Yeah, the 50% increase in the grocery tab is a figment of my imagination….

Gavin Newsom Implies Inflation Pains Are A Conservative Lie.

California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) implied this week that the inflation pains Americans are feeling this Thanksgiving are simply a lie pushed by conservatives.

“Things you won’t see on Fox News today,” Newsom posted Wednesday on X. “Prices for Thanksgiving are down — from Turkey to air travel.”

Newsom’s post included a chart showing price changes according to Labor Department data. Prices for peas, milk, stuffing, pie crusts, turkey, and cranberries have dropped from last year, according to the chart.

However, inflation is only just cooling off after spiking during the last few years.

Last year, the average price of a Thanksgiving meal hit a record high. While prices of some items have dipped this year from last year’s record highs, prices are still higher than they were before the pandemic.

This year, the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal for 10 people is $61.17, down 4.5% from last year’s $64.05 average cost, according to a report from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).

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Ruger Follows Up the Marlin Dark Series with the Re-Release of the Marlin Classic Model 1894 Chambered in .357 Magnum

Hot on the heels of the re-release of the Marlin Dark Series, Ruger has just announced the re-release of one of Marlin’s all-time classics, the Model 1894 lever action chambered in .357 Magnum. Unlike the Dark Series guns, the 1894 Classic is, well, a classic. It has blued steel and an American Black Walnut stock with tasteful checkering and a rubber recoil pad.

The new Marlin 1894 sports an 18.63-inch cold hammer forged barrel, an adjustable semi-Buckhorn rear sight, and a hooded brass bead on the front. Capacity is 10 rounds of .357 Magnum or .38 Special loaded into the full-length magazine tube below the barrel.

Overall length is just 36 inches and weight is only 6.2 pounds. Although I don’t see it listed in the specs, it looks like the new 1894 is drilled and tapped for optics mounting as well. It comes with sling swivel studs installed, and an offset hammer spur if you do decide to mount a scope.

The Marlin 1894 in .357 Magnum is probably my all-time favorite lever gun. It’s sleek, fast-handling and packs a good punch for its size. I used the Model 1894 Cowboy in .357 Magnum for years when I was doing Cowboy Action Shooting and got a have of trigger time in behind that gun.

My buddy shot the same model 1894 and there were always a lot of them represented on the line at any match we went to. It’s a heck of a camp and brush gun, too.

Mine has the 24-inch heavy octagonal barrel on it, which I love, but I appreciate the traditional 18-inch carbine as well, so I’m glad to see that being the first 1894 that Ruger is bringing back into the Marlin line.

There’s still a lot of merit to matching up your lever gun to a handgun of the same caliber when it comes to general utility or range and field use, so if you’re a .357 Magnum fan you should be excited to see the comeback of the classic Model 1894.

Specifications

Caliber: .357 Magnum/.38 Special
Capacity: 10+1
Stock: American Black Walnut
Material: Alloy Steel
Finish: Satin Blued
Front Sight: Brass Bead with Hood
Rear Sight: Adjustable Semi-Buckhorn
Weight: 6.2 lb.
Overall Length: 36″
Length of Pull: 13.63″
Barrel Length: 18.63″
Barrel: Cold Hammer-Forged Alloy Steel
Twist: 1:16″ RH
Grooves: 6
MSRP: $1,239

Welcome to reality.

Taking a trip to the firing range was something I’d never do before October 7

Amy Klein - Mira Zaki

Amy Klein is a journalist and author who is working on a book about older motherhood.

I’ve seen plenty of gun ranges on TV and movie screens, but nothing comes close to the ear-splitting BOOM BOOM BOOM that’s making my soul shake despite my soundproof headphones — which are not so soundproof after all.

So I step out of the double doors — one can’t open till the other closes — to get earplugs to wear under the headphones. I put my clear plastic goggles back on and reenter the smoky range to learn how to shoot a gun.

Anyone who knows anything about me knows I’m a card-carrying liberal feminist, one who won’t even watch violent movies. I don’t believe private citizens should be armed — least of all because as a parent I know that guns were the leading cause of death among children and teens in 2020 and 2021, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And yet.

With antisemitism reaching what the FBI deems a “historic level,” threats against Jewish students on campus proliferating at universities and massive anti-Israel demonstrations taking place around the world, it’s enough to make any Jew feel scared. In my own uptown New York City neighborhood, I know of a few people who have been attacked when arguing with people tearing down Israeli hostage posters, including the head of a Krav Maga studio.

That’s how I found myself at Gun for Hire, a gun range and club in New Jersey, to learn how to shoot. I wanted to confront the question: Could my fear of violence against Jews outweigh my distrust of firearms?

‘You should be prepared’

The first time I ever met religious Jews who owned guns was in 2021; I was driving from New York City to Long Island and heard AM radio ads for shooting ranges there. “Isn’t that funny? It’s like another country,” I had mentioned to my Long Island friends at a party. “I own a gun,” one friend said, “I have two!” said another, a nervous Woody Allen type of guy I wouldn’t trust with a Nerf gun. I’d chalked that up to a couple of outliers but told my husband we’d have to ask people if they had a gun in the house before we accepted a Shabbat dinner invitation on Long Island with our kid.

That was then; this is now.

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A Reversal in Rahimi Will Be Tougher to Write Than Critics Admit
Courts are “not insensitive to domestic violence” but are “sensitive to the constitutional rights of the accused.

The conventional wisdom is that the Supreme Court will certainly reverse the Fifth Circuit in Rahimi. Indeed I’ve voiced that position myself several times, especially in light of a potential grant in Range. (The New York Times picked up Justice Barrett’s question). But let me challenge that conventional wisdom: an opinion reversing Rahimi will be tougher to write than most critics will admit.

Let’s start with a premise: Rahimi was a faithful application of Bruen. Efforts to “clarify” Bruen are really an attempt to rewrite the precedent. I don’t think anyone seriously doubts this premise. Now the reason why the Court may “clarify” Bruen is because certain members of the Court don’t like the results that it yields: namely, that a dangerous person like Rahimi can possess a firearm. Again, the correctness of the Bruen precedent should be able to stand without regard to how it may be applied in future cases. But that’s where we are. Some members of the Court who profess to be originalists are still motivated by consequentialism. And these concerns came out loud and clear during oral argument.

Still, there is a long time between November and June. A majority opinion has to be written. And that opinion will have to navigate an issue that didn’t get much attention during oral argument: what other constitutional rights should dangerous people lose? Certainly this case can’t just be about guns.

One of my first published articles, The Constitutionality of Social Cost, was published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy in 2011. I had started thinking about the topic in 2009, before McDonald v. Chicago was decided. The basic premise of my article was that there are many dangerous rights, and the Second Amendment was not an outlier. Here is a snippet from the introduction:

Although the Second Amendment has been singled out from its brethren in the Bill of Rights as the most dangerous right, it is not the only dangerous right. The Supreme Court has developed over a century of jurisprudence to deal with forms of liberty that yield negative externalities.

The right to speak freely is balanced with the possible harm that can result from people preaching hate, violence, intolerance, and even fomenting revolution. The freedom of the press permits the media to report on matters that may harm national security. The freedom of association allows people to congregate to advocate for certain types of violence.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures enables the possession of the fruits and instrumentalities of crime with impunity. Inculpatory evidence seized in violation of this right is generally inadmissible during trial, permitting crimes to go unpunished.

Likewise, a violation of a person’s Miranda rights renders certain confessions—even an uncoerced inculpatory confession—inadmissible. Procedural rights during the criminal trial—including the right to grand jury indictment, the right against self‐incrimination, the right against double jeopardy, the right of compulsory process, the right of confrontation, the right of a speedy and public trial, and the right of trial by jury—all make the prosecution of culpable defendants significantly harder.

The Due Process Clause, which imposes limitations on all government actions, places the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt on the prosecution. The right to non‐excessive bail and reasonable fines make it easier for suspects to avoid prison during prosecutions and may allow them to abscond before trial.

The right against cruel and unusual punishments removes certain forms of retribution from the quiver of the state, thereby limiting the range of punishments for those found guilty of a crime. The right of habeas corpus ensures that a person—however dangerous—cannot be detained indefinitely without proper procedures.

Liberty’s harm to society takes many forms—not just from the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms. These precedents show how the Court balances freedom and the harm that may result from its exercise. Although a “primary concern of every government [is] a concern for the safety and indeed the lives of its citizens,” this concern is not constitutionally sacrosanct.

Not much has changed since I wrote these words more than a decade ago. The Supreme Court, often with lopsided majorities, protects the constitutional rights of very dangerous people. Yet when it comes to the Second Amendment, it’s as if all of these precedents vanish.

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November 23

534 BC – Thespis of Icaria becomes the first actor on record to portray a character on stage, and later has the things relating to the acting arts named after him – Thespian. 

1248 –  Troops under King Ferdinand III of Castile conquer Seville during the Reconquista of Spain.

1644 – John Milton publishes Areopagitica, a pamphlet decrying censorship in England

1876 – Tammany Hall leader, William “Boss” Tweed arrives in New York City, under arrest for bribery, contract kickbacks and embezzlement, after being extradited from Spain.

1914 – The last U.S. forces withdraw from Veracruz, Mexico occupied 6 months earlier in response to the Tampico Affair, an incident when U.S. sailors were detained by Mexican forces of General Huerta during the Mexican Revolution.

1924 – Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the Andromeda nebula is actually another “island galaxy” far outside of our own was first published in The New York Times.

1943 – Despite heavy casualties, the battles for the Tarawa and Makin atolls end in U.S. victories against the forces of Imperial Japan.

1963 – The BBC broadcasts the first episode of Doctor Who

1976 – French free diver Jacques Mayol is the first man to reach a depth of 100 meters undersea without breathing equipment.

1981 – President Reagan signs National Security Decision Directive 17 (NSDD-17), giving the CIA authority to recruit and support anti-Communist ‘Contra’ rebels in Nicaragua.

1992 – The first smartphone, the IBM Simon, is introduced at the COMDEX, a computer expo trade show in Las Vegas, Nevada.

2015 – Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft becomes the first rocket to successfully fly to space and then return to Earth for a controlled, vertical landing.

 

Salon Says ‘Guns Are Winning.’ Why That’s a Good Thing

Guns have been part of the American way of life since before this nation was this nation. The American people have had guns for hunting and self-defense as well as defending this land from foreign aggression all that time.

But some people are less than thrilled about this fact.

Today, marks the 60th anniversary of the assassination of JFK. In the wake of that murder, the Gun Control Act of 1968 was passed, in part to prevent someone like Lee Harvey Oswald from being able to get a gun in the manner in which he obtained it.

Yet over at Salon, they have a piece titled, “60 years after the assassination of JFK: The guns are winning.”

Since JFK’s murder, more Americans have died from civilian gunfire than the well over one million American soldiers killed in all of our wars, according to a flyer circulated by the Virginia Center for Public Safety back in January of 2016. A PolitiFact review of the claim noted that the federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention analysis “of yearly gunfire deaths in the U.S. from 1968 to 2014” all added up to 1.5 million gun-related deaths, greater than the 1.4 million lost to armed conflict since the creation of the nation.

Between 2015 and 2020, the United States had an additional 237,000 gun deaths. In 2021, the United States set a record with 48,830 gun-related deaths, with 54 percent flagged as suicides and 43 percent as murders. Overall, that reflected a 23 percent spike since 2019, according to the Pew Research Center.

It is sixty years after JFK’s murder and the guns are winning with the nation’s children and their families that are increasingly losing.

Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re going to look at total numbers since JFK’s assassination, particularly with regard to guns, then maybe we should look at trends from that time and not cherry pick things to look as scary as possible.

JFK was killed in 1963. The Gun Control Act followed five years later. Not an immediate reaction, to say the least, but looking at the provisions in that law makes it clear it was, in part, a response to the assassination.

And what happened immediately after JFK was killed and continued after the GCA was passed? The homicide rate increased.

That’s from the New York Times. What it shows is an increase in the homicide rate that spiked up in the aftermath of the Gun Control Act and continued to be sky high until the early 1990s and didn’t really get down to the early 1960s homicide rate until around 2010 or so.

During that time, we didn’t see a whole lot of gun control being passed. The Brady Bill was passed in 1993 and we had the now-sunset Assault Weapon Ban in 1994, but violent crime was already starting its downward trend, nearly 30 years after JFK’s assassination.

While the last few years have seen a spike in violent crime, that too is trending downward.

So what happened? Well, during that time period, we also saw the rise of concealed carry. States began empowering people to carry guns for their own protection and people started taking advantage of it. That likely contributed

The Assault Weapon Ban spurred a lot of people to buy AR-15s and similar weapons, creating a demand that still hasn’t been satiated. As these are good weapon for self-defense inside the home, this probably also contributed.

See, the issue with the Salon piece is that it’s blaming recent laws and recent actions from the last 30 years for violent crime that took place in the 30 years immediately after JFK’s death.

As guns have become more popular and people are carrying them more often, the homicide rate has trended downward. Even the spike of 2020 was nothing compared to the murder rates of the 1970s and ’80s.

So, in a way, the premise is right, even if not for the reason the author wants us to think. The guns really are winning. They’re making us safer.

The media might not make it seem that way, especially when you can see all the violence with a few keystrokes, but we’re much better off than we were shortly after JFK’s assassination, and I’m tired of pretending we’re not.

NW Austin homeowner fatally shoots intruder in self-defense

Police say a man was shot and killed after breaking into a northwest Austin home last month.

It happened Saturday, Oct. 21, in the 10500 block of Foundation Road, in a neighborhood just off FM 620.

The Austin Police Department says officers responded to the home at around 11:43 p.m. for a shooting call.

The caller reportedly stated that he had shot 55-year-old Ricardo Cortez, who had broken into his home. Upon arrival, officers found Cortez with a gunshot wound. He died shortly after the incident.

Initial findings by APD’s homicide detectives suggest Cortez broke into the house and then entered the homeowner’s bedroom, prompting him to shoot in self-defense, police said.

West Michigan town forms militia to protest red flag gun laws

Holton Township in Muskegon County last week voted to declare itself a “Second Amendment sanctuary,” and went one step further than the 50-plus Michigan communities and counties that have passed similar resolutions.

The township of about 2,500 residents also passed a resolution to create a militia and refuse to enforce any gun restriction law passed before 2021.

The resolution was passed days before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday signed legislation that prevents those convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from owning firearms for eight years.

Holton Supervisor Alan Jager told Bridge Michigan the overwhelming majority of township residents support the move because they fear their rights are slipping away, especially after Michigan adopted a “red flag law” that allows judges to seize weapons of those deemed a danger to themselves or others.

“You just can’t come in and take our weapons away without giving us a fighting chance to stand up for ourselves because we may not be guilty of anything,” Jager said.

“We would just like to see local people stand up and say, ‘You just can’t do this and pass these laws’ because it may be good for the city but not good for rural communities.”

The township tried and failed to pass a similar resolution last year. The new resolution — which was approved unanimously — also creates a militia open to anyone 18, and older who primarily lives in Holton Township.

“ Holton Township will not acknowledge any new laws that are associated with red flag laws, or any other infringement of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Holton Township will not acknowledge any new regulation that prohibits open carry or concealed carry,” the resolution reads.

Michigan in May became the 21st state to adopt a red flag law, but the measure doesn’t take effect until Feb. 13. The law would allow relatives, current and ex-spouses, dating partners, police and mental health professionals to petition courts for an extreme risk protection order to take away guns from those with mental health issues.

A judge would have up to 24 hours to rule on the petition. If granted, police would notify the gun owner, who then has up to 24 hours to turn over their weapons before they are confiscated.

In Michigan, at least 53 of 82 mostly rural counties have passed resolutions declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. While some law enforcement have questioned how the red flag law would be enforced, the sanctuary resolutions are nonbinding, since county and township officials can’t direct sheriffs or police to flout the law.

“This is all political grandstanding for the far-right gun extremists,” said Ryan Bates, executive director of End Gun Violence Michigan, an organization dedicated to passing gun violence prevention laws.

“We’ve seen this in other states, where gun-sense majorities have passed laws like safe storage, like extreme risk protection orders, like protection for domestic violences survivors.”

In Illinois,68 of 102 counties are Second Amendment Sanctuaries, while over a dozen counties in Indiana have also passed similar resolutions.

“At the end of the day, most law enforcement officials understand that laws aren’t suggestions or guidelines, they are laws,” Bates said.

Harvard Poll: 6 in 10 Voters Say Owning a Gun is a Necessary Part of Self-Defense Against Crime

A Harvard/Harris poll conducted November 15-16, 2023, shows six in ten voters believe owning a gun is a necessary part of protecting themselves from criminals.

Poll researchers asked: “Do you think crime and safety in your community is getting better, worse, or staying about the same?”

Forty-two percent of voters said “worse,” versus 21 percent who said better. (Forty-nine percent of independents were among those who said crime is worsening.)

Researchers asked, “Do you think you need to have a gun today in case you are attacked by criminals, or do you think owning a gun is unnecessary?”

A majority of voters across the board–whether Democrat, Republican, or independent–answered in the affirmative.

Broken down by party affiliation, 54 percent of Democrats said owning a gun is necessary, 77 percent of Republicans, and 56 percent of independents.

Moreover, a majority of American voters believe “woke politicians” are a driving force behind crime in the United States.

Fifty-five percent of voters concurred that “Woke politicians are to blame for rising crime,” while 45 percent disagreed. An even larger majority of voters–67 percent–support “removing DA’s who are soft on crime.”

On this day, in 1963 John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas.

While I have no doubt Oswald was shooting, and his skill and the rifle he used were ‘adequate to the task’, there’s been so much controversy in the several investigations, that short of the Eschaton, I think we’ll never know the whole truth of it.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 at 12:30 p.m. while riding in a motorcade in Dallas during a campaign visit. Kennedy’s motorcade was turning past the Texas School Book Depository at Dealey Plaza with crowds lining the streets—when shots rang out. The driver of the president’s Lincoln limousine, with its top off, raced to nearby Parkland Memorial Hospital, but after being shot in the neck and head, Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1 p.m. He was 46 years old…………

The first lady and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been three cars behind Kennedy in the motorcade, returned to Air Force One at Dallas Love Field with Kennedy’s body, in a bronze casket.

Johnson was sworn in at 2:38 p.m. as the 36th president of the United States while aboard the airplane prior to takeoff. Jacqueline Kennedy, still in a pink suit splattered with blood, stood at Johnson’s side. An autopsy on Kennedy’s body was performed at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

“This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed,” Johnson said in his first public statement as president. “For me, it is a deep personal tragedy. I know that the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help—and God’s,”

November 22

1497 – Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope during his first voyage from Europe to reach India

1574 – Spanish navigator Juan Fernández discovers islands off the coast of Chile that, for reasons lost to historians, are now known as the Juan Fernández Islands.

1718 –Edward “Blackbeard” Teach aboard Adventure is killed in battle off the coast of North Carolina by Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard commanding HMAV Jane.

1842 – Mount St. Helens in then British Oregon Country, erupts, covering area as far as Vancouver and the Dalles with ash

1858 – Denver Colorado, is founded.

1913 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu, the last Shogun of Imperial Japan, who was deposed by Emperor Meiji, dies in Tokyo.

1935 – Pan American Airways China Clipper, a Martin M-130 Ocean Transport flying boat, inaugurates the first commercial transpacific air service, connecting Alameda, California with Manila.

1942 – General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th Army at Stalingrad is surrounded by Soviet Forces.

1943 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.

1955 – The Soviet Union detonates it’s first thermonuclear bomb, RDS-37, a 1.6 megaton two stage bomb designed by Andrei Sakharov over Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan

1963 – In Dallas, Texas, President Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor Connally is seriously wounded by rifle fire. Suspect Lee Harvey Oswald is captured and charged with the murder of both the President and police officer J. D. Tippit. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as President

1975 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.

1988 – The prototype B-2 Spirit bomber is presented to public viewing in Palmdale, California

1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature length film created completely using CGI – computer generated imagery.

2003 – Shortly after takeoff from Baghdad International Airport, a DHL Express Airbus A300 cargo plane is struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile and forced to land.

2019 – Walmart expands it grocery delivery and pickup service into southwest Missouri.

2022 – A shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia leaves 7 workers dead, including the shooter, and 4 others injured.

Nebraska has state preemption of gun control laws. This is simply virtue signaling and will result in a waste of taxpayers money

Omaha Mayor Signs Ban on ‘Bump Stocks,’ Gun Kits

Omaha, Nebraska, Mayor Jean Stothert signed two gun-control measures this month, one that bans “bump stocks” and the other that bans gun-building kits.

Nebraska’s elections are nonpartisan, but Stothert identified as Republican “in her filing for the 2017 election,” Ballotpedia reported.

The Nebraska Examiner noted that Stothert signed the ban on “bump stocks” Thursday, and she signed the ban on gun-building kits November 9.

The gun controls signed by Stothert appear to be leading to legal challenges against Omaha. Those readying the legal challenges point to legislation Gov. Jim Pillen (R) signed earlier this year removing the “local charter authority” Omaha had used to pass stricter controls than exist at the state level.

In the spring of 2023, Stothert issued an executive order prohibiting concealed carry in “every building owned or leased by the city,” according to WOWT. She did this in response to Nebraska’s shift to constitutional carry.

Except for the gas ring wear test (explained there), not bad at all.

7 Things Every AR-15 Owner Needs to Know How to Do.

While driving to an open shooting position on a recent range trip, I saw AR-15 type firearms in every bay as I looked around. Some bays had as many as 10 different varieties of the AR-15 platform rifle. I saw another local gunsmith test firing the fruits of his labors.

I watched a group of 20-somethings challenge each other on a timed course of fire. I observed a dad helping his daughter to hold the gun up while she shot ground-mounted clay pigeons. I even saw a married man in what appeared to be his 60’s trying to tell his wife how to pull the charging handle back.

The common theme in what I saw was this — all of these people had different reasons for purchasing their version of America’s most popular rifle. And none of them appeared to have had any standardized training in their use, care, accessories, or capabilities.

While looking for some common ground, I made a list of seven skills that every AR owner should know.

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