Category: RKBA

Biden campaign co-chair uses gun control to deflect

In the past, we’ve seen a couple of politicians get themselves out of some hot water by declaring an intention to focus on pushing gun control.

They make the announcement and the controversy around them seems to evaporate almost overnight.

That doesn’t work so much for President Joe Biden.

After all, this isn’t exactly a new push from him.

However, that isn’t going to stop his campaign co-chair from trying to use the tactic to deflect questions about his age.

President Biden‘s 2024 campaign co-chair CedricRichmond pivoted to talk about gun control when asked Sunday about the 80-year-old president’s age presenting challenges at the ballot box.

“While they continue to talk about age, we’ll continue to talk about the fact that they’re not talking about banning assault weapons, while they’re banning books but they’re not protecting our children in schools,” Mr. Richmond said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The fact that none of them raised their hand to talk about climate as a real issue when we see fires in Maui, we see hurricanes hitting California, we see the destruction of wildfires. But they’re not talking about that.”

So, as you can see, it’s not just gun control that Richmond tried to invoke to stave off criticism that Biden might just be too old to do the job.

Of course, the truth of the matter is that so-called assault weapons is something very different than the president’s age.

A new assault weapon ban isn’t really going to happen, in part because enough people understand that the issue with mass shootings isn’t because of AR-15s but with people who seem to think killing people wholesale sounds like a swell time.

In contrast, the books being “banned,” in many cases actually aren’t being banned, they’re simply being removed from curriculums or, if they are being removed, there’s a good reason. I’ve seen pages from a couple of notable examples that were pretty sexually explicit, after all.

Meanwhile, we have a president who can barely piece together two coherent sentences as a general rule, who seemingly falls asleep during important events, and who can’t seem to remember that his one son died of cancer rather than being killed in Iraq.

Granted, that last may just be a case of lying, but I’m not sure that makes anything better.

Bringing up his age is certainly valid, and even 69 percent of Democrats think he’s too old.

So why try to pivot to gun control? Because, frankly, that’s all the Biden campaign has at this point. They need to deflect from the very real concern over Biden’s mental faculties. When more than two-thirds of his own party think he’s too old to do the job, there’s a huge problem and they know it.

But they’re hoping the media will focus on the gun control angle instead because it worked with former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and his blackface controversy and with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his brownface controversy.

Both declared they would push for gun control and all was forgiven.

With Biden, though, there’s no reason to think he can step up any anti-gun efforts, that he could get them through Congress even if he did, or that with his age being what it is, he’d remember anyway.

That doesn’t mean the media won’t try, but they won’t make those concerns disappear by pretending they don’t exist.

Well, guns in the hands of the uncontrolled populace scare the pants off all politicians. Mao’s axiom being correct; ‘Political Power grows from the barrel of a gun.’

What to Make of GOP Presidential Candidates’ Silence on Guns

Amidst a wide-ranging and, at times, quarrelsome debate between the Republican presidential hopefuls on Wednesday, the eight candidates on the stage broached several topics important to Republican primary voters, from abortion to immigration. However, gun policy and the Second Amendment were notably absent.

The omission of a central tenet of Republican politics is curious for a number of reasons, not least of which is that the candidates were directly asked about the topic in the regular course of the debate.

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among others, the mayors of Kansas City and St Lousy are also in for a rude awakening, or so the Missouri Attorney General has said.

OHIO COURT, PHILADELPHIA SUBURBS SHOW IMPORTANCE OF PREEMPTION LAWS

Neighboring states of Ohio and Pennsylvania are offering lessons in real time of what happens when gun control politicians ignore laws and create barriers for the firearm industry. Gun control politicians, acting on behalf of gun control activists, create havoc and disarray when they foist their own restrictive gun control policies that aren’t in step with state law.

Ohio’s Tenth District Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s decision to grant an injunction that allowed the City of Columbus to enact their own gun control laws. The appeals court found that Columbus’ attempt to block the state from enforcing uniform laws for firearms was incorrectly granted, since it was sought years after the challenge and after Columbus enacted their own ordinances that barred standard capacity magazines and firearm storage mandates.

Ohio is one of 42 states that have what is called a “preemption” law. That means authority to enact laws that regulate firearms resides with the state legislature and not local municipalities. Those laws protect from cities and towns creating a patchwork of gun control laws that would ensnare state citizens traveling throughout the state.

“The court’s ruling assures that all Ohioans must abide by the same law, state law, when it comes to firearms,” said Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost in a press release following the court’s ruling. “Just like we argued in court, firearms owners statewide should have to follow the same rules.”

When It’s Gun Control, Though…
It’s a law gun control advocates ignore when it is convenient. When it comes to enforcing overreaching gun control laws, gun control politicians demand strict adherence and strict enforcement.

Oregon passed their Measure 114 that outlaws standard capacity magazines and requires police to maintain an electronic, searchable firearm permit database, provide additional hands-on firearm training and fingerprint applicants for firearm purchase permits, at least five county sheriffs said they wouldn’t enforce the gun control law, calling it a violation of Second Amendment rights. NSSF is challenging that law in federal court.

Oregon’s Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum had previous dust-ups over Second Amendment issue with county sheriffs and cited a state law requiring them to arrest and imprison “all persons who break the peace, or attempt to break it, and all persons guilty of public offenses.”

“Thus, a sheriff and deputies have a statutory duty to enforce state criminal laws,” AG Rosenblum wrote in a petition of earlier clashes with sheriffs over Second Amendment concerns.

New Mexico’s Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham clashed with sheriffs in her state in 2020 over “red flag” laws. The head of New Mexico Sheriffs’ Association, Tony Mace, wrote that the law didn’t take Due Process rights into consideration and some sheriffs said they wouldn’t enforce it. Gov. Grisham said sheriffs had no discretion in the matter.

“They cannot not enforce,” she said, according to a CNN report. “And if they really intend to do that, they should resign as a law enforcement officer and leader in that community.”

Zoned Out
The conflict over “home rule” and “self-determination” when it comes to passing a patchwork of gun control laws is playing out now in Lower Merion Township, a suburb of Philadelphia. NPR reported that the town passed a zoning ordinance that would put the only federal firearms licensee, Shot Tec, out of business. Shot Tec doesn’t carry an inventory of firearms. It’s a business that facilitates legal firearm transfers and provides firearm safety classes. Still, town officials want it gone.

Township Commissioner Mike McKeon said the local law is one about zoning and not gun control, yet told NPR, “we’re trying to make everyone feel safer.”

“What the township did is they made it less accessible for people to access their rights and for people to access things like gunsmithing, etc.,” said Shot Tec owner Grant Schmidt, noting his firearm business is the only one in Lower Merion Township.

That’s a sticking point because Pennsylvania has a firearm preemption law. This has been challenged numerous times and was most recently batted down after Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney attempted to ban firearms in city parks and recreation areas. The reason was on account of the state’s General Assembly has the exclusive legal authority to write those laws in the Commonwealth. Pittsburg officials learned that again last year after trying to write their own gun control laws.

The striking irony is that those politicians demanding to pass their own local gun laws aren’t calling for crackdowns on criminals. They’re only demanding that those who obey the law are stripped of their ability to lawfully purchase a firearm. They’re ignoring state law to press a gun control agenda. These are gun control platitudes that run roughshod on state law and ignores criminals that are the real menace to society.

The Slanted Findings of a Gun-Control “Study”

Everytown for Gun Safety is a Michael Bloomberg-funded gun-ban group that has never heard of an anti-gun proposal that it hasn’t supported. So, when Everytown recently joined with The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab to study “youth” and guns, it should come as no surprise that they “found” exactly what they were looking for.

The combined groups’ new “study,” titled “U.S. Youth Attitudes On Guns Report,” concluded that pro-gun youth are more likely to hold supremacist or racist views. “Evidence from this study suggests that pro-gun attitudes were associated with more extreme worldviews like male supremacist ideation and racial resentment,” the report stated.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts, let’s first take a look at an interesting aspect of the research. While it explicitly states “Youth” in the headline, the study participants ranged from 14 to 30 years old. Even the most-liberal definitions of “youth” tend to use the parameters of 14 to 24. While there is no consensus on what defines “youth” under law in the U.S., nearly every state, along with the federal government, considers the age at which one becomes an “adult” to be 18 years old. Some may debate including 18- to 24-year-olds among “youth,” but adding 25- through 30-year-olds to the study ensures it doesn’t have any validity concerning American “youth.”

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Do Gun-Control Groups Care What Really Causes Mass Shootings? Everytown Lawsuit Says No

The Biden administration has already put nearly 2,000 gun sellers out of business in just two years. Just a few years ago, a lawsuit helped drive the 200-year-old Remington Arms into bankruptcy. But activists won’t stop suing gun shops and anyone else that comes close to the industry.

Last week, attorneys from Everytown Law, the legal arm of Michael Bloomberg’s gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, filed a lawsuit against a shop that sold the gun used in the fatal shooting of 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, in May 2022. The murderer is a racist who specifically targeted racial minorities. Everytown claims the attack “could have been prevented,” but in fact, the gun seller performed all of the proper background checks.

Others are also being sued, including the 18-year-old murderer’s parents and social media companies that allegedly “transformed and addicted” the murderer by allowing extremist content on their sites.

But the lessons from this shooting, like many other mass public shootings, are hiding in plain sight. One needs only to read the killer’s manifesto.

“Areas where CCW [carrying a concealed weapon] are outlawed or prohibited may be good areas of attack,” wrote the shooter. “Areas with strict gun laws are also great places of attack.”

But Everytown ignores those quotes. Nor does the organization mention that the Buffalo mass murderer self-identified as an “eco-fascist national socialist” and a member of the “mild-moderate authoritarian left.” The shooter expressed concern that minority immigrants have too many children and will damage the environment. “The invaders are the ones overpopulating the world,” he wrote. “Kill the invaders, kill the overpopulation and by doing so save the environment.”

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They’re coming for your guns

Leftist politicians rarely tell the truth. Their policies and ideals are so bad that they can’t, and they know it, thus the nonstop hyperbole, grandstanding, and projection. It’s infuriating that so many Americans either are unable to see this, thanks in part to a complicit MSM, or so blinded by their ideology that they choose to ignore the fact that they get endlessly played by those they keep electing.

As with any good totalitarian leftist regime, gun confiscation is at the top of the leftist wish list. It’s much easier to institute control and compliance over an unarmed citizenry than it is an armed one. They may deny it, but deep down, this is what they want. All you have to do is watch and listen to them.

You hear them use code words like “military-grade weapons” and “red flag laws.” Even our leftist administrative state is getting in on the action, as the ATF is now targeting gun dealers by denying more and more of their business licenses. It probably won’t be long until this administration starts mandating that banks curtail any financial dealings with gun manufacturers and dealers, just as it has with the fossil fuel industry. House bills are already written to pin blame on gun manufacturers for gun-related crimes. Once instituted, there is no way those business can survive the legal onslaught that would come their way. Leftists may not be able to repeal the 2nd Amendment, yet, but they can sure regulate their way around it.

This leftist playbook was recently revealed by progressive St. Louis mayor Tishaura Jones. Under her leadership, the city recently passed Bill 29, which repealed the city’s open carry law, but that wasn’t enough for her. Now she’s proposing more “commonsense gun legislation,” including but not limited to red flag laws, background checks, banning “military-grade” weapons, and prohibiting insurrectionists and those convicted of hate crimes from owning guns.

While I find red flag laws deeply concerning, as they blatantly infringe upon an individual’s right to bear arms simply via another’s accusation, the last two in the list really set the alarm bells off. Of course, Mayor Jones didn’t specifically say what constitutes a “military-grade weapon,” and I’m not going to put words into her mouth, but any time the government looks to limit something, it’s only getting started. Military-grade weapons, or “weapons of war,” is an extremely vague term that can mean whatever the government wants it to mean, which is exactly how the government wants it. All these people need to do is to open that door and stick their foot in it, and then, over time they’ll be able to step right through.

This brings me to Jones’s most disturbing statement: “prohibiting insurrectionists and those convicted of hate crimes” from owning guns. We’ve already seen how loose our federal government is when it comes to labeling citizens as “insurrectionists.” Would local leftist leaders be at all different? Of course not.

In fact, let’s take this a step farther. With our federal Justice Department labeling concerned parents voicing opinions at school board meetings as “domestic terrorists,” what would stop local authorities from targeting them as well? Or the fact that certain crimes against certain “oppressed” or “victim” groups, as determined by the administrative state, constitutes forgoing your 2nd Amendment rights, too? This is nothing but blatant political weaponization against “enemies” in the guise of “commonsense” gun laws, with the government picking and choosing the winners and losers. In the 17th century, they were called “witch hunts.”

The fact that Mayor Jones used the word “insurrectionists” was no accident. On the surface, who would argue with disarming insurrectionists, right? But to the left, “insurrectionists” refers to anybody leftists disagree with, as well as other code words like “fascists,” “MAGA,” and “terrorists.” This is the semantic word game that leftists love to play. They’ll pass laws that, on their surface, may appear sensible and provide a good sound bite, just for them to then use these laws to cudgel their opposition, while giving free passes to those who support them.

We all have to vehemently resist leftists’ assault on the 2nd Amendment, for there is absolutely no question as to what their end game is: the disarmament of the populace and the persecution of their adversaries.

Aside from the constitution, why are citizens allowed to purchase semi automatic rifles?

Because there is no “aside from the Constitution”. You have appreciated the American system opposite to how things work here.

You ask why we’re ‘allowed’ to do something? It doesn’t work that way. We Americans can say, do, own, buy, sell, possess whatever we want. We’re not ‘allowed’ anything. We need no ‘permission’. Read the whole Constitution, including the Bill of Rights and you’ll find nothing among the powers given to government, by the people, saying we must first seek to be allowed to do something.

This is the main difference of the American way where we are free citizens not government subjects. America has the ethos that anything not explicitly banned is allowed. Not that anything not explicitly allowed is banned.

To stop, ban, or restrict this freedom, a law, eventually found to be ‘constitutional’ if someone thinks it isn’t and takes it to court in our judicial system, must be passed in the legislative political process. Not the other way around.

FIRST GOP DEBATE SHINES LIGHT ON WHY AMERICANS VALUE SECOND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Eight Republican presidential candidates were under the bright lights in Milwaukee, Wis., last night as the 2024 election officially kicked off with the first televised debate of the campaign.

Fox News hosted the debate and candidates who qualified for the stage included North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, former Gov. and Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Former President Donald Trump sat out the debate and instead sat for a Tucker Carlson interview posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Only one question in the two-hour debate focused on crime and how criminals are held accountable for their crimes, or in many big cities – not held accountable. The candidate responses highlighted reasons why Americans are continuing to buy firearms at historic levels, including more than 8 million first-time buyers just in the last couple of years. As Americans cite self-defense as a top reason for buying a firearm, 1 million or more National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verifications have been processed for 48 straight months.

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SAF LAUNCHES ‘CAPTURE THE FLAG’ EFFORT TO CHALLENGE ‘RED FLAG’ LAWS

BELLEVUE, WA – Two days after filing a federal lawsuit challenging a so-called “Red Flag” law in Maryland, the Second Amendment Foundation is announcing the launch of a new project to take subsequent legal actions against similar laws in several states.

This new initiative is called “Capture the Flag,” and it will focus on abuses and mis-application of “Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO)” statutes which have been adopted by 21 states and the District of Columbia.

“SAF’s ‘Capture the Flag’ initiative looks to challenge these laws that deprive individuals of their right to keep and bear arms, where appropriate, based on evidentiary standards that are constitutionally impermissible,” explained SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, who is a practicing civil rights attorney.

Kraut said the project will initially focus on “Red Flag” laws in six states: California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington.

“SAF has been concerned about these statutes since they first started showing up,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We have already taken legal action against officials in Maryland for an egregious abuse of the law against a citizen in Dorchester County. But all of these laws should raise alarms because they prioritize citizen disarmament ahead of due process, and that can easily lead to deprivation of rights under color of law.”

Kraut said the fundamental flaw in all of these laws is that they essentially consider people guilty until they prove themselves innocent, a concept diametrically opposed to the way our criminal justice system is supposed to work, where the burden of proof is on the state, not the individual.

“When any citizen is unjustly deprived of his or her rights, it is an affront to all of us,” Kraut observed, “and we must do whatever we can to prevent it, including challenging such laws in federal court. ‘Capture the Flag’ provides the means for us to seek out such cases and take appropriate action.”

SAF encourages individuals residing in California, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, or Washington that have been subject to a baseless, groundless and unsubstantiated ERPO to contact the organization by sending an email to info@saf.org with information regarding the circumstances surrounding the petition, order, and outcome.

¡Grupos de autodefensas Para Mi!

Should armed activists patrol Hartford streets?

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Community activists’ proposed solution to recent gun violence is a community-led patrol made up of legal gun owners.

There have been 28 homicides in Hartford this year, many in the north end of the city.

Cornell Lewis, a gun owner and community activist, has proposed the idea that legal gun owners should band together to defend their neighborhoods.

“We know what to do with our guns, when to do it and we know how to diffuse situations,” he said. “The thing we’re not going to allow is people to oppress the community.”

Lewis created the Self Defense Brigade, a group dedicated to protecting the community by using “appropriate means.” Over the past three years, the group has acted as security at Black Lives Matter protests, funerals and other community events.

“It is better to defend ourselves,” Lewis said. “We have the right to. The Second Amendment says we can carry weapons, and we carry our weapons legally.”

The Self Defense Brigade and other gun-rights groups are planning to be at a rally on Sept. 2 to talk about this idea and to gauge interest. Lewis said a number of Hartford residents and people in other towns have expressed an interest in being involved.

Jeremy Stein, the executive director of CT Against Gun Violence, said he understands that people want immediate solutions to violent crime. He believes an armed guard is not the safest option.

“Adding more guns to our communities will not do a thing to end gun violence, it’s actually quite the opposite. It’s going to create a powder keg of gun violence,” he said.

In a statement to News 8, Hartford’s Mayor Luke Bronin said:
I understand the frustration and anger, because I share that frustration and anger, and I feel the burden of responsibility personally and heavily, as do our police and everyone who does this work.
Our first priority right now is to get the people responsible for the most recent shootings off of our streets, and we are working with law enforcement partners at every level, from the FBI, ATF, and DEA to state police and regional partners.
We’ve seen a series of very different acts of violence in the past few weeks, some of which are intensely personal disputes, some of which appear to be spontaneous disputes that escalate quickly into gunfire, and some of which involve a specific group of very reckless and dangerous individuals that we are working hard with law enforcement at every level to apprehend.“

I don’t think this is working out how the gun grabbers wanted

Bill allowing more guns in Tennessee schools moves forward in special session

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — While many gun-related pieces of legislation are not moving forward in the Tennessee General Assembly’s special session on public safety, one firearm bill cleared its first hurdle in committee.

The bill, brought by Rep. Chris Todd (R—Madison County), would allow any law enforcement officer, whether on or off-duty, as well as any member of the armed forces—honorably discharged or not—and anyone with an enhanced handgun carry permit to carry on school grounds or any place used by a school where students would be present.

During discussion in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee, Todd and others argued the bill would help keep schools safer in the event of an emergency before first responders arrive on the scene, but critics and even the Tennessee Department of Safety pushed back, saying it would cause more harm than good.

Elizabeth Stroecker, with the Department of Safety, said the bill would “create a situation where you would have law enforcement potentially coming in not knowing who could be a bad guy or a good guy when someone has a firearm and it’s not clear that they may be a first responder.”

Todd took issue with Stroecker’s claims, arguing whether the department trusted the “trained and permitted individuals your own department has provided permits for.”

“We absolutely trust the people that we permit, but they are not trained or permitted to carry in a school and protect a school and be able to respond to a situation in a school. There is a very big difference in the eight-hour course they take to get the enhanced permit,” Stroecker said.

Todd became even angrier, snapping at Stroecker.

“We literally have administrators in schools and law enforcement that are about to retire or are already retired that are begging us for this legislation, so that they can protect the children that are around them every single day, and you sit here as a representative of our governor that is preventing that!” Todd said.

He was quieted by the committee chairman Rep. Lowell Russell (R—Vonore) before the vote, which saw the bill approved by voice vote. It now moves onto the full Civil Justice Committee.

Other bills, many by Democrats, were killed in multiple committees today by House members. On the Senate side, one committee killed 52 of 55 bills that were on the agenda. The three that survived were priority bills for Speaker Cameron Sexton (R—Crossville).

This American doesn’t care.
I’m not safer driving to work vs taking the train but I’m still not taking the train. This notion of “safety” as a general state of being is an illusion that neurotic people obsess over. Being safe is a series of actions taken to mitigate unnecessary risk in an inherently dangerous environment or undertaking.

You can exercise gun safety by actions you take when handling a gun, you can take safety precautions when driving a car by being alert, using a seatbelt, etc but nobody on earth lives in a perpetual state of inherent safety. We never have and we never will.

This is a lie sold to people by the media and the powerful in order to accumulate more power at the expense of our rights and liberties and it needs to be called out.

Many Americans Still Wrongly Think Guns Make Us Safer

Large portions of the American public still believe false claims of all kinds about guns, the COVID-19 pandemic and reproductive health, a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation shows.

Though the poll found that percentages of Americans who believe that false claims are “definitely” true is small, the portion who think they are “probably” true is substantial. Overall, between half and three-quarters of the country belong to what KFF CEO Drew Altman called the “muddled middle,” saying that the false claims were “probably” either true or false.

Perhaps most striking of the poll’s findings is the incorrect belief, held by many Americans, that guns make them safer. Sixty percent of Americans believe it’s true that armed school police guards have been proved to prevent school shootings. Eighteen percent of respondents thought the claim was “definitely” true and 42% believed it “probably” true.

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New Jersey’s Falsely Claims Historical Tradition Of Firearm Regulation Exists

Attorneys representing the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners in a federal lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s “sensitive places” statute have filed a response brief to the state’s appeal. The case is now known as Koons v. Platkin.

In May, U.S. District Court Judge Renee Marie Bumb granted a preliminary injunction against the state. New Jersey sought a stay of that order pending appeal, to which Second Amendment Foundation filed a brief in opposition.

SAF is joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners, New Jersey Second Amendment Society, and four private citizens. Attorney David Jensen, Beacon, N.Y represent them.

“The state is trying to justify the challenged provisions of its ‘sensitive places’ law, which makes it virtually impossible for people with carry permits to actually go to most places,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Essentially, Garden State residents can walk out the front door with their legally-carried firearms, but they can’t really go anywhere.”

“We maintain the District Court acted properly by issuing a preliminary injunction against enforcement of this ‘sensitive places’ statute,” added SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The Anti-Carry Default provision of the law, which prohibits carrying on private property without the owner’s express permission, is tantamount to prohibiting lawful carry in most public places. The section prohibiting carrying a gun in a vehicle, unless the gun is unloaded and placed in a securely fastened case literally makes legal carry impossible while traveling.”

Both Second Amendment Foundation officials say it is impossible for the state to show the challenged provisions of the law, known as Chapter 131, are consistent with a historical tradition of firearm regulation.

“It is a requirement of the Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling last year,” Kraut noted, “and they can’t meet that requirement because there was no such Founding-era tradition. The state has failed to show such examples, and the injunctions should be upheld.”

KDJ’s ‘Gun Myth’ Fact-Check: Liberals Vs. Americans, Part 1

I was looking up gun statistics for my article “Liberties Under Assault: 2nd Amendment Edition,” and I tripped on two articles tackling “gun myths.” One was from the Bolshie-riffic prags at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and the other was by sane people at gunfacts.info. So I thought I’d dig into both and see which site actually knows the difference between an AR-15 and an “assault rifle.”

FACT-O-RAMA! An AR-15 is a semi-automatic firearm, and an assault rifle is a non-existent boogeyman boom-boom stick that haunts tree-huggers in their sleep and makes them wet their non-binary Underoos.

Before we get started, I just want to apologize for the phrase “fact-check” in the headline. I abhor the phrase “fact-check” because it is frequently used by commie websites that employ each other’s articles to verify or debunk alleged “facts.” Meaning, the pinko skanks at USA Today will post “Fact-Check: Did Biden Make Millions Selling Influence to our Enemies Across the Globe? The New York Times says ‘No.’” It’s akin to Stalin saying, “If you don’t believe me, ask Beria.”

However, I will be doing a real fact-check on gun myths. Let’s get this “myth” brawl underway.

In this corner, wearing rainbow trunks, weighing in at 51 kilograms, Johns Hopkins University.

MYTH: URBAN HOMICIDES FALSELY INFLATE STATISTICS ON U.S. GUN DEATHS.

FACT: “The common trope is that places like Baltimore or Detroit or Chicago are the reason we have so many gun deaths in this country,” Cass Crifasi, PhD ’14, MPH, the Center’s director of research and policy, told the Chicago Tribune. And yes, those places … have unacceptable rates of gun homicides. But the places with the highest rates of death are not Maryland, Michigan, and Illinois. They are Mississippi, Louisiana, Wyoming, Missouri, and Alabama. The places with weaker gun laws have higher rates of death. More people died from guns in Texas than Illinois, when suicide and accidental shootings are included.

Hold on, let’s look at that last phrase, “when suicide and accidental shootings are included.” That’s just a lefty pivot. Nice try, jackpuddings. We see how you are trying to manipulate the game.

Yes, roughly two-thirds of gun-related deaths are suicides, but that isn’t what this is about. The left needs to lie and squirm like the lizard people they are and add “suicides and accidental shootings” in order to “prove” that red-state dwellers, meaning conservatives, are more gun-happy than city folk, and as you’re about to see, that just ain’t true.  But again, they’ll say what they must to confiscate your guns.

JHU claims that most shootings are taking place in red states. What it fails to mention is that they are happening in blue cities in red states. And since JHU mentioned my home state of Michigan, check out this map of shootings in the Great Lakes State.

If you take Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing, and Detroit out of the picture, shootings drop significantly. And since JHU brought it up, I’ll add that the Yoopers in the Upper Peninsula (UP), of Michigan aren’t very violent. I suspect those snowbillies in da UP are not shooting people, accidentally or otherwise, just themselves, eh?

BLAST-O-RAMA! Out of a possible 100, with 100 being the safest cities in the U.S., the aforementioned Michigan cities scored the following: Detroit: 1, Lansing: 5, Grand Rapids: 7, Flint: 17 (don’t drink the water, and honestly, that score of 17 seems dubious). The mayors of Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids are Democrats. The mayor of Lansing has no party.

Hey look, I’m correct. Suicide in rural Michigan is a problem. But again, we are talking about guns used to kill people illegally. It’s nice of the Punchinellos to drag suicide into a “gun violence” debate and try to use depression to prove a point.

Let’s look at the other states mentioned:

  • The suicide rate in Wyoming is more than double the national average. This is where the “gun deaths” come from. Even the sitzpinklers at USA Today listed Wyoming as #43 in a list of the most dangerous states. Debunked.
  • Mississippi’s suicide rate clocks in at 27th in the nation, but the state ranks highest in murder rate. One-quarter of the murders take place in Jackson, which is run by a Democrat mayor. Democrats run five out of Mississippi’s ten most dangerous cities, (Republicans run four, and one is run by an Independent). Debunked.

FACT-O-RAMA! Jackson City Councilman Kenneth Stokes once suggested that people throw, “bricks, rocks, and bottles” at police chasing black suspects.

  • Six out of Louisiana’s eight most dangerous cities are run by Democrats. One is run by a Republican and one by an Independent. Debunked.

Conclusion: We can see that the beta cucks at JHU had to twist their data in a pathetic and vain attempt to prove that conservatives and guns are “dangerous.” A vast majority of gun crimes committed in red states took place in blue cities.

FACT-O-RAMA! As of this writing, there have been 763 defensive shootings in 2023.

And in this corner, wearing red, white, and blue shorts, weighing in at 188 lbs, gunfacts.info.

Myth: Gun violence is widespread in America

Fact: Misuse of guns is highly centralized in major metro areas, within poor neighborhoods (typically street gang infested) and thus highly among young black males.

According to these maps from gunviolencearchives.com, we can clearly see that most shootings take place in the eastern third of the U.S. The shootings make a significant drop in eastern Texas (roughly San Antonio) and don’t pick up again until the west coast.

Check out this map. It’s interactive. You can zoom anywhere in the U.S. and see that most shootings take place in bigger towns and cities (derp).

Conclusion: Gunfacts.info knows what it’s talking about. Shootings aren’t happening everywhere. Most take place in bigger cities. Unlike the milquetoasts at JHU, gunfacts.info doesn’t need to twist data to support laughable narratives.

Winner, Round One: Gunfacts.info!

Check back for round two in a few days! Until then, keep yer powder dry.

I see this as nothing much more than Goobernor CYA

Tennessee: 2023 Special Session Convenes – Gun Control Legislation Introduced

[On the 21st] the Tennessee General Assembly convened for a Special Session at the request of Governor Bill Lee.  While the announced purpose of the session is to address public safety, there is an attempt to force through several ineffective gun control measures that were rejected by the General Assembly earlier this year.  As of this afternoon, there are numerous anti-gun bills introduced.  We urge all NRA members and Second Amendment supporters in Tennessee to contact their state senators and representatives to let them know you OPPOSE all gun control and ask them to protect your Second Amendment rights.

Below is a list of restrictive measures that have been filed.  You can view the text of each bill at Tennessee General Assembly – Bill Search.

  • House Bill 7001/Senate Bill 7068 specifies that classes that qualify as training for issuance of an enhanced handgun carry permit or concealed handgun carry permit must include training on the use of gun locks. Therefore, classes that don’t explicitly address “gun locks” would no longer be certified by the state for permitting purposes.
  • House Bill 7047/Senate Bill 7011 creates a Class E felony of threatened mass violence for the reckless handling, displaying, or discharging of a firearm while operating or as a passenger in a motor vehicle.  This legislation could seemingly sweep in conduct, such as a person or passenger moving guns around in their car in a completely non-threatening manner.  Under current Tennessee law, threatening someone with a firearm from a motor vehicle is already aggravated assault and is a Class C felony.
  • House Bill 7056/Senate Bill 7049 expands the offense of aggravated stalking to include persons who purchase a semi-automatic rifle or attempt to use a semi-automatic rifle for the course and furtherance of stalking. The legislation attempts to carve out lawful semi-automatic firearms for different treatment under the law.
  • House Bill 7074/Senate Bill 7044 & House Bill 7075/Senate Bill 7043 include several “safe storage” provisions that control how individual Tennesseans keep firearms.
  • House Bill 7079 requires a federally licensed firearm dealer to install a firearm safety device on a firearm before delivering the firearm to a purchaser if the purchaser is not a federally licensed firearm dealer.
  • House Bill 7090/Senate Bill 7040 requires the Department of Safety to use its existing permanent electronic overhead informational displays located on the interstate system to provide messages that encourage the safe storage of firearms.
  • House Bill 7098/Senate Bill 7026 establishes the Tennessee voluntary do not sell firearms list to prohibit the possession, transportation, and sale of firearms to any person who is voluntarily admitted to a public or private hospital or treatment resource for diagnosis, observation, and treatment of a mental illness or serious emotional disturbance and voluntarily registers to be enrolled to the list.
  • House Bill 7099, House Bill 7100/Senate Bill 7029, & House Bill 7101/Senate Bill 7042 so-called “red flag” gun confiscation legislation requiring firearms surrender without due process.

Well, that is part of it.

For Most U.S. Gun Owners, Protection Is the Main Reason They Own a Gun
Nearly half of U.S. adults who do not currently own a gun say they could see themselves owning one in the future

Gun owners in the United States continue to cite protection far more than other factors, including hunting and sport shooting, as a major reason they own a gun.

And while a sizable majority of gun owners (71%) say they enjoy having a gun, an even larger share (81%) say they feel safer owning a gun.

A Pew Research Center survey, conducted June 5-11 among 5,115 members of the Center’s nationally representative American Trends Panel, finds:

72% of U.S. gun owners say protection is a major reason they own a gun. That far surpasses the shares of gun owners who cite other reasons.

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Joe Biden Boasts He Has Bypassed Congress for Gun Control More than Any Other President

On August 17, 2023, President Joe Biden boasted about the number of times he has used executive action to institute gun control that Congress did not pass.

He tweeted:

On April 8, 2021, Breitbart News reported Biden used executive gun controls that included restrictions on “ghost guns,” a push for red flag laws, recategorization of AR-15 pistols, and DOJ-led research into gun trafficking.

These controls led to an ATF-issued rule classifying “partially complete pistol frames” as firearms. That rule means a background check is now required in order to purchase certain gun parts kits.

The  same executive controls also led to an ATF-issued rule categorizing AR-pistols with stabilizer braces as short-barrel rifles. This new categorization means owners of said pistols with stabilizer braces are required to the register the firearms under the auspices of the National Firearms Act (1934).

On July 21, 2022, the White House recounted that Biden had issued 21 executive actions related to gun control and gun violence up to that point in his presidency.

On May 14, 2023, Breitbart News noted that Biden issued yet another executive order on gun control, this one directing Attorney General Merrick Garland to act where Congress has not acted and take the United States “as close as possible” to universal background checks.

Another executive gun control is anticipated late this year or early next year, in the form of an ATF-issued rule to redefine the meaning of gun dealer so as to broaden it, and thereby broaden the number of gun sales in which a background check will be required. The goal of the ATF rule will be to get as close as possible to a universal background check scenario in America.

Another pissant wanna-be tyrant, shilling for those BloombergBucks.
But it is so nice when pictures for positive ID are provided.

the need for that assault weapon ban. Not one on the buying of weapons in the future. One on ALL military style assault weapons in American hands now. Buy them back and make the penalties so severe that no one will be tempted to keep one

We aren’t doing enough to address gun violence

C.J. Mikkelsen is a retired Lieutenant/paramedic for Dallas Fire Rescue in Dallas, Texas. He was born and raised in Michigan and is glad to be back in his home state.

CJ Mikkelsen

Mark Barden’s face looks out from my phone imploring me to contribute to Sandy Hook Promise to stop gun violence about every three minutes while
I swipe it away as soon as that five second countdown ends. But it bothers me when I do it.

Yes, I’ve contributed. “I’ve done my part,” I say to myself.
But have I? Have we, as a society?

Do we protect our most vulnerable citizens, our children, like we should?
So many of us go on ridiculous rants about drag queen story hour or share posts about the “Sound of Freedom” movie on our Facebook page. We’re all about “saving the children” as long as all it takes is a painless couple of clicks of a mouse.

Sorry, folks. I can’t let it go and fade into the background.
I know, I’ve written about gun violence and I’m supposed to have moved on to the next big topic. Something keeps bringing me back to guns. It’s either Mark Barden’s face or another tragic mass shooting or something as mind-boggling as an article about a mini-AR15 that a company is marketing to children less than eight years old.

America is, according to Everytown Research & Policy, (The Impact of Gun Violence on Children and Teens | Everytown Research & Policy) killing or maiming our children at a rate of 53 each and every day of the year.

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