February 13

1633 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.

1689 – The Convention Parliament passes The Declaration of Right, declaring that the flight to France the previous year by James II constitutes his abdication from the throne, and that William and Mary are co-rulers,  king and queen regnant, of England.

1880 – Thomas Edison observes Thermionic Emission, the liberation of electrons from an electrode by being heated.

1913 –  Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama proclaims Tibetan independence from the Chinese Manchu Qing dynasty

1914 – In New York City the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers – ASCAP – is established to protect the copyrighted musical compositions of its members.

1935 – A jury in Flemington, New Jersey finds Bruno Hauptmann guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the baby, Charles Lindbergh Jr. and  sentences him to death in the electric chair.

1960 – France becomes the fourth country to possess nuclear weapons, successfully detonating a 70 kiloton weapon in the Tanezrouft region of the Sahara desert.

1979 – An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a ​half mile long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.

1981 – A series of sewer explosions destroys more than 2 miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.

1991 – Allied forces bomb and destroy a bunker mistaken for a military communications outpost, but actually being used by over 400 Iraqi civilians for shelter, killing them.

2001 – An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hits along the southern coast of El Salvador, killing over 900 people.

2004 – The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announces that white dwarf star BPM 37093, in the constellation Centaurus, with a calculated mass in excess of 500 Septillion – 1024  – Tons is almost totally composed  of cubic crystal carbon, also known as diamond.

2011 – Under terms of an 1855 treaty, the Umatilla tribe are allowed to restart their traditional bison hunt on lands just outside Yellowstone National Park.

2021 – Former U.S. President Donald Trump is acquitted in his second impeachment trial, 22 days after already having left office.

US shoots down another high-altitude object, Montana airspace temporarily closed

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he ordered the takedown of “an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace.”

“Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object,” he tweeted.

Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage, Trudeau said.

The object was shot down approximately 100 miles from the Canada-U.S. border in central Yukon, Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand told reporters during a press briefing Saturday night. It appears to have been a “small, cylindrical object” that was flying at about 40,000 feet, she said.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command detected the high-altitude object over Alaska late Friday evening, according to Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder. Two U.S. F-22 aircraft monitored the object over Alaska, then Canadian aircraft joined as it crossed into Canadian airspace, he said.

Following a call from Trudeau to President Joe Biden on Saturday, Biden authorized that U.S. aircraft take down the new high-altitude object and a U.S. F-22 shot it down with a sidewinder missile, Ryder said.

The leaders authorized that the “unidentified, unmanned object” be taken down “out of an abundance of caution and at the recommendation of their militaries,” according to a White House readout of the call. They also stressed the importance of recovering the object to determine its purpose or origin, the readout stated.

“As Canadian authorities conduct recovery operations to help our countries learn more about the object, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be working closely with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,” Ryder said in a statement.

The development comes a day after the White House said an unknown “high-altitude object” was shot down over the waters off Alaska.

That object was about the size of a small car and flying at around 40,000 feet, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Friday. U.S. Northern Command said Saturday it had no further details on the object’s “capabilities, purpose or origin.”

Trudeau said he supported the “decision to take action.”

“Our military and intelligence services will always work together, including through @NORADCommand, to keep people safe,” he tweeted Friday.

NORAD confirmed on Saturday that there was a temporary space restriction over Montana.

The airspace was closed due to an object “to ensure the safety of air traffic in the area during NORAD operations. The restriction has been lifted,” the statement read.

“NORAD detected a radar anomaly and sent fighter aircraft to investigate. Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits. NORAD will continue to monitor the situation,” the statement continued.

Montana Sen. Steve Daines said he was in contact with the Pentagon regarding the object in the airspace and receiving frequent updates.

“Montanans still have questions about the Chinese spy balloon that flew over our state last week. I’ll continue to demand answers on these invasions of US airspace,” he tweeted.

The U.S. also shot down a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Feb. 4, after tracking it across the continental U.S. for several days.

U.S. officials said Friday that the undercarriage of the Chinese balloon — where the surveillance equipment and other technology was housed — had been located.

In the wake of the incident, the U.S. Commerce Department said Friday it added six Chinese entities to their Entity List for “supporting the PRC’s military modernization efforts, specifically those related to aerospace programs, including airships and balloons and related materials and components, that are used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for intelligence and reconnaissance,” according to a press release.

By adding these companies to the list, the U.S. can block them from “obtaining U.S. items and technologies without U.S. government authorization.”

The move is aimed at sending a “clear message to companies, governments, and other stakeholders globally that the entities on the list present a threat to national security,” the release said.

A worthy repetition. Also something to consider is that U.S. law that created the National Guard (simply a reserve force of the military) and defined it as the ‘organized militia’ created the select militia the founders and framers were righteously concerned about

Madison on the 2nd Amendment & militia clause

The Supreme Court in the Heller decision explained that the second amendment guarantees an individual right of the people to keep and carry arms for their defense in the event of a confrontation.

The anti-gun crowd, however, refuses to accept this common sense reading of the amendment. The best way to interpret the Constitution begins with actually reading it.  The next best thing is to read what the Constitution’s chief drafter, James Madison, had to say about America’s founding document.  Madison was the chief author of the Federalist Papers, along with John Jay and Alexander Hamilton.  The Federalist Papers offer great insight into the political theories of the day that led to our system of government.

Students of the second amendment should be familiar with both Federalist 29 and 46, which discuss the role of an armed populace in protecting the precious freedom which had so recently been won.  It was that thinking that led to the adoption of the second amendment.

Madison was also the original drafter of the Bill of Rights, including what would become the second amendment. The anti-gun crowd regularly accuse second amendment supporters of only focusing on what Justice Scalia called the operative clause of the second amendment, the phrase “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”  They assert that we ignore the prefatory clause that reads, “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state.”  To them the prefatory clause confirms that the purpose of the amendment was to protect the right of the states to have militias or as they sometimes phrase it, the right to bear arms when in militia service.

However, beyond that, they never exactly explain what is meant by “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The anti-gun crowd cling to the so-called collective rights view of the amendment that held sway with a number of federal circuit courts pre-Heller.  However, beyond denying an individual right to keep and bear arms, those courts said precious little on exactly what the amendment actually protected.

It was commonly stated outside the court room that the operative clause meant that the federal government could not disarm the state militias.  But that is not what the amendment says and no federal circuit court actually provided any reasoned discussion supporting such an interpretation.  In any event, if that were what the amendment was meant to accomplish, one would think the amendment would have been written in some way like “A well-regulated militia being necessary for a free state, Congress shall not infringe the right of the states to arm the militia.” However, this interpretation of the amendment would have worked a radical transformation of Congress’s power over the militia.

The Constitution addresses the militia in Article I, Section 8.  It states “The Congress shall have the power … To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress.”

Thus, it was Congress’s responsibility, not the states, to organize and arm the militia, with the states having only the responsibility to appoint officers and train the militia as Congress mandates.   The militia is not treated by the Constitution as a creature of the several states, but of the nation as a whole to be organized, armed and disciplined by Congress, while being trained by the states as Congress directs.

Congress has in fact exercised this authority.

Title 10 of the United States Code, Section 311 defines the militia of the United States with certain exceptions as “all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and … under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and … female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.”

The National Guard is the organized militia and the unorganized militia consists of those militia members not in the Guard.  In the Second Militia Act, passed in 1792, Congress specified the arms militia members were to have.  It was incumbent on militia members to report for training and duty with their own arms. The second amendment did not change Congress’s authority over the militia, nor was that the intent of the amendment.  Most notably, the second amendment did not provide that the states would or could arm the militia.  If that were the meaning of the second amendment, then states could be free to arm the militia in any way they saw fit.  States could for instance under the collective rights view of the second amendment, authorize each member of the unorganized militia to own a fully automatic weapon such as the M-16.  That would raise issues with respect to the provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934, which greatly restricts the ownership and transfer of automatic weapons.  States could also abrogate many other federal firearm restrictions. It is certainly the case that some founders, such as Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, feared that Congress would neglect its responsibility to arm the militia.  And so it is not an unreasonable view that a primary purpose of the second amendment was to ensure that the militia would not be disarmed by taking guns away from the people who constituted the militia.

However, that view is perfectly consistent with the wording of the operative clause, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”  The amendment thus ensured that there could be a body of the people armed and available to serve in the militia.  It had nothing to do, however, with transferring to the states the right to arm or specify the arming of the militia.  That remains the prerogative of Congress. Review of the legislative history of the second amendment confirms that it was designed to protect an individual right of the people generally to possess and carry arms.

When Madison initially introduced the various proposed amendments that would later become the Bill of Rights, he proposed to insert the bulk of them, including what would later become amendments one through five, part of the sixth amendment, and amendments eight and nine, into Article I, Section 9, between Clauses 3 and 4.  His speech to Congress can be found here.

This is the portion of the Constitution which limits Congressional power over individuals.  Clause 3 is the prohibition on Bills of Attainder and ex post facto laws.

Clause 4 is the limitation on the imposition of taxes directly on individuals as oppose to excise taxes on economic transactions.  This clause has been substantially abrogated by the sixteenth amendment, authorizing the federal government to tax incomes.  In other words, Madison proposed to put these amendments into that part of the Constitution that protected individual rights of the people from the federal government. The context of Madison’s original introduction to Congress of the Bill of Rights, including the second amendment, is powerful evidence supporting the conclusion that the right to keep and bear arms was intended to confirm an individual right of the people to arms.

Madison did not propose to place the second amendment in that part of the Constitution that governs Congress’s power over the militia.  The obvious reason is that Madison was seeking to protect an individual right to keep and bear arms, not some undefined right of the states to arm or control militia members within their borders.  Indeed, it was Madison himself who coined the phrase “Bill of Rights” to refer to the amendments he was proposing, including what would become the second amendment.  States do not have rights.  They have powers.  Individuals have rights.  In any event, the second amendment guarantees in its own words a right of the people, not a right of the states.

February 12

1502 – Queen Isabella I of Spain issues an edict outlawing Islam, forcing virtually all her moslem subjects to convert to Christianity.

1541 – Santiago, Chile is founded by Pedro de Valdivia.

1733 –  Englishman James Oglethorpe settling at Savannah, founds Georgia, the 13th American colony

1825 – Under terms of the Treaty of Indian Springs, the Creek nation cedes the last of their lands in Georgia to the United States.

1832 – Ecuador annexes the Galápagos Islands.

1855 – Michigan State University is established at East Lansing.

1901 – The state of Delaware finally ratifies the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments

1915 – In Washington, D.C., the first stone of the Lincoln Memorial is put into place.

1935 – USS Macon, one of the two largest helium filled airships ever created, crashes into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California and sinks, resulting in the death of 2 crewmembers, 1 jumping from the ship too high to survive the impact with the water and the 2nd drowning while attempting to salvage gear.

1963 – Construction begins in St. Louis, on the Gateway Arch of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial.
Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705, a Boeing 720, crashes into the Everglades shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing all 45 passengers and crew on board.

1974 – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn is exiled from the Soviet Union.

1988 – The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy, off Crimea, claimed to be in Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claimed innocent passage.

1999 – President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.

2001 – The U.S. NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft touches down in the “saddle” region of 433 Eros, becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.

2009 – Colgan Air Flight 3407, a Bombardier Dash-8 Q400, crashes into a house in Clarence Center, New York, while on approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 passengers and crew on board and 1 person on the ground.

2016 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since the ‘Great Schism’ in 1054.

NRA predicts Supreme Court will finally define Second Amendment

A coalition led by the National Rifle Association this week sued to stop the Biden administration’s bid to regulate AR-style “pistols,” an effort that could prompt the Supreme Court to finally define what is allowed under the 231-year-old Second Amendment.

While its suit is specifically aimed at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and its flip-flop on regulating and taxing guns, it has the potential to both smoke out the court on what is legal under the Second Amendment and end years of practice by federal agencies and states to make up rules that Congress is supposed to set.

“At some point, the supremes are gonna say, ‘To hell with you. We can’t trust you. We’re gonna strike it. This is what you can do. Anything outside of that you cannot,'” said NRA President Charles Cotton.

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February 11

55 – On the eve of his coming of age, the mysterious death of Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman empire, clears the way for Nero Claudius Caesar Germanicus to become Emperor.

1534 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.

1586 – Sir Francis Drake with an English force captures and occupies the Spanish colonial port of Cartagena de Indias, on the northern coast of modern Columbia for two months until a ransom is paid.

1650 – René Descartes, French mathematician and philosopher, author of Cogito Ergo Sum ( I think, therefore I am) dies in Stockholm, Sweden.

1794 – The United States Senate opens sessions to the public.

1808 – Jesse Fell of Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.

1858 – Bernadette Soubirous has her first vision of Mary in Lourdes, France.

1861 – In an attempt to stop further secession and avert possible conflict with the newly formed Confederacy, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.

1937 – The Flint Michigan Autoworkers strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers trade union.

1953 – President Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for the Soviet spies, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who have been sentenced to death in the electric chair in New York. Documents uncovered after the fall of the Soviet Union later confirm their espionage for the Soviets.

1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

1991 – Over Iraq, USAF Captains Steve Dingee and Mark McKenzie flying F-15s share a 1/2 victory apiece for them both shooting down an Iraqi Mil Mi-8 helicopter at the same time.

1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-82 to service the Hubble Space Telescope.

2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution results in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.

2017 – North Korea test fires the ballistic missile Pukkuksong-2 across the Sea of Japan.

2020 –  The World Health Organization officially names the coronavirus outbreak as COVID-19, with the virus being designated SARS-CoV-2.

There is no age limitation I know of concerning thugness

12-year-old car theft suspect fatally shot after shootout with owner in Denver

A 12-year-old car theft suspect died of a gunshot wound after being confronted by the car’s owner, according to the Denver Police Department.
Denver’s Office of the Medical Examiner reported Tuesday that Elias Armstrong, 12, died of a gunshot wound Sunday. Police received a report of an auto theft in the 8300 block of E. Northfield Boulevard, according to police.
The car’s owner tracked the vehicle using an app and found it stopped in the area of West 12th Avenue and North Decatur Street.
“When the vehicle’s owner approached the car, he was involved in an exchange of gunfire with occupant(s) in the stolen vehicle,” according to investigators. “A juvenile male then drove the stolen vehicle to the 2900 block of W. 10th Ave. where he was found by officers to be suffering from a gunshot wound.”
Armstrong was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The car’s owner gave a statement to investigators. He has not been arrested and no charges have been filed, according to police.
It appears other occupants of the stolen vehicle “fled on foot from the 2900 block of W. 10th Ave. prior to officers’ arrival.”
A 12-year-old boy named Elias Armstrong was shot and killed during an attempted car theft Sunday, Feb. 5, 2023.

9News

In May of 2021, Denver Police sent out an alert to help locate a 10-year-old boy named Elias Armstrong who ran away from home, and was last seen near 30th Avenue and North Downing Street. The boy was quickly located and the alert was canceled. Police verified early Wednesday it’s the same boy.

AP less than thrilled over Missouri gun bill’s defeat

When somewhere like the AP or any news organization starts talking about gun control stories, there’s always some level of poor understanding involved. That’s almost to be expected. After all, even under the most charitable interpretation of what’s going on, the reporters covering these stories and commentators discussing them aren’t exactly experts on firearms.

So, it’s not shocking they’d get some things wrong here and there.

Yet a recent story by the AP about a gun control measure being voted down in Missouri raises more questions than it can possibly answer.

The Republican-led House in Missouri on Wednesday voted against a proposal to ban minors from openly carrying firearms without adult supervision in public.

The proposal failed by a 104-39 vote, with only one Republican state representative voting in support of it.

Democratic state Rep. Donna Baringer told the Associated Press that police in her district were concerned about “14-year-olds walking down the middle of the street in the city of St. Louis carrying AR-15s,” and are demanding change.

“Now they have been emboldened, and they are walking around with them,” Baringer said regarding concealed carry by children in Missouri. “Until they actually brandish them, and brandish them with intent, our police officers’ hands are handcuffed.”

Now, to start off with, it seems pretty straightforward. A bill banning minors from carrying openly without adult supervision is something that even many gun rights advocates might consider supporting. Many won’t, though, and mostly because such a law is way too broad. Many of us went hunting on our own as kids and such a measure may restrict one’s ability to do that.

But then things get wonky with where the AP goes next.

Missouri lawmakers in 2017 repealed concealed carry requirements in most situations.

What does that have to do with anything?

Open carry and concealed carry are very different things, though neither should be restricted. What does a 2017 concealed carry measure have to do with a refusal to pass a blanket prohibition on teens carrying firearms without an adult right there with them?

Nothing.

Then again, this is the AP. There’s absolutely no reason they wouldn’t mention such a thing, likely in hopes of people conflating the two.

However, there are reasons why this bill didn’t go anywhere, and it had nothing to do with some strong desire to see 14-year-olds marching down the streets of St. Louis with AR-15s.

Not that I’d legitimately expect there to be any significant reporting on just why that is.

After all, in that entire piece, there’s exactly one quote from anyone who opposed the bill, despite the story being about the measure’s defeat. Instead, it’s all about how hard it is to pass gun control in Missouri.

And the AP thinks we still believe they’re unbiased? That’s downright hilarious.

Look, if parents are doing their job, the chances of Junior carrying a gun openly in public without their permission is effectively nil. It’s just not going to happen. If they’re not going their job, there’s no law in the world that will stop it from happening. That’s just the hard facts of life.

Too bad the AP didn’t mention that, either.

New Mexico House narrowly passes firearm storage bill

SANTA FE — Bennie Hargrove’s twin sisters started middle school afraid to get out of the car.

Their older brother, then 13, was shot and killed 1 1/2 years ago by a Washington Middle School classmate, police say, who’d taken a handgun from home.

The family’s story was among those shared Thursday as New Mexico lawmakers passed a bill that would make it a crime, in some circumstances, to store a firearm in a way that allows a child to get it.

The House endorsed the legislation on a 37-32 vote, sending it to the Senate. Some Democrats crossed party lines to join Republicans against the bill.

“This bill is about keeping children safe,” Rep. Pamelya Herndon, D-Albuquerque, said, alluding to Bennie’s death. “We had two minors. One had access to a gun and one is dead.”

The measure triggered a combative three-hour debate in the House as Republican legislators contended the bill inappropriately targeted law-abiding gun owners. They also expressed frustration as Herndon wouldn’t offer a “yes” or “no” answer to some questions.

Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, said the language in the bill was too vague to give gun owners an understanding of what conduct would be illegal. She added that it could endanger someone who needs quick access to a firearm for protection.

“It’s not fair to the survivors of domestic violence who fear for their life,” Lord said.

Rep. Bill Rehm, an Albuquerque Republican and retired law enforcement officer, said the bill is particularly problematic for police officers. He said he “didn’t put up my gun” after coming home from work but that his children knew never to touch it.

“For us to legislate how the rest of the responsible citizens of the city must act because of an irresponsible person is not good policy,” Rehm said.

The proposal, House Bill 9, would make it a crime to store a firearm in a way that negligently disregards the ability of a minor to access it.

Criminal charges could be brought only if the minor later brandishes or displays the firearm in a threatening way or uses it to kill or injure someone.

It includes some exceptions to intended to protect good-faith efforts to safely store a firearm.

Adult gun owners, for example, couldn’t be charged if they’d stored the firearm in a secure container or other place a reasonable person would believe is secure; the firearm was locked and inoperable; the minor broke into the home; or the gun was used in self-defense.

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MARYLAND LAWMAKERS WANT SCI-FI TECHNOLOGY TO TRACK YOUR GUNS IN REAL TIME

By Larry Keane

Someone needs to figure out what in the wide world of dystopian Buck Rogers in the 25th Century sci-fi fantasy world is going on in Maryland’s legislature. Antigun lawmakers there are advancing legislation that would require firearm manufacturers to attach RFID trackers to each and every firearm so government officials could track their whereabouts at all times.

Not only is this a clear invasion of privacy rights and Constitutional protections against illegal search-and-seizure, this is an idea that’s not even technologically possible. This is the stuff of Hollywood – and antigun politicians that don’t understand the first thing about firearms or manufacturing processes.

Maryland’s Delegate Pam Queen introduced HB 704, a bill titled, “Firearms – Tracking Technology.” The bill’s description reads:

Prohibiting a person from engaging in a certain bulk firearm transfer unless each firearm that is part of the transfer contains a certain embedded tracker; requiring a seller or other transferor who engages in a bulk firearm transfer to transmit to the Secretary of State Police certain information; providing that a violation of the Act is a civil offense and subject to a fine of up to $2500; and requiring the Secretary to establish a certain database to store information about each bulk firearm transfer in the State.

The “embedded tracker” would be required to be fixed to the firearm frame or receiver, emit unique tracking information and not be readily capable of being removed, disabled or destroyed without rendering the firearm inoperable or destroying the frame or receiver. To be clear, Delegate Queen would require that embedded tracker to emit this unique information to Maryland’s State Police for permanent storage in a state-run database. Anyone not complying with this is subject to $2,500 in fines.

Big Brother Would Watch

What this bill does would be nothing short of state authorities peering into an individual’s gun safe. The state would also know when and where a firearm would be moved – whether that’s for hunting, a day at the range target shooting or when and where an individual is legally carrying a firearm for licensed concealed carry. This bill would require firearm manufacturers to create and include these trackers on firearms. Those exercising their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms would be required to forfeit their Fourth Amendment Constitutional right to privacy and their right protecting them from illegal search-and-seizure, since the state would automatically collect and store this information in real time. This legislation would also call into question Fourteenth and Fifth Amendment protections of Due Process, since it requires the government to collect information on Americans simply exercising their Second Amendment rights. And this legislation would have a chilling effect on the exercise of Second Amendment rights as Marylanders would be less likely to lawfully purchase a firearm to avoid the invasion of privacy.

That’s not even taking into consideration the technological hurdles that would be required to meet this requirement. Makers of so-called “smart guns,” or authorized-user technology that is supposed to allow owners to fire guns through the use of RFID emitters, fingerprint recognition or passcodes or other technology, haven’t been able to produce a safe and reliable model. The Obama administration made this a priority and the Department of Justice (DOJ) couldn’t identify a working prototype that was capable of testing.

Impossible Technology

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Mississippi Senate passes bill allowing teachers to be armed

Legislation that would allow public and private school teachers in the Magnolia State to be armed has passed the Mississippi Senate.

On Wednesday, Senate Bill 2079, authored by Senator Angela Hill, R-Picayune, passed after receiving 39 yea votes and 13 nay votes.

The bill would establish a School Safety Guardian Training Program, which would be administered by Mississippi Homeland Security under the umbrella of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Governing bodies of school systems throughout the state would have the autonomy to determine whether or not they will participate in the program. Authorities within participating school districts would either approve or deny permission for a volunteer school employee to be involved in the program.

“If a school wants to put together an armed educator team to work with law enforcement and to be trained to basically assist in the time of an active shooter or some unfortunate situation, the framework is now in place once we get this bill through the House,” Senator Hill said on The Gallo Show.

To participate in the program, one must possess an enhanced or concealed carry permit prior to applying.

According to DPS Commissioner Sean Tindell, once qualified, those participating in the program go through a two-to-three-week training session where they are educated on tactics related to gun safety and proper interaction with the police if a crisis happened to occur.

“They would learn self-defense tactics. They would learn firearm tactics. They would learn communication with law enforcement,” Tindell said on MidDays with Gerard Gibert. “If we’re going to have teachers in schools with a firearm, they’re going to have the proper training and an interaction plan with law enforcement.”

Training would be conducted at the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officer Training Academy in Pearl and led by multiple law enforcement agencies in collaboration with one another.

Tenney introduces legislation to exempt firearms from bankruptcy proceedings

Press Release, U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) today introduced the Protecting Gun Owners in Bankruptcy Act. This bill would exempt $3,000 worth of firearms from bankruptcy proceedings, allowing Americans to maintain their Second Amendment rights through tough financial times.

Current bankruptcy law allows debtors to maintain items to support a base quality of life, including a primary residency, car, clothing, household appliances, and even musical instruments.

But there is no current exemption for a firearm that can be used for self-defense, a constitutional right. This important piece of legislation ensures that Americans can keep their firearms to defend themselves, no matter their financial state.

“No American should ever have to sacrifice their constitutional rights because of their financial situation,” said Congresswoman Tenney. “The Second Amendment is a constitutional right for all Americans, even those experiencing financial hardship. I am honored to lead this important legislation that protects the rights of gun owners everywhere, no matter their financial situation.”

Additional co-sponsors include Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-9), Rep. Randy Weber (TX-14), and Rep. Doug Lamborn (CO-5).

February 10

1258 – Under the command of Hulagu Khan, the Mongol Hoard takes Baghdad after a 13 day siege

1502 – Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon, Portugal, on his second voyage to India.[3]

1763 – The Treaty of Paris officially ends the French and Indian War in North America.

1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas

1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf, who dies 4 days later.

1962 – Captured American U2 spy plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.

1996 – The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.

2021 – The traditional Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is canceled for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

WHAT YOU DIDN’T HEAR IN THE STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH ABOUT CRATERING GUN CONTROL SUPPORT

Those tuning in to watch President Biden’s State of the Union address saw and heard a few things when he entered the U.S. House of Representatives to address Congress and the nation. There is a new Speaker of the House – Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). He was seated next to Vice President Kamala Harris, a visual reminder of the divided government. Military generals and U.S. Supreme Court justices were in attendance, along with Members of Congress and senators.

President Biden banged the usual drum demanding to renew the Assault Weapons Ban. That’s the law he along with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) ushered in in 1994 and President Bill Clinton signed into law that banned the sale of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). That ban expired in 2004 and the semiautomatic rifle has since become the most-popular selling centerfire rifle in America – with over 24.4 million in circulation today.

President Biden scolded Congress for not sending him legislation to renew this unconstitutional ban on these commonly-owned commonly-used rifles. Never mind that the U.S. Supreme Court made clear in the Heller, McDonald and Bruen decisions that any such ban is unconstitutional.

What President Biden didn’t tell the American public – and won’t – is what the rest of America is saying about any proposed ban. Over half the country doesn’t want it, according to a recent poll by ABC News/Washington Post.

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Mt. Airy man shot in the neck after breaking into a home

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. — An intruder was shot in the neck during an attempted home invasion in Mount Airy Tuesday, according to police.

The Mount Airy Police Department said they received a call about a shooting around 4:19 p.m. on Andrews Street.

When police arrived, they found the homeowner, Joshua Wade Murphy, 41, standing with a shotgun in his front yard. 26-year-old Daniel Scott Laskey Brown, of Mount Airy, was lying in the front yard with a gunshot wound to his neck.

Investigators identified Brown as the suspect. They said he broke into Murphy’s home through the front door as he was armed with a gun. Once Brown came through the front door, Murphy shot him in the neck.

Brown was taken to a local hospital and is in critical condition.

After consulting with the Surry County District Attorney’s Office there will be no criminal charges issued at this time.

Democrat Conniptions Continue in Wake of SCOTUS Second Amendment Decision

The Concise Oxford English Dictionary I keep by my desk defines “conniption” as “a fit of rage or hysterics.” To illustrate more clearly what a “conniption” means in modern parlance, a picture of Gavin Newsom, the Democrat Governor of California, should accompany the definition. It is he and his anti-Second Amendment colleagues in other deep blue states who are having recurring conniptions over the June 2022 Supreme Court decision commonly known as Bruen.

That decision, which arose factually in New York but applies to the entire country, declared that the Second Amendment means what it says, and that it is to be interpreted according to the historical context in which it was written and ratified in the late 18th Century.

What exactly is it that sends these public officials, who regularly profess devotion to other civil liberties protected by the Bill of Rights, up the wall?

At its core, it’s all about control.

Under the century-old New York “Sullivan Act” law that the six-member Bruen majority struck down last June, local officials had enjoyed virtually absolute control to decide which citizens were deemed worthy to be permitted to carry a concealed firearm for self-defense. That power was deemed “arbitrary” by the High Court’s majority and therefore fatally defective as a limitation on an individual’s fundamental right to “keep and bear arms” expressly guaranteed by the Second Amendment against being thus “infringed.”

For decades California, New Jersey, Hawaii, and a handful of other firearms-averse states had permitted officials to exercise similar control over citizens within their jurisdiction.

Bruen swept away such noxious power and established – finally – what should have been obvious to public officials all along; namely, that playing word games, such as forcing a citizen to show “proper cause” and a “special need” before being allowed to exercise a fundamental right guaranteed in the Bill of Rights, is not what our Founders intended and is not consistent with any reasoned and historically premised interpretation of the Second Amendment.

In clear defiance of the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, New York’s legislature quickly passed, and Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation that did precisely what the Supreme Court just days before had ruled unconstitutional. This left virtually every New Yorker desiring to be able to carry a firearm for self-defense still unable to do so.

Even more irksome to the likes of Newsom and other anti-gun Democrat governors and legislators, is the fact that the language and reasoning in Bruen provide valid arguments with which to successfully challenge other restrictive gun control laws, such as bans on high-capacity magazines and so-called “assault rifles.” Myriad challenges to these gun control laws are pending in courts in California and across the country.

Defending such restrictive laws against these constitutional challenges perfectly reflects Newsom’s well-known disdain for judicial decisions not comporting with his liberal philosophy.

Thankfully, most federal judges have a sounder view of judicial precedent and understand that when the United States Supreme Court speaks – especially when, as in Bruen, it does so clearly and pointedly – political and personal views must take a backseat to the Court’s decisions. Interestingly, even some Democrats in the California legislature appear to understand this.

Last Fall, for example, Newsom and his cohorts in the state legislature attempted to pass legislation similar to New York’s defiant response to Bruen, that would continue to make it virtually impossible for Californians to obtain carry permits. In what must have been a shock to Newsom, a handful of “moderate” Democrat members joined with the GOP minority and defeated the legislation – forcing the editorial board of the Los Angeles Times to blast such turncoats and join the ongoing, anti-Bruen conniption sweeping across blue states.

There also are blue-city sheriffs, such as San Francisco’s Paul Miyamoto, who may not like the Bruen decision but understand their oaths of office require them to follow it, and now are approving carry permits that previously were routinely denied.

Since Bruen, law-abiding citizens, including those in Democrat-controlled states like Maryland, are eagerly lining up by the tens of thousands to obtain formerly unattainable carry permits. These Americans exhibit no conniption, simply a yearning to freely exercise a God-given and constitutionally guaranteed right to self-defense.

AR-15s are Mindbogglingly Safe
“Assault Weapon” homicides are so rare you need graphs to comprehend it.

It is taken as an obvious given by approximately half of the United States that we are in a massive epidemic of AR-15 homicides, and that something must be done about it. This given is not only completely false, the level of falseness of it is almost incomprehensible. Let’s try and understand exactly how false it is by using simple arithmetic.

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