Category: RKBA

JOE BIDEN DOUBLES DOWN ON DESIRE TO REBOOT GUN BAN

Presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden on Wednesday made clear his intentions to reboot an expired ban on popular semi-auto firearms if he moves into the White House.

Biden, a career politician who served two terms as the country’s Vice President and 35 years as a U.S. Senator from Delaware, called back to the days of his key support in Congress of the controversial Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994.

“Weapons of war have no place in our communities,” Biden said on his campaign’s social media accounts. “When I was a senator, I took on the NRA and secured a 10-year ban on assault weapons — and as president, I’ll ban these weapons again.” Continue reading “”

Voting With Their Guns

There’s nothing like nationwide protests and a murder surge in major cities to cause a spurt of new gun sales. Gun controllers may want to rethink their 2020 strategy.
The FBI’s most recent gun-sale figures are stunning. They show that in July the bureau carried out 3.6 million background checks, the third highest month on record. Adjusting to reflect checks only for gun purchases, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) says this translates to 1.8 million gun sales for July 2020—a 122% increase over July 2019. The 12,141,032 gun sales through this July is just shy of the 13,199,172 sales for all of 2019.
These record sales are best understood as a referendum on the riots, and the growing lack of confidence many Americans have that police will protect them. This is more than National Rifle Association spin. Continue reading “”

Gun Control Myths: How politicians, the media, and botched “studies” have twisted the facts on gun control

Lott blows away one false myth about gun ownership after another.
As Andrew Pollack’s Foreward notes; “Learn the actual facts that debunk them.” From myths about mass public shootings to suicides to gun ownership rates and crime to gun free zones, Lott addresses the claims you frequently hear in the media and explains what is wrong with those claims.
“John Lott has been giving us the facts about guns for decades. Finally clear to all that one party in America has an anti-Second Amendment platform and wants to disarm you. Now you need to arm yourself with the Truth.

“When citizens see images of social breakdown and violence on television or out their windows, it changes them,” added Tom Kubiniec, CEO of gun safety and storage company, SecureIt Tactical. “Those who have supported strict gun control or confiscation have argued that only the government can provide safety and security. That argument appears to have collapsed.”

Will first-time gun buyers sway political support for the Second Amendment?

The year 2020 has brought with it unrest and uncertainty – from the coronavirus pandemic to the wave of nationwide protests and riots that have resulted in a push not only to enact police reform but to defund and abolish entire departments.

Amidst these developments, gun store shelves are being wiped bare, and more than two-and-a-half million Americans are estimated to have made the purchase of a firearm for the very first time in their lives.

Data from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) has found that at least 40% of their sales have come from first-time buyers. Typically, this group accounts for about 25% of buyers.

The glut of new owners has ignited a debate as to whether it will solidify a more pro-gun voting bloc and whether it will bring about more of a “middle ground” in the debate over gun legislation. Continue reading “”

Presidential Message on National Shooting Sports Month 2020

During National Shooting Sports Month, we commemorate our Constitutional right to bear arms by celebrating America’s cherished past time of recreational and competitive shooting sports.

Our great Nation has a rich history of fostering responsible gun ownership.  In the early days of our Republic, turkey shoots encouraged community engagement and brought families closer together.  As our country grew, these local events developed into large regional and national events and competitions that drew thousands of spectators.  By the late 19th century, sharpshooters such as Pawnee Bill and Annie Oakley established popular shows with Wild West and other themes, touring the country with acts featuring their talent with firearms.  These pioneering American folk heroes demonstrated the courage, skill, and persistence necessary to excel in shooting sports and that reflect our founding values.  Today, we continue to promote interest in such social pastimes that celebrate our rich and unique history of shooting sports.

As we encourage our fellow Americans to take part in learning more about firearms this month, including safety and proper instruction, we also pledge to continue doing our part to ensure that our rights are never infringed upon.  Enshrined in the Bill of Rights, our Second Amendment protects the individual liberties of Americans to keep and bear arms.  Since my first day in office, I have made clear that my Administration will always protect and defend the Second Amendment.  We will continue to oppose those individuals and policies that attempt to tread on this essential and cherished liberty.

This National Shooting Sports Month, I ask those Americans who currently participate in shooting sports to share this cherished tradition with others.  Together, we can proudly ensure that the next generation knows how to safely and responsibly enjoy their Second Amendment freedoms.

The platform wasn’t the product of Biden’s thinking, but those propping him up. They’re ramming through a radical agenda to disarm law-abiding Americans when they’re buying firearms in record numbers over concerns of personal safety. This is a platform that is far beyond being out of step with America. It’s tripping over itself.

DNC PLATFORM GOAL: END THE FIREARM INDUSTRY

By Larry Keane

Presumed Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, called the firearm industry “the enemy” from the debate stage one year ago. Now, the rest of the party plans to follow him in that announcement with the Democratic Platform that lays out an agenda to dismantle the firearm and ammunition industry and destroy Second Amendment rights in America.

The DNC posted the party’s draft platform online, which will be formally adopted during the Milwaukee convention starting Aug. 17. Just two paragraphs of the 80-page document are dedicated to firearms, but not much space is needed when the party is in lockstep. The plan includes:

  • Criminalizing private firearm transfers
  • Disrupting interstate commerce by criminalizing online firearm and ammunition sales
  • Instituting endless “delay” windows for background checks
  • Banning the manufacture and sale of modern sporting rifles
  • Banning the manufacture and sale of standard magazines
  • Enacting licensing schemes to exercise Second Amendment rights
  • Enacting ex parte “red flag” laws to seize guns without legal recourse
  • Mandating home storage requirements under penalty of law
  • Repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act to subject the industry to frivolous lawsuits

In Lockstep

Former Vice President Biden already told America exactly how he feels when it comes to law-abiding citizens demanding their civil rights. Union autoworker Jerry Wayne questioned Biden on his commitment to safeguarding gun rights, only to be the target of Biden’s temper when he jabbed a finger in his face, telling Wayne, “not to be such a horse’s ass,” and telling him he’s “full of sh*t.” Continue reading “”

A Scary Fact Found in a Gun Survey on the Upcoming Election

Deep in a survey of likely voters, paid for by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for firearms manufacturers, is the startling fact that most people don’t realize Joe Biden, the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president, is a gun-control extremist.

While 95% of likely voters said they are “very likely” to vote in the upcoming election, only 17% of gun owners in the survey said “gun-related issues” were one of their three top policy areas going into this election (15% did say “crime” and 18% said “civil rights”).

The truth that Biden is no moderate on guns clearly isn’t getting out enough. The thing is, it isn’t speculation that Biden wants our guns. This fact isn’t even just informed opinion based on Biden’s previous policy positions. The glaring truth is, Biden has actually published a long list of his desired gun bans and restrictions on his 2020 campaign website. Continue reading “”

Americans Turn To 2nd Amendment For Protection From Radical Left

Letter to the editor | Don’t be fooled by changes in language

Language can be a powerful but cunning tool. Change words slightly and presto, the context changes beneath one’s feet.

For example, have you noticed how the language regarding guns has evolved recently? It’s no longer “gun control”; instead it’s “gun safety.” What a clever shift. No one can object to gun safety, right? It’s just plain reasonable. If you criticize it, you must be one of those crazy gun nuts.

The latest language shift is the characterization of “open carry” of firearms as a “loophole.” Obviously, if the Founding Fathers had any idea that citizens might run around carrying firearms openly, they would have forbidden it. It’s perfectly clear to “reasonable” people that “open carry” is a loophole they forgot to close. But never fear, we can make this minor fix to the Second Amendment for the “safety” of all.

Of course, the open carrying of firearms is not a loophole in the Constitution. At the time, virtually all firearms were carried openly. It wasn’t possible to carry them any other way. It wasn’t until firearms became compact enough to conceal that concealed carry became an issue. Consequently, laws were drafted to require permits to ensure that the scary person next to you couldn’t be carrying a hidden firearm unless properly screened and trained. (We can debate the constitutionality of such regulations another time.)

My point is, we need to read between the lines to avoid the snares set by clever shifts in language.

Mark Sherbine- Portage

Help Us Safeguard the Second Amendment
You’re not paranoid: Democrats do want to take your guns away.

There are many great reasons to contribute to the National Review webathon, but I believe that none is more important than the publication’s steadfast defense of the Second Amendment.

After the outbreak of the coronavirus, millions of Americans, feeling helpless and besieged by forces outside their control, began purchasing firearms to protect their families, property, and community. Once the lawlessness and fanaticism of the Antifa protests began spreading across the country, the number of gun owners continued to climb. When Democrats began embracing the notion of “defunding the police,” even more citizens saw gun ownership as a necessity of contemporary life. Continue reading “”

Fun With Data: More ‘Research’ Blames Mass Shootings On Those Who Didn’t Do It

It’s time to play “spot the lousy gun research” again! There’s yet a new “study” out that purports to link high rates of firearm ownership to higher rates of mass shootings. It’s economically entitled Comparing the Impact of Household Gun Ownership and Concealed Carry Legislation on the Frequency of Mass Shootings and Firearms Homicide, by Emma E. Fridel.

I had to read this paper because the pseudo-news reports included a remarkable factoid.

In order to address these challenges, a unique dataset of all mass murders in the United States from 1991 to 2016 was created. …

To date, this represents the most comprehensive and accurate database available on mass shooting incidents in the United States, with a total sample size of 592 mass shootings during the study period.

Five hundred, ninety-two mass shootings? Gun Facts only found 94 from 1982 to 2019. The Violence Project lists 174 from 1966 to 2020. The Rockefeller Institute of Government identified 318 from 1966 to 2017.

Where did Fridel find hundreds more than any other researcher over a shorter time frame? The devil is in the definitions.

Rockefeller’s Capellan and Jiao defined “mass public shooting” as “the killing of four or more individuals in one or more closely related locations within a 24-hour period.” That’s representative of the definition usually used. It excludes targeted killings like gangbangers fighting over turf, or domestic disputes gone massively wrong.

It excludes serial shootings that don’t occur in a single incident. Fridel went with something a little different.

Defined as the killing of four or more individuals (excluding the offender) with a firearm within 24 hours… …

As WISQARS does not provide linkage information, firearms homicide was measured as a count of victims rather than incidents.

Four or more within 24 hours.

No gang or family exclusions. It doesn’t even necessarily specify that the four victims be shot for related reasons or even by the same shooter.

I’m sure she dinked around with that highly questionable definition until she got one that generated clusters in all the wrong states. Since she’s using WISQARS in part, I’m not even sure the “mass shooting” victims had to be in the same city or state, just the same 24 hour period.

Then I hit this.

Household gun ownership was measured using a common proxy, the proportion of suicides committed with a firearm.

“Gun ownership” is estimated from suicides by firearm. Never mind that a goodly percentage of suicides are committed with firearms not owned by the subject. Never mind that better proxies, such as firearm hunting licenses, concealed carry licenses or in states like Illinois and Massachusetts, firearm owner licenses, exist.

Fridel gets to generate bogus data and reinforce the gun-ownership-equals-suicide canard, a twofer.

I should have quit there, but I was gripped by morbid curiosity.

She controlled her data for various socioeconomic and demographic factors. She included firearm homicide rates. But she specifically excluded non-firearm homicides, and violent crimes and property crimes.

It turns out she had per capita hunting license data, but decided not to use it; she just threw it out.

What this really is, then, is a study in how to manipulate and misuse data to further an agenda. Fridel could probably teach Garen Wintemute a few new tricks. Her data is so bad she probably wears an isolation suit to massage it.

WA Gun Prohibition Lobby Group Does Gun Rights Voters a Favor

The Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a billionaire-backed gun prohibition lobbying group, has done Evergreen State conservatives—especially gun owners—a huge favor by publishing its “2020 Legislative Score Card.”

That this information is available right before the Aug. 4 primary election is no small thing. One glance up and down the list tells gun owners who not to vote for in state legislative races, and the formula is easy.

If a politician gets a “0%” Voting grade, vote for him or her. Politicians rating “100%” should get an immediate rejection, and their opponent should get the gun owner vote. In between, any politician earning a rating below 50% deserves a look, while anyone popping above 50% should be considered overdue for replacement. Continue reading “”

Everytown for Gun Safety’s Stunning Hypocrisy

Evergreen State gun rights activists are stunned at what appears to be hypocrisy of anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, which sent out a pair of emails in recent days, one complaining about the National Rifle Association’s ability to raise $1 million in June, and the other reminding recipients about the $60 million it plans to spend to help elect “gun sense candidates.” Continue reading “”

The Right Of Self-Defense Is Under Attack

We knew the Second Amendment was under severe attack, but now even the right of self-defense is under serious attack.

Politicians who support efforts to reduce “gun violence” are truly after every gun owner. Mob violence is running amuck; truly hardened criminals are running around masquerading as protestors, and those that should be standing guard for the law-abiding citizens are enabling criminals. And in many places the police have been neutered.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, two attorneys who live on Portland Place Drive, a private street in St. Louis, MO, were videotaped last month defending their home with two firearms. A mob broke through the private gate separating Portland Place Drive from the public street were shouting obscenities and trespassing upon the McCloskey’s property. Fearing for their lives the couple called the St Louis police department who never responded. According to the St. Louis Dispatch:

“To access Portland Place, the crowd entered through an iron pedestrian gate. The McCloskeys told police the protesters broke the gate to get in. St. Louis police said the couple had called police for help once they saw the large crowd enter Portland Place. The McCloskeys had been at home and heard a loud commotion coming from the street; they went to investigate and saw “a large group of subjects forcefully break an iron gate marked with ‘No Trespassing’ and ‘Private Street’ signs,” police said. “The group began yelling obscenities and threats of harm to both victims. When the victims observed multiple subjects who were armed, they then armed themselves and contacted police.”

A video showing the McCloskey’s defending themselves and their property has been shown and reviewed on YouTube, Facebook, and most national as well as Missouri television channels. They have been interviewed by local media as well as Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, and Shawn Hannity as well as pro-Second Amendment blogger and author Dana Loesch.

However, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner (she is what would in other states be called a District Attorney) has in a series of very public actions targeted the McCloskeys. On June 29 she said, “we will not tolerate the use of force against this exercising their First Amendment rights, and we will use the full power of Missouri law to hold people accountable.” Then she sent the St. Louis police department, the same department that did not respond to 911 calls, to seize the McCloskeys’ firearms and finally on July 20, she charged each one with a felony count of unlawful use of a weapon. As most our readers are well aware a felony conviction is an automatic disbarment from owning firearms.

All these actions have nothing have nothing to do with rights of the McCloskeys. It is all political and has to do with Gardner making a statement in advance of the St. Louis primary election slated for August 4. But more importantly it is the opening barrage of a political attack against gun owners’ who use self-defense as the basic underpinning of the Second Amendment. Continue reading “”

Halbrook’s Book On 2A Origins Updated, Reissued

Do Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms? Or is this power vested solely in government? Recent years have seen a sea change in scholarship on the Second Amendment. Beginning in the 1960s, a view emerged that individuals had a “right” to bear arms only in militia service—a limited, “collective” right. But in the late 1980s Dr. Stephen Halbrook and a handful of other scholars began producing an altogether persuasive analysis that changed thinking on the matter, so that today, even in canonical textbooks, bearing arms is acknowledged as an individual right.

Stephen Halbrook’s The Founders’ Second Amendment is the first book-length account of the origins of the Second Amendment, based on the Founders’ own statements as found in newspapers, correspondence, debates, and resolutions. Dr. Halbrook investigates the period from 1768 to 1826, from the last years of British rule and the American Revolution through to the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the passing of the Founders’ generation. His book offers the most comprehensive analysis of the arguments behind the drafting and adoption of the Second Amendment, and the intentions of the men who created it.

With the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia vs. Heller upholding the Second Amendment as protecting an individual right to bear arms, The Founders’ Second Amendment could scarcely be more timely as the authoritative book on the subject.

Culpeper County sheriff recruiting volunteers in support of pro-gun agenda

Culpeper Sheriff Scott Jenkins is advancing his vow from last year to swear in scores of auxiliary deputies to protect their gun rights in the face of potential new gun restrictions pending at the state level.

The county’s elected lawman is accepting applications through Sept. 30 for “volunteer background investigators” to screen any future reserve deputies, according to a post Monday at the Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook page.

The volunteer investigators must be current sworn, retired or former law enforcement officers able to perform background investigations and vet any forthcoming applicants, the post stated. Continue reading “”

NEW SURVEY: GUN OWNERSHIP IS FOR PROTECTION, MOST OPPOSED TO BANS

A new survey among likely voters in 18 key battleground states found the number one reason for firearm ownership is for protection and that most are opposed to arbitrary gun bans.

The survey results, released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation on Monday, found that more than half believe self-defense is the primary motivation for firearm ownership. Moreover, almost 60 percent said that a ban on semi-automatic rifles would have little effect on crime, with 51 percent opposing a ban on such firearms. Just under half said a restriction on magazine capacity would have no effect on crime. Continue reading “”

Well Regulated: Bear Both Arms and the Truth

The Second Amendment, at its core, is not just about guns. Firearms are merely ancillary to a greater fundamental truth, namely that an individual is not free without the ability to engage in a sufficient use of force when needed to defend life, liberty, or property. In order to properly advocate for the right to keep and bear arms, it is necessary to tell the truth. In the past several months of civil unrest and violence, it has become clear that there are forces trying to lead this country from the truth, especially as it pertains to that most basic of rights, the right to self-defense. Continue reading “”

Charges filed against St. Louis couple who brandished guns at protesters
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson said in an interview over the weekend he’d consider a pardon for the couple if they were convicted of charges over the incident.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey were each charged with felony unlawful use of a weapon by St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, according to a statement and documents from her office.

Missouri AG moves to dismiss ‘political’ charges against St. Louis couple who pointed guns at BLM protesters in ‘self-defense’

Missouri’s Attorney General is seeking to dismiss felony gun charges brought against a husband and wife who aimed firearms at protesters outside their St. Louis mansion, insisting the couple had a right to defend their home.
State AG Eric Schmitt took to Twitter on Monday night with a video statement and a lengthy series of posts, arguing the case against Mark and Patricia McCloskey – which included a felony firearms charge as well as misdemeanor assault – “threatens to intimidate and deter law-abiding citizens from exercising their constitutional right of self defense.”

“The right to defend one’s person, family, home and property has deep roots in Missouri law. Self-defense is the central component of the right to keep and bear arms, which receives the highest protection from the MO Constitution,” wrote Schmitt, adding that he’d filed a pair of briefs to dismiss the charge