The Scaremongering Over “Unlicensed Dealers”
Up until President Joe Biden started talking about unlicensed dealers while announcing his efforts to reduce the violent crime surge plaguing our nation, most people had never heard the term. Now, it seems that tons of overnight experts have stepped up to try and discuss just how awful these unlicensed dealers are.
It’s downright terrifying, to hear these people talk.
David Chipman: Feds should be able to confiscate guns from people who use “hate speech” online
From an interview by BBC in 2019. As we all know, “hate speech” is turning into whatever the far-left politicians and activists say it is. Can you imagine this guy leading the ATF and having an ATF task force that just looked for “wrong think” talk online and if you said something that offended them they’d act on it and take your guns?”
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10221045358309657&id=1413781581
I wonder if opposing critical race theory would be considered “hate speech”? David’s wife, Tara, is pretty outspoken on Twitter about her beliefs (thread on her and David here. She’s former brass at the ATF and just retired last week after some stuff came out).
More than 7,000 Hoosiers apply for free lifetime gun permits
It would appear Indiana’s lifetime gun permits are in demand, now that they’re free.
The Indiana State Police firearms licensing website experienced a “high number” of applicants that stopped many in their tracks as they attempted to apply for a lifetime gun permit Thursday.
On July 1, the lifetime license to carry a handgun became free.
“Due to a high number of current applicants, we must limit the number of individuals applying at one time. Please try again later.”
Many, though, we successfully able to apply for the free permits. Indiana State Police told WANE 15 that 7,054 lifetime permit applications were submitted Thursday.
If you’re still having trouble applying for a free lifetime gun permit, state police said in a statement Thursday to just be patient.
“Today is the first day where Indiana Hoosiers can now go online and apply for a free lifetime permit to carry a handgun. As expected, the Indiana State Police is receiving a large influx of applications being submitted on this first day. With the increased number of applications that are being submitted, the Indiana State Police is asking for the public’s patience and understanding, as we diligently continue to work through such a large quantity of applications.”
Weren’t We Always Extremists?
But over the years, I’ve had to disentangle my pride in my family’s work ethic and character, which so closely align with the American ideals I was taught and still vigorously believe in, from our government itself.
When we said, ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,’ the reality is that this principle had been self-evident to practically no one throughout thousands of years of history. When we said that all men are ‘endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,’ it got people’s attention, and suddenly others began to agree. When we said humans are entitled to ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,’ it became a violation to impede such things. But make no mistake. These notions were not mainstream when our founders threw down the gauntlet with the Declaration of Independence.”………….
I always find it odd that America alone is criticized for injustices such as slavery, racism, inequality, and civil rights violations. It’s as if the vast majority of people are truly under the impression these injustices only ever happened here. In truth, the entirety of human history is marred by these evils, and in many places, you’ll find much worse conditions for civil liberties to this day………….
Gun Ownership Steadily Increasing Among US Women
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA – In 2020, Americans battled a pandemic, social injustice and a contested election — conflicts that led many people to become gun owners.
And, consistent with a slow trend over the past decade, more of those gun owners are women.
Beth Privette, who helps run the Women Arm Yourselves Safety program in Brevard, North Carolina, said she added two classes to her calendar in 2020 “because there was such a need for it.”
“In the last year and a half, we’ve seen quite an uptick,” she told VOA.
Preliminary data from Harvard’s School of Public Health suggest that women accounted for about half of all gun purchases between 2019 and 2021, and that new gun owners are more likely to be female.
Applying Sun Tzu’s axioms, knowing what your enemy is up to is half the battle.
We thank this author, and the authors of the articles for self identifying and providing such excellent evidentiary material.
Does Expanding Gun Access Threaten US Stability?
Commentators have pointed to the recent uptick in gun violence to push for looser gun laws and greater access to weapons for self-defense.
But the authors of an essay collection published by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law argue that expanding access to guns will undermine safety, stability and democracy in the U.S.
Titled “Protests, Insurrection and the Second Amendment,” the 13 essays “probe the complicated relationship between guns and race, policing, domestic violence, and republican government,” writes Brennan Center fellow Eric Ruben.
The Crime Report spoke with the authors of three essays: Stanford University Law Professor John J. Donohue, Duke University Law Professor Darrell A. H. Miller and Cornell University Law Professor Sherry F. Colb.
The full collection — which includes contributions from 14 scholars — is available here.
Should Gun Owners Reconsider Defending the Federal Background Check System?
It’s been beaten like a dead horse at this point, but since the Wuhan virus breakout and subsequent lockdown state governments were implemented throughout the last year, gun sales in America have gone through the roof.
This is great news for anyone who believes in the right to bear arms. The uptick in gun sales shows that American gun culture is alive and well, above all, in anti-gun strongholds. That said, America still lives under a gun control regime and many lawful Americans have to put up with many of the unintended consequences associated with empowering a centralized bureaucracy.
Take for example the case of the National Instant Background Check System. Casual members of the Second Amendment space treat NICS as a normal facet of gun policy despite it only being fully implemented less than three decades ago. One flawed aspect of NICS that should give gun rights activists pause is the occurrence of false positives, when law-abiding citizens’ names get mixed and matched with criminals who share a similar name.
With the massive surge of gun sales taking place in America, there has naturally been an unprecedented number of transactions processed under NICS. According to the Associated Press, NICS checks blocked about twice as many gun sales in 2020 as in 2019. Roughly 42% of the denials came about as a result of prospective buyers having felony convictions.
Per records that anti-Second Amendment group Everytown for Gun Safety was able to obtain, 300,000 people were barred from buying a firearm through NICS. In total, Tom Knighton of Bearing Arms observed that nearly 40 million NICS checks were conducted in 2020.
Gun owners will need to rethink the validity of the National Instant Background Check System in light of the aforementioned rejection numbers. The fact is that bureaucracies remain clunky and inefficient. So, it stands to reason that the more people they deal with, the more errors they will produce.
According to figures that Gun Owners of America has acquired, 95% of NICS denials turn out to be false positives. Pro-Second Amendment researchers like John Lott have explained that NICS is not much to write home about. Lott illustrated back in 2015 that NICS is not particularly effective in stopping criminals:
The number of criminals stopped by the checks is also quite small. In 2010, there were over 76,000 initial denials, but only 44 of those were deemed worthy for prosecution by the federal government and only 13 individuals were convicted. Even those 13 cases don’t tend to be the “dangerous” criminals Obama claims are being stopped. There are additional state prosecutions, but those are rare as well.
Similarly, in More Gun Less Crime, Lott explained how the establishment of NICS in the 1990s had little to no impact on crime rates, which were already in decline before NICS became fully functional in 1998.
Iowa ‘constitutional carry’ law goes into effect
Effective July 1, Iowa no longer requires certain residents to have a permit to acquire or permit to carry [or] to purchase handguns from federally licensed firearms dealers.
Instead, those who apply without permits need to undergo the National Instant Criminal Background Check System background check for each purchase. They must be at least 21 years old unless they possess a professional permit to carry a firearm while working in an occupation that requires it, according to the bill, HB756. A June 24 fiscal note on the bill listed several other factors that would make an individual ineligible to possess a pistol or revolver. The bill, which Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law April 2, also expands the group of individuals able to carry firearms on school property, as outlined in the fiscal note.
The fiscal note said decriminalizing the acquisition of a pistol or revolver without a permit or going armed with a dangerous weapon may decrease costs to the justice system by $2.2 million to $4.7 million annually and expanding the group of individuals allowed to carry a firearm on school grounds may decrease expenditures for the correctional system by between $30,800 to $54,000 annually. Costs per conviction for possession by a minor on school grounds of a taser may increase from $40 to $350. The cost per conviction for possession of loaded firearm or dangerous weapon or a violation of Iowa Code section 724.15 may increase from $410 to $7,500.
“I think it is a great day for freedom in Iowa,” Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison, told The Center Square. “While strenuous background checks remain and will likely increase under the new law, Iowans will no longer have to get a permission slip from government and pay a fee for a permit to practice their constitutional right of self-defense.”
Holt added: “I believe that gun rights groups will spend a great deal of time educating the public on the new law in the months to come, which is very important.”
Holt said, over the long term he expects many Iowans will continue to get the optional permit for reciprocity purposes with other states. This means Iowans do not have to get a background check every time they purchase a firearm, since a permit is valid for five years and does not require additional background checks.
“The omnibus firearms bill we passed, which includes a number of provisions including Constitutional Carry, allowing off-duty law enforcement officers to carry their firearms in our public schools, increasing the availability of handgun safety training, and allowing EMTs with tactical teams to get a professional permit to carry, will make all Iowans safer,” Holt said……………….
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs Bill Allowing Congregants to Carry for Church Defense
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation Tuesday allowing worshipers with concealed permits to carry firearms on their persons for church, synagogue, and mosque defense.
WFLA reported that the bill, HB 259, applies to concealed carry permit holders and it took effect immediately upon being signed.
ABC 7 noted the HB 259 also covers churches and other places of worship that have schools. Until now, there has been a prohibition on carry at such churches and/or places of worship because of the school grounds.
State Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), who sponsored the bill, said: “There are always threats. And all we’re doing is giving them, those religious institutions, the ability and the right to be able to say ‘yes,’ if we choose.”
“We’re going to allow concealed permit holders — it’s not the wild, wild West — we’re giving one of the safest subgroups in our society the ability to carry,” he continued.
State Sen. Gary Farmer (D-Lighthouse Point) opposed HB 259, arguing it is built on the “fallacy” that a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy.
Farmer said, “There hasn’t been any Dirty Harry or John McClane or Rambo that’s come to the defense of anyone in any of these mass shootings.”
Here are a few examples of good guys with guns stopping bad guys during the past seven years alone:
Breitbart News reported that a concealed carry permit holder shot and killed an alleged Tulsa, Oklahoma, attacker on March 27, 2020, thwarting a mass shooting in the process.
On December 29, 2019, the Associated Press reported that a man opened fire on a Texas church congregation and was shot and killed seconds later by an armed congregant. Video from the incident showed congregant Jack Wilson shooting the attacker while other congregants closed in, guns drawn, to help end the attack as well. ABC News quoted Texas Department of Public Safety Deputy Director Joeff Williams saying, “The citizens who were inside that church undoubtedly saved 242 other parishioners. That might get swept aside in this whole conversation about active shooter response, and God know law enforcement has done a whole bunch of work to make our response better.”
On August 7, 2018, Fox News reported that a concealed carry permit holder was there to “save countless lives” when a gunman with bad intentions opened fire on a back to school event in Titusville, Florida. Fox 32 quoted Titusville police Sgt. William Amos saying, “Based on the information that we’ve gathered. This person stepped in and saved a lot of people’s lives.”
Breitbart News explained that an Uber driver with a concealed carry permit stopped a mass shooting in Chicago on April 17, 2015. The Chicago Tribune reported the permit holder was in his car when he saw a gunman open fire on a “group of people.” The permit holder pulled his own gun and shot multiple rounds, striking the attacker three times and ending the mass shooting in the process.
Breitbart News also noted that a concealed carry permit holder stopped a March 22, 2015, mass shooting in a Philadelphia barber shop. NBC Philadelphia reported that the gunman was shooting at “customers and barbers” when the permit holder intervened, shooting the attacker in the chest and ending the threat.
ABC News observed that Richard Plotts opened fire in a psychologist’s office July 24, 2014, and his shooting spree was stopped by an armed doctor. Plotts was convicted for opening fire in Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby Borough, Pennsylvania. Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan noted that Dr. Lee Silverman, the armed psychologist who ended Plotts’ attack, helped prevent Plotts from reloading his gun to continue firing.
More recently, on May 17, 2021, Breitbart pointed to a good guy who used a hunting rifle to foil an alleged mass shooting in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. RES. 388
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President Biden’s gun policies are unconstitutional and should never be approved.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 12, 2021
Mr. DesJarlais (for himself, Mr. Norman, Mr. Rogers of Alabama, Mr. Steube, Mr. Weber of Texas, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Budd, Mrs. Harshbarger, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Perry, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Keller, Mr. Rose, Mr. Aderholt, and Mrs. Miller of Illinois) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that President Biden’s gun policies are unconstitutional and should never be approved.
Whereas the right of the people to keep and bear arms is enshrined in our Constitution as the Second Amendment;
Whereas our Nation’s Founders believed this right to be fundamental for Americans to protect themselves and the state of freedom;
Whereas President Biden has directly attacked this right by issuing numerous Executive orders and calling for stricter gun control policies;
Whereas President Biden’s Executive actions on pistol-braced firearms are an unconstitutional attack on Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights;
Whereas President Biden’s Executive actions on homemade firearms, such as 3D printed firearm files or unfinished receiver blanks, are an unconstitutional attack on Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights;
Whereas President Biden has called for Congress to pass unconstitutional laws requiring background checks on all firearm transfers, unconstitutionally banning “assault weapons” and “high-capacity magazines”, and holding law-abiding gun manufacturers liable for the acts of criminals;
Whereas President Biden’s gun restriction proposals would effectively ban commonly owned firearms and magazines used for lawful purposes;
Whereas President Biden’s gun restriction proposals would criminalize private firearm transfers; and
Whereas President Biden’s gun restriction proposals would seek to hold gun manufacturers and dealers civilly liable, encouraging abuse of the court system to drive them out of business through meritless litigation: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that—
(1) it should be the policy of the United States to strengthen the Second Amendment rights of Americans and prevent the potential erosion of these rights; and
(2) Congress should never stop fighting to protect the Second Amendment.
Biden Lost the Public on Gun Control, He’ll Lose on the Issue
The road to President Biden’s plan to address the uptick in violent crime by enacting sweeping gun control measures is filled with immovable roadblocks and deep potholes.
They come in the form of Middle America’s distaste for more gun control — even by a group long believed to be in the hip pocket of the Democratic Party.
The results of a Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday indicated a growing resistance to the necessity of enacting new gun control legislation, such as the proposals that the Biden administration is promoting.
Only 33% support new gun control legislation, while a majority, 52%, believe the government should instead enforce more strictly those gun control laws that already exist.
Fifteen percent weren’t sure.
The poll also indicated that 54% of respondents agreed that America’s “founders explicitly wanted an armed citizenry to keep potentially tyrannical governments in check.”
Nearly a third of the respondents, 32%, strongly agreed.
Only 26% disagreed, while 20% weren’t sure.
This is reflected by the spike in legal sales of firearms from federally licensed gun dealers — most of it prompted by the uptick in violent crime.
I’d say that’s a pretty good ‘cut’.
Some Missouri police cut ties with ATF as feds assess impact of new gun law
As Missouri officials argue with the Biden administration over the scope of the state’s new gun law, federal law enforcement agencies are quietly assessing whether police departments will cut ties with them in firearm investigations.
The passage of the Second Amendment Preservation Act, which blocks Missouri police from enforcing a variety of federal gun laws, has alarmed gun control advocates and sparked concern that it could hamper police efforts to arrest violent criminals or confiscate their guns.
Emails obtained by The Star show federal prosecutors in eastern Missouri have asked at least a dozen police departments whether they will stop participating in federal gun crime investigations. The FBI has also queried a southwest Missouri police department, and is assessing the responses of local police statewide.
At least two departments have pulled officers from assignments with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, spokesmen confirmed.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol has suspended its participation in an ATF task force, to which one trooper was assigned full-time and three part-time, Lt. Eric Brown said.
“With the passage of HB 85, Patrol members can continue to serve on federal task forces except where the task force’s primary focus is on weapons violations,” Brown said.
The O’Fallon Police Department has withdrawn two K9 officers “who were deputized to ATF on an as needed basis,” Operations Division Captain Derek Myers wrote in an email to other police officials.
An ATF spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.
BLUF:
……expect to see concerted efforts by the Harris-Biden Administration, to implement executive actions, albeit as a “temporary fix” to restrict the possession of semiautomatic weapons. This is being coordinated with efforts by the Democrat-controlled Congress to shoehorn semiautomatic weapons into the NFA, or, perhaps, to enact new stand-alone legislation, or to enact a ban on possession of semiautomatic firearms through obscure means, by placing a gun ban in some larger omnibus bill.
Whatever transpires, the American people should be prepared for a very rocky ride in the months ahead as the economy continues to deteriorate, as social volatility and unrest in society crank up, and as the Second Amendment undergoes an assault in a manner heretofore not seen.
The propagandists for the Democrat Party-controlled Government are nothing if not expert in the art of subterfuge, deflection, artifice, and duplicity. Turning the Bill of Rights on its head, they claim the Country will be better off once the American people just accept constraints on the exercise of their fundamental rights and liberties.
But for whom would the Country be better off: for the American people or for the Neoliberal Globalists, along with their cousin Marxists, who intend to dismantle a free Constitutional Republic and merge the skeletal remains of the United States into something truly obscene: a transnational new governmental world order akin to the European Union?
Already Biden has made overtures to Brussels, resurrecting the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership or “T-TIP,” an arrangement that had stalled under the Trump Administration as did the Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP.
The true, if unstated, purpose of the G-7 Summit was to reassure Brussels that the U.S. was back on track to complete the agenda commenced in earnest thirty years ago—an agenda that had been making substantial headway under Obama, and that would continue under Hillary Clinton. But that agenda came to a screeching halt when Trump was elected U.S. President, to the surprise and shock and consternation of Neoliberal Globalists and Marxists both inside the Country and outside it, and no less to the chagrin of China, as well.
But with the mentally debilitated, and easily manipulated Joe Biden firmly ensconced in the Oval Office, the Globalist and Marxist agenda could get back on track. The EU would get what it wants from the U.S.; China would get what it wants from the U.S.; even Russia got what it wanted. And who was left out of the mix? The American people, of course.
But then, the Harris-Biden Administration and their cohorts in the Democrat Party controlled Congress, together with the seditious Press and social media and information technology titans haven’t bothered to ask the American people for their perspective on any of this. They really don’t care. They have effectively shunted Trump aside and they are treating tens of millions of American dissenters as potential “Domestic Terrorists” who refuse to go along with the game plan. The Globalists and Marxists will suffer no dissident thought or action. They are intent on stamping out all dissent. And this portends something serious on the horizon for the well-being of the Country and for the well-being of the American people.
Biden’s 7 Step Plan to Register Every Gun in America
Second Amendment will be Nullified if ‘Common Use’ is Restricted to ‘Popularity’
“The Second Amendment protects modern weapons,” Judge Roger T. Benitez observed in his landmark Miller v. Bonta ruling striking down California’s so-called “assault weapons” ban. He was citing Caetano v. Massachusetts, a 2016 United States Supreme Court decision vacating a woman’s conviction for carrying a stun gun for self-defense.
“The Court has held that ‘the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding,’” the High Court, citing the Heller case, unanimously held. “In this case, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts upheld a Massachusetts law prohibiting the possession of stun guns after examining ‘whether a stun gun is the type of weapon contemplated by Congress in 1789 as being protected by the Second Amendment.’”
Aside from the obvious, no-nonsense assertions of Founding-era voices such as Tench Coxe (“every terrible implement of the soldier”) and James Madison (see “militia” observations in Federalist No. 46), it helps to understand another gun-grabber lie, that the Founders only had single-shot muskets and couldn’t have imagined technological advancements leading to more lethal weaponry.
Firearms technology from long before their time included Fourteenth Century multiple-barreled volley guns and a design by Leonardo DaVinci for a rotating triple-barrel breech-loading cannon. The Founding Era had already seen pepperbox revolvers, Kentucky/Pennsylvania rifles, cartridges to combine shot and powder, the British breech-loading Ferguson rifle, the 11-cylinder crank-operated Puckle gun, and the Girandoni air rifle, capable of firing 22 .46 caliber balls and that had actually been used by the Austrian army 11 years before the Bill of Rights was ratified. And the above is by no means an exhaustive list.
The Founders were enlightened men, schooled in classical, political, and legal history, aware of current developments (and in cases like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, innovators and inventors themselves), and visionaries with eyes toward the future, and to “secur[ing] the Blessings of Liberty to … Posterity.”
Oblivious to that, Constitutional and historical illiterates, like the head of the oxymoronically named “Texas Gun Sense,” are getting ink spreading astonishingly ignorant assertions like “There weren’t automatic weapons or 100-round magazine capacities in the guns 100 years ago.” And, like useful idiots, they’re making such moronic pronouncements for Chinese communist propagandists (who want Americans disarmed and live Chairman Mao’s maxim that “Political power grows from the barrel of a gun”).
That’s bad enough, but the grabbers then bring those arguments into court cases and equally corrupt judges then create “settled law.” As the Brady Center argued in a brief supporting the State of Maryland’s semiauto and magazine ban:
“Suppose, for example, that a new, unregulated and highly lethal weapon were developed before a statute was enacted. When first offered for sale, the weapon would not be protected because it would not be in common use. However, under Plaintiffs’ theory, if sales of the weapon grew explosively over the next year, prior to any legislation, then the weapon would, within that short time frame, become constitutionally protected, even though a ban would have been permissible had the legislature acted just a few months earlier. Such an approach makes little sense.”
That’s the crux—if new developments in weaponry can be denied to We the People, then it’s just a matter of time before the disparity between what the government has and what the people have will be as wide as if we were relegated to Brown Bess muskets and flintlocks against modern infantry. Unless “in common use at the time” is held to mean by soldiers in the field, with real “weapons of war,” as opposed to a sporting arms popularity contest, the Second Amendment will be nullified as a last-resort defense against foreign and domestic tyranny.
To argue otherwise is to argue the Founders thought sending an outmatched yeomanry to their slaughter was “necessary to the security of a free State.” That’s insane.
Legislation proposed to make Ky. Second Amendment sanctuary state
FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – Kentucky would become a Second Amendment sanctuary state if legislation being proposed for the 2022 General Assembly is enacted.
The measure, which will be sponsored by Rep. Josh Bray, R-Mt. Vernon, would bar state and local law enforcement agencies from enforcing federal restrictions on the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. It would also prohibit local governments and other public agencies from allocating public resources or money in the enforcement of federal firearm bans. It includes firearms themselves, ammunition and firearm accessories.
“President Biden has declared gun control a priority for his administration, and we know that if he doesn’t get what he wants from Congress, he will abuse his executive authority through rulemaking,” said Bray, who represents all of Garrard and Rockcastle counties and a portion of Madison County. “This sends a clear message that Kentucky is a Second Amendment sanctuary and that there is no question we will defend the Second Amendment against any attempt to infringe upon it.”
Leaked ATF report: Private gunmakers are criminals, terrorists and violent extremists
When it comes to overhyping the next “threat” to the homeland, the ATF seldom disappoints.
If there is any federal agency that can be counted on to create a problem just to justify their own existence it is certainly the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
When it comes to overhyping the next “threat” to the homeland – regardless of the facts – the ATF seldom disappoints.
The embattled agency’s latest piece of creative fiction is a warning about “privately made firearms” or PMFs, and it should serve as a warning to gun owners, homebuilders and everyone else who values their civil rights.
An ATF document titled “First Responder Awareness of Privately Made Firearms May Prevent Illicit Activities,” was published last week by the Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team (JCAT).
“JCAT is a collaboration by the NCTC, DHS and FBI to improve information sharing among federal, state, local, tribal, territorial governments and private sector partners, in the interest of enhancing public safety,” the document states. “This product is NOT in response to a specific threat against the United States. It provides general awareness of, considerations for, and additional resources related to terrorist tactics, techniques and procedures, whether domestic or overseas.”
To be clear, the ATF and JCAT consider homebuilt firearms “terrorist tactics, techniques and procedures,” even though Americans have been making guns legally in their homes since before there even was a United States of America.
NAACP concerned about Biden’s gun control plan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — President Joe Biden recently announced a plan to reduce gun violence and other crimes nationwide, but leaders in the Black community think it could do more harm than good.
“This is an ongoing problem that is occurring not only in Grand Rapids, but in cities all across the country,” said Carlton T. Mayers, II, Esq., national policing reform consultant at Mayers, Strategic Solutions, LLC and policing reform advisor for NAACP Grand Rapids Branch. “It encourages over-policing of Black and brown communities, which ultimately results in the unnecessary harms and deaths of Black and brown people.”
Biden’s plan is suggesting cities use some of their COVID-19 relief funding to get the job done.
Mayers says the community should be involved in the decision before money is allocated.
Last year, leaders with the city of Grand Rapids debated using ShotSpotter technology in high crime neighborhoods. This would use microphones to detect gunshots in certain areas. The plan hasn’t been approved, but Gayle Harvey, the NAACP’s executive officer of external relations, worries this would target Black and brown communities before crimes even take place.
“How is that going to help, how is it going to continue to protect Black and brown people in those communities that it services because to the high end, those are the communities that it will be in,” said Harvey.
These two say getting the community together would be a better plan to brainstorm solutions moving forward.
“That is going to at least put in place a way that community members would have a say on how this technology is used, so that way it’s not used in a discriminatory fashion,” said Mayers.
Harvey says the NAACP has already been in touch with city officials and the police department in hopes of moving forward in a positive direction for everyone.
(Oklahoma State) Senator Dahm files bill to lower ‘constitutional carry’ age to 18
TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Broken Arrow Senator Nathan Dahm has filed a bill to lower the age for “constitutional carry” to 18 years old.
Dahm said Senate Bill 1093, which was intentionally filed on June 28 to honor Oklahoma’s Second Amendment Day, will “further expand the right of the people of Oklahoma to keep and bear arms.”
“The people have a Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms,” Dahm said in a news release. “Just as they have the right to vote starting at 18, they should not have to wait until turning 21 to exercise their right to self-defense.”
He said, since the age for voting in Oklahoma is 18, so should be the age for constitutionally carrying a firearm openly or concealed.
“The primary function and responsibility of government is to protect individual rights,” Dahm said. “This bill will allow people who currently can vote but currently can’t exercise their Second Amendment rights to have both rights protected for them.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 631 on Apr. 26, 2021, making Oklahoma a Second Amendment sanctuary state.
“Oklahoma has made great gains in advancing our Second Amendment protections,” Dahm said. “That is largely thanks to important local groups like OK2A as well as national groups like NAGR who were both instrumental in getting Constitutional Carry passed. I look forward to continuing to work with each of them and others including the NRA and GOA to advance our rights and access to firearms.”
Oklahoma became the 15th state to approve constitutional carry in 2019.
Director of Communications for the National Association for Gun Rights Chris Stone released the following statement on SB1093:
The National Association for Gun Rights applauds Sen. Nathan Dahm for introducing this rights restoring bill. All law-abiding adults in Oklahoma should be protected under Oklahoma’s Constitutional Carry law. A 20-year-old single mom should not be forced to beg for governments permission to protect herself and her kids, and If you’re old enough to serve in America’s armed forces, you should be able to carry a firearm without first having to pay a tax.
The president of the Oklahoma Second Amendment Association, Don Spencer, also released a statement:
Senator Dahm, recipient of the OK2A 2021 Minuteman Award, has been a champion for liberty during his tenure in the senate. OK2A will continue to work with Senator Dahm on this bill to return rights back to the citizens and those that are lawfully visiting the great State of Oklahoma.