Category: RKBA

Facing Intense Backlash, Northam Praises NRA Members. NRA Levels Him In Response.

Virginia Democrat Governor Ralph Northam praised NRA members for being peaceful during a press conference on Wednesday as he continues to face intense backlash over his extreme anti-freedom agenda, which has included proposals to ban and confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens.

Northam made the remarks as he declared a state of emergency in anticipation of thousands of the thousands of Virginians that are going to be participating in the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) rally next Monday in Richmond, Virginia.

“Virginia is always open for citizens of our state to meet with the elected leaders peacefully,” Northam began. “That remains the case this coming Monday. Hundreds of Virginians do this everyday.”

“Most recently, earlier this week, the NRA hosted its annual lobby day. Hundreds of Virginians participated, and the day passed without incident. That is what peaceful events look like,” Northam continued. “I thank the NRA for hosting a peaceful event. Now, I call on the Virginia Citizens Defense League and its members to follow the NRA’s example, and make your event a peaceful display too as you have done in the past. Please do not dishonor Virginia or your cause.”

The NRA responded to Northam’s remarks in a statement from Jason Ouimet, executive director, NRA Institute for Legislative Action: “If Virginia Gov. Northam sincerely respects the efforts of the NRA and its 5 million members, he can demonstrate that respect by not infringing our rights.”

https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1217589920459567105

‘God-given right’: Virginia Democrats set off ‘Second Amendment sanctuary’ spree in Florida

Virginia Democrats’ push for new gun controls is having a major ripple effect hundreds of miles south in Florida, where at least 10 counties, fearing their state could be next, have declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries.”

With residents’ backing, county commissioners have passed resolutions saying they will resist efforts by higher-ups to force gun registration or even confiscation of firearms already in citizens’ hands.

On Saturday, gun rights activists plan to rally at government offices in Santa Rosa County, which lies in the Panhandle section of the state with its dense population of military and veterans, hoping to send a message of support to local commissioners and a warning to the Florida legislature not to follow Virginia’s path…….

Florida’s legislature convened Tuesday, and Second Amendment activists fear they will be playing defense in Tallahassee amid a growing anti-gun sentiment nationwide…………

Second Amendment sanctuaries began to pop up during the Obama administration — though they didn’t adopt the term “sanctuary” until they saw the success of illegal immigrant sanctuary cities, which profess to refuse cooperation with federal deportation agencies.

In Florida, the sanctuaries are mostly symbolic.

For one thing, Florida governors can remove sheriffs from office, an executive privilege that has been exercised often.

“Tallahassee trumps the county,” Santa Rosa Commissioner Bob Cole said.

Still, he said he thinks both the sanctuary status declaration and the establishment of a local militia, however informal, matter.

“It’s not going to change the course of history, but it lets people know if you’re in the mood to move away, you might just want to do that or don’t move here to begin with if you disagree.”

Militias first cropped up in Florida in 1994, and at one time were more prevalent than they are today. Their purpose is to match up with the language in the Bill of Rights, and in particular with the Second Amendment.

Sam Mullins, 57, is a Santa Rosa Militia member along with Mr. Smyly. The two are the organizers of Saturday’s rally at which Mr. Hill and others will speak. Mr. Mullins and his wife carry their militia membership cards and while he, too, understands there is more symbol than substance, he still takes it seriously.

“We’re getting a lot of support on social media and hopefully we’ll have hundreds on Saturday,” he said. “We see what’s going on in Virginia, specifically, and we know the far-left politicians are trying to infringe on the Second Amendment. What they are trying in some other states, we don’t want that to come here.”

 

Virginia Rising Against The Advancing Political Sickness

Virginia, USA – -(AmmoLand.com)- Most gun owners know Mao’s quote, but few remember the entire statement. Mao wrote, “Every Communist must grasp the truth; Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” You can bet that US democrats fully understand this truth and so, hysterically, fear weapons possessed by the voting civilians who have educated themselves about the failures of leftwing societies.

Our Founding Fathers knowingly stole that possibility of a violent coup from any group who might have hopes of trying. We may willingly give away our sovereignty, but it cannot be taken from us.

But the forces of the Left, and of big government, keep trying to disarm the peaceful civilians.

Recently, in Virginia, Democrats gained political power of the Executive and Legislative (House of Delegates and Senate) Branches and quickly prefiled new restrictive firearms laws. We know that the new laws will affect the law-abiding gun owners and not the criminal element in society. They include so-called “assault rifle” bans, Universal Background Checks, and Red Flag Laws.

It would appear that Democrats have an uncanny ability to choose the most harmful path for our society to take, and then, lie about how great life will be when we all obey their demands – NO DISSENT ALLOWED.

You know they’re lying when they rant about a safer society. Virginia AG Mark Herring promised, “The law is the law … What we’re talking about here are laws that will make our communities and our streets safer.”

Virginia’s Governor, Ralph Northam is selling the proposed laws as a path to a better society. He says, “Things like universal background checks… getting rid of bumpstocks, high volume magazines, red-flag laws…are common-sense pieces of legislation… and because of that Virginia will be safer.”

We all know that restrictive gun laws do not work as promised because of the thriving black market. We all know that peaceful societies do not result from restrictive laws.

Gun banners know they are intentionally lying, but at least this Democrat lie is fully outdated. Gunowners no longer react to it the way Northam thinks they will. We are finished with such lies.

Democrats then made a great error. Feeling drunk with power, they gleefully leaked their intent to use government power to implement those laws. Virginia Rep. Don McEachin said, “…the governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law.”

Virginians quickly responded. As of this writing, almost all of Virginia’s 95 counties have declared themselves to be Second Amendment Sanctuaries, where the new laws would not be enforced.

As per Philip Van Cleave, President of Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), even some blue counties, like Accomack County, where Gov. Northam was raised, have declared themselves a Second Amendment Sanctuaries.

Although Democrats have used the word ‘sanctuary‘ recently to indicate that they would not abide by laws with which they disagreed with, the Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring refused to accept the legality of these new events. He declared, “localities and local constitutional officers cannot nullify state laws and must comply.” Now, isn’t that just like the current breed of Democrats?

He is hypocritically wrong! The passion of Virginians can nullify those laws with their ballots, their juries, and with massive civil resistance and disobedience. If Dems think they can essentially eliminate police protections required by society, which is not a Constitutional Right, gun owners can nullify laws designed to prevent legal gun possession and self-defense, which is a Constitutional Right.

However, if Virginians fail, and Dems successfully impose these restrictive laws and regulations on firearms owning Virginians, the way Gov. Cuomo did in New York State, the Democrats will be emboldened to continue the trend of passing even more restrictions, also the way Cuomo did.

Cuomo recently signed into law four more “gun safety bills.” touted as “significant progress…advocated for over many years” by the gun banner New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.

In New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, a.k.a the SAFE Act, which became law in January 2013. It was a law banning new so-called ‘assault weapons’, requiring registration of grandfathered weapons, universal background checks, unless between family members, and many other restrictions. Its purpose was to create a database of NY State long gun owners.

In New York, 52 of 62 counties passed angry resolutions, and many upstate law departments intend to not enforce the SAFE Act provisions. A very large majority failed to register their grandfathered weapons. Only 23,847 people registered 44,485 guns. It is estimated that up to one million guns, or more, are still not registered.

But those NYS gun owners are no longer law-abiding citizens. If discovered, say during divorce procedures, because an Order of Protection was issued, they face the possibility of years in jail.

We still do not know how well Virginians will fair, in staving off this Constitutional attack. A march is planned, and hopefully, a groundswell of well-led and organized opposition will spring up.

The forward-thinking Philip Van Cleave (VCDL President), told us in a recent interview, that they “hope, at the end of all of this, to roll back some of the useless gun laws all across this country, including New York.”

It will be about the character and resolve of the gun owners who are the Commonwealth of Virginia. Are they up to the task? Mr. Van Cleave thinks so.

We should all be rooting for and supporting them.

How they act will affect the rest of us.

Gun applications in New York Jewish community spike to nearly 1,000% after Hanukkah attack

Applications for gun permits are surging in New York’s Rockland County after five Orthodox Jews were stabbed at a Hanukkah celebration at a local rabbi’s home.

The Rockland County Clerk’s office reported a nearly 1,000% increase in gun permit applications in the week following the Dec. 28 attack. The county clerk received 65 new gun permit applications, according to the New York Post. Before the attack, the office received an average of about six applications a week.

All but five of the new applications originated from the town of Ramapo, where the attack took place. Ramapo contains several heavily Jewish communities.

“A lot of people are worried, especially the large Hasidic and Jewish community in Rockland County,” said Erik Melanson, who owns Precision Gunsmiths in Rockland County. “I have had rabbis come in. Some of the rabbis already have concealed carry [permits].”

Several thousand gun owners turned out at the temporary General Assembly Building on Monday, January 13!

Several thousand gun owners turned out at the temporary General Assembly Building on Monday, January 13!  The hearing room was divided into two areas – the larger area for gun-rights supporters and the other was a smaller area for gun-control supporters.

Gun owners filled up their side of the room quickly, while the gun controllers side was still pretty empty.  To make it looked like they had more people and not look so pitiful, a search for gun-controllers in the waiting line outside the meeting room doors was conducted.  Countless gun owners in the line were skipped over in the search for more gun-controllers.  Whenever a gun controller was found, they were allowed to go into the meeting room, but no more gun owners were allowed in.

Sheriff Scott Jenkins of Culpeper County and Sheriff Richard Vaughn of Grayson County were in the room in  support of gun owners.  Sheriff Jenkins spoke twice during the hearings.

The meeting was chaired by Democrat Senator John Edwards.  The Republicans on the committee pointed out multiple mistakes and even rules that were broken in the running of the committee, but the Democrat-controlled committee ignored the complaints and lurched forward anyhow, rules be damned.

Republican Senator Bill Stanley, who could not be at the hearing due to a trial he had to attend, had been promised by John Edwards that no gun bills would be heard on Monday, but Senator Edwards went back on his word and gun bills were heard anyhow.  Senator Mark Obenshain brought up that broken promise, but to no avail.

Each side was only given 5 minutes total to speak on each bill.

The first gun-control bill to pass out of committee was SB 69, a one-handgun a month bill, which reinstated the last version of that law before it was repealed.  Senator Saslaw’s version of that same bill, SB 22, was rolled into SB 69 and SB 69 was passed out by a partisan vote of 9 to 5.  Republican senators Mark Obenshain and Ryan McDougle put up strong resistance, as did speakers who pointed out that the law had been a failure, but to no avail.

Next up was SB 70, a Universal Background Check bill.  Saslaw’s version of the same bill, SB 12, was rolled into SB 70.  A substitute bill was then offered for SB 70, which made the background checks only apply to sales of guns and not transfers, which fixes the problems with letting a friend or family member use one of your guns without you being constantly present.  However, it still strips an 18, 19, or 20 year old from being able to own a handgun, since a dealer cannot process a handgun purchased by federal law for someone that age.  Also, a background check would have to be run on all sales, even sales to immediate family members, friends, etc.!  SB 70 passed by a partisan vote of 9 to 5.

Senator Barker’s Red Flag Law bill, SB 240, was eviscerated, as all the flaws and dangers of that bill were brought up by Republicans Obenshain, McDougle, and Chafin on the committee, as well as by the pro-gun speakers.  None of the concerns were addressed and the bill was passed by a partisan vote of 9 to 5.

Finally, SB 615, SB 450, and SB 505, all of which allow localities to pass various gun-control ordinances, were rolled into a substitute version of SB 35, making SB 35 an omnibus bill that destroys preemption by allowing Virginia localities to create a confusing set of local gun-control laws.  Again, speaker after speaker spoke against SB 35, but it passed by a partisan 9 to 5 vote.

The gun-control bills that passed out of committee will now head to the Senate Floor to be voted on in a few days.  VCDL will have an acton item shortly to bombard Senators with calls and emails encouraging them to opposed the four bills.

Elections have consequences and we are in a real fight to protect our rights.

Common-sense gun control?

Editor:

As a marginally fair-minded person, I sometimes place myself in the shoes of others to better understand their thought process. Lately, I’ve been thinking about gun control and how other people’s shoes perceive various solutions:

1. There can’t be guns in “gun-free zones.” When an armed criminal with mayhem in mind sees one of these signs, they naturally sigh “Aw, shucks” and slink back to the basement to re-examine their lives. It follows that home defense is best ensured by posting “Gun-Free Zone” signs in one’s yard, and perhaps on the front door. When you advertise that your family is completely unarmed, imagine all the nice new friends who’ll come to visit.

2. Arming teachers will make those young punks think twice. Nobody gets more annoyed at school shooters than teachers, and discipline is part of their job. (What do the sheriff’s “resource officers” know about kids, anyway?) So what makes better sense than strapping a .38 to the shop teacher’s hip and sending him swaggering forth to clean up Dodge City? Those smartypants students will think twice before joining running gun-battles in the school hallways against a platoon of sharpshooting French teachers! Plus, those quick-draw contests in the teachers’ lounge will be a fun break from second-period civics classes (bor-r-ring!)

3. If insane gun-toting gunmen didn’t have guns, they wouldn’t use guns to shoot people, insanely, with their guns. This is the sort of analytical logic that I really go for. Still, I’d take it a step further and outlaw the knives, including machetes, Swiss Army knives and so-called “butter” knives. Candlesticks and frozen pork loins are also lethal weapons, as are “assault anvils” that can be dropped from tall buildings onto pedestrians’ heads. People don’t kill people, inanimate objects kill people! If these Second Amendment gun nuts are so fired up about “rights,” let’s not dismiss the constitutional right of cognitively disadvantaged nonconformists to follow their impetuous dreams.

Thanks for your attention. Gotta go, “Live PD” is about to start.

David Christovich,

Woodstock

 

NRA Handing Out 30-Round Mags in VA to Fight Northam Gun Ban

The NRA will be handing out 1,000 30-round magazines in the Virginia Capitol City of Richmond Monday as part of the fight against Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) gun grab.

The NRA used a Sunday night tweet to explain that Magpul Industries — a renowned magazine and firearm accessory maker — sent 1,000 magazines to the gun rights organization in order to have them given out to pro-Second Amendment Virginians on Monday.

Monday is January 13, the day on which the NRA has asked its members to flood into Virginia Senate meetings and ensure that pro-Second Amendment voices drown out those calling for gun control.

https://twitter.com/NRA/status/1216550061221588992

Virginia lawmakers ban guns at state Capitol in first of many expected firearm votes

Virginia lawmakers voted Friday to ban guns in the state Capitol building, the first of what is expected to be many votes on gun control legislation now that Democrats have retaken control of the statehouse for the first time in over 25 years.

Anyone with a concealed carry permit was previously allowed to bring a gun into the Capitol, although firearms were banned in certain parts of the building, according to The Associated Press.  Democrats have said the new law is a safety measure, and Democratic Governor Ralph Northam previously outlawed guns in some state buildings.

Virginia Democrats have said they plan to make gun control a priority. An assault weapons ban, red flag laws and universal background checks have all been proposed. In a Facebook video posted Tuesday, Northam insisted “our eight pieces of gun legislation don’t threaten the Second Amendment.”

“We have no intention of calling out the National Guard,” Northam said. “We’re not going to cut off people’s electricity. We’re not going to go door to door and confiscate people’s weapons. We’re going to pass common sense legislation that will keep guns out of dangerous hands and keep Virginia safer.”

Republicans are opposed to the new laws and municipalities across the state have declared themselves sanctuary cities for the Second Amendment. Virginia Beach, where 12 people were killed in a shooting rampage at a municipal building in May 2019, earlier this week adopted a resolution declaring itself a “Second Amendment Constitutional City.”

Pro-gun rights advocates are planning on holding a rally at the Capitol in Richmond on January 20. Philip Van Cleave, the president of one of the lead organizers, Virginia Citizens Defense League, labelled reports that suggested it would be an “armed protest” as “totally inaccurate.”

An Open Letter to Those Who Would Do Away With the Second Amendment

The fallacy that by severely restricting the sale and ownership of firearms as a means of curbing violence in America is easy to discredit, in fact, we need look no further than across our southern border.

Did you know that there is only one gun store in Mexico, guarded by armed military personnel? And it takes months of paperwork to even have the chance to buy a gun.

If you are not law enforcement or military you are lucky to procure a .22. The common people in Mexico have about as much chance of being adequately armed, enough to protect themselves and their families, as they are of winning the lottery.

And even if they are able to jump through all the hoops, getting ammunition is another steep mountain to climb.

In other words, the rank and file citizens of Mexico – for the most part – are not armed and have no hope of being armed.

Now, that is not to say there are not plenty of guns in Mexico. The dope dealers and cartels have an abundance of guns of any and every caliber they want, in fact, the paramilitary security forces the cartels use to enforce their will are about as well-armed as a combat soldier in the field.

Now how were these guns obtained in a country with one gun store and such impossible requirements to buy firearms?

The black market, of course.

Unfortunately, many of them are purchased in the United States, a fact that is seldom – if ever -mentioned or maybe even known, by the gun control crowd and something strict border security and shutting down rogue gun dealers could help curtail.

So, in essence, we can say that with the exception of law enforcement, military and a handful of people who can either bribe or game the system, practically all the guns in Mexico are illegal.

Now, let’s look at what effect such ultra-restrictive gun laws have had on crime.

Between 2000 and 2012; 215,000 people were murdered. In 2012 Mexico had a murder rate of 21.5 per 100,000. In 2018 there were 33,341 murders and it is expected, when the 2019 statistics are complete the number will be even higher.

Violent incidents, armed robbery, etc… increased from 5.2 million in 2017 to 6 million in 2018.

One of every 10 women in Mexico has been a victim of sexual assault ranging from groping to rape and there are 120,000 rapes a year, one every four minutes making Mexico the number one nation for sexual violence.

Nearly 1,200 kidnappings happened in Mexico in 2018.

Mexico is among the most popular sources and destinations for international child abductions and has one of the least effective systems of protecting and returning internationally abducted children within its borders.

Politics in Mexico are, and basically always have been, as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks and as corrupt as a mafia horse race.

There is simply so much money generated by the drug trade that by means of buying off or intimidation the drug cartels do practically anything they want to without fear of official intervention.

Some of the most gruesome murders of the century have been committed in Mexico, mass graves, grisly, hideous show murders as warnings to informers, politicians and law enforcement officials who refuse to cooperate.

So now we arrive at the crux of my article.

What have all these super stringent gun laws done to protect life in Mexico?

If you will be honest, you’ll have to admit that it has done the opposite.

It has armed the criminals who have no regard for any law and will obtain weapons by whatever illegal source available to them while leaving the law-abiding citizen without the means to protect themselves.

This policy has created and encouraged the rise of the powerful cartels, who, for all practical purposes, control the country.

Now, the most important question of all.

Do you not understand what happened in Mexico and do you not believe that the same thing, or something very similar, could happen in America?

Can you not see that when you take away the means of protection from law-abiding people, it is not going to reduce the gun population among the criminal element one half of one percent.

In fact, it emboldens them.

It has been proven over and over that about the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, and no matter how vehemently self-serving politicians may contest this, the fact, and it is a fact, remains irrefutable.

In fact, the next time you see Bernie, Uncle Joe, Elizabeth or any of the other anti-gun candidates, ask them “If good guys having guns is bad, why do you always have armed security with you?

What do you think?

Pray for our troops our police and the peace of Jerusalem.

God Bless America — Charlie Daniels

Hero Jack Wilson Will be Awarded “Governor’s Medal of Courage”
While Democrats are memorizing Iranian terrorists Republicans are rewarding American heroes.

While Democrats are memorizing Iranian terrorists Republicans are rewarding American heroes.

Governor Greg Abbott will present the “Governor’s Medal of Courage” to the brave man who stopped a gunman during a deadly shooting at a church in North Texas last month.

On Monday, January 13th Gov. Abbott will host Mr. Wlson at the Governor’s Mansion to present him with the Governor’s Medal of Courage. The medal is given to civilians who display “great acts of heroism by risking their own safety to save another’s life.”

It is the highest award given to civilians by the Governor and nobody deserves it more than Jack Wilson.

 

Virginians Are Warning Of Civil War, But This Isn’t New

Things are tense in Virginia, to say the least. With Democrats having complete control of the state government, Governor Ralph Northam sees a golden opportunity to hammer gun rights activists in his state. After all, he needed a gun control win to completely overshadow the blackface scandal that plagued him for months, and he didn’t get it.

Now, somehow, he’s got the legislature and he’s going to make it so no one even thinks of “Coonman” anymore.

Unfortunately for him, though, there are those in the state that are warning that things may well get beyond Northam’s control and the usual suspects are freaking out over it.

Thousands of Virginia residents have shown up at meetings across the state to try to block Democrats from enacting new gun laws, with some gun rights supporters openly discussing violent resistance and civil war.

The backlash to gun control in Virginia is being fueled by conspiracy theories and misinformation, and some observers worry that the escalating rhetoric may spark violence.

When Democrats won control of Virginia’s state government for the first time in 26 years in November 2019, they pledged to pass a series of standard gun control laws, including universal background checks and bans on military-style “assault weapons” and high-capacity ammunition magazines. The agenda was no surprise: state Democrats had run for office on a platform of gun violence prevention, backed by funding from national gun control groups.

…

Some of these activists have warned of violenceif Democrats push forward with gun control. Multiple Democratic lawmakers have reportedly received threats, including death threats. At heated public meetings across the state and in long social media comment threads, some gun rights supporters are openly discussing the possibility of civil war. Many have warned of the need to fight back against “tyranny” or have compared Democratic lawmakers to the British forces during the revolutionary war. “I really do think we may be on the brink of another war,” one speaker told a crowd of at least 800 people in Pulaski county, the Roanoke Times reported.

Here’s the thing, though. This talk of a civil war isn’t new. We’ve been talking about this for years as a warning that if anti-gun zealots come after our guns, they’re going to have a bad time of it.

This is nothing new.

However, it’s also important to note that we’ve also been pretty clear that there’s a line in the sand and, thus far, no one has crossed it. Right now, bills have only been proposed. Nothing’s passed and nothin’s signed. It’s just a lot of rhetoric. As long as Northam and company bear in mind that this is a topic that yes, a lot of people will go to war over, we shouldn’t have a problem.

We on this side have been clear about what will set us off. The problem is that Northam and company don’t seem to really care to listen. There’s been nothing from his side to tell Virginian gun rights activists that their concerns will be accounted for. Instead, we’re seeing a lot of “we won, you lost, suck on it.”

Yes, there are warnings of civil war, but that war isn’t inevitable. It’s up to Northam, though, to decide if he really wants to push people so far that they don’t feel they have any other choice. It’s all on him and his allies in the legislature.

It’s not too late to settle things down.

100,000 gun owners to fight new Virginia bans: ‘We’re not the problem.’

Some 100,000 Virginia gun owners who have rallied at county and town meetings for “gun sanctuaries” on Thursday began “bombarding” state Democratic lawmakers eager to use their new majority in Richmond to push through new restrictions and bans.

“Now it’s time. Now we’re going to melt down their phones, explode their inboxes on their email. We’re going to bombard them more than they’ve been bombarded,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which is leading the gun sanctuary movement.

On Thursday, he issued an “alert” to supporters to start lobbying lawmakers in Richmond against gun control. He said that the new anti-gun laws from Democrats are “pouring in like a waterfall.”

Later this month, his group is also organizing its annual “lobbying day” that is expected to draw dozens of buses full of supporters from around Virginia as well as from 13 states as far away as Texas, Florida, and Connecticut.

“They picked a fight with a set of people who are tired of it. We’re tired of being the whipping boy. Every time somebody shoots up a bunch of people in a gun-free zone, they come after us, and we’re tired of it. We’re fed up, and we’re not giving up any more. We’re not the problem,” he told Secrets.

Why Journalists and Politicians are Frightened by Armed Defense

Armed citizens stopped a mass murderer at the West Freeway Church of Christ. When we plain folk in fly-over country heard that the attacker was stopped quickly, most of us thought, “Praise God.” In contrast, Joe Biden said it was irrational to allow anyone to be armed at any religious institution. Some journalists said they were terrified that ordinary citizens could be armed at church.

Why is the emotional response from politicians and journalists so different from ours? We know something that they don’t know. Those of us who live in fly-over country know Armed America, and the elites don’t.

We know real gun owners-  We know real people people who own guns, rather than the two-dimensional cardboard-cutout characters portrayed by Hollywood and the media. With over a hundred million gun owners in the US, they are easy to find. Legally licensed gun owners are our friends, our co-workers, our associates, and our neighbors.

I have a news flash for Vice President Joe and the journalists. Ordinary people are armed. Millions of us carry a legally concealed personal firearm in public. Unless you live in one of the elite bubbles in the US, then you are standing shoulder to shoulder with Armed America.

We’ve seen their good judgement. We’ve met Armed America and we’ve seen their restraint. We’re not surprised to learn that individuals who are licensed to carry a firearm in public are among the most law abiding groups that sociologists can find. That makes us different from Joe Biden and Co. Most elites don’t have a friend who drives a pickup truck, much less a friend who is a licensed concealed carrier.

We know and trust our neighbors- We have a positive opinion of our neighbors, our community and our town. We formed this judgement through experience. We’ve seen our fellow citizens solve challenging problems. We’ve seen their character under challenging circumstances, like fires, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. We’ve seen a broad segment of society rise to the occasion and do their best for themselves and for those around them.

We’re comfortable with our neighbors. The media elites are only comfortable with other elites. Select law enforcement officers can be armed, according to the elites. Select bodyguards can be armed, according to the elites. You and I, average voters, not so much.

We actually believe in “diversity:” Our circle of friends includes people of all ages, backgrounds, and races. If you want to see elitism, look at the makeup of the MSM and at our elite colleges. If you doubt me, try to find a conservative-Christian-Republican male in the Sociology Department at your local college.

Also, consider the “diversity” of the editors at the Huffington post.

Only young college-educated women need apply

We’ve seen bad people do bad things- We’ve seen what criminals do. We’ve seen their effect on our family, our neighbors, and our communities. In our world, violence doesn’t happen in slow motion at 35 frames a second on a 60 inch screen; it happens in the parking lot at the corner store after dark. Our connection to reality is stronger than a TV crime-drama where the bad guy is brought to justice in 42 minutes.

Ordinary citizens like us defend ourselves thousands of times a day. We are not the easy victims the criminals expected. The bad guy meets Armed America and runs the other way. In that way, Armed America is making me and my family safer every day,  just like the defenders did at the Church of Christ in Texas.

Armed America frightens the elites. Maybe the elites like Joe Biden had better stay home and have their food delivered by Amazon so they feel safe. Don’t tell them the Amazon driver might be carrying. That might upset Joe and the mainstream journalists.

We’ll keep that truth to ourselves.

Students for 2A Tell Anti-Gunners to ‘Come and Take It

Not even three weeks ago the National Rifle Association (NRA) conducted a soft launch of the Students for 2A group at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit. In just a short period of time, the newly-formed organization has gained momentum amongst college students ages 18 to 24 and garnered more than 15,000 followers across various social media platforms.

The message is simple: the anti-gun left continually launches attacks at law-abiding gun owners. They want to ban commonly-owned firearms, like the AR-15, and make universal background checks a reality. But the young adults are fighting back for their Second Amendment rights.

A montage of various students explains exactly why the organization was started.

“Every day on college campuses across America, students like me are demonized, attacked and silenced by the ‘tolerant’ left,” students in the montage explain. “But we have something they don’t have: facts. So-called ‘universal’ background checks will never be universal because criminals do not comply with the law. Despite the narrative being pushed by the anti-gun left, unintentional firearm fatalities among young people are near historic lows.”

“Americans regularly use firearms for self-defense up to over one million times per year. There has never been a more important time for students like me to speak out,” the narrators explained. “We are law-abiding Americans and we demand the freedom to defend ourselves. So let us be clear to all anti-gun extremists trying to destroy our rights: you will never succeed. We will always fight back.”

“And, by the way, my rights don’t end where your feelings begin,” the students said. “Come and take it.”

 

 

Saying gun rights only applies to a militia is like saying free speech only applies while in the process of petitioning the government

A letter was published titled “Enact gun control without repealing the Second Amendment” (Mercurynews.com, Jan. 5) implying that the right of the people to keep and bear arms was subject to being within a “well-regulated militia.”

Good thing this letter-writer isn’t a lawyer. If that were the case, your right to freedom of speech is only protected while in the process of petitioning the government for a redress of grievances.

Stay in your lane, and out of constitutional law.

Neil Stokes
Redwood City

 

Good Guys with Guns

Good Guys with Guns highlights self-defense stories where people used a firearm to defend themselves and others from violent criminals and the impact it had on their lives. The book also discusses the debate over the right to keep and bear arm

excerpt:
Here’s a challenge. Using your favorite Internet search engine, type in the words “No charges were filed” and see what happens. When the authors did this as part of our research, using Google we were advised that there were 925 million results.

Or try “No charges were filed in shooting” and one will find a more modest 30 million references. Even considering that there will be a multitude of repeat reports dealing with the same incidents, you are still talking about millions of self-defense uses of firearms. Some of these cases are intriguing and involve armed private citizens, while many involve police officers shooting suspects.

In one Ohio county, teachers now carry guns in 5 school districts

This year, school boards at Garaway Local Schools and Claymont City Schools approved the safety measure. They join Newcomerstown Exempted Village Schools, which started arming staff members in 2013, Indian Valley Local Schools (2017) and Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools (2018).

As 2019 draws to a close, the number of school districts in one northeastern Ohio county that have authorized staff members to carry guns on school property has grown to five.

This year, school boards at Garaway Local Schools and Claymont City Schools approved the safety measure. They join Newcomerstown Exempted Village Schools, which started arming staff members in 2013, Indian Valley Local Schools (2017) and Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools (2018). All are in Tuscarawas County.

Newcomerstown Superintendent Jeff Staggs continues to believe it’s a good idea.

“When seconds count in responding to a dangerous event, the faster the event is stopped more students and staff stay alive,” he said. “I’m still in favor of a highly trained armed staff along with multiple other layers in the school safety plan.

“We continue to train and tweak our school safety plan to meet the new issues that schools face every year. The sheriff’s office has been a huge help in our training program with our journey to get better at school safety.”

Garaway Superintendent James Millet agreed.

“I still think this is a valuable decision to protect Garaway students and staff,” he said. “At Garaway Schools, the safety of each and every child within this community is our district’s highest priority. We are continually examining safety measures for our school district and looking for ways to improve.

“We believe that armed staff is one way to provide a quick response and opportunity to protect people in an attack.”

He said the decision has been well-received at Garaway.

“There is not one perfect solution, but we will try to address all aspects of safety with vigor,” Millet said. “We will be adding a safety dog in January. This will provide another way to respond to an attack as well as prevent an attack by identifying weapons before they enter our school.”

A recent report by the Associated Press raised questions about the safety of arming teachers.

Experts say anyone carrying guns, including teachers, needs ongoing, intensive training to be able to handle their firearms proficiently and respond appropriately in stressful settings — and many law enforcement officers don’t even get that.

“The idea that anybody can go to Joe Smith’s School of Shooting for a day or a week and become proficient at shooting a handgun in a life-and-death situation is a little bit absurd,” Doug Tangen, firearms program manager at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the state police academy, told the AP.

Shooting a gun requires psychomotor skills that must be practiced over and over, he said.

Tuscarawas County Sheriff Orvis Campbell said he believes that area educators who have been armed have the training and skills necessary to keep everyone safe.

Teachers there have gone through FASTER training, provided by the Buckeye Firearms Association. FASTER stands for Faculty/Administrator Safety Training & Emergency Response.
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Police officers who go to a police academy receive 60 hours of training on firearms, and two days of that is in the classroom, Campbell said. By comparison, area teachers have been given three separate weeks of training.

“I put guys through one of them, and it’s very good,” he said.

“All of them are qualifying at at least the same level as every peace officer (in Ohio), and all of them have kept up so far,” Campbell said.

The staff members are required to keep their gun on their person at all times. They are not allowed to talk about it, and they’re not allow to show their weapon, even to other teachers.

He noted that all of the districts have given his office the ability to say two things — that a staff member cannot carry now because that person is not ready, and that a staff member cannot carry at all because the sheriff’s office doesn’t think the person is skilled enough.

The sheriff said arming staff is a good idea because it’s rare to hear about a teacher running away when there is a shooting.

Republican leaders vow to ‘protect’ gun rights for Missourians ahead of session

As legislators prepare to head back to Jefferson City this week, Republican lawmakers are making a point to reaffirm their aversion to taking up strong gun control legislation during the upcoming session.

Gov. Mike Parson held multiple meetings with a handful of metro area mayors this year as Kansas City and St. Louis, in particular, have grappled with an abundance of gun violence. Following a November meeting, news reports suggested the Republican governor agreed to back the mayors’ call for stronger gun control — among other things.

But in a one-pager published Saturday, Parson said he has not “supported restricting law abiding citizens’ right to bear arms.” Instead, Parson said the three big takeaways from his meetings with the metro area mayors centered on witness protection, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and “keeping guns out of the hands of violent criminals.”

“I have never wavered in my support of the Second Amendment,” Parson said. “I firmly believe in protecting Missourians’ Second Amendment rights and will continue working with federal, state, local, and community partners to protect the citizens of our state. Over the past months, we have rolled up our sleeves, gotten to work, and identified the immediate actions we can take at the state level to keep Missouri citizens safe, while still protecting their Second Amendment rights.”

Missouri Republican Party executive director Jean Evans defended Parson on a recent episode of “This Week in Missouri Politics,” noting, “Saying everything is on the table is completely different than saying, ‘I’m for gun control or I want red flag laws or I want any of those other things.’”

House Speaker Elijah Haahr and Majority Floor Leader Rob Vescovo, too, have vowed not to support policies that “infringe” on the “Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Missouri citizens.”

“Our federal and state constitutions hold the rights of gun owners sacred,” Haahr told The Missouri Times. “I take those rights seriously, as do the members of my caucus. We look forward to upholding those rights in this 2020 legislative session.”

In a lengthy December Facebook post, Vescovo said “if heavy penalties that already exist” for murder and assault “don’t effectively deter” people from committing them, then “how will any new laws produce better results, especially if they’re little more than window dressing.”

“Both gun grabbing laws and red flag laws do not get to the root of the problem, which is that criminals will still find ways to obtain weapons with these policies in place. Instead, those policies will create additional hurdles for law-abiding citizens, while those who wish to do harm will continue to obtain stolen weapons on the black market,” Vescovo said.

Several bills have already been filed by Democrats in an effort to increase regulations and hamper gun violence throughout the state. Sen. Jill Schupp pre-filed legislation that would require passing a background check by a licensed firearms dealer before purchasing a firearm; Rep. LaKeySha Bosley is championing a proposal that would highly regulate the sale of ammunition, including by requiring dealers to keep records of those who purchase ammunition and require transactions to be done face-to-face.

The legislative session officially gets underway on Jan. 8.

VA County Addresses Its 2A Ordinance “Ordering” The Militia

Most of the 115 counties, cities, and towns in Virginia that have declared themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries have done so via a resolution, but a couple of counties have gone further by passing an actual ordinance.
Tazewell County, a beautiful and somewhat remote county (at least once you get off Interstate 81) in the Appalachian Mountains and the Cumberland Plateau, is full of Second Amendment supporters, and the county supervisors not only declared the county a sanctuary on December 3rd, it passed an ordinance “ordering” the militia in an attempt to prevent any lawfully owned firearms from being seized.

Since then, the county’s been fielding questions from residents, reporters, and others who are curious about what exactly that means. According to Southwest Virginia Today, the county’s been giving a “stock answer.”

That answer is “On Dec. 3rd, 2019, our Board of Supervisors chose to exercise some of its rights under the Virginia Constitution to order or regulate militia.  By insuring that our residents have the opportunity (1) to possess certain types of firearms, (2) to educate themselves on their use, (3) to learn common military practices, and (4) to learn basic survival skills, we hope to preserve a group of residents who could form a militia, were such a body needed.  Without these most basic elements our County would not have a group of persons from whom a militia could be drawn.  At the moment, however, the Board has not called any such militia to arms and prays that such moment never occurs.”

In other words, the ordering of the militia wasn’t necessarily meant to lead to thousands of residents drilling on the courthouse lawn, but to make the argument that, because virtually every law-abiding resident is a member of the county militia, they need access to the type of firearm most suited for use in defense of self and county; a semi-automatic rifle. Since SB 16 in Virginia currently is written to make continued possession of legally owned semi-automatic rifles a crime, this is an attempt to protect residents from the effects of the unconstitutional law.

Note, however, that the county reserves the right to call the militia to arms, though its statement doesn’t indicate what would trigger such a response.

As the paper in southwest Virginia points out, while Tazewell County may have been the first in the state to order the county’s militia, it likely won’t be the last.

Some counties that passed just the second amendment sanctuary bill are now considering following Tazewell County’s lead and calling for a militia.  A large crowd of Wythe County residents attended its December supervisors meeting to ask for a militia to be formed and many of the speakers carried copies of the Tazewell County ordinance.

Buchanan County passed both a second amendment sanctuary and a preservation ordinance at its December meeting. That board also requested its county attorney write Governor Northam a letter demanding he resign due to his stance on gun control and abortion.

They later held a called meeting and tabled the request for the letter until new board members office take office this month. They were also asked to consider a militia ordinance this month.

The Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions that have been passed by the vast majority of Virginia counties are the first step, not the last word in the movement. Despite tough talk from Ralph Northam and Attorney General Mark Herring, these counties don’t seem interested in backing down from their pro-Second Amendment stand.