The Essential Second Amendment
Helping Americans understand and defend the Second Amendment.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms, enshrined in the Constitution’s Second Amendment, is centered not on hunting or sport shooting but on the natural right of self-defense. It gives “teeth” to the promises of liberty, ensuring that attempts to reduce our natural rights to mere dead letters may be met with meaningful resistance.
Download the eBook here.

Sunday Thoughts: ‘Christianity and Liberalism’ at 100

I don’t remember how it came to my attention, but last summer, I downloaded the audiobook of J. Gresham Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism. I know, I know; it’s not exactly breezy summer reading (or listening), but I definitely don’t regret it. It’s worth pointing out that this year is the 100th anniversary of this landmark work.

Machen, an evangelical scholar at Princeton, wrote Christianity and Liberalism because he believed that “the chief modern rival of Christianity is Liberalism.” The book stemmed from the rising tide of liberal theology that was only growing in the early 1920s. Machen saw how liberalism was seeping into his beloved Princeton Theological Seminary, and that phenomenon alarmed him. He and others would go on to found Westminster Theological Seminary a few years later in an attempt to counter the liberalism at Princeton with biblical orthodoxy.

It’s astonishing how timely Machen’s words are a century later. In Christianity and Liberalism, “Machen combats liberal theology that crept into the once conservative Princeton Seminary with surgeon-like precision,” writes blogger Kevin Halloran. “His main thesis being that liberal Christianity is diametrically opposed to true, biblical Christianity.”

Halloran adds that Machen “destroys liberal thought with Scripture and logic while calling all men to true faith in the Savior and biblical faithfulness.”

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‘Rise Of The Fourth Reich’ Makes The Case For The Covid Reckoning America Desperately Needs

In ‘Rise of the Fourth Reich,’ Steve Deace and Daniel Horowitz argue for new Nuremburg-like trials to end Covid fascism once and for all.

Over the past three years, Americans have been continuously lied to by their government about nearly every aspect of the Covid-19 pandemic. From the unscientific lockdowns to the efficacy of natural immunity to the virus, no facet of the outbreak and its subsequent state-oriented response remained safe from manipulation.

In the name of power and control, politicians, bureaucrats, and public “health” officials destroyed the lives of many with their falsehoods. And despite the media calling for Covid “amnesty,” the fallout has left millions of normal Americans wondering: How can we hold these people accountable?

A newly released book may have the answer.

In “Rise of the Fourth Reich: Confronting Covid Fascism with a New Nuremberg Trial, So This Never Happens Again,” Blaze Media commentators Steve Deace and Daniel Horowitz make the case for why America needs new Nuremburg-like trials to ensure the biomedical tyranny inflicted upon the country during the Covid outbreak isn’t used to handle future pandemics. The amount of damage caused by such government policies, they say, is practically impossible to quantify.

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The class politics of the judiciary.

The terms “Front-Row Kids” and “Back-Row Kids,” coined by the photographer Chris Arnade, describe the divide between the educated upper middle class, who are staying ahead in today’s economy, and the less educated working class, who are doing poorly. The differences in education―and the values associated with elite schooling―have produced a divide in America that is on a par with that of race.

The judiciary, requiring a postgraduate degree, is the one branch of government that is reserved for the Front-Row Kids. Correspondingly, since the Warren era, the Supreme Court has basically served as an engine for vindicating Front-Row preferences, from allowing birth control and abortion, to marginalizing religion in the public space, to legislative apportionment and libel law, and beyond. Professor Glenn Reynolds describes this problem in detail and offers some suggestions for making things better.

America’s Rifle
What the gun-control crowd doesn’t want you to know about AR-type rifles

A lifetime of work led me to write the book America’s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15. I began challenging “assault-weapon” bans when California passed the first state ban in American history, the Roberti-Roos law of 1989. At the time, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the right to keep and bear arms didn’t apply in California, a denial that the U.S. Supreme Court overruled when it held the Second Amendment also restricts state and local government, in McDonald v. Chicago (2010)

In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to possess firearms, including handguns, that are in common use by law-abiding persons for lawful purposes. It should have been a no-brainer when we challenged D.C.’s semi-automatic rifle ban in Heller II, but the D.C. Circuit held that, while rifles like the AR-15 are in common use, the ban was valid under a then-novel “two-part test,” which allowed courts to balance away rights at the second step. In a dissent, then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh argued that the ban violated the Second Amendment.

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Gun Wars: An Interview with Larry Correia

Larry Correia is a bestselling author of thriller SF/fantasy fiction.  He’s also a gun enthusiast.  Now he’s written a nonfiction work on gun rights and the Second Amendment.  I read an advance copy and found myself flying through the pages – it’s super-interesting and engaging, even to someone like me who’s been a shooter and gun-rights supporter and part of this world for many years.   The book is In Defense of the Second Amendment, and it comes out on Tuesday.

I thought it would be nice to ask him some questions, which are featured below. As usual, the article is free to everyone, but comments are limited to paid subscribers.

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I called it ‘America’s Rifle’ years ago.

America’s Rifle
The AR-15 is protected by the Second Amendment.

Stephen Halbrok

Thanks to Eugene for inviting me to post about some of the developments in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. BruenBruen held that New York’s limitation of the issuance of permits to carry a handgun to those who officials decide have a special need violates the Second Amendment, which protects from infringement “the right of the people to … bear arms.” The government may not limit that right to a privileged class.

One of the hot-button issues that is being relitigated after Bruen is whether banning semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15 violates the Second Amendment. I argue that it does in my new book America’s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15. It covers text and precedent, English and colonial history, the Founding, and how the constitutional right to arms kept pace with the development of firearms. The expired federal ban of 1994 was a true aberration from a Congress that has almost never actually banned a type of firearm.

In most of the 20th century, the antigun movement focused on banning handguns. Rifles and shotguns were said to be good, pistols and revolvers bad. The Colt AR-15 Sporter rifle hit the civilian market in 1964, the same year that Colt made its first deliveries of the M-16 to the Air Force. The AR-15 is semiautomatic, requiring a separate function of the trigger for each shot, while the M-16 is automatic, meaning it fires continuously as long as the trigger is pulled back. Despite that basic difference, they looked similar on the outside, causing the Violence Policy Center see the potential for confusion in the public. The idea of labeling the AR-15 and like rifles “assault weapons” and banning them was born.

In 1989, California became the first state to ban “assault weapons,” which it defined to include a list of makes and models such as the AR-15. We challenged that law in Fresno Rifle & Pistol Club v. Van de Kamp (1992), but the Ninth Circuit held that the Second Amendment doesn’t apply to the states. The Supreme Court has since ruled that it does, in McDonald v. Chicago (2010).

In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court held that, as a textual matter, “the Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms.” Turning to history, the Supreme Court determined that historical limitations on carrying “dangerous and unusual weapons” provided a bound on the scope of the right. Thus, while dangerous and unusual weapons can be banned, “arms in common use at the time for lawful purposes like self-defense” cannot.

The common-use test was plain, so when the District banned “assault weapons” (aka semiauto rifles), we mounted a challenge . The D.C. Circuit, in Heller v. D.C. (2011) (“Heller II“), conceded that the banned rifles “are indeed in ‘common use,'” but balanced the right away under intermediate scrutiny. Then-Judge Brett Kavanaugh dissented on the basis that semiautomatic rifles have been in lawful use for over a century and pass Heller‘s common-use test.

With intermediate scrutiny to the rescue, other circuits copied Heller II and upheld the bans in several states. Those decisions create a distorted image, since most states don’t have bans, and so other circuits have not opined on the issue.

And now comes Bruen, collapsing the house of cards. Conduct within the “plain text” of the Second Amendment is presumptively protected, and a restriction may be valid only if the government shows it to be “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition.” Text-history is in, means-ends scrutiny is out. And the history (or analogues thereof) that matters is 1791 and the initial decades that followed, as long as consistent with the text and early history.

Under the Heller test, as elaborated upon by Bruen, AR-15s and similar semiautomatic firearms may not be prohibited. Indeed, Heller and Bruen together establish the test for any ban on firearms, and that test makes clear that all firearms in common use for lawful purposes are protected and cannot be banned.

AR-15s and other similar firearms come within the “plain text,” because they are bearable arms. Heller and Bruen both establish that the Second Amendment extends presumptively to all bearable arms. Second, banning such firearms is not consistent with this Nation’s history. Indeed, the Supreme Court established that such a ban is inconsistent with this Nation’s history nearly thirty years ago by holding that AR-15 rifles “traditionally have been widely accepted as lawful possessions,” Staples v. U.S. (1994).

What is more, the historical boundaries of protected arms have already been established in Heller and Bruen. Those cases make clear that the only arms that are not protected are “dangerous and unusual weapons,” which necessarily entails that citizens have a right to possess and use arms that are “in common use today.” For this reason, historical analogues have no place here; the Supreme Court has done the historical analysis and set forth the “common use” test.

Can the government possibly show that AR-15 rifles are dangerous and unusual? Not at all, as they are among the most popular firearms in the Nation. Recent data indicates that Americans own at least 24 million AR-15s and similar rifles, that they constitute 20% of all firearms sold in recent years, and that they are used for lawful purposes such as self-defense, training, and hunting. It follows that Americans have a Second Amendment right to own and use them.

And readers do not simply need to take my word for it. This is supported by the analyses of three Supreme Court justices—Justice Thomas (the author of Bruen) in his dissent from denial of cert in Friedman v. Highland Park (2015), Justice Kavanaugh in his dissent in Heller II, and Justice Alito in his concurrence in Caetano v. Massachusetts (2016).

When the Supreme Court decided Bruen, it issued a GVR (grant cert., vacate, and remand) to the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Bianchi v. Frosh, for further consideration in light of Bruen. That’s a polite way of saying get it right next time. That case summarily affirmed that circuit’s prior decision in Kolbe v. Hogan (4th Cir. 2017) (en banc), which upheld Maryland’s “assault weapon” ban. As the first post-Bruen circuit to reconsider such a ban, the oral argument on December 6 is worth listening to. Some takeaways from the argument:

Kolbe rejected the common-use test and held that AR-15s are not protected because they are “most useful in military service.” (Never mind that no military in the world issues mere semiautomatics.) That was the wrong test.

Maryland also rewrites the “common use” test to say instead that the only arms protected are those in “common use for self-defense.” That is not the test. Heller tells us that arms commonly used for lawful purposes—not just self-defense—are protected under the Second Amendment. Maryland does not concede that the AR-15 is in common use and seeks a remand for further “discovery.” Seriously? Bruen was decided as a matter of law based on the pleadings and rejected any need for a remand for further factual development.

Maryland argues that AR-15s are not in common use for self-defense because shots are rarely fired. But Heller required no showing of how often handguns are actually fired in self-defense to prove common use, which means possession for that purpose.

As a fallback, Maryland wants to show that at least some of the rifles in the list are not in common use and that the law is severable. Plaintiffs respond that they are all of the same general type and that no further facts need to be developed.

Heller was fiercely resisted by the lower courts. Keep your fingers crossed for what the Fourth Circuit ultimately rules.

Tomorrow, I will address how Bruen‘s “plain text” concept is being treated by the lower courts.

Against the Great Reset: Eighteen Theses Contra the New World Order

Much more than a collection of essays by eminent writers, Against the Great Reset is intended to kick off the intellectual resistance to the sweeping restructuring of the western world by globalist elites.

In June 2020, prominent business and political leaders gathered for the 50th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, under the rubric of “The Great Reset.” In the words of WEF founder Klaus Schwab, the Great Reset is a “unique window of opportunity” afforded by the worldwide COVID-19 panic to build “a new social contract” ushering in a utopian era of economic, social, and environmental justice. But beneath their lofty and inspiring words, what are their actual plans?

In this timely and necessary book, Michael Walsh has gathered trenchant critical perspectives on the Great Reset from eighteen eminent writers and journalists from around the world. Victor Davis Hanson places the WEF’s prescriptions and goals in historical context and shows how American politicians justify destructive policies. Michael Anton explains the socialist history of woke capitalism. James Poulos looks at how Big Tech acts as informal government censors. John Tierney lays out the lack of accountability for the unjustified panic over the virus. David Goldman confronts the WEF’s ideas for a fourth industrial revolution with China’s commitment to being the leader of a post-western world. And there are many more.

These writers see the goal of the Great Reset as not just a world without racism, disease, economic inequality, or fossil fuels—but rather, a world with no individual autonomy and power in which our betters rig the system for their own purposes. Find out what the Great Resetters ultimately have in store for you, and join the intellectual resistance—before it’s too late.

The Dry Fire Primer Paperback

Dry fire – practicing without live ammunition – is an essential tool for every gun owner who wants to learn how to handle their firearms more proficiently. It saves time and money while remaining an effective training method whether you are interested in guns for a hobby, for self-defense, or for competition. While there are many books that describe specific dry fire regimens, they don’t always give you the information you need to use them best. That’s where The Dry Fire Primer comes in. It bridges the gap between “I’ve heard of dry fire” and “I’m going to be a dry fire maniac and use it to its greatest potential.” Whether you’re brand-new to dry fire or just feel like you could be getting a bit more out of it, this book is for you.

The Origin of the Second Amendment: A Documentary History of the Bill of Rights in Commentaries on Liberty, Free Government & an Armed Populace 1787-1792

Book on the origin of the second amendment. 1787-1792 second edition edited by David E. Young

This is a tour de force in revealing the intentions of the founders as they struggled to come up with a Bill of Rights. It dispels many of the knee jerk notions of anti 2nd Amendment writers as the founders clearly knew the dangers of an oppressive government and took measures to allow the people some resources in the event that history repeated itself. An outstanding work that should be in the library of every Constitutionalist.

America’s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15

This book is the definitive work showing the central place of AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles in the American story. From the founding to the present, rifles and other firearms have played a pivotal role in American history. The story of America’s rifle is largely the story of American history.

There are over forty-four million AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles owned by Americans. Popular adoption on such a monumental scale is indicative of more than a passing fad; only proven utility through long history creates such lasting—indeed growing—demand.

Since the founding of the American republic, rifles—beginning with muzzleloaders and later semiautomatics—have been at the center of American history and pre-history. This book, by renowned historian and attorney Stephen Halbrook, is the definitive account of this centrality of repeating rifles to the American story—from its conception to the present day.

Some factions of state and national politicians now seek to remake America in a different, novel image by rushing to ban and restrict access to firearms that have long been our heritage. As Halbrook decisively shows, theirs is a war against the Second Amendment and the tradition of freedom and self-sufficiency that has sustained our storied past. Our rights hang in the balance—not as lone pillars but, history shows, as dominos ready to fall in quick succession.

Halbrook comprehensively reviews the historical, legal, and policy arguments advanced by gun prohibitionists and demonstrates that these bans are deeply antagonistic to our history, our interests, and our Constitution.

Selected Source Materials on Federal Firearms Law.

Selected Source Materials on Federal Firearms (2022 Edition) law collects selected primary sources useful for reference in a law school class in firearms law. In addition to containing selected Federal statutes of particular relevance to law students examining the civil right to bear arms, the text contains a few sections from the Code of Federal Regulations.

“Real World Gunfight Training”

“This is the best book on firearms Training, capital T, currently in existence” Col. Randy Watt, Ret. Retired Army Special Forces, Retired Ogden Police Chief, Gunsite Instructor

“Real World Gunfight Training represents the very best firearms training methods available today” Col. Chris Graham, Ret., Retired Force Recon Marine

“Mike’s book represents a real benchmark in the advancement of our Art!” John Farnam, Firearms Instructor Defense-Training International

 

If Masculinity is ‘Toxic’ Call Jesus Radioactive

In, If Masculinity Is ‘Toxic’, Call Jesus Radioactive, bestselling author Doug Giles offers a view of Jesus that CNN and the ladies on The View will probably not like. That said, Giles is a guessin’ that his take on the 30-year-old Rebel from Galilee will be a breath of fresh air to people who’re sick of postmodernism’s soft focused, politically correct, pale-skinned, wussy Jesus that the enemies of the cross are foisting upon the washed and unwashed masses.

Drawing heavily off the Book of Matthew, Giles’s exposition of the overt masculine traits that Jesus exhibited, both in word and deed, will forever change how you see and hear The Son of Man. Many topics touched on this spicy tome have been ignored by gelded ministers beholden to their crowds’ finicky palette and their purse strings, of course.

In, If Masculinity Is ‘Toxic’, Call Jesus Radioactive, you’ll see painted in Matthew’s prose and Giles’ wicked insight and sense of humor that Jesus Christ was anything and everything but a doe-eyed thirtysomething Mr. Rogers do-gooder. Be prepared to have your religious idols smashed and life challenged like never before as you plow through this book.about the author …Doug earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Texas Tech University and his certificates in both Theological and Biblical Studies from Knox Theological Seminary (Dr. D.James Kennedy, Chancellor).

Giles was fortunate to have Dr. R.C. Sproul as an instructor for many classes.Doug Giles is the host of the salty podcast, ClashRadio.com, and the man behind ClashDaily.com. In addition to driving ClashDaily.com (250M+ page views), Giles is the author of several #1 Amazon bestsellers including, Rules For Radical Christians: 10 Biblical Disciplines of Influential Believers. Doug is also an artist and a filmmaker and his online gallery can be seen at DougGiles.Art.

His first film, Biblical Badasses: A Raw Look At Christianity and Art, is available via Amazon Prime Video. Doug’s writings have appeared on several other print and online news sources, including Townhall.com, The Washington Times, The Daily Caller, Fox Nation, Human Events, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner, American Hunter Magazine, and ABC News.Giles and his wife Margaret have two daughters, Hannah and Regis. Hannah devastated ACORN with her 2009 nation-shaking undercover videos and she currently stars in the explosive, 2018 Tribeca Documentary, Acorn and The Firestorm.

Regis has been featured in Elle, American Hunter, and Variety magazines. Regis is also the author of a powerful new book titled, How Not To Be A #Me-Too Victim, But A #WarriorChick. Regis and Hannah are both black belts in Jiu-Jitsu.

Rules for ANTI-Radicals: A Practical Handbook for Defeating Leftism

Rules for ANTI-Radicals: A Practical Handbook for Defeating Leftism draws from the author’s twenty-eight years of grassroots leadership to empower conservatives often bludgeoned into silence by the left. It is a comprehensive tactical guide to direct action in economic, political, legal, and non-legislative arenas essential for conservatives to defeat leftism.

If you don’t “do” politics, politics will “do” you. Citizens reluctant to engage in the sometimes dirty business of politics should understand that regardless of whether they participate, political players will make decisions which profoundly impact their lives, generally without citizens’ best interests in mind.

Understanding that and guided by “flexible ethics” in Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, leftists have waged a multi-generational war on American culture and values.

Unlike the many theoretical treatises decrying leftism, exposing Marxism, and calling conservatives to unspecified action, Rules for ANTI-Radicals is a nuts-and-bolts guide to strategy and tactics the author has used in his twenty-eight years of beating leftists. Personal experience allows him to highlight specific activist operations which have succeeded and failed, and the reasons for success or failure.

Written in sardonic and engaging style, the book is divided into three parts:

Part I, “Boot Camp for Conservative Activists,” is aimed primarily at concerned citizens and neophyte activists, revealing mechanisms by which leftism has metastasized in American society, the many ways it impacts them, and specific methods for countering it in their daily lives.

Part II, “Activist Tools and Tactics,” outlines the basics of grassroots activism, including the four types of direct action (economic, political, legal and non-legislative); delineates the differences between access-based lobbying and grassroots mobilization; and delves into tactics and strategy for each, focusing in particular in tactics for passing or defeating legislation and winning elections. Part II is directed at both concerned citizens and neophyte activists, political operatives or political candidates.

Part III, “Grass Roots Organization,” includes techniques for grassroots leadership; creating and maintaining political organizations; conducting effective grassroots mobilization, including targeting and messaging; fundraising, including list-building; and media management. It is intended to augment skills for conservative political activists.

Larry Correia’s In Defense of the Second Amendment

In Defense of the Second Amendment by [Larry Correia, Nick Searcy]

What Part of the Second Amendment Don’t You Understand?

That’s the question posed by award-winning, New York Times bestselling author, and professional firearms instructor, Larry Correia.
Bringing with him the practical experience that comes from having owned a high-end gun store—catering largely to law enforcement—and as a competitive shooter and self-defense trainer, Correia blasts apart the emotion-laden, logic-free rhetoric of the gun control fanatics who turn every “mass shooting” into a crazed call for violating your rights, abusing the Constitution—and doing absolutely nothing to really fight crime.
In his essential new book, In Defense of the Second Amendment, Correia reveals:

  • Why “gun-free” zones are more dangerous for law-abiding citizens
  • How the Second Amendment does indeed include your right to own an AR-15—and why that’s not an “outdated” concept
  •  Why “red flag” laws don’t work, can be easily abused, and ignore a much more commonsensical approach to keeping guns out of the wrong hands 
  • The insanity of “criminal justice reform” that frees dangerous criminals and “gun reform” that penalizes your right to self-defense
  • How we can return to a society that has a safe and healthy relationship with guns—as we had for most of our history
  • Correia’s promise: “Believe me, I’ve heard every argument relating to gun control possible. I can show you how to defend your rights.”

Urgent, informed, with vitally important information for whoever who owns a gun—or is thinking about owning a gun—or who cares about the preservation of our constitutional rights, In Defense of the Second Amendment is a landmark book of enduring importance.

The Prepper’s Medical Handbook

The basis of adequate prepping is being prepared for both common and dire events that may occur under the worst of all possible circumstances. These circumstances might include the breakdown in normal emergency support services (such as calling 911), the lack of an ability to obtain additional supplies, and the probability that you will not be able to rely on anyone but members of your immediate group or yourself.

Prepping requires forethought with regard to food, water supplies, power, and protection – all areas of significant technical preparation. Self-reliant medical care is no exception.

This book provides the basis of prevention, identification, and long-term management of survivable medical conditions and can be performed with minimal training. It helps you identify sources of materials you will need and should stock-pile, it discusses storage issues, and directs you to sources for more complex procedures that require advanced concepts of field-expedient techniques used by trained medical persons such as surgeons, anesthesiologists, dentists, or midwifes and obstetricians.