Tennessee [Congesss]Adjourned Sine Die but Special Gun Control Session Coming

Yesterday, the Tennessee General Assembly adjourned Sine Die, and all anti-gun bills have died in committee. Despite intense pressure from Governor Lee, no “red flag” or gun confiscation bills were introduced. We want to extend our thanks to the leadership of the House and Senate for their unwavering defense of the Second Amendment and for protecting the rights of Tennesseans.

The Tennessee General Assembly did pass Senate Bill 494/House Bill 395, which was sent to the Governor’s desk for his signature. This legislation recognizes a person’s Second Amendment right, if not otherwise prohibited by law, to carry a handgun while hunting for self-defense. NRA thanks Senator John Stevens for sponsoring this piece of legislation and for his steadfast commitment to defending the Second Amendment rights of Tennesseans throughout session.

However, the fight is still ongoing. Governor Lee has stated he will call a special session to address public safety which we know from previous statements will likely include “red flag” and gun control legislation. The NRA will be there to defend the Second Amendment rights of Tennesseans. We must remain vigilant and fight against any attempts to infringe upon our constitutional rights.

HANSON V. DC: “LARGE CAPACITY” MAGAZINE BAN

I’ve only been up for a couple of hours (as I begin typing), and the news is already full of stupidity that I’ll need to address. I’ll lead off with a case challenging Washington, DC’s “large capacity” magazine ban, Hanson v. DC. The judge, one Rudolph Contreras, denied a preliminary injunction against the ban. His… reasoning is… remarkable. Or something; I’m trying to be somewhat polite.

A weapon may have some useful purposes in both civilian and military contexts, but if it is most useful in military service, it is not protected by the Second Amendment.
[…]
[Large capacity magazines] are not covered by the [2A] because they are most useful in military service.

Oddly, Contreras cites HELLER in making that point. I can’t find that argument in HELLER, which was largely about whether non- military weapons could be regulated, and how, but there is this.

It may be objected that if weapons that are most useful in military service—M–16 rifles and the like—may be banned, then the Second Amendment right is completely detached from the prefatory clause. But as we have said, the conception of the militia at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification was the body of all citizens capable of military service, who would bring the sorts of lawful weapons that they possessed at home to militia duty. It may well be true today that a militia, to be as effective as militias in the 18th century, would require sophisticated arms that are highly unusual in society at large.

Rather the opposite of Contreras’ weasel-wording, eh? Indeed, HELLER even cites the earlier MILLER, which establishes that militarily-useful arms are protected by the Second Amendment.

In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a ‘shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length’ at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument.

Having chucked decades of SCOTUS precedent already, Contreras proceeds to demonstrate an amazing lack of judicial awareness of current events and Supreme Court decisions. Now that he’s established in his own deluded mind that standard capacity magazines are not 2A-protected, he addresses whether this particular restriction of such magazines is permissable.

WARNING: If you’re drinking, swallow before proceeding, for the protection of your screen.

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ABC News Accidently Admits AR-15s Aren’t as Dangerous as the Dems Pretend They Are

In their latest hit piece on Long Island’s GOP Rep. George Santos, ABC News let a little fact slip about the AR-15.
Santos co-sponsored a bill to name the AR-15 the “national gun of the United States.” ABC News stroked an article about voters protesters showing up at Santos’s office to protest the bill.
The ABC article states, “Research shows an AR-15-style rifle has been used to kill at least 226 people in mass shootings since 2012.”
If my calculator is accurate, that’s roughly 22.6 people per year, or 1.8 people per month, who have been killed by AR-15s in mass shootings.Let me open with this: one death is too many.

And now for my question: why do lefty jackpuddings regurgitate their avocado toast over AR-15s when so few people are killed by them?

Perspective

Let’s take a look at ways in which more Americans die every year than by AR-15s used in mass shootings:

  • Twenty-eight people are killed every year by lightning.
  • Roughly 2,167 Americans die annually from constipation.
  • On average, 951 people are killed by their lawnmowers while another 4,193 are killed by farm tractors and other agricultural equipment.
  • Murderous toasters kill 45 people per year.
  • Eleven teenagers die every day while texting and driving.
  • An estimated 40 people die every year while skateboarding.
  • Roughly 10,206 are accidentally strangled to death while they sleep, and for those who survive the night, another 10,386 will die every year falling out of bed.
  • As per the FBI, rifles of every variation — including but not limited to the scary AR-15 — killed 215 Americans in 2019. But another 1,533 were killed by knives, and 651 people were beaten to death by hands, fists, feet, etc.
  • In 2015, 5,051 people choked to death while eating.
  • Americans average 62 deaths per year by bees, wasps, and hornets.
What Have We Learned?

We’ve learned that if you want to cut down on needless deaths, you’re better off handing out prune juice than trying to purloin AR-15s, as we Americans are roughly 10 times more likely to die as Elvis did — on the toilet — than by an AR-15 in a mass shooting. We’re 50 times more likely to be beaten to death. We’re roughly 1,000 times more likely to be killed — either by accidental strangulation or falling — from our beds than by an AR-15.

BONUS LESSON: None of this info will help you in a debate against your liberal sister-in-law and her pink-haired, gender-uncertain boy?-partner freakshow because facts are useless against the bolshies who want us defenseless.

So why do the apparatchiks on the left want your A5-15? The same reason you want to keep it — it’s the best gun available to fight tyranny — either foreign or domestic. And with the terrifying number of military-aged Chinese men crossing the southern border, we might find ourselves fighting either, or both.

Home intruder shot dead in Northeast Austin

A Northeast Austin homeowner shot and killed a suspected intruder during an attempted break-in early Tuesday morning.

According to the Austin Police Department, at around 5:31 a.m., officers responded to a call in the 7600 block of Bethune Avenue, where a female resident reported a man attempting to break into her home through the door and a window. The caller then stated that the male suspect had entered the home, followed by the sound of gunshots.

Upon arrival at the scene, the APD officers and EMS medics found the male suspect dead. APD says the preliminary investigation indicates that the suspect was shot by one of the residents in self-defense.

There is no indication that the residents knew the male suspect. He was later identified as 61-year-old Samuel Wolf. While further details about other occupants of the home have not been released, the police confirmed the residence is a duplex with side A and side B.

The investigation is ongoing, and the APD is urging anyone with information to call the homicide tip line at 512-472-TIPS. No charges are expected to be filed against the resident who shot the suspect at this time.

Does Colorado Show the State ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban Resurgence Starting to Fizzle Out?

Despite enjoying a recent resurgence in deep-blue states, “assault weapon” ban proponents are starting to confront the political and legal constraints to the policy’s continued expansion.

On Wednesday, the Colorado House of Representatives voted to kill a long-awaited proposal to ban the sale of dozens of semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns with certain targetted features, such as a pistol grip or telescoping stock, in its first committee hearing. Three Democrats joined the four Republicans on the committee in voting to reject the bill, as well as a proposed amendment to limit the ban to just bump stocks.

That an assault weapon ban failed to even make it out of committee in a legislative chamber where Democrats have a supermajority speaks to the tricky politics gun-control advocates still face for gun bans, even in states with trifecta Democratic control. The fact that bills to raise the minimum age to purchase firearms, impose a three-day waiting period, expand who can file a red flag petition, and impose civil liability on the gun industry all easily cleared the Colorado General Assembly this session highlights how much more difficult going after popular guns, such as the AR-15, really is.

A hardware ban is simply a different animal, politically speaking. That fact alone could do a lot to limit the ban’s potential to reach more than a handful of the most progressive-leaning states.

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April 22

1500 – While following Vasco da Gama’s newly opened route around Africa to India, Portuguese navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral sails too far to the west in the Atlantic Ocean, and lands in what is now Brazil, discovering the South American continent.

1529 – The Treaty of Zaragoza between the king of Spain and Emperor Charles V, and João III of Portugal, regarding the areas of influence of both countries in Asia, divides the eastern hemisphere between Spain and Portugal along a line 297.5 leagues -892.5 nautical miles – east of the Molucca islands.

1836 – A day after the Texican victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, forces under General Sam Houston identify and take captive Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna who was hiding among the prisoners of war of the battle.

1864 – Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 that permits the inscription In God We Trust be placed on all coins minted as U.S. currency.

1876 – The first major league baseball game is played at the Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston baseball club

1889 – At noon, the first Land Rush into the Unassigned Lands of central Oklahoma Territory starts.

1898 – Off the Florida Keys, gunboat PG-7, the USS Nashville, the first U.S. Navy ship built by Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, fires the first shot of the Spanish-American War and captures the Spanish merchantman SS Buena Ventura.

1944 –US Army Air Force Lieutenant Carter Harman, of the 1st Air Commando Group, flying a Sikorsky R-4 helicopter, conducts the first combat rescue sortie, rescuing a downed liaison aircraft pilot and his 3 British soldier passengers in the China-Burma-India Theater.

1954 – The ABC and DuMont television networks provide the first live  coverage of Senate committee hearings by covering the Army–McCarthy hearings.

1970 – The first Earth Day is celebrated. Despite all prognostications of imminent doom, 52 years later the Earth and humanity are still here.

1977 – Optical fiber is first used to carry live telephone traffic.

1994 – Richard Nixon, 37th President of the United States dies, age 81, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, of a stroke suffered 3 days previously.

2005 – Japan’s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan’s World War 2 war record.

Prof. Yamane misunderstands one part of self defense law in Missouri when he states: “From where I stand, shooting someone through the locked glass of your front door.…does not rise to the reasonableness standard required by self-defense law.”   Well, under Missouri revised statutes 563.031
2. A person shall not use deadly force upon another person under the circumstances specified in subsection 1 of this section unless:
(2) Such force is used against a person who unlawfully enters, remains after unlawfully entering, or attempts to unlawfully enter a dwelling, residence, or vehicle lawfully occupied by such person;
In effect you can do exactly that to stop someone who’s trying to get in to where you are. That’s what a lot of people fail to take in account; each state’s laws on use of force may be very similar, but they are not all the same.

Stand Your Ground laws do not allow you to ‘shoot first and ask questions later’

Three recent shootings have, understandably, raised concerns about the legality of using lethal force in self-defense. Sixteen-year-old Ralph Yarl was injured after approaching the wrong house in Kansas City while trying to pick up his siblings. Twenty-year-old Kaylin Gillis was killed after a car she was riding in pulled into the wrong driveway in upstate New York. And two teenage cheerleaders were shot in Austin, Texas, after one of them got into the wrong car in a grocery store parking lot.

Gun violence prevention advocacy groups like Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action have used these events to renew criticisms of Stand Your Ground laws for emboldening people “to shoot to kill & claim self-defense.” Everytown even goes so far as to say these laws “give people a license to kill.”

These groups and even scholars studying gun violence refer to Stand Your Ground (SYG) laws as “shoot first” laws, short for “shoot first and ask questions later.” As a gun scholar, gun owner and opponent of gun violence, I fear that equating SYG with the legal right to “shoot first” could unintentionally mislead people into thinking that self-defense laws truly give them a blanket license to kill with impunity.

They do not.

Self-defense laws actually place significant limits on the ability of individuals to use lethal force in self-defense lawfully. Whether people fully understand those limitations is an empirical question, but critics should drop the language of “shoot first” in referring to these laws. Instead, in the interest of public safety, why not educate people on the limited range of behaviors they in fact allow?

First, the shootings of Ralph Yarl and Kaylin Gillis took place at the shooters’ homes, not in public spaces. Therefore, SYG law does not apply to these cases. (Not to mention that New York does not even have a SYG law.) If anything, they would fall under the common-law principle of “castle doctrine,” which allows people to use reasonable force — up to and including lethal force — to protect themselves and their loved ones at home. It allows people to stand their ground in their own “castle.”

SYG laws can be understood as extending castle doctrine into public space. They apply, in the language of Florida’s landmark law, to any individual “who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be.” These are significant limitations in themselves. Someone mistakenly getting into your car and then immediately exiting cannot reasonably be considered an attack, so no lawful acts of self-defense are justified. The shooting in the Austin grocery store parking lot looks much more like an act of criminal assault.

Second, even under SYG, all the other legal requirements for using lethal force in self-defense still apply. In addition to innocence, there is the issue of proportionality: A person only has a right to “meet force with force, including deadly force.” This also highlights that the individual claiming self-defense must establish their reasonableness. The person must convince a prosecutor or a jury that other reasonable people in the same circumstances would similarly believe they were in danger of death or great bodily harm.

From where I stand, shooting someone through the locked glass of your front door or at a car in your driveway does not rise to the reasonableness standard required by self-defense law. These cases are reminiscent of the killings of Renisha McBride in Detroit and Jordan Davis in Jacksonville. Both shooters claimed self-defense but are now incarcerated for murder.

Reasonableness, of course, is determined in the criminal justice system, which is marred by racial inequality. But the flawed application of law and a flawed law are not the same. People of goodwill can disagree about whether Stand Your Ground laws are, on balance, good or bad. But both gun owners and non-owners must understand what self-defense laws actually allow and prohibit — politically charged rhetoric like “shoot first” is harmful.

Stand Your Ground does not allow anyone to “shoot first and ask questions later.” Not within the law, at least. Please stop saying it does.

Fauci’s legacy

Judicial Watch Obtains Docs Showing U.S. Funded Wuhan Lab Research From 2013-2020.

Nothing like rewarding scientists from a hostile foreign nation for creating catastrophe! According to documentation obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the U.S. government (NIH) didn’t just fund bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan lab leading up to the leak of COVID-19. The government gave another grant for work with the Wuhan lab in July 2020, long after COVID-19 likely leaked from the lab where it was probably created.

There is a lot of significant and interesting information in the Judicial Watch press release about the documentation. This includes EcoHealth Alliance’s initial “Application for Federal Assistance” submitted on June 5, 2013, which said it aimed to create mutant bat viruses and see how coronaviruses infect humans.

To understand the risk of zoonotic CoV [coronavirus] emergence, we propose to examine 1) the transmission dynamics of bat-CoVs across the human-wildlife interface; and 2) how this process is affected by CoV evolutionary potential, and how it might force CoV evolution. We will assess the nature and frequency of contact among animals and people in two critical human-animal interfaces: live animal markets in China and people who are highly exposed to bats in rural China.

The mention of live animal markets is very interesting since global elites tried to claim (and still do) that COVID-19 actually originated in a live animal market in Wuhan. Perhaps it did, but naturally or through this U.S.-funded Chinese lab program? Judicial Watch says:

EcoHealth Alliance’s $3.3 million grant to fund a project titled “Understanding the Risk of Coronavirus Emergence” was initially to run from October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2018. The first “Project/Performance Site Location” is the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Three other Chinese sites follow: East China Normal University in Shanghai, Yunnan Institute of Endemic Disease Control and Prevention in Dali, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Guangdong in Guangzhou.

A 2013 EcoHealth grant application lists a scientist from the Chinese CDC, which is a Chinese government agency. In China, all labs are answerable to the CDC; but, in this case, the link between NIH funding and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government seems disturbingly direct.

The various parts of the projects examined by Judicial Watch include DNA sequencing, “testing predictions of CoV inter-species transmission,” testing viruses of “varying pathogenicity” on “humanized mice,” and “the infectious clone of WIV1 was successfully constructed using reverse genetic methods.” Some scientists previously argued that COVID-19 was created in a lab and then reverse engineered to make the virus seem naturally evolved from bats.

A document dated July 13, 2020, detailed NIH funding (or rather funding from NIH’s NIAID, then headed by Anthony Fauci) and other information for a project titled “Understanding the Risk of Bat Coronavirus Emergence.” It was for Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth. NIH increased funding to EcoHealth Alliance, including providing “funds for activity with Wuhan Institute of Virology in the amount of $76,301.” How can NIH possibly excuse this July 2020 grant? The U.S. government should not be funding research in China at all, since all labs are answerable to the anti-U.S. CCP government, but funding research at the Wuhan laboratory after the allegations that COVID-19 was created there and leaked from there is completely unacceptable.

This week, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) released the “bombshell” COVID-19 origins report. It provided evidence to support the lab leak theory of COVID’s origins, with the help of U.S. government funding. Marshall estimated two leaks from the Wuhan lab, with the first one happening by September or October 2019, and possibly as early as July 2019 (a whole year before the Wuhan lab got another NIH grant). The documents obtained by Judicial Watch strengthen the evidence Marshall has.

So the U.S. government funded the research that likely created COVID-19 in a Chinese lab, and continued to fund research at that lab after COVID-19 had been wreaking havoc on the world. If only we could trust our government, and conspiracy theories didn’t keep turning out to be true.

Kansas: Gov. Kelly Signs AG Kobach’s Permit Fee Reduction Bill

Yesterday, Governor Laura Kelly signed Senate Bill 116 into law. This NRA-backed bill eliminates the Attorney General’s $100 fee for concealed carry permits, reducing the total fee to just the $32.50 paid to county sheriffs. Reducing the fee ensures that the permit, and the benefits that it confers in exercising Second Amendment rights, are more accessible to law-abiding citizens of less financial means.

Marksmanship lessons!

Suspect Shot Seven Times In Botched Home Invasion In Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, PA – Four suspects were charged with robbery and home invasion in Bethlehem Township early Thursday morning, according to District Attorney Terry Houck.

The suspects were identified as Millito Delgado, 45; Michael Matas, 29; Francis Ferrando, 23; and Anthony Santiago, 29. Delgado, Matas, and Ferrando. They are currently in police custody, while Santiago remains at large.

During the home invasion, which occurred at approximately 4 a.m. in the 2000 block of Willow Park Road, four men broke into the residence where three occupants were present.

In an act of self-defense, one of the occupants shot defendants Matas and Ferrando.

Matas suffered seven gunshot wounds to the back and is currently in critical but stable condition, with an expected recovery. Ferrando suffered a single gunshot wound to the leg.

All four defendants are facing charges of 3 counts of Robbery – Attempt Serious Bodily Injury, 2 counts of Possession of Instrument of a Crime, Burglary, Simple Assault, and related charges.

Authorities have stated that there is no danger to the public at this time, and the investigation is ongoing. The affidavit has been sealed to protect the integrity of the investigation.

District Attorney Houck commended the Bethlehem Township Police Department for their swift response to the situation.

“This was first-rate work by the Bethlehem Township Police Department. I want to thank Chief Gregory Gottschall and his officers for their immediate response and attention to detail in this case. Although there is still much to do, I am confident no stone will be unturned in our effort to apprehend the fourth male,” he said.

 

Colorado House panel kills ‘assault weapons’ ban
Four Democrats joined the Colorado House Judiciary Committee’s Republicans to indefinitely postpone the bill.

DENVER — Legislation that sought to ban so-called “assault weapons” died early Thursday morning after three Democrats joined the Colorado House Judiciary Committee’s Republicans to kill the bill on a 7-6 vote.

Shortly before 1 a.m. Thursday, Democratic Reps. Bob Marshall of Highlands Ranch, Said Sharbini of Westminster and Marc Snyder of Colorado Springs voted down the legislation along with their Republican colleagues after a pair of amendments to ban bump stocks and rapid-fire trigger activators were lost.

A subsequent vote to postpone the bill indefinitely drew one additional Democratic vote from Rep. Lindsay Daugherty of Arvada.

The nearly 15-hour hearing, which kicked off Wednesday morning, drew a 2023 record 522 witnesses seeking to testify.

The bill — sponsored by Rep. Elisabeth Epps, D-Denver — has divided the Democrats’ Gun Violence Prevention Caucus, with leading members, such as Sen. Tom Sullivan, D-Centennial, believing other measures, such as his proposal to improve the red flag law, are better solutions to gun violence.

Man shot another on Barnett Street in self-defense

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office released more information Wednesday about a shooting death on Barnett Street last week.

Deputies were called to investigate vandalism in the 2100 block of Barnett Street and found a man suffering from a gunshot wound, KCSO reported Wednesday.

An investigation showed a man forced his way into a house on Barnett Street and another man shot him to defend the homeowner, KCSO said. A gun was recovered, and no one has been arrested.

The victim hasn’t been identified.