Category: RKBA

[Well Regulated] The truth about confiscation

During my freshman year at Cornell in 2018, I presented the pro-gun position on a panel discussion put together by the Roosevelt Institute. All of my fellow panelists held some degree of anti-gun sentiment, ranging from the position that there should be more stringent background check mandates, to a professor who, after I explained that the overwhelming majority of firearms sold today are semi-automatic, asked “Why not ban those?”

The reason I am sharing this anecdote is that during the discussion I made the claim that if given the order to confiscate firearms, the police and military would not comply. At the time I presented some statistics on the number of such state agents vs the number of armed civilians and other factors that would make confiscation as we often envision it impossible.

The same professor as above asked if there was no possibility of confiscation, then why was I opposed to stricter gun laws. Of course, I made an effort to explain the reasons for firearm ownership to him, but that moment has gnawed at me for a while. It is not just because people who hold such strong opinions on the subject have very little knowledge on it (I talked further with one of the people on the panel, and while I won’t mention their name, they did not have any understanding of even the most basic aspects of how any firearms or firearms accessories functioned), but rather that it forced me to readdress a preconception I had held for some time.

Before going further, when we discuss confiscation in the firearms community, it often generates images of police going door to door and searching for weapons. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t happen in the United States of America. Bear in mind that this is not for a lack of motivation. Cuomo, Newsom, and their ilk would surely like nothing more than to crush the boot of the state even further down on the people’s neck. As this column has discussed before, those in power are far more clever than we often give them credit for, and they know that such action would spur a domestic conflict. Instead, they will take our guns slowly and carefully, so that not too many people are imprisoned or raided at once, and the public at large won’t worry. Alternatively, they will find an opportunity to exploit crises.

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Well, gun control has always had racism as its major component, so……..

Gun Control Group Has a Racist Take on Black and Brown Gun Owners

The Violence Policy Center (VPC) on Monday released a 39-page report about the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the gun industry as a whole. The gun control group takes issue with the NSSF and NRA “targeting” blacks and Latinos as first-time gun owners.

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Gov. Abbott says during keynote that he wants to make Texas a ‘Second Amendment Sanctuary State’
Abbott said he wants to ensure that no government officials can take Texan’s guns

Gun Laws Don’t Stop the Killing

A recent report looks to see if laws restricting the right to keep and bear arms might have effects on homicides and suicides not caused by guns. They found no increase or decrease in non-gun homicides associated with changes in gun related homicides, and the data regarding suicides were too sparse to be useful. Their report was based on examining a series of earlier studies.

To the authors’ credit, they noted that some experts describe a substitution effect, that is, a person not killed by a firearm may instead be killed by some other form of violence. They cite several previous studies finding that those not suiciding by shooting are likely to do so by other means, and that homicides not committed by shooting will probably occur by other means.

There are however a number of problems with the publication.  The authors seem to see all homicides as bad, and never mention justifiable homicides. These often involve self-defense, or appropriate actions by police or bystanders to protect the innocent. The researchers seem to assume that any reduction in homicides is desirable, ignoring the injuries, arsons and assaults prevented by the appropriate use of force.

A recent DRGO contributor noted the existence of many dozens of peer-reviewed academic studies conducted by a wide range of authors suggesting that widespread gun ownership deters crime. He pointed as well to a specific instance in which children died needlessly because security officers were unarmed. In this school shooting, in which many children lost their lives, the justifiable homicide of the shooter would have avoided heartbreak for families and  prevented the school career of many teenagers from ending in a mournful trip to a cemetery.

Academics have found evidence that Right-to-Carry laws deter violent crime, including rapes and murders, and also lower burglary rates, while restrictions on concealed carry laws may increase the number of people who are murdered. Having a firearm is especially important for women, who are typically smaller and not as strong as those who attack them—being armed can compensate for this difference. Reports of homeowners using guns to defend against intruders are reported daily. Since intruders are often young men, it’s common that the occupant of a household are less physically powerful, and thus a justifiable homicide by a firearm prevents death or injury at the hands of a criminal.

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Ted Cruz wore a mask emblazoned with the Gonzales Flag’s “Come and Take It” logo to President Joe Biden’s inauguration Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: Sen. Ted Cruz (C) (R-TX), wearing a face mask that reads "Come and Take It", arrives to the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2021 in Washington, DC. During today's inauguration ceremony Joe Biden …

Citing Biden’s plans, local lawmaker renews plan to push back on federal gun laws

JEFFERSON CITY — A local lawmaker is once again pushing a bill to curb the reach of federal gun laws, and this time he says it can’t wait.

Sen. Eric Burlison, R-Battlefield, told a committee Tuesday his proposal to bar state and local law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws stricter than Missouri’s is exactly what Missouri needs to keep new President Joe Biden’s gun control agenda in check.

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City’s Carjacking Surge Shows No Sign Of Slowing, So Residents Are Buying Guns

HYDE PARK — Carjackings have been on the rise in Chicago for more than a year. After a 135 percent jump in 2020, the trend is continuing with 61 carjackings reported in the first 10 days of 2021.

As city officials and police scramble to address the issue with meetings, City Council hearings and community alerts, some Chicagoans are taking matters into their own hands against the advice of law enforcement: They’re applying for concealed carry permits.

Kelly Milan, a Northwestern graduate student, was carjacked Friday morning in Hyde Park in front of William H. Ray Elementary School.

About 8 a.m., the budding journalist drove her 2014 Jeep Cherokee to the school, 5631 S. Kimbark Ave., to interview students for the Hyde Park Herald.

“I got out of my car and locked my car and was in the middle of the street when I saw a running car in the middle of the street,” Milan said. “Immediately, I thought something bad was going to happen. Then, two guys got out of the car. One guy made eye contact with me and started running towards me. I just started saying ’No, no, no, no, no’ and I winced because he was running towards me and I thought he was going to take me down.

“Then I started saying, ‘Please don’t hurt me, please don’t hurt me.’ He said, ‘Where are your keys?’ and forcibly went through all my pockets. He grabbed my keys and my phone. The other guy was just leaning by the car, watching it.

“I was begging for my life. It was really, really terrifying. You never think you’re going to be a victim of a carjacking, let alone one outside an elementary school at 8 a.m., but here we are and it’s happening.”

Milan’s story is not unique. Carjackings shot up 135 percent in 2020, with 1,415 reported that year compared to 603 in 2019, according to the Chicago Police Department. So far in 2021, carjackings are on a pace to break last year’s record with 61 happening over the first 10 days of the year, up from 22 during the same period in 2020.

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WA Legislature Eyeballs Bills to Ban ‘Assault Weapons’

Almost as predicted by opponents of anti-gun Initiative 1639, the measure that among other things invented a definition for a “semiautomatic assault rifle,” anti-gun Democrats in the Washington Legislature have introduced legislation to ban so-called “assault weapons.”

I-1639 defined “semi-auto assault rifles” as literally any self-loading rifle, regardless of caliber (including rimfires) that has ever been manufactured anywhere in the world. Under the more specific definitions found in Senate Bill 5217 and its companion measure, House Bill 1229—both introduced at the request of anti-gun Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson—rimfires do not appear to be included. But semi-auto centerfire rifles are, and it’s quite a list. The legislation would also prohibit folding stocks and other accessories.

Both bills are now in committee. The House version is in the House Committee on Civil Rights and the Judiciary. The Senate version is in the Law & Justice Committee.

Two years ago, following passage of I-1639, Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich told reporters the only reason to create the definition in state statute was to one day allow a move to ban such firearms.

I-1639 includes this definition:

“Semiautomatic assault rifle” means any rifle which utilizes a portion of the energy of a firing cartridge to extract the fired cartridge case and chamber the next round, and which requires a separate pull of the trigger to fire each cartridge.

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Montana: Senate Judiciary to Vote on Permitless Carry Legislation Tomorrow

Tomorrow, the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to consider Permitless Carry Legislation, House Bill 102.  Please contact committee members and ask that they SUPPORT House Bill 102.

House Bill 102 will strengthen Montana’s self-defense laws by allowing law-abiding Montana gun owners to carry a firearm for self-defense throughout the state without first having to obtain a government-mandated permit to do so.  Further, this bill will remove some of Montana’s “gun-free zones” from the list of prohibited places and stop the unnecessary disarming of Montanans as they go about their day-to-day lives.

Again, it is important that you please contact members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and ask them to SUPPORT House Bill 102.

Don’t neglect tedious arguments

This week’s column is quite short, but fear not, more lengthy analysis and discussion will be published in the near future. As the incoming president who has openly advocated for the implementation of horrific and unconstitutional gun laws prepares to take office, we can expect a renewed visibility of the gun control debate in American politics.

The legacy and new media establishments are not on our side, so if there is to be any progress in advancing a pro-gun narrative, it must be made by individuals. A recent video by Mrgunsngear discussed how the rise of social media has had a positive impact on sales of NFA items. Perhaps these sales were primarily to persons who would have been purchasing firearms regardless, but the point of the correlation is that speech, especially online, can still have real-world impacts.

I myself used to be deeply indoctrinated into the belief that all guns were bad, that gun owners were dangerous, and that the ownership of weapons should only be permitted after a lengthy and invasive process. How could I not be? My schools, the media, everyone, advanced the same narrative over and over until it became normalized. It was only through being able to hear others outside of those circles rebutting the arguments that had been drilled into my head that I was able to begin to change my perspective.

I also know from personal experience that some of the most frustrating conversations to have are with anti-gunners. As a general rule, those who oppose the right to keep and bear arms know nothing of firearms technology or history, very little of the philosophy of firearms ownership, and perhaps a few misleading statistics on the subject.

When debating with anti-gun individuals or those who claim to be “pro-Second Amendment, but…”, it is inevitable that there will be a repetition of the exact same arguments over and over. Oftentimes, you will not be able to win over someone deeply indoctrinated into the belief that citizens should be left defenseless and subject to the wills of common criminals and tyrants. However, winning over such opponents is not the purpose of debating, the purpose is winning over the audience.

Change is made on an individual level, and it is the onlookers capable of having their minds changed that are your target. On rare occasions, you might discuss the subject with someone open-minded who can be convinced that the government should not be infringing on the right to keep and bear arms, but even when you are not, it is crucial to press onward.

There are many who have surrendered to a defeatist perspective, coming to the conclusion that the cultural battle is lost, so we must simply place all of our eggs into the basket of legal action. While this position is understandable, it is also foolish and self-destructive. Those who wish to see us disarmed have pushed legislation incrementally over decades, infested cultural institutions, and refused to cease their onslaught despite the people’s protestations. Why should we be any less determined than them?

It is mind-numbing to repeat the same arguments over and over again, but it is necessary when so many have been brought to believe the same exact falsehoods. If we are unwilling to engage with those who repeat nonsensical talking points that they half-remembered from a John Oliver clip or a slogan by Moms Demand Action, then how can we ever hope to make progress in the restoration of our rights?

It is only through constant and repeated efforts to counter lies and ignorance that any minds will be changed. A properly devoted effort to advance our cause is essential for deradicalizing anti-gun zealots to the more modest position that all gun laws must be repealed. We the people are now, and always have been, our only hope to stand against tyranny.

The author takes a long time to observe that you can’t have a meaningful discussion with people who want to put you in a gulag.
Personally, I like talking this way:
See the source image
How To Talk to Someone Who Wants To Put You In A Gulag

A few months ago, I was having a few beers with TAC managing editor Matt Purple, and we ended up pondering the great question of our times: why did people vote for Trump?

After tossing around the usual answers (a reaction against Hillary’s hawkishness, his carefully curated aura of success, post-industrial blue collar angst), Matt told me about an acquaintance of his whose vote for Trump was pure belligerence. His justification for his vote, as relayed to me by Matt, was something like: “Look around you. These people want us gone” (“us,” presumably, being straight, white, conservative, religious people). He knew Trump was a cad and a moron, but he didn’t care because Trump would fight for him. He wasn’t concerned about losing his privilege; he was concerned about losing his freedom and even his life.

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Biden Vows to Defeat America’s Oldest and Largest Civil Rights Group

U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- Joe Biden wants Americans to believe that he will focus on what he calls “the renewal of a politics that’s about solving problems – not stoking the flames of hate and chaos.”

Yet what “problem” is Biden promising to “solve” before he even takes office? Why the “defeat” of the National Rifle Association, a group of over 5 million Americans of all different backgrounds from all different walks of life united in their commitment to the nation’s constitutional freedoms.

Biden issued this “pledge” in a January 8 tweet that falsely tried to suggest the men and women of the NRA were somehow implicated in an infamous crime that was committed a decade ago by a manifestly deranged individual with no clear motivation or political agenda.

Defaming one’s political opponents – and by extension, their supporters – is hardly unheard of in Washington, D.C. But doing so while claiming the mantle of a “unifier” is especially hypocritical, particularly at a time when the nation has real problems to solve, including the economic, psychological, and physical threats posed by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

If Joe Biden were reading the newspapers – or better yet, NRA-ILA’s own Grassroots Alert – he would know that a viewpoint uniting an especially large and diverse group of Americans in 2020 was the necessity of owning a firearm for personal protection. Last year was the busiest ever for the national background check system used to process retail firearms transactions. Americans, by all accounts, voted in record numbers with their feet and their pocketbooks in favor of their Second Amendment rights as the country struggled through one calamity after another.

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Montana House of Representatives Pass ‘Permitless Carry’ Bill

HELENA- The Montana House of Representatives voted 66-31 Thursday to pass House Bill 102 by Representative Seth Berglee (R-Joliet). House Bill 102 removes state barriers to individuals exercising their constitutional right to carry a firearm for self-defense. It allows individuals who are lawfully allowed to open carry a firearm to carry concealed in the same areas without a permit. Additionally, HB 102 ensures that young adults on our college campuses aren’t denied their fundamental right to self-defense.

“It is long past due that law-abiding Montanans’ right to self-defense is respected without state barriers,” Rep. Seth Berglee said Thursday. “This bill modernizes Montana’s antiquated permitted and permitless carry laws to better reflect the safe carrying of firearms in the 21st century.”

House Bill 102 now moves to the Montana Senate for consideration.

“House Bill 102 is a priority bill for House Leadership, and I want to thank Representative Berglee for carrying it,” said Speaker of the House Wylie Galt. “House Republicans will continue advancing bills this session that protect the rights and individual freedoms of Montanans from government intrusion.”

Well, actually it’s ‘We The People‘ are the key.

Manchin Key to Thwarting New Gun-Control Legislation, Second Amendment Groups Say.

As the Biden administration prepares to enter office, Second Amendment activists are looking to a Democrat in the hopes that he will serve as a bulwark against his own party’s efforts to tighten gun-control laws.

With Democrats set to take control of the presidency and both houses of Congress in just seven days, Second Amendment activists are raising the specter of sweeping legislative action, from an assault-weapons ban and universal background checks to a federal red-flag law that would allow police to seize guns from those perceived as a threat.

The activists are looking to the upper chamber’s most conservative Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin (W. Va.), as a key ally, pointing to his opposition to the sorts of procedural changes, such as ending the filibuster and court packing, that could allow Democrats to pass gun-control legislation with a simple majority.

“If [Manchin] caves on that, we lose everything. If he stands strong, then we can defeat everything,” said Erich Pratt, senior vice president of the Gun Owners of America.

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Arkansas Senate panel advances ‘Stand Your Ground’ bill

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — An Arkansas Senate panel on Wednesday advanced legislation loosening restrictions on the use of deadly force in self defense, two years after failing before the same committee.

By a 5-2 vote, the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsed the proposal that remove would the state’s duty to retreat in certain circumstances. The measure now heads to the majority-Republican Senate.

A similar proposal failed before the same committee two years ago but was widely expected to win approval Wednesday, with five of the bill’s sponsors holding seats on the eight-person panel.

Montana House Weighs Elimination of Many State-Mandated Gun Free Zones

The Montana House will soon vote on legislation to defend self-defense rights by eliminating state government-mandated gun free zones at Montana university campuses and other schools on public property.

The self-defense legislation, House Bill 102, is sponsored by Rep. Seth Berglee (R-Dist. 58).

HB 102 is presented as an Act “to enhance the safety of people by expanding their legal ability to provide for their own defense by reducing or eliminating government-mandated places were only criminals are armed and where citizens are prevented from exercising their fundamental right to defend themselves and others.”

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FIGHT BACK AGAINST ANTI-GUN SOCIAL BIGOTRY
DON’T FEED THE GUN PROHIBITIONISTS!

For the past few months, a major gun rights organization has been quietly — and sometimes not so quietly — conducting what amounts to an educational campaign, alerting the nation’s gun owners about anti-gun businesses and their CEOs who use their profits to discriminate against the Second Amendment.

This is not a “boycott list,” as some have unfairly described it. According to the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), the purpose is to provide gun owners with information so they can decide where to spend their money.

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