Close to Missouri’s SAPA with some pretty stiff penalties for violating it.

Second Amendment Preservation Act would limit enforcement of federal gun laws in Nebraska

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The Second Amendment Preservation Act, which would nullify some federal gun laws in Nebraska, got a hearing Thursday before a legislative committee.

If the bill is passed, law enforcement would be prohibited from enforcing federal firearm laws if they conflict with Nebraska law.

Sen. Steve Halloran, who introduced the bill, said that Nebraska’s own constitution guarantees the right to keep and bear arms and that this bill would keep those rights from being infringed upon.

Other states have passed similar legislation, and supporters say the bill would help keep the federal government from controlling the guns of citizens in Nebraska.

“The people of Nebraska depend on us to uphold and protect their constitutional rights, which is why LB 194 is necessary,” Halloran said. “At this time, 14 other states have passed legislation, making them a Second Amendment sanctuary state, and it is time for Nebraska to be included.”

Several sheriff’s offices from across the state have said they will stand up to federal overreach and attempts to regulate gun ownership.

Opponents say it would be harder to hold police accountable when they enforce some laws but not others.

Representatives of both the Omaha and Lincoln police departments spoke at the hearing, saying the legislation would create a number of complications for law enforcement and how they work with the federal government.

“We believe LB 194 in its current construct would have unintended consequences, the result of which would negatively impact community safety, more specifically gun violence,” said Matt Franken, vice president of the Lincoln Police Union.

Omaha Police Sgt. Michael Todd Kozelichki said the bill leaves more questions than answers for local law enforcement and their federal partners on what exactly they can enforce.

“LB 194 handcuffs the cooperation between local and federal law enforcement more than it handcuffs the criminals who are out there committing violent crimes,” he said.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will BAN drag shows in the state to ‘protect kids’ – after already putting limits on teaching critical race theory in classrooms

  • Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will sign a bill banning drag shows from areas accessible by minors in order to ‘protect kids’
  • The bill would ultimately do away with drag storytime performances, which sees drag queens reading to students for free at public libraries
  • It’s Sanders’ latest move amid the US culture wars after she issued limits on teaching critical race theory in schools

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is set to ban drag shows in order to ‘protect’ children after already cracking down on critical race theory in schools.

Sanders and her supporters said the bill, which would re-define drag shows as ‘adult-oriented performances,’ is meant to protect social values as it bans the shows from public areas with children despite outcry from the LGBTQ community.

Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the bill was not aimed at ‘banning anything,’ but rather about ‘protecting kids’ from ‘sexually explicit drag shows.’

‘Only in the radical left’s woke dystopia is it not appropriate to protect kids,’ Henning told The Washington Post.

Continue reading “”

February 3

1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.

1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln defeat forces of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts with many retreating to New York, Vermont and New Hampshire to regroup.

1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by Congress.

1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified

1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified

1917 – In a 2 hour speech to a joint session of Congress, President Woodrow Wilson announces his decision to sever diplomatic relations with Germany due to the German chancellor declaring the resumption of unlimited submarine warfare.

1918 – The Twin Peaks Tunnel in San Francisco, California begins service as the longest streetcar tunnel in the world at 11,920 feet long.

1958 – The Benelux Economic Union treaty is signed in The Hague

1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

1961 – The U.S Air Force begins Operation Looking Glass, starting a constant 24/7/365  flight of command and control “Doomsday Planes” with the capability of taking direct control of the U.S. nuclear force if necessary.

1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption.

1984 – Doctor John Buster and a research team at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in the United States announce history’s first embryo transfer, from one woman to another resulting in a live birth.

1994 – Space Shuttle mission STS-60 launches Shuttle Discovery, with Sergei Krikalev as the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard the Shuttle.

1995 – Space Shuttle mission STS-63 launches Shuttle Discovery, with Eileen Collins aboard as the first woman to pilot the Shuttle

1998 – A U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.

 

An in depth look at the 5th Circuit’s ruling today. Also this was not an en banc ruling, so expect it to go there next.

Fifth Circuit Holds People Can’t Be Disarmed Just Based on Civil Restraining Order

Judge James Ho concurs, adding “I write separately to point out that our Founders firmly believed in the fundamental role of government in protecting citizens against violence, as well as the individual right to keep and bear arms—and that these two principles are not inconsistent but entirely compatible with one another.”From U.S. v. Rahimi, decided today by the Fifth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Cory Wilson, joined by Judges Edith Jones and James Ho:
 

The question presented in this case is not whether prohibiting the possession of firearms by someone subject to a domestic violence restraining order is a laudable policy goal. The question is whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), a specific statute that does so, is constitutional under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. In the light of N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen (2022), it is not.

The court rejected the view that, under Heller and Bruen, legislatures can disarm anyone who isn’t a “law-abiding, responsible citizen[]”:

There is some debate on this issue. Compare Kanter v. Barr (7th Cir. 2019) (Barrett, J. dissenting), abrogated by Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111, with Binderup v. Att’y Gen. (3d Cir. 2016) (en banc) (Hardiman, J., concurring in part and concurring in the judgments). As summarized by now-Justice Barrett, “one [approach] uses history and tradition to identify the scope of the right, and the other uses that same body of evidence to identify the scope of the legislature’s power to take it away.” The Government’s argument that Rahimi falls outside the community covered by the Second Amendment rests on the first approach. But it runs headlong into Heller and Bruen, which we read to espouse the second one.

Unpacking the issue, the Government’s argument fails because (1) it is inconsistent with Heller, Bruen, and the text of the Second Amendment, (2) it inexplicably treats Second Amendment rights differently than other individually held rights, and (3) it has no limiting principles….

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Assault weapon ban introduced in Rhode Island

We don’t talk much about Rhode Island when we discuss anti-gun states, but we should. It’s arguably one of the most anti-gun states in the nation, on par with California, New York, and New Jersey.

Granted, we tend not to talk too much about it because it’s a state with a population that would make it our 10th largest city were it all one metropolitan area.

But it’s a state, and for all the gun control they have, Rhode Island doesn’t appear to have an assault weapon ban.

Now, a bill seeks to change that.

“Think about the places you frequent: Your grocery store, your children’s schools, your places of worship, your favorite club/dance hall, your workplace, your local movie theater, your own front porch.

“Frequenting these places should NOT be a death sentence for you and your loved ones,” Sydney Montstream-Quas, chairwoman of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence board, said Tuesday at a packed State House event for advocates to celebrate the reintroduction of a proposed assault weapons ban.

And they’re not.

We have something of a case of reverse survivorship bias working here. People like Monstream-Quas is focusing on the outliers rather than the typical examples. Most people go to all of these places their whole life and rarely have to deal with anything worse than rudeness.

Anyway, moving on…

In his State of the State address early this month, Gov. Dan McKee hailed passage of the bill as one of his top priorities for the year. The House sponsor, Jason Knight, said he already has 41 co-sponsors for his version of the bill in the 75-member House. The Senate sponsor, Joshua Miller, was just starting to collect signatures…

But it remains to be seen if this will be the year the long-debated ban finally becomes law in Rhode Island, where gun control laws − including most recently, a ban on large-capacity gun magazines − have made incremental progress despite the full-throated opposition of gun-rights advocates, who turn out by the hundreds in yellow “Don’t Tread On Me” T-shirts.

So yes, opposition remains.

What’s more, there was an interesting example given of why such a ban was needed. I say it’s interesting because it doesn’t make the point anti-gunners in Rhode Island think it does.

But Attorney General Peter Neronha cited case after case as evidence of the ever-present risk, including one high-profile case where a gun hoarder had “eight ghost AR-15s,” meaning they were fabricated without traceable marks, including serial numbers.

Let’s remember that so-called ghost guns have been banned in Rhode Island since 2020. Despite that, this “hoarder” had eight such weapons.

How can anyone believe that if a ban on homemade firearms didn’t prevent this guy from getting these guns, an assault weapon ban will?

The simple answer, of course, is that it won’t. We know it won’t because it’s never stopped anyone in any other state from getting one, and it’s not like it’s difficult to leave the state of Rhode Island. I’m pretty sure an afternoon walk starting in the geographic center of the state can have you in Massachusetts within the hour. As such, leaving the state to get to another isn’t going to be difficult.

Plus, with a ban comes a black market, where people will come into the state just to sell firearms obtained elsewhere. Most will be stolen, too, so even a federal assault weapon ban will do nothing.

I fear the bill will pass. Rhode Island has too much anti-gun sentiment as it is. Let’s hope that the ensuing judicial challenge in the post-Bruen world will overturn it.

5th Circuit represent.

Fifth Circuit strikes down firearms prohibition under domestic violence restraining order.

The question presented in this case is not whether prohibiting the possession of firearms by someone subject to a domestic violence restraining order is a laudable policy goal.

The question is whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), a specific statute that does so, is constitutional under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

In the light of N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111 (2022), it is not.

 

When they write articles like this, they merely indicate the title of their site is incorrect. They are not ‘good men’. And it begs the question: Which right will be the next one they decide the people should not have?

Uttering the Unutterable: Repeal the Second Amendment Now I uttered the unutterable, the ultimate taboo in U.S. political discourse.

I love life, and I love the people of my country far far far more than I value the “freedom” to bear arms. I don’t know if any “reforms” will really solve the problems of gun violence in the United States. In all actuality, I believe, therefore, that we must repeal the Second Amendment now!

There! I uttered the unutterable, the ultimate taboo in U.S. political discourse. But I am not running for public office or reelection. I am not expecting large payouts from the National Rifle Association or from the firearms manufacturers through their lobbyists.

As the horse once served as a primary means of transportation in earlier times, it now grazes and prances peacefully on rich pastures. Possibly during former moments in our history, we may have had reason to enact and enforce the Second Amendment of our great Constitution, but those bygone days have long since passed. Now we must put the Second Amendment out to pasture.

Continue reading “”

FACT CHECK: Gavin Newsom Says ‘Permitless Carry Does Not Make You Safer’

CLAIM: In the lead-up to his February 1 push for more gun control, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) claimed, “Permitless carry does not make you safer.”

VERDICT: Partly False.

On June 7, 2017, Breitbart News relayed FBI data published by the NRA that showed two of the earliest permitless carry states, hereafter called constitutional carry states, were Alaska and Arizona. And both states saw their handgun murders decline when their concealed carry permit requirements were abolished.

The date showed Alaska’s handgun murder rate “declined after the state enacted [constitutional carry] in 2003.” Moreover, in the 14 years between the abolition of the permit requirement and 2017 “handgun murders…declined as a percentage of the total number of murders.”

A drop in handgun murders also took place in Arizona after that state abolished its concealed carry permit requirement in 2010.

More recently, the Maine Wire noted that crime fell in Maine after the state abolished its concealed carry permit requirement in 2015.

FBI data shows violent crime beginning a decline in 2016 that continued through 2020.

There are currently 25 states with constitutional carry. When there were only 13–Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming–the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) showed that data from the 13 states showed overall murder numbers fell from 4.49 to 4.31 post-constitutional carry enactment, and that violent crime fell from 331.5 to 318.2.

But murder levels can vary for a variety of reasons, and CPRC’s John Lott explains some of the numerous factors that are often at play:

Firearm homicide is not a good measure of the effect of Constitutional Carry laws because murders can be committed with other weapons as well as by hands and fists. Also, gun homicide data include justifiable homicides, including homicides by police in the line of duty. Justifiable homicides are benefits, not costs, and they might understandably increase when more citizens are allowed to defend themselves with guns. The FBI murder rate has neither of these problems and is a better test of the effect of constitutional carry laws. Nevertheless, my analysis finds that Constitutional Carry laws do not increase firearm homicide.

It should also be noted that Lott points out that constitutional carry helps to make the poor safer, by making self-defense affordable.

Lott adds:

Constitutional Carry will make it easier for poor people, who are the most likely victims of violent crime, to be able to defend themselves and their families. Costs matter; just compare the numbers in neighboring states, Illinois and Indiana. In Illinois, the total cost of getting a five-year permit is $450; there is no license fee in Indiana. While only 4% of Illinoisans have a concealed handgun permit, 22% of adults in Indiana already have one, the second-highest number of permits per capita.

Newsom’s claim is partly false.

February 2

1536 – Pedro de Mendoza founds Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1653 – New Amsterdam (later renamed The City of New York) is incorporated.

1709 – Alexander Selkirk is rescued after being shipwrecked on a desert island for over 4 years, inspiring Daniel Defoe’s adventure book Robinson Crusoe.

1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War, is signed.

1876 – The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs of Major League Baseball is formed.

1887 – In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania the first Groundhog Day is observed.

1913 – Grand Central Terminal rail terminal, often called Grand Central Station, opens in New York City.

1925 – Dog sleds loaded with diphtheria serum reach Nome, Alaska,  inspiring the Iditarod race.

1934 – The Export-Import Bank of the United States, the official export credit agency of the federal government, is incorporated.

1943 – The Battle of Stalingrad comes to an end when Soviet troops accept the surrender of the last organized German troops in the city.

1980 – Reports surface that the FBI is targeting allegedly corrupt Congressmen in the Abscam operation.

1989 –  The last Soviet armored column leaves Kabul, Afghanistan ending the Soviet–Afghan War

2013 – Chris Kyle is murdered at a shooting range near Chalk Mountain, Texas, by a mentally disturbed veteran he was shooting with.

White House Misled Public About FBI Search of Penn Biden Center.

The ongoing scandal involving Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents continues to get worse. Despite repeated claims of cooperation and transparency, sources close to the investigation reveal that the FBI conducted a search of the Penn Biden Center back in November.

This is a detail that neither the White House nor the Department of Justice had revealed before.

“The FBI searched the Penn Biden Center offices in mid-November, according to two sources familiar with the investigation, after lawyers for President Biden had found about 10 documents marked classified there on Nov. 2. The material originated from Mr. Biden’s time as vice president,” CBS News reports. “It is not clear whether FBI personnel found any additional classified or presidential material during the mid-November sweep.”

“The FBI search of the think tank was not previously disclosed by the White House, Mr. Biden’s personal attorneys, or the Department of Justice,” the report notes. “A Jan. 14 statement from the president’s personal attorney Bob Bauer referred to the government conducting ‘its inquiry, including taking possession of any documents and reviewing any surrounding material for further review and context.’”

The White House previously misled the public when White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed that the search of Biden’s Wilmington, Del., home had been completed when the search was still underway.

“We are being fully cooperative with the Department of Justice throughout this process, as part of the President’s lawyers look through the places where documents could have been stored and the Counsel’s Office released, as you said, a statement explaining that,” Jean-Pierre said during the January 12 press briefing. “But that search was completed last night. And now, this is in the hands of the Justice Department.”

But, in reality, the search continued the following day, during which more documents were found.

So why not reveal the FBI search of the Penn Biden Center? It’s a good question, just like the question of why it took more than two months for the public even to learn that classified documents had been found there in the first place. The obvious answer to both of these questions is that the White House was not expecting this situation to be made public at all. It doesn’t take a genius to deduce that the leak of the story blindsided the White House, that they’ve been struggling to contain it ever since, and that they’ve been doing everything possible to cover up whatever they can.

Just me, but I’d think cutting off funding if the DOJ didn’t reverse themselves would be quicker.

SHORT Act introduced to counter ATF pistol brace ban

Short-barrel rifles and shotguns don’t really serve any function on the list of NFA devices. It’s far too easy to circumvent the law–sawed-off shotguns, anyone?–and it does nothing but drive the cost up for shorter weapons that might benefit smaller shooters or those looking for a better home-defense firearm.

That’s where the recently introduced SHORT Act comes into play.

Introduced on Tuesday, the bill seeks to remove these shorter long guns from the NFA registry.

WASHINGTON – Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) today introduced the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act to undo the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) federal registry for firearms with stabilizing braces by clarifying that short-barreled rifles cannot be further regulated.

Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) introduced the bill in the House of Representatives.

“The Biden administration is going to keep looking for ways to penalize law-abiding gunowners unless Congress makes their rights clear. A brace that countless disabled Americans use to exercise their Second Amendment rights should not be regulated by unelected anti-gun bureaucrats, and this bill would force the Biden ATF to stop devising new restrictions for legal firearms,” said Kennedy.

“Finalization of this pistol brace rule represents the worst fears of gun owners across the country. The SHORT Act will protect Americans from the anti-2nd Amendment gun registry that the ATF is abusing the National Firearms Act to create. This Congress, I challenge my colleagues in both chambers to make protecting Americans’ 2nd Amendment Rights a priority and sign onto this legislation that will stop the ATF’s pistol brace rule in its tracks,” said Marshall.

“Congress cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the Biden Administration’s weaponization of the NFA and ongoing assault on Americans’ Second Amendment freedoms. In the face of President Biden’s unconstitutional tactics and backdoor gun control, the SHORT Act provides a permanent solution to combat the unlawful Pistol Brace Rule and protect Americans’ constitutional right to keep and bear arms. I’m proud to reintroduce this legislation with Senator Marshall and lead the fight on behalf of all law-abiding gun owners across our great nation against the Biden Administration’s latest gun-grabbing measure,” said Clyde.

Kennedy is also introducing a joint resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to prevent the Biden administration’s ATF from enforcing a new pistol brace rule that would turn law-abiding gun owners into felons.

Under this rule, gun owners could face up to 10 years in jail and thousands of dollars in fines if they fail to register pistols with stabilizing braces with the ATF. If gun owners do not register their firearms, they would have to destroy the firearm, surrender their firearm to the ATF, or remove the brace in such a way that it cannot be reattached.

“The Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act will repeal elements of the archaic National Firearms Act, which the Biden ATF is using to justify their pistol ban and “amnesty registration” plan—a policy change that affects millions of law-abiding gun owners and does nothing to curb rising crime. GOA is proud to support the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Act, which will protect millions of gun owners, halt these anti-gun infringements, and restore liberty,” said Gun Owners of America’s Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston.

“The NRA is proud to stand with Sen. Marshall and support the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act. Given the ATF’s most recent assault on the Second Amendment, this important legislation will protect the right of law-abiding Americans to choose the firearm that best suits their needs while eliminating an outdated and onerous taxing and registration scheme. If passed, American gun owners will no longer have to fear the unconstitutional and arbitrary reinterpretations of the law by unelected, anti-gun bureaucrats,” said Jason Ouimet, Executive Director for NRA Institute for Federal Affairs.

Sens. John Boozman (R-Ark.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Mike Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), John Thune (R-S.D.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are also original cosponsors of this bill.

Basically, the SHORT Act removes the ability for the ATF to regulate pistol braces because these would no longer be NFA items in the first place.

After all, even under the ATF’s ruling, you can still put a pistol brace on a full-size AR-15 or similar rifle. It’s just about the fact that they decided putting one on a pistol made it a short-barreled rifle.

So, the SHORT Act removes that for good.

Gun Owners of America wasted no time in supporting this measure, either.

Aidan Johnston, GOA’s Director of Federal Affairs said in a statement, “The Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act will repeal elements of the archaic National Firearms Act, which the Biden ATF is using to justify their pistol ban and ‘amnesty registration’ plan — a policy change that affects millions of law-abiding gun owners and does nothing to curb rising crime. GOA is proud to support the SHORT Act, which will protect millions of gun owners, halt these anti-gun infringements, and restore liberty. GOA is grateful to Rep. Clyde and Senator Marshall for leading this No Compromise legislation to restore long-lost Second Amendment rights.”

Look, I get that some people will freak out over the idea of short-barrel rifles and shotguns being sold over the counter, but we have to remember that this law actually does nothing. The vast majority of criminals who wants a firearm that’s shorter than the law allows will just make one. Shotguns are inexpensive and easy to modify, as just one example.

But on the same token, as I mentioned earlier, they’re incredibly useful for anyone who is looking for something a little easier to wield inside the confines of their home. You can do it with a full-size rifle, but you shouldn’t have to.

So the SHORT Act is a good thing.

Realistically, though, don’t get your hopes up. While Republicans control the House, they don’t control either the Senate or the White House. As a result, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see this go much of anywhere.

Anti-gun groups press Biden to issue executive action on “assault weapons”

We already know that Joe Biden is going to repeat his call for Congress to ban modern sporting rifles during next week’s State of the Union address. The real question is whether he’ll trot out his stale talking points about deer in Kevlar vests and the falsehood that you couldn’t own cannons when the Second Amendment was ratified.

We also know that a divided Congress is unlikely to implement a legislative gun ban, which is why a coalition of anti-gun groups is demanding that Biden direct the ATF to pursue a gun ban via regulation instead.

In a new letter to Biden, the groups say its time for the ATF to take a look at imported firearms to see if they pass the “sporting purposes” test created by the Gun Control Act of 1998; a move they hope will lead to the ban on the importation of many modern sporting rifles produced overseas.

And though the president doesn’t appear to have the votes for an assault weapons ban in Congress, the groups argue that Biden has tools at his disposal to further limit the proliferation of these guns in the U.S., including by fully enforcing the importation ban of foreign-made assault weapons that do not have a “sporting purpose.”

As Giffords notes in its memo, the ATF, which oversees the importation of guns in the U.S., “has not conducted a comprehensive review of semi-automatic assault rifles and handguns under the sporting purposes test” since the Clinton administration.

Giffords and the other gun control groups don’t want the ATF to merely conduct a review of currently imported firearms, but to “issue new criteria” to enforce the sporting purposes test. In doing so, however, they could be opening up a Pandora’s Box that leads to the demise of the “sporting purposes” test altogether.

In Heller, McDonald, and Bruen, the Supreme Court has made it clear that the fundamental purpose of the right to keep and bear arms is self-defense, not sport. Our ability to hunt, compete, or even recreate with a firearm is ancillary to our ability to use a gun to protect human life. Does the GCA’s “sporting purposes” test infringe on that right to keep and bear arms by prohibiting the importation of arms that are identical in nature to some of the most commonly-sold firearms in the United States, or does it merely impose a regulation on gun companies without directly impacting would-be gun owners?

Most of the litigation taking on the ATF’s rules banning bump stocks, re-labeling pistols with stabilizing braces “short-barreled rifles”, and declaring unfinished frames and receives to be “firearms” have avoided a direct challenge to the constitutionality of the Gun Control Act, primarily arguing instead that ATF’s rules violate the Administrative Procedures Act and create new law instead of merely interpreting existing regulations. However, if the Biden administration follows the demands of the gun control lobby and orders the ATF to review existing imports and establish new criteria for the “sporting purposes” test, that would provide a golden opportunity to challenge the legality of the test itself.

There are risks to that strategy for both sides, of course, and I’m not convinced that Biden will acquiesce to these demands. The gun control lobby has also been quietly advocating for the administration to re-classify large numbers of semi-automatic firearms (including many common handguns) as machine guns; an even broader proposal than what they’re publicly calling for in their demand letter to the White House. As I’ve said before, that would be the nuclear option for Biden, and could not only lead to the Supreme Court weighing in on bans on modern sporting rifles, but the underlying statutes being used to implement the unconstitutional actions.

For gun owners, the concern is that the Court might not be ready or willing to nuke the GCA, either in whole or in part, and could even end up upholding the gun grab on the flimsiest of legal theories.

It’s not up to Second Amendment advocates to chart Joe Biden’s course on gun control over the next two years, and frankly, given that the gun control lobby itself hasn’t had much luck convincing him on things like establishing a White House czar on “gun violence”, I don’t know that it’s up to groups like Everytown or Giffords either.

What I do know is that Biden’s anti-gun ideology isn’t just for show or a position he trots out for the press when circumstances dictate. He’s a true believer in banning our way to safety at the expense of fundamental civil rights, and as he sinks further into lame-duck status an administrative gun grab might start to look more attractive. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week that the administration will “continue to pursue executive actions” in the future, and though she declined to offer any specifics I think we know that there are several options on the table… including the nuclear one

Move to restrict minors with guns gains traction in Missouri House

The legislation is House Bill 301.

JEFFERSON CITY — The gun-friendly Missouri House appears to be settling on one new firearm limit: restricting minors from possessing guns in public without adult supervision.

The limit was included in wide-ranging crime legislation by Rep. Lane Roberts, R-Joplin, following a recommendation by a bipartisan working group appointed by House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres.

“Our state is pretty fanatical in our defense of the Second Amendment, and I certainly don’t want to diminish that, but this kind of conduct is not what the Second Amendment was meant to protect,” Roberts told the House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee on Thursday.

The working group, made up of three Republicans and three Democrats, unanimously recommended legislation to prevent minors from carrying guns in public, along with several other measures aimed at public safety.

Democrats on the panel included Reps. Marlon Anderson and Donna Baringer of St. Louis, and Robert Sauls of Independence. Republicans included Roberts, as well as Reps. Ron Copeland of Salem and John Black of Marshfield.

A recommendation allowing for a special prosecutor for high-crime areas such as St. Louis has generated the most attention.

But minors in possession of firearms became an issue following the state’s passage of “constitutional carry” legislation in 2016.

Continue reading “”

Today, February 1

1861 – Texas secedes from the United States.

1865 – President Abraham Lincoln signs the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution into effect.

1893 – Thomas Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio in West Orange, New Jersey.

1942 – The U.S. Navy conducts the Marshalls–Gilberts raids, the first offensive action by the United States against Japanese forces in the Pacific Theater.

1950 – The prototype of the MiG-17 makes its first flight

1968 – During the Tet offensive; In Saigon, National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan summarily executes Viet Cong Captain Nguyễn Văn Lém  for murdering Lt Colonel Nguyễn Tuan along with his mother, his wife and 5 of their 6 children.

1974 – A fire in the 25-story Joelma Building in São Paulo, Brazil kills 189 people and injures another 293.

1979 – Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returns to Tehran after nearly 15 years in exile.

1991 – A runway collision between US Air Flight 1493,  a Boeing 737, and SkyWest Flight 5569, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, at Los Angeles International Airport results in the deaths of 35 people, and injuries to 30 others of the total 102 passengers and crews aboard.

2002 – Daniel Pearl, American journalist and South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal, kidnapped January 23, 2002, is beheaded and mutilated by his moslem captors.

2003 – Unknowingly damaged during launch, Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates during reentry of mission STS-107, killing all 7 astronauts aboard.

2004 – In a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, 251 moslems are trampled to death and another 244 injured.