What Academics Consistently Miss When Examining America’s Gun Culture.

Fourteen years into my personal and sociological journey through American gun culture, I am constantly reminded of how difficult it is to find scholarship on everyday firearm use. Despite the longstanding presence of a robust legal gun culture, the social scientific study of guns is dominated by criminological and epidemiological studies of gun violence.

To be fair, criminologists study crime, and public health scholars study pathology. Sociologists tend to study what’s wrong with society rather than what’s right. We teach courses on “Social Problems” and “Deviant Behavior”; the unproblematic or nondeviant often remain unexamined. Studying the positive aspects of guns and of the communal life organized around their use falls out-side sociology’s analytic wheelhouse.

I understand the prevailing disciplinary view, to a point. Guns are, in fact, lethal tools. This is “a feature, not a bug,” as tech people say. Firearm lethality explains why, although the United States has only a moderate overall suicide rate compared to other developed countries, it has a firearm suicide rate that substantially exceeds these other nations. When people attempt suicide using guns, they die in up to 90% of cases. Firearm lethality also explains why, although the United States is not exceedingly violent or criminal, its criminal violence is more deadly.

The reality that 80 to 90 millionAmerican civilians own an estimated 400 million of these lethal tools means that guns will play a role in negative outcomes like suicide and homicide. But understanding the fun and community that can emerge from the responsible use of firearms is an important part of the story, too—and one that sociologists have neglected to tell.

In my analysis, guns resist simple categorization as either universally good or bad, dangerous or protective, fun or frightening. Instead, they are best understood through a “kaleidoscopic view,” considering the issue from multiple angles. To be sure, this requires maintaining a clear-eyed understanding of the lethal capabilities of firearms. But an exclusive focus on firearms-related harms fails to acknowledge—much less appreciate—the complex social realities of guns. As with other “serious leisure” activities, we need to appreciate the individual and communal pleasures associated with shooting—the pleasures that led me to fall for guns.

— David Yamane in How I Fell for Guns

 

Bondi DOJ Alleged to Back Warrantless ‘Home Invasion’ of Gun Owners

Attorney General Pam Bondi and the rest of the Trump Administration appear to be the most pro-Second Amendment administration in recent history, if not ever. That would be a fantastic thing all on its own were it not for the fact that the DOJ still keeps doing some anti-Second Amendment things.

Yeah, the title is still applicable in my book, but that’s because the bar is so low single-sell organisms can’t limbo under it.

However, the latest issue is a bit more complicated than it might look on the outside. It seems a man was shot by police in Montana after they entered his house without a warrant. The DOJ is apparently backing up the state in this case.

But the devil is in the details.

“The Department of Justice under Attorney General Pam Bondi is advancing an argument that threatens to hollow out the Fourth Amendment’s core protection: that Americans may be secure in their homes against warrantless searches.

The lawsuit is Case v. Montana. After a difficult breakup, William Trevor Case was at home alone when police arrived for a so-called “welfare check.” They spent nearly an hour outside his house. Officers walked around the property, shined flashlights through windows, and even discussed calling his relatives or reaching him directly. They never did. Instead, they retrieved rifles and a ballistic shield, broke down his door without a warrant, and shot him.

Case survived, but his rights did not.

The Montana Supreme Court upheld the police’s warrantless entry. Apparently, the government’s “reasonable suspicion” that Treavor Case might need “help” was sufficient to justify an armed warrantless intrusion into his home. That standard is alarmingly low. The Fourth Amendment requires probable cause and judicial approval before government agents may enter a home. It does not permit entry based on a hunch.

The U.S. Supreme Court addressed a similar issue in Caniglia v. Strom in 2021. In that case, officers entered a man’s home without a warrant after a domestic dispute, claiming they were acting as “community caretakers.” The Court unanimously rejected that argument. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Fourth Amendment’s protections do not vanish just because police say they are trying to help. The Court allowed for true emergencies—cases of imminent harm or death—but drew a clear line against open-ended “caretaking” exceptions.”

The welfare check is something that’s been around for years, and most people don’t seem to think much of it. Case was someone dealing with a difficult time in his life, one that could spark depression or suicidal ideation, and someone got worried about it. So, they called the police to check on him.

It happens all the time, and it’s saved lives. People who were injured or sick were found and rushed to the hospital where they could be treated.

However, this highlights the potential dark side of welfare checks.

It doesn’t help that police didn’t think Case was in need of immediate aid, yet they claimed he’d said he would “shoot it out” with law enforcement. They suspected he might try to ambush them and die via suicide by cop. Of course, the person who claimed that was one of the officers on the raid, and so I don’t know how valid that claim actually was, especially as he wasn’t arrested over making a threat, apparently.

So, they armed up, got ballistic shield, and never bothered to just knock on the door and see if he’d answer.

I don’t know how Case was unaware that someone was outside, shining a flashlight into the window, or if he did and that was why he was hiding in a closet with a handgun.

Honestly, the whole thing is wonky as all get out to me, and it would have been best of the DOJ had just stayed out of it or at least defend the Fourth Amendment for gun owners.

What makes this worse is the fact that it’s not hard to get the police to conduct a welfare check. Anyone can do it and justify it for almost any reason. The police will just respond, and if they respond like they did with Case, it’s not difficult to see how something could go sideways and an innocent person be killed.

Triggered: Accountant Arrested After Allegedly Shooting at Man over Trump Flag

An accountant from Georgia is under arrest after allegedly pulling down Mark Thomas’s Trump flag, then shooting at his residence while Thomas was standing on the front porch.

The incident occurred on September 6, 2025, in Swain County, North Carolina, and the Daily Mail reported the arrest on October 20.

According to the Daily Mail, Thomas purportedly spotted Campbell slamming on his brakes and screeching to a stop after seeing the Trump flag waving from a bus on Thomas’s property.

Thereafter, Thomas watched surveillance cameras as Campbell allegedly “[emerged] from his Jeep Cherokee” wearing an “antifa-style mask” and began trying to pull the flag down.

Campbell was allegedly able to rip the flag down.

Thomas went out on his porch with a rifle and fired warning shots into the air and Campbell, who had gotten back into his Jeep, circled around and allegedly fired several rounds at the home.

WLOS noted that Campbell was arrested and “is charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, discharging a firearm within an enclosure to incite fear, and willful and wanton injury to personal property in connection with the…incident.”

The surveillance video showing Campbell’s alleged actions proved to be key in helping deputies make a determination in the matter — and an arrest.

Permitless Carry Permeates Across U.S., and Homicides Keep Falling at Record Rates

At the moment, we seem to be stuck on “29” when it comes to permitless carry states. The North Carolina legislature approved a permitless carry bill earlier this year, but it was vetoed by Democrat Gov. Josh Stein, and so far lawmakers have unsuccessful in obtaining a veto-proof majority in the state House.

Now a pair of lawmakers are hoping to make Wisconsin the 30th state in the nation to adopt a permitless carry law. State Sen. Andre Jacque state Rep. Chanz Green actually unveiled a few bills related to our right to bear arms this week, with their Constitutional Carry proposal serving as the centerpiece.

The proposals, circulated for cosponsorship Oct. 20, include making firearms, ammunition, crossbows and more merchandise exempt from sales tax each year on the Fourth of July and during the third week of December.

“Hunting, sport shooting and self-defense are deeply woven into the fabric of both our rural and urban communities,” the bill authors said.

Jacque and Green also proposed eliminating permit requirements for firearm owners who want to carry guns in a concealed fashion, known to supporters as constitutional carry. Under the bill, “law-abiding adults” wouldn’t need a license to carry a concealed firearm in public.

… A third proposal authored by Green and Jacque would strengthen language in Article I of the state constitution, which establishes a right to keep and bear arms. That’s in addition to the Second Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.

Currently, the section reads: “The people have the right to keep and bear arms for security, defense, hunting, recreation or any other lawful purpose.”

The amendment would change that wording to: “The people have the inalienable right to keep and bear arms, which right shall never be infringed. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is a fundamental individual right, and any restriction on that right shall be subject to strict scrutiny.”

Constitutional amendments don’t require approval by the governor, though they do have to be approved in consecutive legislative sessions, so it’s possible that their last proposal will come to fruition.

Unfortunately, on permitless carry Jacque and Green are likely to run into the same issue that pro-2A lawmakers in North Carolina are facing: an anti-gun governor and the lack of a veto-proof majority to override his objections. In the Badger State, Gov. Tony Evers is a big supporter of putting more gun control laws on the books, and while Republicans control both chambers, they don’t have anywhere close to a veto-proof majority in either the House or Senate.

While that’s frustrating in terms of being able to pass pro-Second Amendment legislation, it also means that Democrats won’t have enough legislative support to deliver any gun control bills to the governor.

Democrats, meanwhile, want to expand training for the permits. That includes continuing firearm safety courses to renew their license every five years and requiring courses to provide information on gun storage and preventing accidental shootings.

That bill was part of a suicide prevention effort introduced in September in honor of Milwaukee Alderman Jonathan Brostoff. Another bill proposed a voluntary “do not sell” list for handguns.

Sen. Chris Larson, a Democrat from Milwaukee, said, “Wisconsin Republicans are trying to make our gun violence problem worse.”

Democrats keep insisting that permitless carry leads to chaos and carnage in the streets, but not a single one of the 29 states that have adopted the measure have seen fit to repeal the law. And violent crime is down dramatically in permitless carry Florida, where Miami recorded the fewest number of homicides in nearly 80 years last year.

In fact, crime analyst Jeff Asher says violent crime and homicides are falling at record rates, to the point that he predicts the FBI will report the lowest recorded homicide rate in our country’s history when the 2025 crime data is finalized. With permitless carry the law of the land in more than half the country, that simply wouldn’t be happening if the law led to huge spikes in crime as anti-gunners claim.

There is plenty of evidence to demonstrate that permitless carry doesn’t lead to the “Wild West.” Sadly, none of it is likely to change Tony Evers’ mind if Wisconsin lawmakers do approve a bill next session.

Grassroots Legislative Update—October 20, 2025

By Tanya Metaksa

What’s New—Trump Administration: FBI analytics need some review; Presidential issues: President Trump seeks emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court; Politics: Virginia: Democrat candidate for Attorney General suggested violence toward a prominent Republican colleague; California: Governor Newsom signed four anti-gun bills’; Illinois: A special session might be coming to Illinois; New York: Suffolk County: A thread on LongIslandfirearms.com about registering semi-auto rifle purchases should be examined if you live in Suffolk County; North Carolina: The veto override vote of SB50 has been rescheduled for October 20, 2025.

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Ruger Introduces Marlin Trapper Model in 10mm AutoTrapper Series Model 1894

The Marlin® Trapper Series Model 1894™ in 10mm Auto is launching in conjunction with Hornady Manufacturing Company’s new LEVERevolution 10mm Auto ammunition. This first-of-its-kind lever-action rifle blends Marlin’s legendary craftsmanship with the versatility of 10mm Auto, setting a new standard for lever-action innovation.

Already known for its power and versatility as a semi-auto pistol cartridge, 10mm Auto delivers even greater performance when paired with a rifle-length barrel. The Trapper Series Model 1894 in 10mm Auto boasts an increased velocity of up to 250 fps compared to its pistol counterpart.

The Trapper Series Model 1894 is a short, quick-handling carbine rifle ideal for small-to-medium game hunting, self-defense and plinking, making it an excellent companion to your 10mm pistol. Like other models in the Trapper Series line, it features a cold hammer-forged, 16.17” threaded barrel and receiver-mounted Skinner Sight™ system that provides rapid target acquisition. Additionally, the stainless steel receiver, lever, magazine tube and barrel feature an attractive non-glare, satin finish.

In addition to the great features for which the Trapper Series line is known, this new model also has an upgraded fire control system. The sear is now e-nickel Teflon-plated and the sear notch geometry in the hammer has been improved to create a smoother and more consistent trigger feel. Plus, in response to consumer feedback, the sear and trigger system have been redesigned to eliminate the trigger “flop.”

Optimized for lever-action rifles, the LEVERevolution 10mm Auto ammunition features a 150 grain FTX bullet that delivers great accuracy, making it a great option for any hunter. While engineered for lever-actions, the round is a great choice for revolvers and semi-auto platforms as well.

This collaboration underscores Ruger and Hornady’s shared commitment to innovation, performance and delivering products that enhance the shooting experience for customers everywhere.

Supreme Court Grants Cert to Case Involving Gun Prohibition for ‘Unlawful’ Drug Users

The Supreme Court has granted cert to a second case dealing with Second Amendment issues this term; this one dealing with the federal prohibition on gun ownership for “unlawful” users of drugs.

The justices have been considering five cases involving Section 922(g)(3) in conference, but only granted cert in Hemani v. United States, which was the case the Department of Justice and Solicitor General D. John Sauer had been pressing the Court to take as a vehicle to decide the constitutionality of the federal statute.

Unlike other cases like Daniels v. United States, which revolve around someone’s conviction for possessing firearms as an unlawful user of marijuana, Hemani involves someone who was alleged to have used and sold promethazine, as well as using both cocaine and cannabis. Ali Hemani is also a dual citizen of the United States and Pakistan whose actions “have drawn the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” according to Sauer’s cert petition.

In 2019, a search of his phone at a border crossing revealed communications suggesting that he was poised to commit fraud at the direction of suspected affiliates of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

In 2020, respondent and his parents traveled to Iran to participate in a celebration of the life of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general and terrorist who had been killed by an American drone strike the month before. Respondent’s mother was captured on video telling an Iranian news agency that she prayed that her two sons, including respondent, would become martyrs like Soleimani.

Respondent also maintains weekly contact with his brother, who attends an Iranian university that the U.S. government has designated as having ties to terrorism. And respondent has told law-enforcement officials that, if he knew about an imminent terrorist attack by “a Shia brother” that would kill innocent people, he would not report it to the authorities.

Of the five cases dealing with Section 922(g)(3), Hemani is by far the least sympathetic individual convicted of violating the statute, which helps to explain why the DOJ was eager for SCOTUS to use his case as the testing ground for the constitutionality of the law.

Still, the Court will likely consider the multiple splits in appellate courts over the statute, which includes a finding by the Fifth Circuit that laws prohibiting users of intoxicating substances do not comport with the national tradition of firearms ownership, and a Third Circuit opinion that suggests an individualized finding of dangerousness is necessary before depriving an “unlawful” drug user of their Second Amendment rights.

The DOJ’s position is that Section 922(g)(3) only disqualifies “habitual users of illegal drugs from possessing firearms,” though the statute doesn’t use the term “habitual” at all.” The DOJ also asserts that “the statute imposes a limited, inherently temporary restriction—one which the individual can remove at any time simply by ceasing his unlawful drug use.”

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And for our friends South O’ The Border

Colombia’s Petro Picks a Fight With Trump. Spoiler Alert: FAFO

In 2022, Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group and all-around nutcase, became Colombia’s first left-wing leader since the founding of the country. In three years, his popularity ratings have tanked, he’s been involved in scandal after scandal, and his reckless economic policies have stalled the country’s growth. Heck, in just the last three or so weeks, he’s had his United States visa revoked, become an arm chair “No Kings” rally expert, and accused our country of killing poor little fishermen in the Caribbean Sea — fishermen who just happened to have illegal drugs on board their fancy narco-boats.

Well, Donald Trump has had enough. Petro has officially reached the FO version of FAFO.

On Sunday morning, Trump made the following announcement on Truth Social (emphasis mine):

President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia. It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America. AS OF TODAY, THESE PAYMENTS, OR ANY OTHER FORM OF PAYMENT, OR SUBSIDIES, WILL NO LONGER BE MADE TO COLOMBIA. The purpose of this drug production is the sale of massive amounts of product into the United States, causing death, destruction, and havoc. Petro, a low rated and very unpopular leader, with a fresh mouth toward America, better close up these killing fields immediately, or the United States will close them up for him, and it won’t be done nicely. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President Donald J. Trump

Shortly after that, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth posted on X that the U.S. on Friday blew up a narco-vessel, which actually belonged to Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), or Colombia’s National Liberation Army — a group the U.S. designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization back in 1997 — along with video of the strike.

On October 17th, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel affiliated with Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), a Designated Terrorist Organization, that was operating in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was traveling along a known narco-trafficking route, and was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics.
There were three male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike—which was conducted in international waters.
All three terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.
These cartels are the Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere, using violence, murder and terrorism to impose their will, threaten our national security and poison our people. The United States military will treat these organizations like the terrorists they are—they will be hunted, and killed, just like Al Qaeda.

 

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Sodom and Gomorrica: The Infant-Poaching Obsession

Documenting the West’s descent into Satanic receivership.

Homosexual ‘fathers’ poach baby for photo shoot in ritual mockery of motherhood

Gay men appear to have an unsettling fetish for poaching babies for themselves from women desperate for cash and then using them as props for Instagram photo shoots and TikTok videos.

Like this radicalizing image from a pair of twinks, one of whom is swaddling a newly requisitioned infant while wearing a hospital admission bracelet on his wrist, pressing it to his chest like he’s about to breastfeed.

Paradigm destruction in chart form
Excellent reporting, buttressed by visually captivating graphs fed by data collected by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), demonstrates that the rate of transgender self-identification among American students has halved since its peak in 2023.
Via Unherd (emphasis added):
A surprising shift is taking place in the gender and sexual identities of young Americans. Data from my new Centre for Heterodox Social Science report, “The Decline of Trans and Queer Identity among Young Americans”, shows that since 2023 both trans and queer identification have dropped sharply within Generation Z.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), which conducts a large annual survey of US undergraduates, polled over 60,000 students in 2025. My analysis of the raw data shows that in that year, just 3.6% of respondents identified as a gender other than male or female. By comparison, the figure was 5.2% in 2024 and 6.8% in both 2022 and 2023. In other words, the share of trans-identified students has effectively halved in just two years.

The precipitous decline in trans-identification was accompanied by similar declines in self-reported rates of anxiety and depression, as seen in a separate chart in the thread posted above.

The data would seem to confirm that, in fact, transgenderism is a social contagion that rises or falls in popularity based on social incentives and inputs, rather than anything arising from within the individual.

Per the chart, youth gender-queerness rates spiked substantially in the late 2010s, coinciding with a massive, coordinated propaganda campaign by corporate media, corporations, NGOs, academia, government, and the public school system.

Then, coinciding with the popular backlash that really ramped up around 2023, the rates tanked.

Which looks an awful lot like impressionable kids riding the waves of whatever trend du jour — monkey see, monkey do — and a lot less like the manifestation of deeply held, inborn gender identities being allowed to be expressed after years of heteronormative oppression of gender-queerness, as the progressive argument holds.

If, as the social engineers constantly claim, transgenderism is the deepest expression of the immutable true self, how could the rate among young adults vary so dramatically in just a couple of years?

Were all of the trannies rounded up for extermination camps or forcibly reconverted to normalcy?

Or did they simply change their minds?

Of course, the LGBTQ4GF150+++™ insanity isn’t going to be eliminated overnight — there’s simply too much inertia for that to occur in any other way than gradually.

But all signs point to a massive sea-change in progress.

Coffee’s delicious journey from tiny bean to tasty brew.

Whether you’re an early bird or a night owl, coffee is probably part of your daily routine. Since 2004, the number of American adults who’ve enjoyed a daily cup of java has jumped up 37 percent, the highest level in more than 20 years, according to the National Coffee Association. But coffee is hardly a new invention. Its roots go all the way back to 850 CE , when coffee beans were first cultivated in the Arabian colony of Harar near present-day Ethiopia.

“From there, coffee was transported to Mecca and spread throughout the Arabian continent,” Bryan Quoc Le, food scientist and CEO at Mendocino Food Consulting, tells Popular Science. “But only in the 1600s did Venetian merchants record seeing a blackish beverage that resembled modern coffee, and brought coffee beans to Europe.”

Throughout this history, the way we grow, prepare, and serve coffee has changed. According to Samo Smrke, a research associate at Zurich University of Applied Sciences’ Coffee Excellence Center, there’s not a whole lot of other foods that receive the same level of processing as coffee–and every tiny step, from the soil it’s grown into to the temperature it’s boiled at has an impact on flavor.

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