Texas Guard Flies ‘Come and Take It’ Flag Amid Dispute with Feds

The Texas Military Department posted a photo to its official X account Tuesday afternoon, showing the Gonzales flag flying above its headquarters in Austin.

The flag, which reads “Come and Take It” underneath an image of a cannon, is the best-known flag of the Texas Revolution and originated at the Battle of Gonzales, according to the Texas Historical Commission. In the post on X, it’s shown flying below the Texas flag at Camp Mabry.

No message was posted with the photo. The post had garnered more than 20,000 views about an hour after it went online.

The Texas Military Department could not be reached immediately for comment Tuesday afternoon. A spokesperson for the National Guard Bureau said he could not provide context about the post. The Texas Military Department is a state agency that supports the Texas Military Force, which includes the Texas National Guard. Both are led by the state adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer.

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Whistleblowers Allege ATF Is Drafting Rule That Could Effectively Ban Private Firearm Sales

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is working on a rule that could effectively ban the sale of firearms between private individuals, agency whistleblowers told a watchdog group.

Empower Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog representing one of the Hunter Biden Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers, says that ATF whistleblowers informed it of a 1,300-page document being drafted by the agency that would require background checks for all firearm sales, including those between two private individuals. The new rule would “effectively ban private sales of firearms from one citizen to another,” according to a press release from Empower Oversight.

Empower Oversight submitted a records request to the Department of Justice seeking more information about the rule.

The rule would “violate the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution,” according to Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt. Leavitt also said the rule would “circumvent the separation of powers in the Constitution.”

Empower Oversight points out that the ATF’s rule could redefine individuals who occasionally sell guns as being “engaged in the business of dealing in firearms,” thus requiring them to acquire a Federal Firearms Licensee and run background checks on whoever they’re selling to.

In the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, Congress established that the term “engaged in the business” of selling guns “shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby.”

Leavitt pointed out that the courts would likely strike down the rule and argued that it is likely a ploy to fire up the Democratic base during an election year.

Private background checks are popular with voters, according to polling data.

A poll conducted by Morning Consult and Politico in 2022 found that 81% of registered voters supported background checks at gun shows and for private transfers.

Support for background checks is lower among Republicans than among Democrats. A 2021 Morning Consult and Politico poll found that 77% of Democrats supported background checks for all gun purchases, compared to just 53% of Republicans.

While Americans are open to background checks, banning certain kinds of firearms is unpopular among Americans.

Only 27% of Americans supported banning handgun ownership as of October 2023, according to Gallup. An April 2023 poll conducted by Monmouth University found that more Americans opposed an “assault weapons” ban than supported it.

The Biden administration has consistently pushed for stricter gun laws.

President Joe Biden pushed a rule that forced people who owned pistols with arm braces to register them as short-barreled rifles, Politico reported. Pistol braces remain legal as states and gun rights groups sue the ATF over the rule.

Registering a short-barreled rifle with the ATF carries a cost of $200. The National Firearms Act, the law requiring the registration of short-barreled rifles, was last updated in 1986.

Short-barreled rifles are illegal in some states.

Biden also banned the sale of firearm parts lacking serial numbers, which can be used to construct “ghost guns,” and has continuously pushed for a so-called assault weapons ban, according to Fox News Digital.

Some gun rights groups are ready to fight the ATF’s rule should it come to fruition.

“The records of these sales will eventually end up in the ATF’s firearm registry database,” director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America (GOA) Aidan Johnston told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The ATF maintains a registry of firearms sales, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

Johnston said GOA is “actively preparing to take legal action if and when Joe Biden’s administration releases their rule change.”

Empower Oversight and the ATF did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

Police Say Man Shot Monday Was Breaking Into Home, Taken Into Custody

Wilmington police are investigating a shooting that occurred early Monday morning inside a residence on the 500 block of East 6th Street.

The incident, which happened around 3:07 a.m., led to a 27-year-old male suffering gunshot wounds. He was subsequently transported to a hospital and is currently in stable condition.

Officials now say that the man who was shot, identified as Ismael Jules-Abotchi, has been arrested in connection with the case.

The investigation showed that Jules-Abotchi was shot by a resident of the home during an attempted burglary police said Wednesday.

In light of these facts, Detectives consulted with the Delaware Department of Justice. The resident will not face charges related to the shooting, given that Jules-Abotchi was in the process of breaking into the residence at the time of the incident police said.

Jules-Abotchi is facing charges of First Degree Burglary and Criminal Mischief Under $1,000.

Following his arraignment in Justice of the Peace Court 20, he was committed to the Howard R. Young Correctional Institution with a cash-only bail set at $11,000. Additionally, it was discovered that Jules-Abotchi had an outstanding warrant from Tennessee.

February, comes directly from the name of the Roman month Februarius, named after the Latin term Februum, which means “purification”, by the purification ritual Februa held on the full moon in the month.

Did Obama Just Get Trump Off the Hook?

Just when you thought 2024 couldn’t possibly get any weirder — yes, I know it’s still only January — a secret Barack Obama memo could prove the undoing of special counsel Jack Smith’s case against Donald Trump.

America First Legal — whose suit against the DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency “unearthed new docs showing that the deep state knew the risks of mass mail voting in 2020 but censored these criticisms as ‘disinformation’” — has another bombshell today.

“A secret Obama memo, the Presidential Information Technology Committee (PITC), regarding control of Presidential records could change everything in the DOJ’s politicized prosecution of Trump,” the organization announced Tuesday on Twitter/X.

By executive fiat, Obama created the PITC following a 2014 Russian hack of the president’s Executive Office computer network. The committee “includes representatives of the Departments of Defense and DHS, among others” and “established the President’s exclusive control over information resources and systems provided to the President,” according to America First Legal.

More:

Because the memo relied upon the Federal Records Act’s definition of “information system” as resources organized for the “use” and “disposition” of “information”, the memo gives the President exclusive control over information he receives.

This is relevant to what a President may reasonably believe about information given to him while in office.

Second, and related, if information stored on the PITC network formed the basis for Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of former President Trump, that evidence should have been disclosed to the former President and may be relevant to his liability.

America First goes on to explain that “Obama’s PITC memo may have created a reasonable belief in President Trump that he, in fact, had such authority” to “possess or retain… classified documents.” That’s contrary to Smith’s 37-count indictment against Trump for “willful retention of national defense information; conspiracy to obstruct justice; withholding a document or record; corruptly concealing a document in a federal investigation,” among other charges.

It’s always been my understanding that as the chief executive, the president enjoys unlimited authority to declassify information — with a wave of the hand, wafting burning sage over the documents, or just by thinking about it really hard.

The issue of retaining documents is where the issue might get trickier, but as America First Legal noted, these new revelations are consistent with the organization’s “whitepaper contending that the President of the United States has absolute authority over presidential papers.”

Going further, “if the records Trump allegedly destroyed are still preserved within the EOP or the U.S. Department of Defense as part of PITC-created information systems, then other claims in the indictment may be baseless.”

If America First’s analysis is correct, Trump is on sound legal footing on possession of whatever documents he kept at Mar-A-Lago, and whatever he may have destroyed could have been just copies of what is still on the PITC systems authorized by none other than Barack Obama.

Somewhere in an 8,500-square-foot home in Washington’s tony Kalorama neighborhood, a former president must be seething.

Living with a gun

I never wanted a gun. There are days when I forget I have it, locked up in a smart safe under a pile of clothes in a dresser. I still take it out to the range about once a month, but I spend more time looking at its disassembled parts on the cleaning table — the harmless viscera of the killing machine — than aiming it at the target. At home, if I pick it up, I just hold its slick black body in my hand, fingers wrapped around the grip. It doesn’t feel as heavy as I thought a gun would be — 20 ounces. The weight of a Bible. Or, perhaps, of two human hearts. I put it back in the safe, cover the safe with jeans. But I can’t hide the unease I feel — or is it shame? — about living with a gun in America.

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South Dakota Lawmakers Push To Protect Gun Owners’ Rights.

While gun owners in many states face a legislature hostile to their rights, pro-freedom lawmakers in South Dakota are pushing to protect gun owners’ rights in the Mount Rushmore State.

In the past week, lawmakers have passed two pro-gun bills—House Bill 1035 and Senate Bill 39—and the measures now go to Republican Gov. Kristi Noem for her consideration.

House Bill 1035, introduced by Rep. Kevin Jensen, extends the renewal period for those holding enhanced carry permits. The enhanced permit is an optional permit that allows approved permit holders the ability to present the permit to a retailer when purchasing a firearm, in lieu of undergoing a background check through NICS.

According to the bill’s language: “A person who holds an enhanced permit to carry a concealed pistol may renew the permit through the sheriff of the county in which the person resides. The period for renewal begins 12 months before the permit expires and ends 30 days after the permit expires.”

Previously, enhanced carry permit holders couldn’t begin the renewal process until 180 days before the permit’s expiration date.

Senate Bill 39, introduced by state Sen. Michael Rohl, would, if signed by the governor, place restrictions on homeowners’ associations (HOAs) regarding their regulation of firearms.

According to the measure’s language: “A homeowner’s association may not include or enforce a provision in a governing document that prohibits, restricts or has the effect of prohibiting or restricting the lawful possession, transportation or storing a firearm, any part of a firearm, or firearm ammunition, or discharge of a firearm.”

Sen. Rohl says the bill would help residents who live under homeowner associations better protect themselves.

“A sign doesn’t keep out bad guys with guns,”  Sen. Rohl said. “We want good guys with guns.”

Both measures are likely to be signed by Gov. Noem, who is a strong Second Amendment supporter. In fact, at last year’s NRA Annual Meetings, Noem, who spoke at the convention, signed an executive order on stage blocking state agencies from contracting with large banks that discriminate against firearm-related industries.

“It’s not just the media and big government that are attacking our rights,” Noem said at the time. “Now we’ve seen banking institutions go after industries that they disagree with. None have been more impacted than those who support the Second Amendment. Well, not on my watch: I won’t stand for it—not in South Dakota.”

Actually it’s a ‘power’ as people have rights.

Former Arizona AG: States have constitutional right to self-defense

Former Republican Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich again on Tuesday argued the constitutional authority given to states for self-defense.

Brnovich testified at a U.S. House Judiciary Committee hearing addressing the issue after being the first and only state attorney general to issue a formal legal opinion that defines an invasion and lays out the constitutional authority of states’ self-defense.

Other testimony was presented by representatives of the Texas Attorney General’s Office, the Immigration Reform Law Institute and the ACLU.

Brnovich’s testimony reiterated arguments from his legal opinion defining an invasion and Arizona’s right to self-defense under Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution.

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5th Chicago CCL Holder Defends Themselves In a Week

The CCL holder involved in this morning’s shooting is the fifth person in the Chicago area to defend themselves in the past week.

Here are the five incidents that I know of.

  • 1/22/2024    Teen shot by a customer during an attempted restaurant robbery
  • 1/26/2024   In Chicago Ridge, offenders got into a gunfight with 2 CCL holders they were following
  • 1/28/2024  CCL holder calls 911 and says someone is threatening him with a knife
  • 1/28/2024: CCL holder gets into a shootout with men who stole his SUV
  • 1/30/2024: This morning, men attempted to rob a CCL holder, and they lost

How many officer-involved shootings have occurred in the past week? Zero that I can find.

I’m meeting with a Chicago business owner tomorrow to view security camera footage that shows the police arriving just as the offenders take off.

They got away and committed multiple robberies on the same night, including another one of his stores.

Given that last year saw a significant number of shootings in self-defense in major cities, the question is whether this pattern will continue in 2024.

How the second amendment is treated as a second class right by California Democrats.

You clearly want more innocent children to die if you don’t pass more gun-control. You can try and dress it up, but that is the basic marketing pitch for gun-control. You have to ignore the millions of violent crimes we stop and the lives we save each year for that emotional appeal to have a prayer of making sense.
What is passing strange is that the lawyers for the state of California are trying to sell a similar sales pitch to the 9th Circuit Court.

This story started last year when the US Supreme court confirmed that ordinary citizens have the right to bear arms in public. More to the point, governments violate our rights when they infringed on our right to bear arms. In reply to that federal ruling, anti-rights states like California discovered a new cause. Urged on by the campaign donations of anti-gun billionaires, the legislature made a surprising discovery. The places where trained, investigated, and licensed citizens had been carrying guns for decades were suddenly discovered to be “sensitive” places. Who knew?

California’s SB2 made almost every public place and commercial location into a new “gun-free” zone. In theory, we understand places like a jail, a prison, and a secure courtroom to be a sensitive place. We are legally prohibited from carrying a personal firearm in those rooms. The state is responsible for our physical safety in those areas because we have been disarmed as we passed through the security check point.

Now bear with me a moment as I show you a few of the places that California turned into disarmed-good-guy zones.

California said that hospitals, nursing homes, medical offices, and urgent care facilities are gun-free zones. So are their parking lots. That means honest citizens like you can’t go armed to the business that shares a parking lot with the doc-in-a-box-urgent-care office. I am positive that there isn’t a cop guarding every urgent care office. What you might not know is that people are often attacked in hospitals and their parking lots. Criminals like to rob weak people as they cross the parking lot while carrying plastic bags filled with drugs.

I know there isn’t a policeman or sheriff’s deputy at every bus, train, and ferry terminal. There isn’t a cop at every restaurant chain where you can buy a beer. There isn’t a security fence and a magnetometer screening portal at every concert or public gathering. There certainly isn’t much security at every school and playground. None of that matters and the California legislature said that honest citizens should be disarmed even though they were trained, vetted, and licensed to carry.

But its for the children! Don’t you care about them?

Unfortunately, those facts don’t matter to the California legislature. They want you disarmed anyway, and the legislators won’t be blamed for the rising rate of crime. To be fair to the Democrat legislators, those facts probably don’t matter to a majority of judges on the 9th circuit court either. I’m sorry, but these are the consequences we warned you about before the last election.

Right now, the California “gun-free” zone law is enjoined while the case is appealed. Here is the full list of prohibited places where honest citizens are disarmed.

South Carolina Senate to Vote on Making State the 28th for Constitutional Carry

The South Carolina Senate is expected to vote later this week whether the Palmetto State will become the 28th constitutional carry state.

The legislation is House Bill 3594. The NRA-ILA noted the legislation was passed by the South Carolina House last year and sent to the Senate to be taken up in early 2024.

On February 2, 2023, Breitbart News reported that South Carolina State Rep. Bobby Cox (R-Greenville) put forward H.3594 to secure constitutional carry in the state.

HB 3594 is now before the state Senate and it was debated on the state Senate floor last week. It is expected that “debate will continue on Tuesday, with a vote expected to take place on or before Thursday, February 1st.”

There are currently 27 constitutional carry states in the Union. Those are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

How an Escalation in Drone Warfare Cost Three U.S. Servicemen Their Lives

Sometimes you’ve got to hand it to the bad guys for being so murderously clever in ways few could imagine. Or worse, in ways that a few forward-thinkers did imagine but that those in power didn’t take seriously.

One of those just happened in Jordan over the weekend, as I’m sure you already know, when Iran’s proxies in Syria used a drone to kill three U.S. servicemen in neighboring Jordan and injure at least 34 more. But Sunday’s attack wasn’t just another run-of-the-mill kamikaze drone strike — the kind we’ve seen more than 150 of on our forces in the region since Hamas launched its terror invasion of southern Israel on October 7.

This one was far more clever, exposing a weakness in our defenses and a failure in our imaginations — and not for the first time.

American Army Air Corps pilot and airpower pioneer Billy Mitchell died almost six years before Imperial Japan’s naval aviators crippled our battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, but he predicted exactly such a scenario decades in advance. In 1910 he warned, “That increasing friction between Japan and the U.S. will take place in the future there can be little doubt, and that this will lead to war sooner or later seems quite certain,” and that Japan would initiate hostilities with an aerial bombardment of ships at anchor in Pearl Harbor.

Our top brass and political leaders dismissed the Japanese with racist notions about how they “were supposedly physiologically incapable of being good aviators because they lacked a sense of balance and their eyes were not right.” Navy leadership also insisted that it would be impossible for Japanese carriers to sneak up on us.

Oops.

Flash forward to 1994 and Tom Clancy’s latest techno-thriller, “Debt of Honor.” The book’s unlikely plot centered on a group of Japanese businessmen who, like the Imperial military in the 1930s, co-opted the government for their own ends. In this case, crippling the U.S. military in the Pacific to establish an all-new Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. At the end, with the cabal defeated, one desperate Japanese ultranationalist steals a grounded JAL airliner and crashes it into the Capitol Building while Congress is fêting our victorious president, killing nearly everyone present.

Not even Clancy had imagination enough to predict such an act committed with multiple planes, each full of terrified civilians. But no one in Washington made any preparations at all, even for the all-too-realistic scenario Clancy wrote about seven years before 9/11.

While not a failure of imagination on anything like the scale of Pearl Harbor or 9/11, Iran’s proxies showed real imagination in plotting their Sunday attack. A Defense Department official, speaking anonymously, told Politico today that the Syrian militiamen saw “an opportunity” in our defenses and “exploited” it.

They flew their drone into Tower 22 undetected by tailgating one of our own drones returning from a surveillance mission. It then struck the living quarters at Tower 22, resulting in those terrible casualties.

“Check your six” is a reminder to look behind you and see if there’s a bad guy sneaking up. We either didn’t think to do that, or the drone operator was unable to do that, and the results were deadly.