Category: Government

South Dakota Lawmakers Push To Protect Gun Owners’ Rights.

While gun owners in many states face a legislature hostile to their rights, pro-freedom lawmakers in South Dakota are pushing to protect gun owners’ rights in the Mount Rushmore State.

In the past week, lawmakers have passed two pro-gun bills—House Bill 1035 and Senate Bill 39—and the measures now go to Republican Gov. Kristi Noem for her consideration.

House Bill 1035, introduced by Rep. Kevin Jensen, extends the renewal period for those holding enhanced carry permits. The enhanced permit is an optional permit that allows approved permit holders the ability to present the permit to a retailer when purchasing a firearm, in lieu of undergoing a background check through NICS.

According to the bill’s language: “A person who holds an enhanced permit to carry a concealed pistol may renew the permit through the sheriff of the county in which the person resides. The period for renewal begins 12 months before the permit expires and ends 30 days after the permit expires.”

Previously, enhanced carry permit holders couldn’t begin the renewal process until 180 days before the permit’s expiration date.

Senate Bill 39, introduced by state Sen. Michael Rohl, would, if signed by the governor, place restrictions on homeowners’ associations (HOAs) regarding their regulation of firearms.

According to the measure’s language: “A homeowner’s association may not include or enforce a provision in a governing document that prohibits, restricts or has the effect of prohibiting or restricting the lawful possession, transportation or storing a firearm, any part of a firearm, or firearm ammunition, or discharge of a firearm.”

Sen. Rohl says the bill would help residents who live under homeowner associations better protect themselves.

“A sign doesn’t keep out bad guys with guns,”  Sen. Rohl said. “We want good guys with guns.”

Both measures are likely to be signed by Gov. Noem, who is a strong Second Amendment supporter. In fact, at last year’s NRA Annual Meetings, Noem, who spoke at the convention, signed an executive order on stage blocking state agencies from contracting with large banks that discriminate against firearm-related industries.

“It’s not just the media and big government that are attacking our rights,” Noem said at the time. “Now we’ve seen banking institutions go after industries that they disagree with. None have been more impacted than those who support the Second Amendment. Well, not on my watch: I won’t stand for it—not in South Dakota.”

Actually it’s a ‘power’ as people have rights.

Former Arizona AG: States have constitutional right to self-defense

Former Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich again on Tuesday argued the constitutional authority given to states for self-defense.

Brnovich testified at a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing addressing the issue after being the first and only state attorney general to issue a formal legal opinion that defines an invasion and lays out the constitutional authority of states’ self-defense.

Other testimony was presented by representatives of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and the ACLU.

Brnovich’s testimony reiterated arguments from his legal opinion defining an invasion and Arizona’s right to self-defense under Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

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South Carolina Senate to Vote on Making State the 28th for Constitutional Carry

The South Carolina Senate is expected to vote later this week whether the Palmetto State will become the 28th constitutional carry state.

The legislation is House Bill 3594. The NRA-ILA noted the legislation was passed by the South Carolina House last year and sent to the Senate to be taken up in early 2024.

On February 2, 2023, Breitbart News reported that South Carolina State Rep. Bobby Cox (R-Greenville) put forward H.3594 to secure constitutional carry in the state.

HB 3594 is now before the state Senate and it was debated on the state Senate floor last week. It is expected that “debate will continue on Tuesday, with a vote expected to take place on or before Thursday, February 1st.”

There are currently 27 constitutional carry states in the Union. Those are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Republican Governors Band Together, Issue Joint Statement Supporting Texas’ Constitutional Right to Self-Defense

WASHINGTON, D.C. – 25 Republican governors released the following joint statement in support of Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Texas’ constitutional right to self-defense.

The statement comes as the Biden Administration continues to attack Texas and refuses to take action or responsibility for the crisis at the Southern border.

“President Biden and his Administration have left Americans and our country completely vulnerable to unprecedented illegal immigration pouring across the Southern border. Instead of upholding the rule of law and securing the border, the Biden Administration has attacked and sued Texas for stepping up to protect American citizens from historic levels of illegal immigrants, deadly drugs like fentanyl, and terrorists entering our country. 

“We stand in solidarity with our fellow Governor, Greg Abbott, and the State of Texas in utilizing every tool and strategy, including razor wire fences, to secure the border. We do it in part because the Biden Administration is refusing to enforce immigration laws already on the books and is illegally allowing mass parole across America of migrants who entered our country illegally. 

“The authors of the U.S. Constitution made clear that in times like this, states have a right of self-defense, under Article 4, Section 4 and Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution. Because the Biden Administration has abdicated its constitutional compact duties to the states, Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.”

Signatories include: Governor Kay Ivey (AL), Governor Mike Dunleavy (AK), Governor Sarah Sanders (AR), Governor Ron DeSantis (FL), Governor Brian Kemp (GA), Governor Brad Little (ID), Governor Eric Holcomb (IN), Governor Kim Reynolds (IA), Governor Jeff Landry (LA), Governor Tate Reeves (MS), Governor Mike Parson (MO), Governor Greg Gianforte (MT), Governor Jim Pillen (NE), Governor Joe Lombardo (NV), Governor Chris Sununu (NH), Governor Doug Burgum (ND), Governor Mike DeWine (OH), Governor Kevin Stitt (OK), Governor Henry McMaster (SC), Governor Kristi Noem (SD), Governor Bill Lee (TN), Governor Spencer Cox (UT), Governor Glenn Youngkin (VA), Governor Jim Justice (WV), and Governor Mark Gordon (WY).

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. (just sayin™)

 

G O V E R N O R  G R E G  A B B O T T

January 24, 2024

The federal government has broken the compact between the United States and the States. The Executive Branch of the United States has a constitutional duty to enforce federal laws protecting States, including immigration laws on the books right now. President Biden has refused to enforce those laws and has even violated them. The result is that he has smashed records for illegal immigration.

Despite having been put on notice in a series of letters–one of which I delivered to him by hand–President Biden has ignored Texas’s demand that he perform his constitutional duties.

* President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress. Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border.

* President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The effect is to illegally allow their en masse parole into the United States.

* By wasting taxpayer dollars to tear open Texas’s border security infrastructure, President Biden has enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along this State’s southern border– bridges where nobody drowns–and into the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande.

Under President Biden’s lawless border policies, more than 6 million illegal immigrants have crossed our southern border in just 3 years. That is more than the population of 33 different States in this country. This illegal refusal to protect the States has inflicted unprecedented harm on the People all across the United
States.

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border. That is why the Framers included both Article IV, sec. 4, which promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,” and Article I, sec 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.” Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 419 (2012) (Scalia, J., dissenting).

The failure of the Biden Administration to fulfill the duties imposed by Article IV, sec. 4 has triggered Article I, sec. 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense. For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, sec. 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself. That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.

Greg Abbott
Governor of Texas

 

Abbott: Texas Has Constitutional Right To Defend Its Borders From Invasion, Supersedes All Federal Law.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a defiant statement on Wednesday pushing back against President Joe Biden’s attempts to stop Texas from securing its borders against the millions of illegal aliens pouring into the state thanks to Biden’s reckless border policies.

Abbott’s statement comes after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration earlier this week, ruling that it could remove or cut through razor wire the state has deployed to stop illegal aliens from crossing the Rio Grande into the state.

“President Biden has violated his oath to faithfully execute immigration laws enacted by Congress,” Abbott said. “Instead of prosecuting immigrants for the federal crime of illegal entry, President Biden has sent his lawyers into federal courts to sue Texas for taking action to secure the border.”

“President Biden has instructed his agencies to ignore federal statutes that mandate the detention of illegal immigrants. The effect is to illegally allow their en masse parole into the United States,” he continued, adding: “By wasting taxpayer dollars to tear open Texas’s border security infrastructure, President Biden has enticed illegal immigrants away from the 28 legal entry points along this State’s southern border—bridges where nobody drowns—and into the dangerous waters of the Rio Grande.”

The governor noted that more than 6 million illegal aliens have entered Texas through its southern border under the Biden administration, a number greater than the population of 30 U.S. states.

Abbott continued:

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and the other visionaries who wrote the U.S. Constitution foresaw that States should not be left to the mercy of a lawless president who does nothing to stop external threats like cartels smuggling millions of illegal immigrants across the border.

That is why the Framers included both Article IV, § 4, which promises that the federal government “shall protect each [State] against invasion,[“] and Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which acknowledges “the States’ sovereign interest in protecting their borders.” Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 419 (2012) (Scalia, J., dissenting).

Abbott said that Biden’s failures to secure the border “imposed by Article IV, § 4 has triggered Article I, § 10, Clause 3, which reserves to this State the right of self-defense.”

“For these reasons, I have already declared an invasion under Article I, § 10, Clause 3 to invoke Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself,” he concluded. “That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border.”

Reynolds: New gun laws would not have prevented Perry school shooting

No new laws restricting gun access would have prevented a recent fatal shooting at Perry High School, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday.

Reynolds was asked during the recording of this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS whether gun regulations should be a part of the discussion around how to prevent school shootings like the one on Jan. 4 in Perry, in which a sixth-grade student and the school’s principal were killed.

“No additional gun laws would have prevented what happened,” Reynolds said. “There’s just evil out there.”

Police said the 17-year-old shooter was armed with a shotgun and small handgun and had placed an explosive device, which did not detonate, in the school. Authorities have not yet said how the shooter acquired the weapons.

Reynolds said Iowans’ “thoughts, hearts and prayers” continue to go out to the Perry community.

“This is a horrible tragedy. It’s certainly nothing that any governor wants to wake up to in the morning and hear of what’s happened,” Reynolds said.

Like most Republicans, Reynolds said the focus should be on mental and behavioral health care.

She spoke about the actions she has taken as governor, including the creation of a children’s mental health care system — which advocates say is underfunded — and funding for mental health care providers, and spoke about her proposal to redesign and streamline the state’s regional delivery system for mental and behavioral health care.

Reynolds also spoke about school safety measures undertaken by her administration, including the School Safety Bureau, which received $100 million in state-assigned federal funding and provides schools with an assessment of their safety needs.

“I am proud of what we’ve done,” Reynolds said. “I have made behavioral health and mental health a key part of my priorities from the moment that I was sworn in as governor of this state.”

Reynolds also praised the response from local law enforcement and emergency responders to the Perry school shooting, which she called “incredible.”

Abbott Seizes Control of Eagle Pass Park Without Warning to Combat Biden’s Migrant Crisis

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) took his state’s immigration crisis into his own hands by seizing control of Eagle Pass Park— a popular spot for illegal migrants to make landfall after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

This week, Texas state officials took control of a riverfront park in an effort to combat the state’s growing migrant problem as they aim to arrest illegal aliens under Operation Lonestar.

Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas said that Texas seized Shelby Park by building fences to keep citizens and even U.S. border agents out without notice as Abbott fights President Joe Biden’s reckless open border policies that encourage illegal immigration.

“That is not a decision that we agreed to,” Salinas said during a speech. “This is not something that we wanted. This is not something that we asked for as a city.”

Footage showed that fences blocked off the entrances while military trucks were parked inside the 50-acre public park.

“They will be denying access,” Salinas said. “Again, this is not the city of Eagle Pass denying access to the park. This is the state using that emergency declaration.”

“The Texas Military Department confirms the TX National Guard has seized control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, and is restricting Border Patrol from accessing the area, saying the Feds’ perpetuate illegal crossings,'” Fox News border correspondent Bill Melugin reported. “This is the area where Border Patrol has been cutting TX razor wire. Razor wire and fences are now deployed to block the area from the public and federal government.

The Texas Military Department said it has maintained a security presence at Shelby Park since 2021. They stated that the seizure of the park— where mass illegal crossings occur— is to prepare for expected illegal migrant surges and to sustain immigration crossings in the park and the Eagle Pass area.

“Texas will continue to deploy Texas National Guard soldiers, DPS troopers, and more barriers, utilizing every tool and strategy to respond to President Biden’s ongoing border crisis,” Abbott spokesperson Renae Eze said in a statement.

I’m response, Biden’s Department of Justice has called on the U.S. Supreme Court to take action against the state, saying “Texas’s new actions since the government’s filing demonstrate an escalation of the State’s measures to block Border Patrol’s ability to patrol or even to surveil the border and be in a position to respond to emergencies.”

Nebraska Bill Would Ban State Enforcement of Most Federal Gun Control

LINCOLN, Neb. (Jan. 3, 2024) – A Nebraska bill would end state and local enforcement of many federal acts that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms within the state.

Sen. Steve Halloran introduced Legislature Bill 194 (LB194) last year and it has been carried over for the 2024 session. Titled the “Second Amendment Preservation Act,” the bill would prohibit state agencies and law enforcement officers from willfully enforcing a federal statute, order, rule, or regulation purporting to regulate a firearm, a firearm accessory, or firearm ammunition that “does not exist under the laws of this state,” except to comply with an order of a court.

The proposed law would also bar any Nebraska government entity from utilizing assets, state funds, or funds allocated by the state to engage in any activity that aids a federal agency, federal agent, or corporation providing services to the federal government in the enforcement of the same.

State or local agents guilty of violating the act would be subject to civil penalties of up to $3,000 on the first offense and class I misdemeanor charges on a second offense. Local governments or agencies found guilty of violating the law would lose grant funds in the following fiscal year.

LB194 is similar to a law passed in Arizona during the 2021 legislative session.

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No tax on bullets? Why one SC lawmaker wants to eliminate sales tax for some ammunition

If you’re a South Carolina gun owner, there’s a chance you could be able to buy ammunition without a sales tax in the future, if a new proposal becomes a law.

State Rep. Ashley Trantham, R-Greenville, filed a bill ahead of the legislative session that begins in January that would eliminate the sales tax on small arms ammunition. This would include ammunition for any “portable firearm,” which could include “rifles, shotguns, pistols and revolvers with no barrel greater than an internal diameter of .50 caliber or a shotgun of ten gauge or smaller,” the bill reads.

Small arms ammunition is normally what gun owners keep in a purse, by their bedside or in their vehicle, Trantham said. These weapons are used for personal protection, she added, which is why she is pushing to eliminate the sales tax only for for small arms ammunition and not bigger guns used for hunting or other uses.

“We have open borders, and more than ever, we just don’t know who we’re going to come across,” Trantham said. “When we’re out shopping, when we’re even in our homes. I’m seeing cases where there’s home invasions, things like that happening, more rapid than I can remember in the past ever seeing it.”

Trantham said she filed the bill based on a request from a constituent. South Carolina, Trantham said, should “definitely” not pursue gun control laws that she said would make it harder for people to protect themselves.

“This was specifically just to make sure that people that obviously can legally own a firearm have access to it, and it can be a little bit more affordable,” Trantham said. “I honestly don’t believe that we should be taxing a constitutional right.”

The South Carolina state sales tax rate is 6%. Dozens of items are exempted from sales tax in the state, from hearing aids to erectile dysfunction medication to materials used to assemble missiles.

In the past year, another state sales tax exemption was proposed: feminine hygiene products, including menstrual pads and tampons. Advocates for that proposal argued that those items are medical necessities and should not be taxed in South Carolina. That bill passed the House and remains sitting in the hands of the Senate finance committee.

Trantham, who is a S.C. House Freedom Caucus member, said she believes eliminating the tax on small arms ammunition is a “no-brainer,” but it’s not yet clear whether the General Assembly will choose to make the bill a priority.

“I would think that it would be easy,” Trantham said. “But then again, when you have people in Columbia that campaign one way and then vote another, it’s hard to say what they’ll grab a hold on. If the people decide it’s priority, they have the power, which is beautiful. That’s that’s the way it’s supposed to be.”

Barrasso: The Second Amendment is Freedom’s Safeguard

WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today blocked an attempt by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to ban so-called “assault weapons.” Senator Barrasso spoke on the Senate floor on the need protect Americans’ Second Amendment rights.

“Almost every single page of this bill adds new restrictions and new burdens on people who follow the law. It tells you what you can buy and what you cannot buy. It bans more than 205 popular rifles, shotguns, and pistols by name. I oppose any policies that jeopardize the Second Amendment rights of the people of Wyoming and across the country,” Sen. John Barrasso Wednesday on Senate Floor.

Excerpts from Sen. Barrasso’s remarks follow:

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Attorney General Knudsen Leads Opposition To Biden’s Latest Attack On Gun Rights

HELENA – Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a coalition of 26 attorneys general in opposition to the Biden administration’s shocking and unconstitutional attack on American’s right to keep and bear arms that could criminalize law-abiding citizens for selling a single firearm for profit unless the seller obtains a federal license. 

The attorneys general submitted a formal comment letter Thursday to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) regarding its proposed rulemaking, “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms.” The proposed rule is unconstitutional, violating the Second Amendment by making any individual who sells a firearm without a federal license liable to civil, administrative, or even criminal penalties.  

“This proposed rule is a flagrant violation of every American’s rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment, ignoring the very concerns our founders had when they ratified it,” Attorney General Knudsen said. “Rather than meaningfully addressing the rise in violent crime occurring around the country, the Biden administration is once again criminalizing law-abiding citizens. I will always fight federal overreach and attempts to erode Montanans’ gun rights.” 

The rule defines “dealer” as anyone who “sells or offers for sale firearms, and also represents to potential buyers or otherwise demonstrates a willingness and ability to purchase and sell additional firearms.” It also expands the definition of earning a profit to be determined by something other than money to include personal property, a service, another medium of exchange, or valuable consideration and would not even require a firearm to be sold, just an offer would engage in a transaction. 

The Biden administration made no attempt to comply with the Second Amendment in the rule. While longstanding regulations of large commercial enterprises that sell firearms might be consistent with the Second Amendment, that is not what this rule does as it seeks to require a license of every individual who sells a firearm for anything the ATF sees as a profit.  

The Supreme Court of the United States made it clear in their recent ruling on New York State Rifle & Pistole Ass’n Inc. v. Bruen that if the Second Amendment “covers an individual’s conduct,” any burden on that conduct is presumptively unconstitutional and only showing historical tradition, which the Biden administration cannot show in this case, can overcome that presumption. 

Additionally, many courts have held the ability to buy a firearm is encompassed in the right to keep a firearm, which is guaranteed to Americans in the Second Amendment. Therefore, the ability to sell a firearm, which also necessarily implicates the right to buy one, to someone else is also a protected by the Second Amendment. 

Not only is the rule unconstitutional, but it is also arbitrary and capricious and is unlawful under the Administrative Procedures Act (APA). While the ATF claims the rule builds on the Gun Control Act of 1968, it violates the GCA’s “letter and spirit” as it “renders anyone that the Department identifies to be selling a firearm for profit a firearms dealer.” And while there are a few exceptions (like sales of firearms to family members), they can still lead to absurd implications. 

“In America, it should be legal for a family member to sell a firearm to another family member without risk of prosecution. But the exception is flawed,” the letter states. “Reading the exception, one can conclude that if a family member sells another family member a firearm for as little as one dollar more than the original purchase price, that seller could be open to civil, administrative, or criminal liability. That absurdity risks hurting innocent people and chilling law-abiding behavior.” 

Rather than focusing on its job to arrest, investigate, and aid in prosecuting violent criminals using firearms to terrorize communities across the nation, the ATF is using the proposed rule to criminalize law-abiding Americans.  

“If the Bureau was serious about combatting violent crime, it would focus on enforcing the laws that are already on the books to hold violent criminals accountable for their actions. That would be the type of work that could save lives.,” the attorneys general wrote. 

Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming joined the letter led by Attorney General Knudsen, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. Additionally, the Arizona legislature joined the letter. 

Click here to read the letter. 

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House Votes To Overturn Biden’s EV Mandate that Cars Produced in the US be Fully Electric by 2032.

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Speaker Mike Johnson Tables Move to Slip Deep State Reauthorization in Defense Bill
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Tuesday reportedly tabled a move to slip a deep state reauthorization into a defense bill.

“BREAKING NEWS —@SpeakerJohnson has nixed an extension of FISA authority as part of the NDAA,” Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman wrote.

As Breitbart News has reported, Johnson and other congressional leaders have wanted to temporarily reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Section 702 is a controversial government surveillance law, and the proposed move received strong backlash from 54 bipartisan House lawmakers and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).

“Keeping FISA out of the NDAA is a victory for the American people who demand the end of warrantless government surveillance. I applaud Speaker Johnson’s decision to not cave to the Biden admin, Christopher Wray, and the entire intel community,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) told Breitbart News in a written statement.

At one point, Johnson’s office refused to confirm to Breitbart News Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-FL) claim that there would be no reauthorization, temporary or otherwise, of Section 702.

Johnson said that they would allow for the different Section 702 fixes to be considered on the House floor:

During a closed-door conference meeting on Tuesday, Johnson said that he could bring Jordan’s and Turner’s two competing bills up for a vote in a rare procedural gambit known as “King of the Hill” if there isn’t a consensus over Section 702, according to two Republicans in the room.

Under that gambit, leadership can bring competing proposals to the floor as amendments, and whichever proposal is the last one that comes up for a vote and still gets a majority is the one that gets adopted. It allows leadership to try to influence the outcome by putting its preferred proposal last.

As recently as Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who cosponsored the Government Surveillance Reform Act with Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) to rein in Section 702, opposed an extension in the NDAA.

“We’re going the distance with reform. Business as usual is not going to be acceptable. When I started, it was pretty lonely. You could have meetings about 702 reform operations in a couple of phone booths. And I’m looking around now and I’m seeing a lot of allies,” Wyden said, noting that he does not see how a clean authorization could have been possible with the strong bipartisan opposition to such a move.

As Johnson and other congressional leaders no longer wish to include Section 702 in the NDAA debate, the Judiciary Committee will now consider the merits of their proposal to rein in the controversial surveillance law.

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17 governors call on Biden, Yellen, congressional leaders to prevent foreign adversaries from buying US land

Joint Governors Letter CCP

Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is leading a letter with 16 of her fellow GOP governors, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, to the Biden administration and congressional leaders in both chambers to tackle the growing issue of China buying American land.

“But national security demands a national response from national leaders,” they continued. “The responsibility is now with you – follow the lead of our States and prevent CCP amassing of American lands.”

The governors noted that it “is no secret the communist regime in China is acquiring swaths of real property throughout the United States” and that very recently, a subsidiary of a Chinese-controlled company “bought two hundred and seventy acres of land in Green Charter Township, Michigan, not far from the Camp Grayling National Guard facility.”

“Unfortunately, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States declined to block – or even review – this plainly alarming transaction,” the governors wrote.

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West Michigan town forms militia to protest red flag gun laws

Holton Township in Muskegon County last week voted to declare itself a “Second Amendment sanctuary,” and went one step further than the 50-plus Michigan communities and counties that have passed similar resolutions.

The township of about 2,500 residents also passed a resolution to create a militia and refuse to enforce any gun restriction law passed before 2021.

The resolution was passed days before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed legislation that prevents those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from owning firearms for eight years.

Holton Supervisor Alan Jager told Bridge Michigan the overwhelming majority of township residents support the move because they fear their rights are slipping away, especially after Michigan adopted a “red flag law” that allows judges to seize weapons of those deemed a danger to themselves or others.

“You just can’t come in and take our weapons away without giving us a fighting chance to stand up for ourselves because we may not be guilty of anything,” Jager said.

“We would just like to see local people stand up and say, ‘You just can’t do this and pass these laws’ because it may be good for the city but not good for rural communities.”

The township tried and failed to pass a similar resolution last year. The new resolution — which was approved unanimously — also creates a militia open to anyone 18, and older who primarily lives in Holton Township.

“ Holton Township will not acknowledge any new laws that are associated with red flag laws, or any other infringement of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Holton Township will not acknowledge any new regulation that prohibits open carry or concealed carry,” the resolution reads.

Michigan in May became the 21st state to adopt a red flag law, but the measure doesn’t take effect until Feb. 13. The law would allow relatives, current and ex-spouses, dating partners, police and mental health professionals to petition courts for an extreme risk protection order to take away guns from those with mental health issues.

A judge would have up to 24 hours to rule on the petition. If granted, police would notify the gun owner, who then has up to 24 hours to turn over their weapons before they are confiscated.

In Michigan, at least 53 of 82 mostly rural counties have passed resolutions declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. While some law enforcement have questioned how the red flag law would be enforced, the sanctuary resolutions are nonbinding, since county and township officials can’t direct sheriffs or police to flout the law.

“This is all political grandstanding for the far-right gun extremists,” said Ryan Bates, executive director of End Gun Violence Michigan, an organization dedicated to passing gun violence prevention laws.

“We’ve seen this in other states, where gun-sense majorities have passed laws like safe storage, like extreme risk protection orders, like protection for domestic violences survivors.”

In Illinois,68 of 102 counties are Second Amendment Sanctuaries, while over a dozen counties in Indiana have also passed similar resolutions.

“At the end of the day, most law enforcement officials understand that laws aren’t suggestions or guidelines, they are laws,” Bates said.

Senate passes Kennedy amendment protecting veterans’ Second Amendment rights

The Senate passed an amendment introduced by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., that protects veterans’ Second Amendment rights if the Department of Veterans Affairs steps in to manage their financial benefits.

The Senate voted 53 to 45 Wednesday in approval of the amendment.

“Veterans who sacrificed to defend our Constitution shouldn’t see their own rights rest on the judgment of unelected bureaucrats—but right now, they do,” Kennedy told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“My amendment would prevent government workers from unduly stripping veterans of their right to bear arms. Every veteran who bravely serves our country has earned VA benefits, and it’s wrong for the government to punish veterans who get a helping hand to manage those resources.”

Under current law, the Department of Veterans Affairs reports a veteran’s name to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System when they seek help managing their finances in a conservatorship.

“If a veteran who defended this country has to go to the VA and ask for help managing his or her financial affairs, the VA automatically reports that veteran to the FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System . . . and that veteran loses his firearm,” Kennedy said on the floor of the Senate Wednesday. “Automatically. No due process.”

The amendment was spearheaded by Kennedy and fellow Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, who championed the measure in June as one that would “would prevent government workers from unduly stripping veterans of their right to bear arms.”

“All our amendment would do, would be able would be to say: The VA, just because you’ve asked for help with your money, can not automatically take away your firearm or report you to [the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System] unless a judge has ruled that that veteran is a danger to himself or to others,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor Wednesday.

The executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, the gun rights group’s lobbying arm, applauded the amendment’s passage and Sens. Kennedy and Moran for leading the charge on the bill.

“The men and women who volunteer to defend the Constitution deserve to be protected by the same Constitution for which they risk life and limb,” NRA-ILA Executive Director Randy Kozuch exclusively told Fox News Digital Wednesday.

“It is a national embarrassment that anti-gun bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., have gotten away with unilaterally stripping veterans of their rights for decades. On behalf of millions of NRA members, many of whom are veterans, we applaud Senators Kennedy and Moran for leading on this important issue,” Kozuch continued.

Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy argued against the amendment Wednesday, claiming it would arm “mentally incompetent” veterans and lead to “a death sentence for scores of deeply mentally ill veterans.”

The passage comes after Kennedy said last week that he had struck a deal with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the amendment after holding up the bill funding the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development, and military construction, the Hill previously reported.

“The original position was they wanted me to pull my amendment down, and I said ‘No,’” he told the Hill.

Georgia Lieutenant Gov Wants To Pay Teachers $10,000 Annually To Carry Guns On Campuses

Georgia Republican Lieutenant Gov. Burt Jones unveiled legislation on Wednesday that would annually pay school teachers $10,000 to carry a gun at school in an effort to increase safety on campuses.

“One of the most critical duties we have as public servants is to protect those who are most vulnerable – including all of Georgia’s children,” Jones said in a news release.

Jones said the legislation would use state funding to ensure Georgia’s school systems and teachers have the option to receive proper firearms training and certification. The plan also calls for stricter guidelines for existing school safety plans and to distribute more money to schools that hire school resource officers with police certification, The Associated Press reported.

“We feel like this is the best way to prepare faculty, but also prepare law enforcement and the system however we can,” Jones reportedly said at Austin Road Elementary School in Winder on Wednesday, adding the state should take more “proactive” measures to prevent school shootings.

Republican State Sens Max Burns and Clint Dixon joined the Lt. Gov. in crafting the 2024 legislative priority to increase school safety, contending that protecting children and their classrooms is their first responsibility.

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