deliver serious Republican gains. How will voters react?

Why not just say it plainly? Biden is a bald faced liar, and always has been.

Biden Is Truth-Challenged When It Comes to the Second Amendment (and Much Else)

Since taking office, Joe Biden has been busy weaponizing the federal government against Americans who make or desire to purchase firearms. Naturally, he defends this by trotting out false claims about the Second Amendment. A favorite of his is the statement that when the Second Amendment was adopted, people couldn’t buy a cannon.

He’s taken to task for that assertion in this Truth about Guns post. 

Since he first made that statement, it has been refuted several times, such as in this article by Robert Wright.

Does Biden know or care? Of course not. The truth or falsity of a claim doesn’t matter, only advancing his agenda.

Even if it were true that the Second Amendment doesn’t allow anyone to buy a cannon, that would not logically lead to his conclusion that the feds should prevent buying all kinds of other firearms. Neither truth nor logic are of any concern to Biden.

If you’d like to be well armed to argue with Bidenistas over the meaning of the Second Amendment, I suggest reading America, Guns, and Freedom by Miguel Faria.

How Many Senile Democrats Does It Take To Ruin a Country?

We had a couple of “senior moment” stories yesterday involving people in the upper echelons of power in this country. It’s not pretty, but it can’t be ignored. Those of us here on the reality-based side of the aisle are duty-bound to acknowledge when things are amiss.

The first story involves Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who it often seems has been in the Senate since Andrew Jackson was president. Actually, she has been in office since winning a special election in 1992.

It would appear that the senior — no pun intended — senator from the Golden State is not quite as sharp as she used to be, which Robert wrote about yesterday:

Hunter Biden is just the tip of the iceberg: it’s lucrative to be a politician today, even if your father isn’t playing the role of president of the United States. There are innumerable ways in which our elected representatives can grow rich while doing the bidding of some powerful group, all perfectly legal: astronomical advances for books that hardly anyone will read, similarly inflated speaking fees, and much more.

What was once known as the public service has become so remunerative that it’s no wonder that politicians are clutching to power as they never have before in American history. Washington is now top-heavy with the Geritol set, and it doesn’t look as if that’s going to change anytime soon. But the talk around the nation’s capital Thursday is that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Beijing) is in the throes of a cognitive decline so severe as to make Old Joe Biden look as sharp as a tack, and that’s no malarkey, Jack.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote Thursday: “When a California Democrat in Congress recently engaged in an extended conversation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, they prepared for a rigorous policy discussion like those they’d had with her many times over the last 15 years.

Instead, the lawmaker said, they had to reintroduce themselves to Feinstein multiple times during an interaction that lasted several hours.” Dagnabbit, Chron, “they” refers to a group, not to an individual, but nowadays when women can get other women pregnant, grammar is the least of our worries.

Robert then goes on to brilliantly provide a variety of reference points to give the reader a sense of just how old Sen. Feinstein is. It’s not mean, it’s factual. I have long advocated for the repeal of the 17th Amendment. The Founding Fathers never intended for senators to be able to linger in Washington with multiple six-year terms, acquiring power that rulers of lesser countries might only dream of.

More troublesome is the ongoing saga of decline that we are witnessing in the man who currently occupies the Oval Office. Matt covered the latest episode in this national torture tale:

Joe Biden has had his fair share of Joe Biden Moments. Slurred words, confusing people, not knowing where he is. Yet, his senility repertoire seems to be expanding as of late, and on Thursday, seeing people who aren’t there appeared to be his latest trick. After giving a speech in which he again tried to blame inflation on Vladimir Putin, Biden turned and appeared to shake hands with thin air, before wandering around confused.

I’m not engaged in some gleeful pile-on here. This is rough stuff. I’m not the youngest guy on the block, I don’t want to end up like this. One of the ways I try to keep my mind sharp is by making sure that I’m not a Democrat.

It isn’t cruel to point out what we are all seeing whenever Biden’s handlers let him go in front of cameras — it’s a legitimate concern. He is, after all, still the most powerful man on Earth. While we’re all on edge worrying about a renewal of nuclear tensions with Russia, having a president who rarely knows where he is might be a cause for worry.

We’re blessed to live in a time when people can have much longer, and more productive, lives. Unfortunately, some people still hit the age wall and need to have the keys to the car taken away.

Or the nuclear launch codes.

GOA SLAMS NYC MAYOR’S LOUSY ‘TOUGH-ON-CRIME’ STRATEGY AMID THE CITY’S SKYROCKETING CRIME AND SUBWAY SHOOTING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2022

Washington, D.C. – Gun Owners of America (GOA) slams New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ failed “tough-on-crime” policies amid today’s NYC subway shooting and the skyrocketing crime that increased 14.5 percent from 2021.

This past November, the Supreme Court heard the case NYSRPA v. Bruen which questioned whether the state of New York’s denial of petitioners’ applications for concealed-carry licenses for self-defense violated the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on this case sometime before the end of June.

New York State Police told the Supreme Court that citizens do not need to carry guns on the subway since there are transit police. Mayor Adams also recently increased police presence on the subway to no avail.

Aidan Johnston, GOA’s Director of Federal Affairs, commented:

“Increased police presence cannot stop every tragedy. Once again, NYC’s gun control demonstrated that it has no impact.

“You are your own first responder. We need to empower individuals to defend themselves and exercise their right to bear arms—especially in public places.

“Only by taking up arms and shooting back can Americans restore public safety and take control out of the hands of violent criminals.”

GOA spokesmen are available for interviews. Gun Owners of America, and its sister organization Gun Owners Foundation, are nonprofits dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. For more information, visit GOA’s Press Center.

Nebraska concealed carry handgun bill comes short of votes

LINCOLN — In a surprise, state lawmakers failed to muster enough votes Monday to advance a concealed carry handgun bill, called “constitutional carry” by some.

The vote to invoke cloture was 31-9, two short of what’s needed to stop a filibuster and advance a bill. It was also four fewer senators than the number who supported advancement of the bill from first-round debate.

“To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement,” said State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who has made passing the bill a priority during his six years in office.

25 other states

At least 25 other states have passed such laws. In Nebraska, it would have allowed people to carry a concealed weapon without obtaining a $100 state permit, undergoing a criminal background check and passing a gun safety class.

Brewer had worked for several weeks to negotiate a compromise to Legislative Bill 773 with the Omaha police union and police department, which had expressed concern about the bill watering down existing gun control ordinances in the state’s largest city and complicating their job of reducing gun violence.

The compromise amendment would have left in place an Omaha ordinance that requires registration of handguns. It also would have allowed for the continued prosecution of the crime of “carrying a concealed handgun” if a concealed gun was used in a long list of “covered offenses,” from robbery and kidnapping, to cockfighting and disorderly conduct.

NRA urged ‘no’ vote

But the powerful National Rifle Association urged a “no” vote against the amendment, calling it “a discriminatory attempt to place Omaha’s extreme firearm registration requirement into state law.”

Senators failed to pass the compromise amendment on a 13-29 vote — 12 fewer “yes” votes than needed.

The defeat pushed the Omaha Police Officers Association from neutral on the bill to oppose and sparked a debate over whether voting for LB 773 was a vote against law enforcement.

Continue reading “”

It’s not about deer hunting and they all know it, all too well.

It’s part what’s in the article, and part this:
Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun. Our principle is that the Party [which is the Chinese goobermint] commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party. —Mao Tse Tung 1938
They want the ability to ‘command’ restricted as much as possible.

 

They want to protect the criminals from you

We must ban the guns says the leader of the party that unleashed violent, murderous mobs on American citizens to win an election and let convinced criminals out of prison because of a cough.

The fastest growing demographics of gun owners are women and minorities in urban areas who have come under siege from criminals due to COVID and Social Justice bail reform policies that let criminals go free.

Gun control will not reduce crime.

It will hinder these new demographics of fire time gun owners from buying effective tools of self defense.

Leftist, as part of their dimmer switch of violence, understand how crime and criminals can be used as effective tools of political coercion and enforcement.

Armed citizens cannot be allowed to defend themselves from criminals or the political use of criminals is voided, so the obvious solution is to disarm the law abiding citizens, not re-arrest the criminals.

Again, this is about inflicting pain on the people for trying to lives lives of self reliance.

900 Boowets! 900!

See the source image

It’s soooo scawey.

It’s Noo Yawk; Fuhgeddaboudit.

I’d be extremely embarrassed to be either of those cops.

NYPD

Do you think they’d stroke out at the Shootist Holiday?

A scary stash of assault rifles and ammo are found in Dongan Hills, cops say. Man, 54, is arrested

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Assault rifles and over 900 bullets were confiscated from inside a home in Dongan Hills, police allege.

On Sunday at 8:02 a.m., officers responded to a 911 call of an alleged violent, emotionally-disturbed person at the apartment of Richard Thorpe, 54, on Jerome Road, according to a statement from the NYPD’s Deputy Commissioner of Public Information.

Thorpe was arrested that day and removed to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze.

Inside Thorpe’s apartment, police recovered a Colt Match Target, described as a semi-automatic assault rifle, with a downward-pistol grip behind the trigger and a tube capable of launching grenades attached to the barrel, the criminal complaint alleges.

Officers allege they found about 179 rounds of ammunition that could be fired from the Colt using detachable magazines each holding more than 10 bullets.

Another semi-automatic assault rifle, a KBI SA 85M, had a thumbhole stock behind the trigger and accepted detachable magazines, the complaint alleges.

The defendant allegedly possessed about 205 rounds of ammunition that could be fired from that rifle. Officers also seized some detachable magazines, including clips with capacity of 30 or 40 rounds, according to the complaint.

A 12-gauge shotgun, a Remington 870 Express Magnum, was seized along with 145 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition.

Officers confiscated 222 rounds of .22-caliber bullets, 167 rounds of .45-caliber bullets, and another 17 bullets of various calibers, according to the complaint.

The criminal complaint alleges that the suspect “has no permit to possess said firearms and shotgun, and the defendant is not a dealer in rifles or shotguns in New York City.”

Thorpe has been charged with criminal possession of an assault weapon, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal possession of a weapon and multiple violations.

Thorpe has been released under supervision and is due to appear in Criminal Court on April 29.

An attorney for the defendant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Patrol Officers Viera and Deljudice along with Field Intelligence officers (FIO) are credited with the effort that was prompted by a “call of threats,” according to a post on the 122nd Precinct Twitter feed.

“No job is routine,” the post said.

Biden’s call for gun control smacked down by reality

President Joe Biden, like many gun control advocates, wasted no time at all in calling for Congress to enact new legislation in the wake of the latest shooting in Sacramento. In their minds, another mass shooting could only mean gun control was needed and needed swiftly.

However, as we now know, reality slapped the president in the face.

In the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting in Sacramento, California, that killed six and injured 15, President Joe Biden echoed a familiar sentiment among Democrats: “We must do more than mourn; we must act.”

Of course, Biden was specifically calling for further restrictions on Americans’ second amendment rights as an answer to the country’s ongoing surge in violent crime.

“We also continue to call on Congress to act,” the president said in a statement. “Ban ghost guns. Require background checks for all gun sales. Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Repeal gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability.”

But new revelations from law enforcement quickly discredited Democrats’ broad claims that gun regulations would have prevented the deadly incident. Instead, it appeared that, if anything, a tougher stance from law enforcement was due.

First, news broke that one of the suspects in the shooting, 27-year-old Smiley Martin, is a dangerous career criminal who was granted early release from prison only weeks before the shootout occurred — in spite of pleading and warning from the county’s district attorney. The other suspect, 26-year-old Dandrae Martin, also has a criminal record.

Then on Wednesday, police in Sacramento reported that at least five suspects and “two groups of men” were involved in the shooting. They added that it had become “increasingly clear that gang violence is at the center of this tragedy.”

See, this is what they get for jumping and calling for regulations before we know anything.

Don’t get me wrong, even if this had been exactly what Biden and his crowd thought it was, I’d still oppose gun control, but at least we’d be looking at things that had some degree of bearing on what happened.

Instead, we get the same blanket pronouncements and the advancement of still more gun control policies that have been on the table for a while–all of which exist in California, it should be noted.

Biden and others pushed that narrative, confident that it wouldn’t be challenged, which was idiotic. This is California, which has all the gun control laws they’re talking about, and what good did it do?

I mean, one of the shooters had a weapon that was illegally modified to be full-auto–that violates federal law as well.

Didn’t help, now did it?

Time and time again, gun control jihadists do this. They jump at the opportunity to push their agenda without waiting for all the facts.

Usually, they screw up things like calling for an assault weapon ban, saying how it’s needed to stop a mass shooting like the one that just transpired, only for us to learn the shooter used a handgun. Things like that.

This time, though, it’s not even a mass shooting as we tend to think of it. It was gang warfare and at least one of the shooters was free because of policies explicitly backed by Democrats.

It’s kind of hard to make pronouncements about how Republicans are making people unsafe when one of the alleged killers is only free because of Democrats.

President Biden would have done well to simply offer his sympathies to the families of those killed, then said we need to wait and learn exactly what happened before we try and figure out how to address it. However, that’s not his MO and it never has been.

Which is why reality treated Biden like he was Chris Rock and he’d just joked about Reality’s wife’s hair.

Joe Biden is The Doomsday Scenario We Were Warned About.

I have a new name for the current occupant of the White House: Doomsday Joe. We have heard “Creepy Joe,” “Ol’ Joe,” “Sleepy Joe,” and “Stumblin’ Joe,” but now let’s add “Doomsday Joe,” because he, the Democrat Party, and the puppet masters behind the scenes are producing the script and pulling the strings are a cluster munition weapon of mass destruction that is wreaking havoc across America. Who can objectively assert that anything they are doing is good for America or for our allies in the free countries of the world (assuming any remain post-COVID)?

Using the following template, I believe this review can be instructive as to how we conservatives, and our fellow Americans, decide to vote: 1) the Constitution, 2) national security, and 3) the economy.

Let’s examine a few examples, for which there will be minimal commentary so as comprehensive a list as possible is provided in the space allowed. After all, isn’t the “long train of abuses and usurpations” obvious?

The Constitution

Doomsday Joe has done nothing that follows either the spirit or the letter of the Constitution. Instead, he has supported every cultural or deep-state initiative to avoid its appointed limits, if not just pull it out by the roots.

Doomsday Joe’s vaccine mandates were unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court said so. The White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain openly admitted on one of the Sunday talk shows that having OSHA issue the mandate was intended to be a “work-around” of both Congress and the Constitution. So much for that oath of office, right, Joe?

Doomsday Joe has nominated another leftist activist who will (when, inevitably, confirmed) spend the next 30 years or more attacking the Constitution. Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson is the product of a sustained campaign to fill law schools across America not with constitutional scholars who will teach the beauty, value, and singular nature of the Constitution, but with activists who teach how to work around or dismantle the Constitution and conform the law to their own self-serving purposes.

Judge Jackson has a good résumé, with earned accolades. But will the Judge support packing the court? Inquiring minds want to know. Packing the court would destroy the opportunity to challenge a law’s adherence to the Constitution, it will destroy the average citizen’s access to the courts to sue for our guaranteed rights and will deal the Constitution the death blow long sought by the Left.

Doomsday Joe unleashed the unconstitutional powers of the federal bureaucracy on day one to stifle all political dissent and sorely punish all who questioned the outcome of the 2020 election. Even Judge Jackson understands the importance of equal rights under the law and due process, for she defended Al Qaeda terrorists detained at Guantanamo Bay. But when Sen. Ted Cruz asked about her position on individuals’ “natural rights,” Judge Jackson stated she had “no position.”

Is that not just perfect? Judge Jackson has a completely fluid, situational-ethics-based view of how the Constitution shall be applied—favorably to Leftist-favored causes but denied to those deemed “deplorable.”