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.

Republican spending bill would block gun background check rule
Proposed rule would implement a provision in the first bipartisan anti-gun violence package passed in years

As the Biden administration reiterates calls for tougher gun measures in response to the mass shooting in Maine last week, House Republicans updated a fiscal 2024 spending bill with provisions that take the opposite track.

House Republicans are looking to use the appropriations process to block a proposed rule to implement a provision included in the first bipartisan anti-gun violence package passed in years.

That gun package, which received the support of Republican senators such as Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, widened the definition of engaging in the business of firearm dealing, according to the Justice Department.

The law was enacted in the aftermath of a shooter killing 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and another shooter killing 10 Black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y.

A proposed rule the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives published Sept. 8 would clarify the circumstances in which a seller would be required to obtain a federal firearm license and run background checks.

A new version of the House fiscal 2024 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill, posted on the House Rules Committee website, adds a provision that would prohibit federal funds from being spent to enforce that rule, along with at least two other provisions that would roll back ATF enforcement against firearms dealers.

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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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Oklahoma Ban on Sex Changes for Minors Upheld by Federal District Court
Judge has ruled that the state law banning procedures or therapies for children under 18 doesn’t violate parents’ constitutional rights

U.S. District Court Judge John F. Heil has ruled that an Oklahoma state law banning sex-change procedures on children was constitutional and therefore could be enforced.

The ruling on Oct. 5, 2023, came as a result of a motion for injunctive relief to restrain the state from implementing the law.

Five young people identifying as transgender and in some degree of transition, their parents or legal guardians, and a health care provider are the plaintiffs in the case.

The defendant is Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican.

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Obammy started a program where, if the VA decided vets had to have their financial matters handled by a ‘representative payee’ or conservator, the vet’s name was sent to the FBI to be put in NICS as a prohibited person for gun possession. There was no requirement for even a court decision or adjudication, just if the VA made a decision, on their own. Trump canned the program, but SloJoe reinstituted it.

Kennedy Says Deal Reached to Protect Veterans’ Gun Rights

There’s a joke about the VA: It gives veterans a second chance to die for their country.

We’re not big fans of how the VA does a lot of things. One of the things we’ve seen, though, is particularly alarming. That’s the idea of the VA having the authority to take action against their patients with regard to their gun rights.

Sure, I get the desire to do something for someone who is suicidal or whatnot, but this wasn’t limited to just that. It included people who simply needed some help with their finances or who were physically disabled.

Now, though, a deal has reportedly been reached that will put an end to that threat.

Sens. John Kennedy and Chuck Schumer have worked out a deal on a bill to protect veterans’ gun rights, according to the Hill.

At issue was an amendment proposed by Kennedy, R-La., that would allow military veterans, who have to enter a conservatorship, the ability to keep their firearms.

“I just left Chuck’s office. I think we got it worked out,” Kennedy told The Hill. “We’re going to hotline some new language. Frankly, I think it makes my amendment stronger. Now, not everyone’s going to be happy.”

Kennedy’s amendment was proposed as part of the Senate’s “minibus” appropriations bill that would fund the departments of Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture.

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

If this does go through, it promises to protect the gun rights of veterans throughout the nation.

The thing about a conservatorship is that it’s not always because someone is mentally incompetent. If they are, then they can be adjudicated as such and their gun rights can be revoked that way, but it’s not the VA’s place to determine if a veteran is incompetent or not.

Many people enter conservatorship because of various reasons, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unable to responsibly exercise their gun rights.

Either way, veterans aren’t going to be interested in utilizing VA services if their gun rights are going to be in danger. It’s one of the issues with red flag laws with regard to therapists. If people think their rights are at risk, they simply won’t get the help they need.

Kennedy’s bill seeks to fix that, to keep the VA from screwing over veterans like that.

What we need to be careful about now is that the deal actually goes through. I know what Sen. Kennedy said, but this is Schumer we’re talking about here. He’s not exactly gun-friendly, now is he? Could there have been a miscommunication there? Maybe. Or maybe Schumer just wants to get this bill through and if it has to swallow something that protects gun rights for veterans, then so be it.

Either way, we need to wait and see how this actually plays out, but I’m hopeful that this will become law. Our veterans deserve it and so much more.

House GOP launches inquiry into Biden ATF gun sales rule: ‘Universal gun registry’

EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Roger Williams (R-TX), chairman of the House Small Business Committee, is launching an investigation into a new rule from the Biden administration making single-sale gun sellers subject to gun dealing licenses.

In September, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives proposed a change to the definition of “engaged in the business of selling firearms” to include anyone who sells a firearm with the “predominant purpose” of profit.

A letter from Williams to ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, obtained exclusively by the Washington Examiner, notes the proposed rule would force nearly 25,000 new persons to legally register for a Federal Firearms License, “functionally turning them into a small business.”

“The ATF’s new rule would force thousands of gun enthusiasts to register as Federally Licensed Firearms Dealers,” Williams told the Washington Examiner. “Criminals will simply ignore this new requirement while law-abiding citizens will be forced to submit their information to the ATF as another backdoor attempt to make a universal gun registry. This ridiculous new requirement will do nothing to improve public safety and only shows the Biden Administration’s contempt for the Second Amendment.”

The new rule would require a gun owner who wishes to sell only one of their firearms to register as an FFL if they plan to make a profit, the letter states. It also notes that many gun owners do not wish to become businesses and are also not prepared to do so.

“ATF has determined that this proposed rule would impact unlicensed persons who would now have to become licensed dealers to lawfully operate as a small business,” the proposed rule states. “Because some of these unlicensed persons may transact in low-volume firearms sales to predominantly earn a profit, the costs to become an FFL could have an impact on their overall profit from firearms transactions.”

Williams and the committee are demanding answers from the ATF on the rule’s effect on small businesses, much of which was left out of the rule, the letter launching the inquiry states. One item requested is the cost in fees from small businesses to the ATF imposed by the new rule.

It also states that the Regulatory Flexibility Act requires government agencies to consider less costly, suitable alternatives to regulations on small businesses, for which Williams is requesting a detailed audit of their considerations as well as an explanation as to why the ATF did not include this analysis in the proposed rule.

The committee is also requesting an accounting of how many of the 25,000 new persons the ATF believes will stop selling firearms altogether due to the new rule.

The ATF declined to comment but confirmed it received the letter from Williams.

MISSOURI ASKS US SUPREME COURT TO REVIVE SECOND AMENDMENT PRESERVATION ACT

The State of Missouri is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to revive the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” that blocks local law enforcement from enforcing federal gun prohibitions.

Under the act signed into law by Governor Mike Parson in 2021, residents can sue law enforcement for $50,000 if they attempt to enforce federal gun laws…the act was challenged last year in federal court by the Biden Administration with an appeals court ruling blocking it.

An emergency appeal was filed on Thursday putting the Second Amendment back on the docket for re-consideration by the Supreme Court asking that the law can continue to be enforced

[Florida AG] Ashley Moody Releases Legal Opinion, Insists ATF Infringed on Gun Rights

This week, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody released a legal opinion regarding the use of stabilizing braces for handguns in Florida.

Moody issued the opinion in response to a request from state Rep. Shane Abbott, R-DeFuniak Springs, to provide clarity on Florida law following a recently released Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) interpretation of a federal law. The ATF interpretation subjects handguns with stabilizing braces to National Firearms Act controls. Moody issued an opinion on a similarly worded provision of Florida law concluding that stabilizing braces are not short-barreled rifles.

“The Second Amendment is alive and well in Florida and our state laws protect the gun rights of law-abiding citizens. We issued this important legal opinion to provide clarity about our state law as the federal government continues to overreach in an effort to over-regulate certain firearm accessories,” said Moody.

The opinion deals solely with Florida state law and has no bearing on the ATF’s action. The opinion states: “Unless and until judicially or legislatively clarified, I conclude that the definition of ‘short-barreled rifle,’ which the Legislature enacted in 1969, does not include a handgun, such as a pistol, to which a person attaches a stabilizing brace, because the use of such an optional accessory does not change the fundamental characteristics of the handgun.” Separately, the state of Florida is challenging the ATF interpretation.

GOV. NOEM INVITES CALIFORNIA GUN MANUFACTURERS TO MOVE TO SD

PIERRE, S.D. – Governor Kristi Noem invited California gun manufacturers and law-abiding gun owners to move to South Dakota to escape California’s gun and ammunition tax , which Governor Gavin Newsom signed as the first such tax in the country.

“Why would anyone want to live in a state where your Second Amendment rights are infringed?” said Governor Noem. “South Dakota has been setting the standard as the most Second-Amendment friendly state in the nation for years. Our firearms industry is thriving. Unlike Governor Newsom, South Dakota respects our God-riven rights. So if you are a California gun manufacturer or law-abiding gun owner, we are ready to help you make the move!”

South Dakota’s firearms industry has a total economic impact of $400 million. The state has the second-highest number of registered weapons per 100,000 residents of any state in the nation – this is over three times the nation average and seven times that of California. South Dakota’s concentration of employment in the firearms industry is also 77% higher than the national average and 177% higher than California’s.

Silencer Central has grown from being a local business with a small office space in Sioux Falls to having a national footprint. The gun shop now employs 165 team members and sold more than 100,000 silencers in 42 states last year. They opened their new 47,500-square-foot corporate office in Sioux Falls last June and have grown their staff from 17 to 175, including 120 onsite in Sioux Falls.

Cole-TAC relocated from New Hampshire to the Black Hills, bringing with it 40 jobs. Cole-TAC manufactures tactical accessories, include suppressor covers, ammo storage, hunting gear, and a variety or shooting accessories.

The first bill that Governor Noem ever signed into law guarantees Constitutional Carry for all law-abiding South Dakotans. South Dakota was also the first state to not charge a fee for a concealed carry permit, and it is one of the strongest states for “Stand Your Ground” laws.

State and local governments in South Dakota cannot use an emergency declaration as an excuse to infringe on Second Amendment rights. And, in April, Governor Noem signed an Executive Order blocking state agencies from contracting with large banks that engage in discrimination against firearm-related industries.

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is equipped to help those interested in moving to South Dakota. You can find more information through Governor Noem’s “Freedom Works Here” website.

Republicans push ahead with attempt to impeach governor over Albuquerque gun ban

A pair of Republican lawmakers are pushing ahead with an effort to impeach Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham over a gun ban that has been called unconstitutional and thrust New Mexico into the national debate on gun violence.

The effort, however, faces an uphill battle in the state Legislature, where Democrats control both chambers.

Reps. John Block of Alamogordo and Stefani Lord of Sandia Park this week launched a certificate form for lawmakers to sign calling for an extraordinary session to impeach Lujan Grisham over an executive order prohibiting carrying open or concealed firearms in public in Albuquerque and across Bernalillo County.

The governor ordered the 30-day gun ban, part of an effort to stem gun violence in New Mexico’s most populous city, after the shooting death of an 11-year-old boy — another casualty in a city beset by crime. The ban also triggered widespread criticism of the governor, who said no constitutional right, in her view, is intended to be absolute.

“The U.S. Constitution is absolute and designed to protect the rights of the people against tyrannical decisions like Governor Lujan [Grisham] attempted to do,” Lord, a staunch gun rights advocate, said in a statement.

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Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, at the Capitol in January during the legislative session.

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Albuquerque city council members call for special session on crime, with a catch

In the wake of her ill-fated and constitutionally unsound attempt to suspend the right to bear arms in Albuquerque and surrounding Bernalillo County, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has resisted appeals from some of her fellow Democrats to call lawmakers back to Santa Fe for a special session on “gun violence”. Instead, the governor has chosen to continue going it alone; revising her emergency public health order last week and scaling back its concealed carry prohibitions to apply only to parks and playgrounds in the city and county in the hopes of convincing a judge to let her revised order stand.

Still, a growing number of voices are demanding a special session to deal with “gun violence”, including several members of the Albuquerque City Council. But in a sign of just how unpopular the governor’s unilateral order disarming law-abiding citizens is among rank-and-file voters, the request for a special session comes with a caveat

“When we’re talking crime here in Albuquerque, we are one of the most dangerous cities in America,” says Albuquerque City Councilwoman Brook Bassan.…

The governor announced she would not call a special session for crime after Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen publicly urged her to. Now, Albuquerque city councilors are weighing in. Councilors Dan Lewis, Brooke Bassan, Louie Sanchez, and Renee Grout are introducing a resolution urging the governor to call a special session to specifically address crime.

“This is about making sure that we do everything we can. And we ask our governor for the support that we need so that she can do everything she can to help us while we also take some accountability,” says Bassan.

In addition to addressing the drug and mental health concerns, the resolution says a special session is needed to address reforming the pretrial detention system. Officials are calling for funding of the warrant program for the next five years and passing legislation to impose a lifetime sentence for repeat offenders who use firearms.

Virtually all of the gun control measures that Grisham has been demanding are notably absent from the resolution offered by the city council members; banning so-called assault weapons, raising the age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21, and imposing a 14-day waiting period on all gun transfers in the state. Instead, the resolution is focused squarely on punishing violent offenders rather than targeting lawful gun owners.

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