She Can Shoot: The Rise of Female Gun Ownership
Women are one of the fastest-growing demographics in the firearms industry
Robyn Sandoval is seeing a sea change at the gun range: The executive director of A Girl and A Gun (AGAG) Women’s Shooting League is noticing that women are showing up to shoot more than ever before. “Every week, basically, we’re approached by a new instructor or range that wants to have a women-focused training program in their area,” Sandoval told Discourse.
Her experience is part of a great ongoing transformation in the gun world. Over the past two years, more than 5 million women bought a gun for the first time. That’s about 37% of the 13.8 million new gun owners that the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s dealer surveys identified over that time period. That makes women, alongside minority gun owners, one of the fastest-growing demographics in the firearms industry.
Why Women Are Buying Guns
In just over a decade, A Girl and A Gun has grown to include more than 200 chapters at 300 ranges across the country. And that growth only accelerated as America entered a period of unprecedented gun sales beginning in 2020. It’s no coincidence that period coincided with unprecedented chaos, Sandoval said.
“With the riots and the pandemic, most everything was kind of still fear-based…they’re afraid that they wouldn’t have access to protection,” she said. “That first responders wouldn’t be able to respond. Or they’d be targeted for violence.”
Breaking down barriers. A Girl and a Gun Executive Director Robyn Sandoval: “We’ve broken through a lot of barriers so that people recognize that the everyday moms and women of all walks of life are welcome at the range.”
A 2021 AGAG survey shared with Discourse shows that 45% of its membership were new shooters. The top reason those new shooters gave for buying a gun was concern over rioting and civil unrest. 59% of the new shooters listed a fear of physical safety or new gun bans as a reason they decided to buy.
But those weren’t the only reasons women gave as they began to seek out training and competition. One reason was simply the realization that something like AGAG was available to them.
“Many of them have just learned that training is an option for them,” Sandoval said. “That’s something we’re seeing more and more is that a lot of women thought that you had to be an operator or have law enforcement experience, or that civilian courses were not available to them, or nobody in their social circle had taken them before. Now, at A Girl and A Gun, we’ve broken through a lot of barriers so that people recognize that the everyday moms and women of all walks of life are welcome at the range.”
That may be surprising to many people, but not Sarah Hauptman. She has been involved with gun-rights activism in Minnesota for years and recently started helping to run the holster company Phlster, which her husband founded in 2011. There’s a big difference between when she first started shooting and today, she said: Women are increasingly a fixture at gun ranges.
A path for women. Phlster owner Sarah Hauptman: “When your friends shoot, and you see female faces shooting, and you see people who look like you, it’s a lot more accessible.”
“It used to be you’d go to a shooting class, and you’d be the only girl there,” Hauptman told Discourse. “Now, more often than not, there’s several.”
That kind of representation matters, Hauptman said: It’s created a kind of snowball effect. “When your friends shoot, and you see female faces shooting, and you see people who look like you, it’s a lot more accessible,“ she said. “You don’t have to swim against the current to get into it. There’s a path for you.”
Hauptman said breaking down the barriers to entry also leads many women to embrace what she sees as the empowering nature of gun ownership. Hauptman herself did not grow up with firearms. She only became interested later in life after she and her mother decided to try out shooting and had a proverbial blast. “The fun got me into it and kept me into it,” she said.
But after the fun factor brought her to gun ownership, it was its practical utility that made her want to stay. And it even made her want to advocate for others to get involved.
“You kind of realize, ‘Oh, this actually gives me a lot of capability, and it is a kind of equalizer,’” she said. “Once you realize that you can control that power and make it part of your life and add to your ability with it, you’re not giving that back. You’re not letting anyone take it from you either.”
Hauptman said that’s why more women are turning toward firearms to provide for the safety of their homes—households for which they are more often primarily responsible. “I think more women are taking responsibility for their own self-protection,” she said. “More women are living alone. Whether they’re single moms or whether they’re just single women, more women are solely responsible for their own self-defense.”
That’s borne out in AGAG’s data too, which shows 37% of its members are single. “More women than ever before are actually becoming the first gun owner in their home, as opposed to it being more male-driven in the past,” Sandoval said.
Less Pink, More Practicality
The gun industry has taken note of the increasing prominence of female shooters. Sandoval said the market has evolved for the better in recent years. Gun companies are now doing much more than just making superficial appeals to female shooters.
Ten years ago, it was a “pink it and shrink it” mentality when it came to product development. But now, there are really thoughtful products that women want to use, that are developed for women, that fit women’s hands better, that fit their bodies better, that give them more options for concealed carry. It used to be where women’s choices in concealed carry were pretty limited to really small guns, and now, most women, regardless of their size, can carry a full-size, even decked out with lights and optics.
Sandoval singled out Glock’s introduction of slimline models, such as the Glock 43 a few years ago, and Walther’s recent release of the PDP F-Series as examples of major industry players emphasizing designs that appeal to women. While those guns are also popular with men, their design took the unique needs of women into consideration. Sandoval said Walther consulted with AGAG on the design of the PDP F-Series, and the company’s process included measuring the hands of a thousand women to better tweak the layout of the pistol’s trigger and controls.
Mark Oliva, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said those kinds of considerations are becoming more and more common in the industry. “Designs of handguns for personal protection are incorporating features long sought by women, including smaller frames, lighter springs, redesigned magazines for easier loading, and shotgun and rifle stocks designed to more readily fit the needs for women with length of pull,” he told Discourse. “The AR-15, due to its easy adaptability and customization, has been a rifle that can easily fit the needs of women gun owners by simple and small adjustments.”
Sandoval also praised the latest innovations in concealed-carry options made with women shooters in mind, including those from Hauptman’s company and its competitor Dene Adams. “The Phlster Enigma has been a game changer in the industry,” Sandoval said. “That’s rocked the training world. Dene Adams also has really great products. I love that [Dene Adams products] have Kydex holsters in them to make everything safer. There’s a lot of activewear and concealment wear out there that don’t have the safety controls in place that instructors want to see.” She said the Kydex inserts help cover the trigger of the firearm to stop the trigger from being pulled unintentionally.
Both Sandoval and Hauptman emphasized that certain gun features that appeal to women, like the thinner grip of the Glock 43 or the Enigma’s beltless holster system, for example, are just as appealing to many men. In fact, while the Enigma has quickly earned a sort of cult status among female concealed carriers, it is even more popular with men.
“Our product is 100% gender neutral,” Hauptman said. “It works on basic physical principles that can be applied to any body type. The reason that it’s popular among women is because women are just less likely to wear belts.”
She said Phlster’s goal is to make it easier for everybody to carry regardless of their gender. However, women have long been underserved in the gun-carry market. So being able to more directly address their needs has helped the company gain an enthusiastic following.
“More women are successfully carrying, and they’re not giving up,” Hauptman said. “They’re not saying, ‘I can’t get it to conceal, so I can’t carry.’ And they’re not saying, ‘I can’t get comfortable, so I can’t carry.’ And they’re not saying, ‘I don’t feel safe.’”
Instead, they’re more easily surmounting the barriers that traditionally kept women from owning firearms. Hauptman hopes that brings more of them into the gun-owning community, and, ultimately, into gun-rights activism. “If we can make it easy for people to carry and have a stake, then those people have a much higher chance of going on to become advocates and preserving the Second Amendment for everyone,” she said.
Polling has consistently shown women are more supportive of gun restrictions than men. Women have also traditionally lagged behind men in gun ownership. As more women become gun owners, though, they may be affected by another long-term polling trend where gun owners are less supportive of gun restrictions. If more women become gun owners, and they become less supportive of gun-control laws, it could have a significant impact on gun laws at every level across the country. These trends are definitely worth watching in the years ahead.
The future of female gun ownership is bright—and it will likely continue to shine, Hauptman maintains. “I don’t know if as many women at their core will ever be as interested in shooting as men,” she said. “But I think the snowball effect is probably going to continue for a while.”
Riverside gunfight leaves would-be burglar dead, resident wounded
A resident fatally shot a suspect who was apparently trying to break into a Riverside apartment early Wednesday, police said.
The incident was reported around 1:40 a.m. in the 5900 block of Sycamore Canyon Boulevard.
The victim alerted police to a burglary in progress, then called back to indicate gunshots had been exchanged.
Responding Riverside police officers found the resident suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. He was taken to a hospital with an injury that was not life-threatening.
As officers searched the area of the apartment complex, they found a car that had crashed into other vehicles and a man inside suffering from a gunshot wound. The man, believed to be one of the suspects involved in the burglary call, was taken to a hospital where he later died.
He was later identified by police as 20-year-old Denzeal Young of Moreno Valley.
Officers continued to search the area with bloodhounds and did not find any other suspects.
They do believe, however, that at least one other person was involved. One neighbor told KTLA he heard the gunshots and the crash and later saw three people get out of the suspect vehicle, two of them running away.
“We don’t believe that the suspects actually made entry, they may have been attempting to get inside and then this exchange of gunfire occurred,” Officer Ryan Railsback said Wednesday. “We don’t know if this is a targeted victim, or if this is just something random.”
Railsback added that the victim is cooperating with authorities during the investigation.
The victim’s girlfriend went to the scene of the shooting Wednesday afternoon to see the damage that was done to the apartment.
“I’m just happy he’s OK,” Jazmine told reporters.
She said she hasn’t had a chance to speak to him because he is still in the hospital. “He’s going to be OK,” Jazmine added.
The Declaration of Independence is Unconstitutional
While there is plenty of talk and rhetoric proclaiming all that is “Constitutional” or “Unconstitutional”, when we examine and recognize that document which more than any other represents the soul of America, we find that document is: The Declaration of Independence.
With the simple preface, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, the novel idea of constructing government solely as best servant to the People and their God given privileges was born.
Because of the Declaration, and specifically this prefatory clause, the United States has developed a whole philosophy of thought called “American Exceptionalism”.
This philosophy is what makes us special, different from any other nation on earth, and dare I say… Better!
To the chagrin, of our current Commander in Chief, better is not better at all. In fact, better, a.k.a. American Exceptionalism, in the mind of our exalted leader, is arrogance.
To think, that we individuals might strive for excellence, driven by nothing other than our own will and the Providential opportunity with which we are presented is obscene to those like Obama who embrace a Statist ideology.
At his core, the Statist is a parasite who requires a subjugated public to advance himself. Unlike the rugged individualist who advances by grit and determination, the Statist assembles his power through propaganda that pits those rugged individualists in society who have achieved, against the sloth groups who have been convinced that achievement is an accidental occurrence falling upon those who have been “lucky”.
Out of this thinking is bred a whole line of thought that has undermined our Founders vision for America and has convinced our populace that the Constitution is a “living, breathing” document which must be tempered by the populist mood of the age.
And of what character is this mood which is now arbiter and driver of public policy in America?
Schizophrenic, ignorant, sanctimonious, and dishonest are adjectives which come to mind.
It would seem, if we could apply contemporary American views and compare them to the theme of the foundational clause upon which our whole government has been built we ought to be able to find a congruence of understanding.
Let’s try:
We hold these truths to be self-evident,
These truths are unarguable, anyone from any walk of life, regardless of background, social or economic class, educated or uneducated would agree on undeniable fundamental truths. What are fundamental truths? Do all our inhabitants agree about them?
that all men are created equal,
declaring us all subject to the same unarguable truths, the same rule, and the same law. No individual or group would be afforded any more or any less in the eyes of our law; ergo, it is not by accident that Lady Justice adorns a blindfold when ascertaining weights on a balance scale.
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
That separation of Church and State thing kind of falls apart right here. Unalienable meaning that they cannot be taken away, and that we are endowed by our Creator—God, specifying exactly who endowed us with our Rights. It is not a stretch to infer government’s only role here is to protect what God has provided. Do all American’s believe this? Is this the contemporary understanding of “Constitutional”?
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
While the Founders were content to allow us to use our imagination in interpreting what unalienable rights we were endowed with, they wrote down a couple to make sure we got onto the right track. Our most important rights were listed, and it is not by accident that Life was put first.
The order of rights was listed in a prioritized manner exalting Life the supreme right, and should any Right conflict with another, the latter would yield to the former.
If a mother felt pregnancy was in some way threatening to her Liberty, her baby’s right to Life was, in the scheme of things, of such priority that mom’s Liberty could be impinged for the duration of the child’s term. Using the word “was” instead of “is” might seem offensive, however, in today’s culture, do we respect this distinction? Is abortion today viewed as greater right than is Life?
Has Roe vs. Wade established a women’s right to end her pregnancy at any point before a child’s birth, for any reason? Have we not heard Senators and Representatives state that the “right to choose” is a Constitutional right?
Politicians love to invoke all that is “Constitutional” or “Unconstitutional” in support of their views or positions, but if we cannot even agree on the most fundamental right from our most fundamental document, how on earth can we intellectually interpret whether or not Arizona can or cannot ask someone who has broken a law if he/she is in this country legally or not?
Today the United States recognizes Constitutionality of the Constitution, based not at all upon the words of the document, but upon the urges and inclinations of those who have seized power by appealing to the largest voting bloc.
There is no such thing as a Constitutional right which cannot be readily overturned, and in the contemporary interpretation, our Declaration of Independence is…
Unconstitutional.
Don’t ask about my adventures with C4 at Fort Knox.
I would bet my life savings that Karine Jean-Pierre has never even heard of, much less read, the essay by Mussolini and Giovanni Gentile that defines the doctrine of fascism. To the libs, fascism simply means “something I do not like.” https://t.co/hrCkTMzSkw
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) August 27, 2022
Think of all the money you will save!!! https://t.co/wDjTUuZyxb
— Glenn Beck (@glennbeck) August 27, 2022
I’d rather have Sheriff Jim, and/or Clint Smith along for the ride, and us all armed with Colt’s Single Action Army revolvers (and I’ve seen how well both can use one) than the entire Uvalde police department armed with whatever.
Is Mindset or Gear More Important?
Keeping your head in the game is better for your safety than buying the latest gear.
As a group, defensive shooters seem to be extremely gear-oriented. Listening to gun shop talk and reading posts on the internet, one gets the impression that a lot of folks fear they won’t survive unless they have just the right gun, the proper ammo and the latest in accessories. Well, here are a few things that I think are more important than your choice of guns and gear when it comes to personal defense.
Awareness is a critical personal defense skill. We can educate ourselves by studying news reports of criminal activity in our area and obtain a better understanding of what and who the local crooks are targeting. Also, don’t forget the Armed Citizen page in your NRA magazine for case studies of actual criminal encounters.
In addition, we continually strive to be more alert to what is going on around us. The earlier that we alert to possible criminal activity, the more options we have for dealing with it. By honing our awareness, we minimize the chances that we will be surprised by a criminal attack.
Another important defensive skill is perfecting our ability to function under stress. Stress is compounded when we are surprised or faced with a threat that is totally unexpected. The more that we can understand what could happen, the more we can reduce the pressure that stress puts on our bodies and our ability to function. Once we understand what could happen, then we also need to develop plans to deal with the criminal attack. Prior understanding and prior planning will reduce stress and allow us to function more effectively.
Finally, we need to understand and set a goal to master the basic skills of marksmanship. Sight picture, proper grip, trigger press, and other functions are critical parts of marksmanship regardless of whether we are shooting at paper or shooting to live. And, truly mastering those skills allow us to do well with just about whatever defensive firearm may be available to us. How many of us have been in classes where a student is just not shooting well and, of course, blames it on the particular firearm that he is using? Then, along comes the range master, who takes the student’s gun and shoots a perfect score.
So I suppose we’ll all continue to drool over the latest guns and gear as they become available because that’s just what gun enthusiasts do. But you should just realize and remember that the most important defensive tool available to us is the one between our ears.
BLUF
Joe Biden himself justified such evil tactics on Thursday when he called the modern Trump-influenced Republican Party and all its supporters “semi-fascists,” thus giving his most radical supporters justification for committing all kinds of violence.
But don’t worry. The Democrats and the left care about you. They would never harm you. You are safe. No need to care if some evil Republican gets shot for no reason. They probably deserve it for getting in the way of the Democratic Party’s righteous agenda.
They’re coming for you next: Twice in the past two days Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) has been swatted, with the police coming to her house armed and ready to fire because they had received a false report saying that a shooting had occurred there and that the situation was dangerous.
Two police officers rushed to Greene’s home in Rome, Ga., in response to a call they received at 2:53 a.m. The call, according to the Rome Police Department, was about “a male possibly shooting his family members and then himself.”
MSN reported that “the suspect, who called through an internet chat that appeared to be a suicide crisis line, falsely told police responders that a man ‘came out as trans-gender and claimed they shot the family’ at Greene’s address, the report said.” The caller gave his name as Wayne Greene and told police on the call: “If anyone tried to stop me from shooting myself, I will shoot them.” He also warned cops that “they would be waiting for us.”
At the house, there was, of course, no Wayne Greene. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene once again met the police officers at the front door, as she did in the early hours of Wednesday morning. They told her about the call and, according to the Rome Police Department, “confirmed this was a second false report.” The report added that the call can’t be traced, “due to the person(s) using a VPN.”
Called swatting, such false reports are expressly designed to harass the victim, and even get them killed should the police over-react and fire at the house out of fear of the non-existent gunman.
That this happened twice in two nights strongly suggests the caller truly wants this murder to happen. The caller even admitted to as much in a later recorded call to the police, in which the caller also admitted the motive was for political reasons. Greene’s political positions were unacceptable, and thus she must be removed:
Joe Biden, How Dare You Compare Me To Hitler.
President Joe Biden lashed out at Republicans who have embraced the MAGA philosophy saying they’re semi-fascists.
I don’t think Biden understands what MAGA means. It’s all about putting America first and making the US the most powerful nation on Earth, both economically and militarily. Some examples include taking control of our southern border, making America energy independent, and building our military so we can take out ISIS or any other threat. It also means reducing business regulations so companies are free to run their enterprises without government interference. The result is American companies that are more competitive internationally and at home, generating more income (more tax dollars) and more jobs.
According to Webster, the definition of Fascists “a political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascists) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.”
MAGA pushes personal freedom and keeps the government out of the lives of Americans. That’s the opposite of Fascism.
One does not have to be a Trump supporter to call for making America great again. Other famous users of the phrase include Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. I wouldn’t call any of them a Fascist (semi or regular).
Biden’s misunderstanding of MAGA isn’t what angers me. It’s his inappropriate use of Fascist (semi-fascist). If you asked 100 Americans to name a Fascist, I suspect that 90-95 of them would answer either the Nazis or Adolf Hitler.
As someone who believes in the MAGA objectives no matter which candidate I support, my anger comes from the fact that I am a Jew with family who suffered through the Holocaust. Those and other references to Hitler and the Holocaust Biden made cheapen the memory of the actual horrors that millions of people suffered through.
It used to be a basic rule of American politics. Never use the Holocaust or any related terms, such as Fascist, Nazis, or Hitler, for political warfare. The Holocaust is a singular event in world history, not just because of its scale and inhuman horror. There have been, and sadly will be, other genocides of other groups. And there have even been other atrocities against the Jewish people. But generally, genocide is waged to suppress a group, keep them out of a country’s politics, take their land, or some other economic reason. The Holocaust was different– the Jews were targeted by Hitler, and the Fascist Nazis had no desire to take over the country’s land and held relatively little power–they were just hated. The Nazis took Jews from all over Europe and killed them.
DeSantis removes Broward County school board members after grand jury report
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis removed and replaced four members of the Broward County school board on Friday after a grand jury that was convened to examine the failures that led up to the 2018 shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida recommended the action. DeSantis said in a statement that it’s his “duty to suspend people from office when there is clear evidence of incompetence, neglect of duty, misfeasance or malfeasance”; pointing to evidence laid out in the grand jury report released last week that found the ousted board members had displayed all of those disqualifications when it came to a program called SMART.
In the 122-page report released Friday, the panel recommended that DeSantis suspend board members Patricia Good, Donna Korn, Ann Murray and Laurie Rich Levinson. A former member, Rosalind Osgood, also was targeted, but she has since been elected to the Florida Senate and taken office.
Levinson, the board’s chairwoman, angrily slammed the report as a “political hatchet job” orchestrated by the governor.
“It is nasty partisan politics. He should be ashamed of himself,” she said.
… Former Broward Superintendent Robert Runcie resigned last year after he was indicted for allegedly lying to the grand jury. He has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. The district is the nation’s sixth-largest, with more than 270,000 students at 333 campuses, and an annual budget of $4 billion.
The school board has nine members, including two, Debra Hixon and Lori Alhadeff, who were elected after Hixon’s husband Chris and Alhadeff’s daughter Alyssa died in the Stoneman Douglas shooting. They ran on platforms promoting better campus security. Alhadeff, in particular, has frequently been at odds with the targeted members, particularly over Runcie’s performance before his resignation.
Stand with Parkland, the group that represents most of the victims’ families, issued a statement that applauded the report, saying it “proves what we already suspected – acts of incompetence, negligence and coverup and a School Board (that) is unwilling to face the facts.” President Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina died in the attack, called on DeSantis to remove the four members from the board.
The grand jury said that Runcie’s and the accused board members’ “uninformed or even misinformed decisions, incompetent management and lack of meaningful oversight” has led to massive cost overruns and delays in a school safety and education program approved by county voters in 2014. The report says the $1 billion program that was supposed to be completed in 2021 is now projected to cost $1.5 billion when it is finished in 2025 — estimates the jury called “wishcasting.”
“This doubling of time and almost 50 percent increase in cost did not happen overnight,” the grand jury wrote. “It was a slow-boiling frog that resulted from years of mismanagement from multiple (district) officials whose mistakes were compounded by the Board, which has….refused to hold (district) leadership to account.”
I suspect this will be a broadly popular move around the state, though perhaps less so in Broward County itself. As for the new school board members, two of them have previous experience serving on school boards, and all four appear to have solid credentials in the community. And with the governor merely following the recommendations of the duly empaneled grand jury, the complaints from ousted school board members like Levinson that this is nothing more than “nasty partisan politics” isn’t likely to resonate with most voters.
According to the grand jury’s 122-page report, district officials and the ousted board members displayed “an almost fanatical desire to control data and use it to manipulate public perception,” and were seemingly more interested in the building the district’s “brand” while treating students more like statistics. If the voters of Broward County disagree with that conclusion I suppose they can always re-elect the now-former board members at the next opportunity, but for now there’s a new board, and one that’s hopefully more accountable to parents, students, and staff… not mention one that a grand jury doesn’t accuse of being more interested in student safety than public relations.
“Real World Gunfight Training”
“This is the best book on firearms Training, capital T, currently in existence” Col. Randy Watt, Ret. Retired Army Special Forces, Retired Ogden Police Chief, Gunsite Instructor
“Real World Gunfight Training represents the very best firearms training methods available today” Col. Chris Graham, Ret., Retired Force Recon Marine
“Mike’s book represents a real benchmark in the advancement of our Art!” John Farnam, Firearms Instructor Defense-Training International
ProPublica Horrified That a Lawful Business is Defending Itself in the Courts
After the 2021 ghost gun law passed in Nevada, Polymer80 hired the New York City law firm Greenspoon Marder to file the lawsuit in Yerington, an onion farming town that’s the seat of the county that’s home to Polymer80. One of the firm’s managing partners, James McGuire, traveled to Yerington to argue before Judge John Schlegelmilch that the law was written so vaguely it would be impossible to enforce and would be ripe for abuse.
McGuire said in an email he no longer represents Polymer80 and referred questions to another lawyer at the firm, who didn’t respond to requests for comment.
In court, McGuire argued the law failed to define key terms such as “receiver” and “frame,” and used “murky and undefined terms” to explain what an “unfinished receiver” is. He also argued the law doesn’t specify when in the manufacturing process an unfinished receiver actually becomes a receiver.
During two hearings on the lawsuit, Schlegelmilch seemed to have little patience with the state’s argument that the law relies on industry-specific terms that are well understood by Polymer80. Instead the judge agreed with McGuire that the law didn’t adequately define an unfinished receiver. At one point he asked whether his 5-year-old’s rubber band gun could be considered an unfinished receiver simply because it looks like a gun
“What if I’m at home, and I’m machining a piece of wood. OK? And my 5-year-old wants a rubber band gun. OK? So, I take that piece of wood, I turn it, I make it into — you know, I take a band saw, and I cut out what looks like a firearm. And I put a couple of sticks on it so that you can put a rubber band on it when you push it up. You’ve seen a rubber band gun before, right? So, is that mostly completed?”
“I mean, a rubber band gun’s not a firearm,” responded the state’s attorney, Greg Zunino. “I don’t think you would ever be prosecuted under that scenario because you still have to have an intent to turn something into a firearm.”
Schlegelmilch ruled in favor of Polymer80 and enjoined the state from enforcing the section of the law that prohibited the possession and sale of unfinished frames and receivers. Schlegelmilch let stand the rest of the law, which Polymer80 didn’t challenge and prohibits the possession of a completed ghost gun
The state has appealed Schlegelmilch’s ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Schlegelmilch declined an interview request because the appeal is pending.
[Polymer80 president Loran] Kelley declined to comment on the decision to file the lawsuit on his home turf in Lyon County.
Other courts have ruled differently.
A similar lawsuit filed in federal court in Reno the same month was quickly tossed by a judge who decided the law “is a valid exercise of the government’s police power.”
“What happened here, with the state court being more successful for them, indicates politics and ideology within the judiciary,” [Giffords deputy chief counsel David] Pucino said.
This month, a judge in Washington, D.C., found Polymer80 sold illegal firearms in the district and ordered it to pay $4 million in penalties.
The ATF is also seeking to impose a new rule that would require unfinished receivers and frames to include a serial number — one of the federal strategies that Pucino said would be more effective than a state-by-state approach. The new rule, seen as a way to close the ghost gun loophole, is set to take effect on Aug. 24, but it faces at least three lawsuits from the ghost gun industry seeking to block its implementation.
McGuire, the lawyer who represented Polymer80, authored a 27-page public comment submission on the new rule arguing, in part, that it’s impermissibly vague, the same argument that he used successfully to stop the Nevada law.
To some, there’s an easy solution: Polymer80 could stamp serial numbers on the unfinished frames and receivers they sell.
Kelley said putting a serial number on his products wouldn’t hurt his company. But using those numbers to require background checks is a “critical threat” to his business, which he said relies on a growing market of individuals who “value their Fourth Amendment rights” to privacy.
“There’s a problem when people’s right to privacy is infringed and a government agency is looking at what you bought whenever they want,” he said.
Masked intruder shot to death breaking into North Side residence
The man broke into the home at 1714 Packers Ave. about 2:30 a.m. and was fatally shot by one of the people inside, Chief Shon Barnes said at a news conference later Friday morning at the scene. A man, woman and girl were in the duplex at the time the masked man broke in, he said, and “shots had been fired.” No one else was hurt.
The body of a man fatally shot after breaking into a home on Madison’s North Side early Friday morning is removed from the scene at 1714 Packers Ave. A man, woman and girl were inside the apartment at the time. They were not injured, but one of them shot the intruder, police said. Police were called from outside the home by the man who had been in the home, and he led them to the dead man, Barnes said.
Multiple weapons were found at the scene, he said, but it wasn’t immediately clear who they belonged to. The Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office will release the identity of the dead man. Barnes did not release the names or ages of the people in the home at the time the man broke in but said they are cooperating with police. He said the girl is older than a toddler.
“She’s with her mother now and detectives are talking to them to try to figure out why this particular residence was targeted, what issues may have been involved,” Barnes said. Police had no information yet on whether there would be charges in the case.Barnes said there had been “general disturbance”-type calls to the area and building in the past, but it wasn’t clear if the calls were specifically to the apartment where the shooting occurred. City property records show two residential units at that address.
The apartment had a sign in the window that said “Anisa World,” with dates that match the date 11-year-old Anisa Scott was born and the date she died after being shot in a drive-by shooting on Madison’s East Side on Aug. 11, 2020. She was a passenger in a car on East Washington Avenue when occupants from another vehicle opened fire, intending to strike the driver.
Barnes said he wasn’t immediately aware of any connection between Scott’s murder and Friday’s fatal shooting.
Barnes said the home invasion was the second of two in that neighborhood overnight Thursday. He did not believe they were connected but said the area will get additional police attention over the weekend.
Friday’s fatal shooting is the seventh killing this year in Madison, Barnes said, although two were deemed justified.
Gov. Kathy Hochul seemingly admits denying permits for wrongthink
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul knew that Bruen would go against her state. As a result of that decision, a number of other measures were passed through, measures that looked to adhere to the decision. At least, they would if you squint.
One of those measures is that authorities can scour your social media to see if you have the proper “good moral character” New York seeks to demand from those seeking permits.
However, some recent comments are rather suggestive as to what this is really about.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) used a Wednesday press conference to highlight new state gun controls and emphasized that talking to a would-be gun buyer’s “neighbors online” is now part of a background check.
Hochul’s comments to reporters and others gathered for the conference were wide-ranging, focusing broadly on New York’s Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns.…
She then discussed social media, saying, “I’ve called upon and am working closely with our Attorney General to identify what’s going on in social media. And those questions are now part of our background checks. Just like in the old days you could talk to someone’s neighbor, now you can talk to their neighbors online to find whether or not this person has been espousing philosophies that indicate they have been radicalized.”
In other words, she wants issuing officials to look at your social media history and determine if you have the wrong opinions on particular issues.
See, this isn’t about whether you’re a criminal or anything like that. This measure is a gauge as to whether you’re the “right sort” for New York to give a permit to. Moral character requirements were originally intended to keep from giving permits to people like alcoholics or such. While that’s not a good reason, it’s at least understandable.
But Hochul’s comment about whether some have been “radicalized” is a problem.
For one thing, just about everything that isn’t in line with progressive ideology has been labeled as extremist to some degree. At least some think the GOP as a whole is extremist. Hell, just not supporting gun control has been seen as radicalization.
So who defines being radicalized in this case? There’s a huge gulf between opinions shifting in a more conservative or libertarian direction and calling for the complete and total overthrow of the United States government or for a jihad against American infidels.
So where is that line?
Frankly, it doesn’t matter. What Hochul has essentially admitted is that this is about WrongThink. It’s about not having approved thoughts and if you have those, you risk losing your right to bear arms. That’s not what rights are about.
Imagine if we were considering denying the right to free speech to communists, for example. Now, communism has killed more people than all the mass shooters in American history combined–probably more than all gun homicides in this country combined, really–but we tolerate their right to speak freely and advocate their heinous ideology because that’s what a free society does. Rights exist for all or they exist for none.
And Hochul would likely be right there, defending their right to free speech, which is fine.
What’s not fine, though, is that she’s openly supporting the suppression of other rights simply because people may not think what she wants them to think.
Biden spooked by ghost guns
Protecting you against the president’s war on the Second Amendment
OPINION:
Never mind gas prices doubling since former President Donald Trump left office, or inflation higher than under any elected president since record-keeping began, or the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s botched surrender in Afghanistan, in which 13 American patriots died unnecessarily and which sacrificed the gains another 2,312 Americans died for as well. No, Mr. Biden wants you to be spooked by fictional “ghost guns.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “Ghost Gun” and Gun Registry Final Rule went into effect. The rule cracks down on guns made in American homes, something we’ve been doing since before the Republic was founded.
Mr. Biden’s White House says these “ghost guns” are “the weapon of choice for many violent criminals.” What they don’t tell you is that “many” equals about 115 homicides per year out of a total of about 16,000. In fact, violent criminals use knives, hammers and their own hands and feet more than a homemade firearm. (Don’t tell Mr. Biden, or he’ll want a regulation on your feet.)
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Now, Gun Owners of America doesn’t condone any criminal misuse of a firearm, but let’s get serious for a second. The Biden administration isn’t coming for knives, hammers or your hands and feet — yet. They’re coming for your guns, and they are attacking your Second Amendment right to bear arms, whether that firearm is made by a gun manufacturer or in your own home.
GOA has been on the other side, your side, in Mr. Biden’s War on Guns. We’ve been defending your Second Amendment rights in this war, and in this latest salvo from the administration, we’ve held the line.
Specifically, GOA, with the help of a total of 60,000 of its supporters and other Americans, were able to successfully win three main victories in the battle over “ghost guns:”
First, Americans will not have to serialize (read: register) every new magazine, barrel or trigger used to upgrade their existing firearms, as Mr. Biden’s ATF originally wanted.
Second, Americans will not have to register a firearm when they simply “Cerakote,” or color their firearms to protect them, as Mr. Biden’s ATF also demanded.
Third, GOA forced ATF to walk back a requirement that gun dealers immediately register privately made firearms taken into inventory, allowing homemade firearms enthusiasts a window to avoid registration when going to a gunsmith for same-day service.
In fact, the ATF explicitly conceded that their initial draconian regulations were modified because of the “numerous comments” made by GOA members and gun owners across the country regarding the rule. That’s a win against Mr. Biden and his gun-grabbing minions, and we couldn’t be more proud. But — and this is important — even though we were able to defend you against this attack, it is still an attack on all our rights. Mr. Biden doesn’t want you to be able to defend yourself. Don’t forget that.
There is much more work to do in order to push back against Mr. Biden’s War on Guns, and the GOA, together with the Gun Owners Foundation, are in that fight, on your side, defending your rights.
In fact, GOA and GOF have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this newest rule, and we are excited that 17 state attorneys general has joined us in that lawsuit. AGs from Arizona, West Virginia, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wyoming answered the call and are defending your rights with us.
In fact, according to Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, “The ATF is attempting to overshoot the authority granted to it by Congress.” In his view, this “ghost gun” rule is “unconstitutional, impractical, and would likely put a large number of parts manufacturers out of business.”
We’re going to defend you until this rule is completely gutted, and we will stand vigilant against any further attacks on your Second Amendment rights. We’re not spooked by Mr. Biden’s ghost guns — or his unceasing war on derisively defined “assault weapons.”
In the true interest of public safety, Mr. Biden should stop trying to criminalize law-abiding American gun owners who simply want to protect themselves — thereby freeing precious law-enforcement resources to go after violent, dangerous criminals.