Conservative Supreme Court justice hit pieces: We are being lectured on ethics by scoundrels.

“Wait till the next empty shoe drops.”

That’s how law professor Josh Blackman concludes a discussion of The New York Times’ open-mouthed discovery that law schools have summer study-abroad programs and sometimes they recruit celebrity professors, even Supreme Court justices, to teach them.

The Times believes it has found a scandal because George Mason’s Scalia Law School has one of these programs and seeks Supreme Court justices to teach in the summer.

My law school has one of these too. So does Blackman’s.

He comments: “Shocker! A DC law school works hard to connect its students with the leaders of the profession. My own law school has organized similar programs in the past with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Ginsburg. (My students described it as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.)”

But, you see, the law school and the justices involved here are conservative, so the Times thinks — or, more accurately, wants its readers to think — there must be something nefarious going on, perhaps “collusion.”

Why, George Mason’s legal clinic sometimes files friend-of-the-court briefs in the Supreme Court, which the paper would like you to believe is some sort of conflict of interest.

Never mind that schools like Harvard and Yale were — until recently, anyway — much closer to many justices on the court than this.

(Note that every member of the court except Amy Coney Barrett is an alumnus of Harvard or Yale.)

There’s nothing there, but the Times doesn’t care.

The Supreme Court has ruled against the left on guns and abortion and is expected to strike down affirmative action any day now.

Thus it must be delegitimized in any way possible.

Continue reading “”

June 25

1530 – At the Diet of Augsburg the protestant Augsburg Confession is presented to the Holy Roman Emperor by the Lutheran princes and electors of Germany.

1788 – Virginia becomes the tenth state to ratify the Constitution.

1876 – At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, troops of the 7th Cavalry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer are wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen led by Sioux Chiefs; Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Gall and Cheyenne Chiefs; Lame White Man and Two Moons

1901 – H.R.-Chief Lone Bear- Bartle is born in Richmond, Virginia.

1910 – Congress passes the Mann Act, which prohibits interstate transport of women or girls for “immoral purposes” which is not further defined.

1913 – American Civil War veterans begin arriving at Gettysburg for the Great Reunion of 1913, the 50th anniversary of the battle.

1940 – The French armistice with Germany comes into effect.

1943 – Jews in the Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis

1947 – The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is published.

1948 – Due to the blockade of travel from West Germany into Berlin by the Soviets, a supply airlift campaign – Operation VITTLES – from airbases in West Germany and elsewhere, to Tempelhof airfield in Berlin is organized

1950 – North Korean troops begin an invasion of South Korea

1960 – 2 cryptographers working for the United States National Security Agency, William H. Martin and Bernon F. Mitchell  leave for vacation to Mexico, and from there defect to the Soviet Union.

1976 – Missouri Governor Kit Bond issues an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, formally apologizing on behalf of the state of Missouri to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

1996 – The Khobar Towers apartments in Saudi Arabia is truck-bombed, killing 19 U.S. servicemen.

1998 – In the case of Clinton v. City of New York, the Supreme Court rules the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.

2009 – Actress Farrah Fawcett dies, age 62 of cancer and singer Michael Jackson dies, age 50 of a drug overdose.

Is there an equivalent Russian term for “kabuki theater?”
Mario Nawfal
BREAKING: THE COUP IS OVER | WAGNER’S RETREATING
This official statement from Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner group and the leader of this coup, says it all. I don’t think anyone expected this: “They were going to dismantle PMC Wagner. We came out on 23 June to the March of Justice. In a day, we walked to nearly 200km away from Moscow. In this time, we did not spill a single drop of blood of our fighters. Now, the moment has come when blood may spill. That’s why, understanding the responsibility for spilling Russian blood on one of the sides, we are turning back our convoys and going back to field camps according to the plan.”
The President of Belarus, Lukashenko, has been in talks with Prigozhin all day and has taken credit for the peace agreement. Prigozhin accepted the terms of Lukashenko’s agreement and agreed to halt the movement of his forces and return back to his bases. The agreement also guarantees security for fighters of PMC Wagner. It seems that the attempted coup has come to an end, and Prigozhin, along with his men, will return to their bases.
Reports of Wagner forces not only leaving Moscow Oblas, but also leaving Rostov. Russian media reports that criminal cases have already been dropped from Yevgeny Prigozhin and that Prigozhin and his forces will receive FULL IMMUNITY Restrictions on the movement of vehicles have been lifted from the Voronezh region which saw clashes earlier during the coup.
MY THOUGHTS: – I did not expect this would end peacefully with a deal as it seemed both sides seemed at the point of no return – I have no idea how Prigozhin and Putin can both operate in Russia with what just transpired, and I also have no idea what will happen with the war in Ukraine but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a peace deal reached.
Today was another example of citizen journalism replacing mainstream media with UNBIASED and UNCENSORED live breaking news. 
I am fried, been awake for more than 30 hours, initially doing a piece with former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan before shifting to the Coup piece which is at 21 hours and counting. Time for me to finally sleep!

Reports are that units of Wagner Group are on the way there from Rostov
Buying mercenaries’ services has always been problematic
Rule 49. Every client is one missed payment away from becoming a target and every target is one bribe away from becoming a client.

Russian elite leaves Moscow on private planes en masse.

Russian oligarchs and politicians are leaving Moscow en masse on private planes, some of which have already landed outside the Russian Federation.

Source: Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories), a Russian website focused on investigative journalism.

Details: For example, Vladimir Putin’s Il96-300PU, which is equipped with army control equipment, flew from Moscow to St Petersburg. The aircraft disappeared from the radar near Tver in Russia.

In addition, the second presidential plane, a Tu-214PU, departed from Moscow to St Petersburg at 14:44, which is also equipped in case of war. It disappeared from the radar over the Russian town of Gatchina.

A business jet belonging to oligarch Arkady Rotenberg, a Bombardier BD-700, took off from Moscow today at 11:30 and landed in Baku at 15:04 (Moscow time). The flight was scheduled for yesterday evening.

An aircraft belonging to Denis Manturov, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, took off from Moscow at 07:00 and landed in Dalaman, Türkiye at 12:06.

Oligarch Vladimir Potanin’s Gulfstream G650 business jet is expected to take off from Moscow to fly to Istanbul today at 17:00

A Bombardier Global Express XLS belonging to state-owned company Inter RAO [headed by Boris, the son of Putin’s friend Yury Kovalchuk – ed.] took off from Moscow and landed in St Petersburg at around 15:00 (Moscow time).

Ordinary residents of the Russian Federation are unlikely to be able to fly anywhere today, as the prices for air tickets to visa-free countries have skyrocketed. For example, a ticket for a direct flight from Moscow to Yerevan costs up to 200,000 roubles [about US$2,363 – ed.] and to Dubai – up to 350,000 roubles [about US$4,136 – ed.]. There are no tickets left for Istanbul, Astana and Tbilisi.

Background:

Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has claimed that the regular Russian army had launched a missile strike on the Wagnerites’ rear camps. Prigozhin claimed that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had arrived in Rostov, where he personally conducted an operation to wipe out the mercenaries.

According to Prigozhin, 25,000 of his mercenaries are allegedly going to “restore justice”. At the same time, he asked not to call their actions a “military coup”. Prigozhin added that Shoigu had fled Rostov like a coward and “this creature will be stopped”. The Russian Defence Ministry called the information a provocation.

Always with the ‘but’………
Makes you wonder what he thinks about rights protected by the 4th and 5th amendments.

Tulsa police chief suggests nation transform response to gun violence

As mass shootings plague the country, Tulsa’s police chief is comparing the violence to 9/11 and urging a more comprehensive response. KWGS’ Max Bryan sat down with Chief Wendell Franklin for StateImpact. Please note, both the audio and transcript have been edited for length and clarity.

MAX BRYAN: So to begin, after the Saint Francis shooting, you said you would leave gun laws up to the state legislature, but by the end of that month, you had told media outlets that permitless carry was causing problems in Tulsa, and you reiterated that point after the mass shooting at Allen Outlet Mall in Texas last month. So my first question is what led you to decide to speak out?

WENDELL FRANKLIN: Well, because I don’t think that we’re moving the needle on anything. If you compare what we’re faced with 9/11, 9/11 occurred and it totally transformed America, totally transformed how you travel on airlines. No longer can you go to the terminal and see a loved one off or see someone come back. All of that is a sterile area. The federal government took over all airline security and there was this more robust effort to deal with and address some of the terrorist activities that were taking place. Fast forward to even structures, how structures were built, no longer are you building structures that have parking garages that you can access underneath a building. You can’t do that anymore. Today, all of that’s controlled. And any future buildings, those are not even a part of the actual building structure. They move those off to the side now, and here we are today, where we’ve recognized that we have some issues that need to be addressed, and we are operating as though everything is normal, and I don’t think everything is normal.

MB: So you’ve also criticized a lack of regulation of untraceable ghost guns and straw purchasing. Recently you indicated you would support regulating the purchasing of high-powered weapons like AR-15s. Is there anything you can add to that list today?

WF: Ultimately, I’m a Second Amendment guy. I own guns of course. But I’m okay giving up some of that freedom, right? We had to give up some of that freedom after 9/11. I’m okay with waiting three days, five days, or whatever to get my firearm if I go out and purchase another firearm. So I’m okay with a pause to allow for weapons to be purchased and allow the government and the gun companies to look at the background and do a thorough check before that gun goes to someone.

MB: Have you spoken to any members of the legislature about our state’s gun laws?

WF: In passing, I have. It’s a topic that’s not really brought up a whole lot and it’s something that gets glossed over quite a bit.

MB: How have those conversations gone?

WF: It’s an immediate pivot to some other topic. No one really wants to talk about it.

MB: Okay. So in December, you told me the second amendment was tricky. How do you balance challenges, or excuse me, changes that you believe will prevent crime with enforcing laws made by lawmakers who believe the second amendment means expanding firearm access?

WF: Ultimately, law enforcement, we are the experts. We’re the subject matter experts at protecting America, right? Protecting our cities. We should be utilized in that manner. I am charged with protecting this community. And if there are better ways of protecting it, I think we should be looking at those better ways to protect it. Anything that we do, ultimately, we give up something to have that protection. You know, we put seatbelt laws in place, I’m not exactly sure when, probably the 1980s, I think. And we mandated that everyone starts wearing a seatbelt, and it took some time for people to grab hold of that. But if you look today it is an automatic thing that people put on their seatbelt when they get into a vehicle. You feel uncomfortable not wearing that seatbelt. I think again, we give something up to get safety for, for something safe. I think that’s where we are today. We are going to have to give up some things. And I think there are some things that we can give up for a safer community.

 

Silencers/Suppressors are in Common Use for Lawful Purposes

U.S.A. — The number of legal suppressors or silencers in the United States shows they are in common use for lawful purposes.  As of January of 2023, the ATF shows there were over 3.1 million silencers or suppressors legally owned in the United States for lawful purposes. In January of 2020, there were 1.8 million. Over the last three years, the number of legal suppressors has increased by an average of 450,000 suppressors per year. By the end of 2023, it is reasonably expected there will be over 3.6 million suppressors in the United States of America. To own these suppressors, the owners have gone through a complicated and lengthy process, often taking a year or more to process their applications for tax stamps. The federal government requires tax stamps to purchase a silencer legally.

In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects “arms ‘in common use at the time’ for lawful purposes like self-defense” and arms that are “typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes.” Such arms are “chosen by American society,” not the government.

Silencers/Suppressors are in Common Use for Lawful Purposes
Silencers/Suppressors are in Common Use for Lawful Purposes

American society chooses what arms are in common use. The government does not make the choices. By choosing to possess arms, the people choose what is in common use. It is the possession of the arms which determines whether they are in common use or not.  Possession of arms is a use of the arms. In Heller, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruled:

The Second Amendment extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding.

In the Caetano decision, the Heller pronouncement was emphasized and magnified. When an arm was invented has nothing to do with whether it is protected under the Second Amendment. What matters is if the arm is in common use for lawful purposes. This was particularly emphasized by Justice Alito and Justice Thomas. From Caetano, concurrence by Justice Alito, joined with Justice Thomas:

The more relevant statistic is that “[h]undreds of thousands of Tasers and stun guns have been sold to private citizens,” who it appears may lawfully possess them in 45 States. People v. Yanna, 297 Mich. App. 137, 144, 824 N. W. 2d 241, 245 (2012) (holding Michigan stun gun ban unconstitutional); see Volokh, Nonlethal Self-Defense, (Almost Entirely) Nonlethal Weapons, and the Rights To Keep and Bear Arms and Defend Life, 62 Stan. L. Rev. 199, 244 (2009) (citing stun gun bans in seven States); Wis. Stat. §941.295 (Supp. 2015) (amended Wisconsin law permitting stun gun possession); see also Brief in Opposition 11 (acknowledging that “approximately 200,000 civilians owned stun guns” as of 2009). While less popular than handguns, stun guns are widely owned and accepted as a legitimate means of self-defense across the country. Massachusetts’ categorical ban of such weapons therefore violates the Second Amendment.

This was the first time SCOTUS put a number on what is “common use.”  Some may consider two hundred thousand items in the United States of America high, but this applies to many items. When legal suppressors were nearly banned by taxes of ten times the price of the item ($20 would buy most suppressors; the tax was/is $200), there were far fewer of them. In 2006, there were 150 thousand legally owned silencers in the USA.  Sometime between 2006 and 2011, the 200 thousand mark was passed. ATF records do not seem to be available from 2006 to 2010. In 2011, there were 285 thousand legal silencers.

The ATF and Biden administration’s strategy is to claim silencers are not “arms” but are only an accessory. It is difficult to see how they can claim silencers are not “arms” but are very dangerous.

The Texas case, Paxton v. Richardson, appears to be the most likely case to resolve this issue at this time.  In the case, Texas Attorney General Paxton has argued the common use, Second Amendment case, as well as persuasive arguments against the use of taxation to attack rights protected by the Second Amendment.

Judge Mark Pitmann heard the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment in the case on June 15, 2023.

June 24

109 – Roman emperor Trajan inaugurates the Aqua Traiana, an aqueduct that channels water from Lake Bracciano, 25 miles northwest of Rome to the city. It remains in use for 1500 years and most of it still stands to this day

1230 – During the Spanish Reconquista, the forces of King Ferdinand III of Castile besiege city of Jaén in the southern Spanish area of Andalusia, defended by the Taifa of Jayyān.

1314 – During the first war of Scottish Independence, the Battle of Bannockburn concludes with a decisive victory by Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce

1497 – John Cabot lands in North America at Newfoundland

1813 – In the Battle of Beaver Dams,  near Thorold, Ontario, a British and Kahnawake Indian combined force defeats the United States Army during the War of 1812.

1916 – Mary Pickford becomes the first female film star to sign a million dollar contract.

1922 – The American Professional Football Association is renamed the National Football League.

1938 – Pieces of a meteor, estimated to have weighed 450 tons when it hit the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded, land near Chicora, Pennsylvania.

1947 – Kenneth Arnold makes the first widely reported UFO sighting near Mount Rainier, Washington.

1948 – In retaliation for the introduction of the West German Deutsche Mark which caused economic upheaval in the Soviet Zone of Occupation, the Soviets begin blocking overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin as a negotiating tactic to have issue of the new currency halted, beginning the ‘Berlin Blockade’.

1949 – The first television western, Hopalong Cassidy, starring William Boyd, is aired on the NBC network.

1957 – In the case of Roth v. United States, the Supreme Court rules that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment.

1973 – The UpStairs Lounge arson attack takes place at a homosexual hangout located on the 2nd floor of the 3 story building at 141 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Killing 32 people.

1975 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 66, a Boeing 727, encounters severe wind shear and crashes on final approach to New York’s JFK Airport killing 113 of the 124 passengers and crew on board, making it the deadliest U.S. plane crash at the time.

1994 – Piloted by a known, reckless, daredevil ‘hot dog’ past its operational limits, the crash of a Boeing B-52 Stratofortress at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane Washington – killing all 4 crew aboard – is video recorded in detail and later used for training purposes.

2004 – In New York, capital punishment is declared unconstitutional.

2021 – The Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida suffers a sudden partial collapse, killing 98 residents.

2022 – In the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court rules that the U.S. Constitution does not assign the authority to regulate abortions to the federal government, returns such authority to the individual states and overturning the prior decisions in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).

But even the politicians on our side of the equation don’t seem to get it.
The 2nd amendment gives the people nothing.
The people already possess the right to keep and bear arms.
The people have had this right even before the U.S. was the U.S.!
The amendment restricts government power.

Head of Wagner Group Launches Armed Coup Against Russian Army

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the mercenary Wagner group, has called for a coup against Russia’s military leaders, saying he had 25,000 fighters ready to “end this mess.”

Russian soldiers across the country were put on high alert on Friday night after Prigozhin urged citizens to stay inside and threatened to march on the Kremlin.

The Wagner group chief issued the call after accusing Russian generals of carrying out on airstrike on his fighters in Ukraine. He said “huge number” had been killed but provided no evidence.

In an audio message late on Friday night, Prigozhin said his troops are entering Rostov.

Continue reading “”

PRESIDENT BIDEN’S FANTASY GUN CONTROL AGENDA

Where the Answers are Made Up and the Second Amendment Doesn’t Matter

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we have a problem. The President is on the loose again, uttering nonsense about the Second Amendment.

President Joe Biden spoke to a collection of political donors as he’s gearing up his 2024 re-election campaign and used his gun control grindstone to churn out well-worn and discredited Second Amendment tropes. The problem is – it’s all malarky. No kidding, man.

President Joe Biden might just be the lying dog-face pony soldier he accuses others of being.

F-16s and AR-15s
The president belittled Americans who agree that the Second Amendment exists to prevent a tyrannical government from usurping power from the people.

“You know, I love these guys who say the Second Amendment is — you know, the tree of liberty is water with the blood of patriots. Well, if [you] want to do that, you want to work against the government, you need an F-16. You need something else than just an AR-15,” said President Biden according to Fox News.

Aside from the veiled threat to use actual weapons of war against the American people, President Biden’s swipe at Americans who value their rights was intended to target the lawful ownership of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). There are over 24.4 million MSRs in circulation today. They’re the most popular-selling centerfire rifle in America.

Second Amendment Second Thoughts
“We have to change,” President Biden said. “There’s a lot of things we can change, because the American people by and large agree you don’t need a weapon of war. I’m a Second Amendment guy. I taught it for four years, six years in law school. And guess what? It doesn’t say that you can own any weapon you want. It says there are certain weapons that you just can’t own. Even during when it was passed, you couldn’t own a cannon. You can’t own a machine gun.… No, I’m serious.”

First, he’s overselling his authority as a law professor. President Biden briefly served as Benjamin Franklin Presidential Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania for two years between his terms as vice president and his campaign for The White House, according to a fact check by the Austin American-Statesman. He was paid $900,000 and his duties “involved no regular classes and around a dozen public appearances on campus, mostly in big, ticketed events,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

His description as a “Second Amendment guy” might come as a surprise to other “Second Amendment guys.” That doesn’t normally include ideas like universal background checks that would require a national firearm owner registry, restrictions that would ban entire classes of firearms, repealing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) to allow frivolous lawsuits against firearm manufacturers for the criminal misuse of lawfully sold firearms by remote third parties or – as the president points out here – a clear ignorance of the National Firearms Act.

Fox News reported, correctly, that the Second Amendment makes no mention of firearm restrictions. Gun control laws at the federal level didn’t start until 1934 when the National Firearms Act was signed by President Franklin Roosevelt. That’s 143 years later.

Americans can legally own machine guns, although it is extremely restricted. No automatic firearm produced after May 1986 is available for commercial sale but those produced before then can be – and are – legally owned. Owners have to pay a $200 tax stamp and register them with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

When it comes to cannons, well, President Biden blasted that one too. It was legal to own a cannon when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. It’s still legal to own one today.

President Biden made the same erroneous claim in April 2022 and in June of 2021, when The Washington Post fact checked him on that one. He earned “Four Pinocchios,” writing “Biden has already been fact-checked on this claim — and it’s been deemed false. We have no idea where he conjured up this notion about a ban on cannon ownership in the early days of the Republic, but he needs to stop making this claim.”

Rapid-Fire Falsehoods
None of this is new. President Biden, who claims to own two shotguns, is hardly the Second Amendment expert he presents himself to be. He once told his wife she should “fire two blasts” of a shotgun blindly into the air if she felt threatened. That’s terrible and dangerous legal advice. Among the four fundamental firearm safety rules is to know your target and what is beyond.

This advice was actually invoked in a court case, where the accused, Jeffrey Barton, was charged with aggravated assault. Prosecutors ended up dropping those charges and instead charged him with police obstruction, of which he was convicted.

President Biden once argued to ban 9 mm Glocks, claiming in an interview with Charlie Rose that he could kill more people with a .38-caliber revolver. He also oddly told police they should shoot “unarmed” attacking criminals wielding knives “in the leg.” Police ripped that suggestion. Fox News reported the Fraternal Order of Police said it was “completely ridiculous,” “unrealistic” and a “pandering talking point.”

President Biden didn’t stop there. He believes that 9 mm handguns are especially dangerous.

“A 9 mm bullet blows the lung out of the body,” President Biden said. “The idea of a high caliber weapon, there is simply no rational basis for it in terms of self-protection, hunting.”

The president’s 9 mm claim was debunked as “bullsh*t,” by a federal agent with 15 years of service. Another with 20 years said, “Not possible.” A 21-year veteran of the U.S. Marshal fugitive recovery task force told Breitbart that President Biden’s claim is, “… not even in the realm of possibility.”

That’s the problem with President Biden. He’s living in a fantasy world of utter nonsense.

Analysis: What the Pistol-Brace Ban Repeal Defeat Means

The Senate voted against undoing President Joe Biden’s pistol-brace ban. That probably won’t have a direct practical impact on the ban’s fate, but it will have a political and, potentially, even a legal one.

On Thursday, the Senate voted 50 to 49 against a resolution to repeal the ATF’s brace rule. The vote was entirely along party lines. Not a single Democrat or Republican crossed over in either direction.

Now, it might not seem like a Senate controlled by the party of the President that instituted the policy refusing to undo it isn’t that unexpected. But there are a couple of reasons this move was surprising.

For starters, this resolution isn’t a standard piece of legislation. If it were, Senate Democrats could have kept it from getting a vote at all or added a bunch of amendments to it. But, since this was a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, it was privileged and got an up or down vote instead.

CRA resolutions have been the primary way Republicans have scored political points against President Biden via legislation since they retook the House in 2022. They’ve managed to push five different resolutions through the House and garner enough Democratic support in the Senate to send them to Biden’s desk. The President has managed to kill all the resolutions by vetoing them, which would require a two-thirds vote of both houses to overcome.

Still, those previous five resolutions pitted Biden and his administration against at least a few Democrats in both houses. The same can’t be said of the pistol-brace ban resolution. While two Democrats in the House voted for it, every Democrat in the Senate rallied to the President’s side.

That may cause political pain for some members who are up for reelection in red or purple states. The rule change effectively bans millions of pistol-brace-equipped firearms, many of which were likely bought years ago, since the vast majority of affected guns have not been registered. So, getting vulnerable Democrats on record supporting it could have some electoral value.

But, as it stands now, the repeal failure is a clear political loss. Instead of making President Biden and Democrats appear divided, it does the exact opposite.

It’s also a potential setback for the legal case against the pistol-brace ban. At the very least, it’s the less ideal outcome because Congress’s opinion of the ATF’s rule is particularly relevant to the challenges.

The key questions at the center of most brace ban lawsuits are not about the Second Amendment. Instead, they’re about the ATF’s power to regulate braced guns and the public’s ability to understand the regulations they hand down. Had Congress been united in passing a resolution declaring the ATF is wrong in how it has reclassified braced guns, that it had overstepped the power granted to it by Congress, that would have provided more ammunition to the groups challenging the legality of the rule on those very grounds.

Instead, Congress is divided on that question. Plaintiffs in the case can point to that division as evidence the ATF doesn’t have clear authority to enact its rule, but the argument is weaker than it otherwise would have been.

Still, that doesn’t mean the pistol-brace ban is going to survive. The cases against it were going well before the repeal resolution passed the House, and the repeal effort losing a 50-49 vote in the Senate is unlikely to sink its legal prospects.

Four federal courts have already issued injections blocking the ATF from enforcing the rule against millions of Americans. A Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals panel got the ball rolling just before the ATF’s grace period for registering the affected guns ended at the beginning of the month by protecting Firearms Policy Coalition members from arrest and prosecution as it prepared to hear the case on the merits. A second court in the same circuit followed up by blocking enforcement against Second Amendment Foundation members. A third extended an injunction to all Gun Owners of America members. The National Rifle Association, which has a separate case in the Eighth Circuit, has asked for a Fifth Circuit judge to extend protections to its members.

The number of people protected under those injections has already grown since they were handed down. The affected gun-rights groups have seen their membership numbers rise, with the Second Amendment Foundation claiming 20,000 new members in the first week after it got its injunction.

A ruling on the merits of the case will probably still come soon. To issue a preliminary injunction against the rule, the Fifth Circuit panel had to conclude that the ban was likely unconstitutional. The Senate’s repeal rejection probably won’t force them to reconsider that conclusion as they begin to hear oral arguments on June 29th. And, as much as it doesn’t help things, the safe money is still on the panel striking the rule down.

Legal action still is, and always was, the most viable path for gun-rights advocates to bring down the brace ban. But the failure to get the repeal resolution through the Senate, even if it would have been doomed by a veto anyway, represents a notable setback nonetheless.

Press Release: Attorney General Bailey joins 23 states in opposing California’s defacto handgun ban

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced today that his office joined 23 other states in challenging California’s “Unsafe Handgun Act.” The amicus brief supports the California Rifle & Pistol Association’s challenge to the California law aimed at limiting the sale and use of guns in California and nationwide.“The Second Amendment guarantees freedom and security for all Americans. I will not stand idly by while rogue progressive activists in California attempt to eradicate the freedoms of law-abiding gun owners that are enshrined in our Constitution,” said Attorney General Bailey. “I am proud to stand in the gap with my fellow attorneys general to protect our God-given rights.”The State of California aims to use the “Unsafe Handgun Act” to chill firearm commerce. California law requires new semiautomatic handguns to have three components:

  1. A chamber load indicator,
  2. a magazine disconnect mechanism, and
  3. microstamping capability.

Currently, no new gun on the market meets all three of these requirements. California has effectively created hurdles to halt the purchase of all new firearms, a clear violation of the Second Amendment.Joining Missouri in filing the brief are the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Texas woman shoots, kills home intruder

AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — A homeowner shot and killed a man who broke into her house, according to Amarillo, Texas police.

Around 5:30 a.m. Thursday, police responded to a residential burglary on N. Adams St.

When officers arrived, they found the body of 53-year-old Cedric Milligan. The woman who shot him said Milligan broke into her home.

According to police, he forced his way inside through the back door which was locked. She grabbed a gun and shot him.

June 23

1280 – During the Reconquista, in the Battle of Moclín,  the Emirate of Granada ambush a superior pursuing force, killing most of them in a military disaster for the Kingdom of Castile.

1683 – William Penn signs a friendship treaty with Lenni Lenape Indians in Pennsylvania.

1780 – American General Nathaniel Greene, commanding 1500 men of the New Jersey Militia, defeats a 5000 man force of British Army troops and Hessian mercenaries at the Battle of Springfield, effectively ending British ambitions in New Jersey.

1810 – John Jacob Astor forms the Pacific Fur Company and orders the construction of a base of operations; Fort Astoria, present-day Astoria, Oregon – at the mouth of the Columbia River.

1812 – During the War of 1812, Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce it had try to enforce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.

1865 – Confederate Brigadier General Stand Watie surrenders his army at Fort Towson in the Oklahoma and Indian Territory

1868 – Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for an invention he calls the “Type-Writer.”

1894 – At the initiative of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the International Olympic Committee is founded at the Sorbonne in Paris to organize modern athletic competition modeled after the ancient Olympic Games.

1914 – Pancho Villa defeats Victoriano Huerta at Zacatecas

1926 – The College Board administers the first SAT exam.

1931 – Pilot Wiley Post and Navigator Harold Gatty take off from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, in the Lockheed Vega Winne Mae, to make the first circumnavigation of the world in a single engine plane.

1938 – The Civil Aeronautics Act is signed into law, forming the Civil Aeronautics Authority in the United States.

1947 – The Senate follows the House of Representatives in overriding President Truman’s veto of the Taft–Hartley Act, restricting the power of labor unions

1959 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after only 9 years in prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany.

1960 – The FDA declares G. D. Searle & Company’s Enovid to be the first officially approved combined oral contraceptive pill in the world.

1961 – The Antarctic Treaty, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and bans military activity on the continent, comes into force

1969 – Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.

1972 – Title IX of the United States Civil Rights Act of 1964 is amended to prohibit sexual discrimination to any educational program receiving federal funds.

2013 – Nik Wallenda becomes the first man to successfully walk across the Grand Canyon on a tight rope.

2016 – The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.