How Many Senile Democrats Does It Take To Ruin a Country?

We had a couple of “senior moment” stories yesterday involving people in the upper echelons of power in this country. It’s not pretty, but it can’t be ignored. Those of us here on the reality-based side of the aisle are duty-bound to acknowledge when things are amiss.

The first story involves Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who it often seems has been in the Senate since Andrew Jackson was president. Actually, she has been in office since winning a special election in 1992.

It would appear that the senior — no pun intended — senator from the Golden State is not quite as sharp as she used to be, which Robert wrote about yesterday:

Hunter Biden is just the tip of the iceberg: it’s lucrative to be a politician today, even if your father isn’t playing the role of president of the United States. There are innumerable ways in which our elected representatives can grow rich while doing the bidding of some powerful group, all perfectly legal: astronomical advances for books that hardly anyone will read, similarly inflated speaking fees, and much more.

What was once known as the public service has become so remunerative that it’s no wonder that politicians are clutching to power as they never have before in American history. Washington is now top-heavy with the Geritol set, and it doesn’t look as if that’s going to change anytime soon. But the talk around the nation’s capital Thursday is that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Beijing) is in the throes of a cognitive decline so severe as to make Old Joe Biden look as sharp as a tack, and that’s no malarkey, Jack.

The San Francisco Chronicle wrote Thursday: “When a California Democrat in Congress recently engaged in an extended conversation with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, they prepared for a rigorous policy discussion like those they’d had with her many times over the last 15 years.

Instead, the lawmaker said, they had to reintroduce themselves to Feinstein multiple times during an interaction that lasted several hours.” Dagnabbit, Chron, “they” refers to a group, not to an individual, but nowadays when women can get other women pregnant, grammar is the least of our worries.

Robert then goes on to brilliantly provide a variety of reference points to give the reader a sense of just how old Sen. Feinstein is. It’s not mean, it’s factual. I have long advocated for the repeal of the 17th Amendment. The Founding Fathers never intended for senators to be able to linger in Washington with multiple six-year terms, acquiring power that rulers of lesser countries might only dream of.

More troublesome is the ongoing saga of decline that we are witnessing in the man who currently occupies the Oval Office. Matt covered the latest episode in this national torture tale:

Joe Biden has had his fair share of Joe Biden Moments. Slurred words, confusing people, not knowing where he is. Yet, his senility repertoire seems to be expanding as of late, and on Thursday, seeing people who aren’t there appeared to be his latest trick. After giving a speech in which he again tried to blame inflation on Vladimir Putin, Biden turned and appeared to shake hands with thin air, before wandering around confused.

I’m not engaged in some gleeful pile-on here. This is rough stuff. I’m not the youngest guy on the block, I don’t want to end up like this. One of the ways I try to keep my mind sharp is by making sure that I’m not a Democrat.

It isn’t cruel to point out what we are all seeing whenever Biden’s handlers let him go in front of cameras — it’s a legitimate concern. He is, after all, still the most powerful man on Earth. While we’re all on edge worrying about a renewal of nuclear tensions with Russia, having a president who rarely knows where he is might be a cause for worry.

We’re blessed to live in a time when people can have much longer, and more productive, lives. Unfortunately, some people still hit the age wall and need to have the keys to the car taken away.

Or the nuclear launch codes.

UNREGULATED “GHOST GUNS”

I think it’s high time for manufacturers of unfinished frames to start suing the heck out of Everytown for Gun Safety.

But gun safety advocacy groups, like Everytown for Gun Safety, which pushed the federal government for years to take action on ghost guns, applauded Biden’s moves and insisted that both Dettelbach’s appointment and the finalized rule will help combat gun violence.

“Ghost guns look like a gun, they shoot like a gun, and they kill like a gun, but up until now they haven’t been regulated like a gun,” said John Feinblatt, Everytown’s president. (link)

Feinblatt isn’t stupid. He isn’t ignorant. He isn’t mistaken.

He is a liar.

Privately manufactured firearms are firearms, and are regulated as such. A prohibited person may not build one. A prohibited person may not possess one. They may not be manufactured with the intent to sell, only for personal use. All that before the Biden administration’s new rule.

Certainly the Department of Justice and ATF are aware of that.

Seven men charged with guns trafficking in Inland Empire, ‘ghost guns’ among 30 firearms seized
Seven men have been arrested and charged with multiple federal firearms- and drug-related offenses as part of a federal investigation that recovered seven automatic weapons among a haul of so-called ghost guns, officials said Tuesday.
[…]
Most of the guns were privately made firearms bearing no serial numbers or identifying marks, commonly referred to as “ghost guns.”
[…]
Damon Moore, aka “Damage,” 27, of Bellflower was charged with engaging in the business of dealing in firearms without a license, being a prohibited person in possession of a gun, and distribution of methamphetamine.

If “ghost guns” are, as Everytown Liar-In-Chief claims, unregulated, exactly what US Code were these men charged under, eh? Looks like a truckload of 18 U.S. Code § 922 and 18 U.S. Code § 923 violations, but Feinblatt says it ain’t so; not too swift for an attorney. Maybe the Catholic University of America should demand his law degree back.

And a question for real attorneys: Is it a reportable ethics violation for an attorney to deliberately misrepresent laws?

I’m a bit curious about why the AP’s “Lead Justice Dept. & federal law enforcement reporter” let a demonstrably false statement like that go unchallenged. It raises the question of whether he’s an ignorant idiot, or just a fluffer for the victim-disarmament industry. (Rhetorical, of course; it’s AP.)

Bill seeks to preserve gun rights for modern nomads

I’ve known a few people who sold most of their stuff, bought an RV, and spend their time traveling the country. They established a P.O. box somewhere so they could get regular mail and hit the open road, circling back occasionally to pick up anything that might be there.

However, for these people, one thing they’ve been forced to give up is their gun rights to some degree. They can keep their guns, of course, unless there’s some other reason they couldn’t, but if they want to buy a new one? Then they have a problem.

After all, the ATF requires a home address, not a P.O. box.

A new bill, however, seeks to change that.

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) introduced the Traveler’s Gun Rights Act. This bill would update federal law to account for various residency-related issues facing full-time Recreational Vehicle (RV) travelers, individuals with multiple physical residences, active-duty military personnel, and military spouses. Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.).

“The Traveler’s Gun Rights Act removes an unfair prohibition facing Americans with unique living situations,” said Rounds. “This legislation will make certain that law-abiding citizens do not face a burdensome roadblock when trying to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

“An address is an address – individuals who rely on a P.O. Box as their primary mailing address shouldn’t have their right to possess a firearm compromised,” said Johnson. “Our bill fixes that problem.”

So far, 17 senators have signed on to their version of the bill and 28 representatives have co-sponsored the House version.

Frankly, I like what I see. Not just because a part of me would love to live such a nomadic existence–at least, I would if I didn’t have kids–but because, frankly, it’s stupid.

Once upon a time, people who were nomadic usually didn’t have the best of circumstances. Or they were retired. There were relatively few of them looking to buy guns while living such a lifestyle.

However, in this digital age, people can live anywhere and work anywhere that has an internet connection. They’re not tethered to a house like they used to be. They can work freelance or from Fortune 500 companies. It’s a new age, folks.

As such, there are going to be those who decide to buy a firearm while they’re traveling the highways and byways of this great land. Yet under current law, they can’t legally do so.

There’s simply no reason for that.

At the end of the day, people have a right to travel and live how they want to live and travel. They’re not required to have a house with a white picket fence, all so they can exercise their right to free speech or freedom of religion, so why would we require something like that so they can exercise their right to keep and bear arms?

The answer is that we shouldn’t.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this bill has a prayer of passing at this point. After the midterms, depending on how strong a majority the GOP ends up with–they’ll need a supermajority–maybe. Otherwise? Well, it’s a nice idea that should pass, but won’t.

Kemp’s pro-gun retort to challenger Perdue is glorious

Gov. Brian Kemp has signed constitutional carry into law. It’s now in effect here in the state of Georgia, which means your’s truly doesn’t need a permit anymore unless I leave the state and want reciprocity.

And since the two states I generally travel to are also constitutional carry states…

Anyway, I appreciate what Kemp did, but the truth is that we’d have liked to have seen it happen much sooner. I think everyone feels that way.

Yet, political realities are what they are.

Despite that, it’s a point of contention in the GOP primary where the governor’s challenger, former U.S. Senator David Perdue has taken issue with it not being done earlier

“I think that’s great,” said David Perdue. “It’s too bad it took four years to get it done and it’s too bad it took me getting in the race for them to get any energy to get that done, but I’m glad it’s getting done.”

Now, understand that it would have passed last year were it not for House Speaker David Ralston deciding the bill shouldn’t advance because of the mass shooting in Atlanta. I don’t really see how you can put that on Kemp.

However, Kemp had a response to Perdue’s criticism.

“Well, you had to get the votes in the legislature,” Gov. Kemp explained.  “But look, he was in the United States Senate for six years.  I don’t ever remember him pushing this bill up there.  It’d be great if they did that at the federal level.  We wouldn’t have to do it with all the states.”

OK, I don’t care who you are, that’s amazing.

Look, even though I live in Georgia, I don’t have a dog in this particular fight. I’m skeptical of Perdue’s claims that he’s the only one who can beat Stacey Abrams when he couldn’t even beat career candidate Jon Ossoff while Kemp actually did beat Abrams.

Yet either is preferable over an anti-gun Abrams.

However, Perdue’s attacks on Kemp for not doing something earlier seem more than a little bizarre considering Kemp actually got it done.

The governor is also right about how great it would be to have a law like this at the federal level. It would be absolutely amazing. Then even California and New Jersey residents could enjoy the benefits of constitutional carry.

Look, I’m not doubting both of these two men support the Second Amendment. I also know that it’s a primary and they’re going to fight it out.

However, I can’t help but feel like Perdue is counting on Georgia gun rights advocates to buy into this idea that Kemp could have just snapped his fingers at any time and made constitutional carry happen. It’s like he’s counting on the ignorance of a segment of the base he’s desperately courting, and I don’t like that at all.

Yet the governor flipped the script on him in a way that works for me.

Frankly, I can’t find Perdue  sponsoring any pro-gun legislation during his time in the Senate. As such, he probably needs to sit the gun arguments out

How alleged Brooklyn subway shooter got his gun

Now that the alleged New York subway shooter has been arrested, we won’t be using his name anymore. However, we will be talking about him. After all, how can we not?

What he did was horrible and it seems, as almost has to be the case with someone like this, that he was a very disturbed individual. We mentioned some of it in coverage of this on Wednesday, yet others have gone even deeper and found that he was even more damaged than we thought.

So how did a person like this get a gun? Well, now we know.

[Name redacted], the lone suspect in the Brooklyn subway shooting that wounded 10 people, purchased the gun used in the attack at a pawn shop in Ohio, Fox News has learned.

[The accused], 62, purchased the 9 mm Glock handgun at a pawn shop in Columbus, Ohio, in 2011, a law enforcement source told Fox News on Wednesday.

Now, some will look at this and think this is evidence we need more gun control. However, let’s remember something here. He bought it from a pawn shop. For a pawn shop to buy and sell guns as they do, they have to be Federal Firearms License holders. That means they conduct NICS checks on each and every firearm sold.

The alleged subway shooter passed.

“But he was clearly mentally ill!”

Clearly. However, there’s mental illness and then there’s mental illness. Someone with mild depression or some anxiety disorders suffers mightily from their condition, but they don’t necessarily represent a threat to themselves or others. There’s no reason to even remotely pretend they do.

Is that what the accused subway shooter was suffering from? I don’t have any idea. After all, his mental health records aren’t open and available to the public. Nor, frankly, should they be. There’s enough of a mental health stigma as it is.

Yet if the accused stands trial, it’s likely all that information will come out and we’ll all know then.

However, with regard to being able to buy a gun, we already have a process for preventing someone from purchasing a firearm. If they’re “adjudicated as mentally defective,” as the law phrases it, then they can’t buy a gun. Not in Ohio, not in New York, not in Missouri, not anywhere.

The accused wasn’t, though. That suggests whatever was wrong wasn’t to that level. So why would he be denied a firearm?

What many are missing, though, is that he then took that gun to New York. Under New York City law, even if you already own a firearm, you must obtain a permit from the city before bringing that gun with you. Failure to do so is a crime.

In theory, that should prevent people like the accused subway shooter from doing just that, but clearly, that didn’t work.

At the end of the day, what we know is that there’s a lot going on with the suspect the police have in custody and I don’t know that a trial will accomplish a whole hell of a lot to clear much of this fiasco up. Still, it’s an opportunity to get answers and we should all hope we actually get some for once.

One man’s experience with the Moderna vaccine

Louie Traub Profile picture

Today is my one year “regretiversary” of the vaccine that ruined my life. So to celebrate the fact it hasn’t killed me (yet), here’s a thread attempting to summarize the rollercoaster ride this last year has been…

On April 13, 2021 I received Moderna #2 after believing the BS we were told by the gov and media, all my friends/family were fine after their shots, docs recommended it, if I wanted to work/travel I’d have to get it. I thought it was the ticket to get back to normal. I was wrong.

The side effects came on hard and heavy the same day, so for the causation doesn’t equal correlation crowd that tries to discredit adverse reactions, enough. And no, it wasn’t covid. I never had the virus. Previous years were healthy and I backtested negative. It was the vax 100%Image
I experienced a host of side effects that can’t even fit in a single post because so many symptoms popped up almost instantly and have evolved for the worse over the last year.

Continue reading “”

The DC Project, Women for Gun Rights, a nationwide grassroots organization of women dedicated to safeguarding the Second Amendment, today released a new video titled, We’re on Offense Now.

Homeowner shoots man in attempted burglary

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Nashville Police Department’s Violent Crimes division is investigating an attempted home burglary that took place early Tuesday morning.

Officers responded to a shooting call around 7:50 a.m. in the 3000 block of Andrew Jackson Way.

Police report that a father woke up to the sound of glass breaking in the bedroom of his young son and near the front door of their apartment. The father got his firearm and opened his bedroom door.

‘Call my dad, tell him to come home:’ Family seeks justice for 33-year-old man killed in shooting
He saw an unknown man standing in the hallway of the apartment. The father shot at the man nine times, striking him once in the jaw and neck area and possibly three times in the chest. Several bullets that missed also traveled into the apartment across the hallway.

The still-unidentified break-in suspect was transported to Vanderbilt Hospital and is suffering from life-threatening injuries. He is currently unconscious, intubated, in surgery and in critical condition.

Police say it could take weeks for the man to wake up, if he does at all.

The father told the police that he has no connection to the suspect. Metro police said that the father fired at the suspect in fear and out of self defense.

People living nearby heard the gunfire. Peter Olson lives in the building adjacent to where this happened. He said it’s scary because he has kids of his own. He was worried they could’ve been hit.

“I thank god because you hear about it all the time, a stray bullet hitting someone,” said Olson. “That’s my world, my children. I don’t know what I would’ve done if something like that would’ve happened.”

Police said they were interviewing the father. However, they haven’t been able to talk with the suspect because of his injuries.

Investigators believe the shooting was an act of self defense. In such a case, the suspect would face burglary charges.

Kentucky lawmakers override governor’s veto of bill banning transgender athletes from girls’ sports

The Republican-controlled legislature in Kentucky voted Wednesday to override Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear’s veto of legislation that would prohibit transgender athletes from competing in sex-segregated sporting events from sixth grade through college.

The expected move came after Beshear refused to sign Senate Bill 83 last week and claimed it was most likely unconstitutional. He said the legislation “discriminates against transgender people” and therefore would not hold up in court.

The measure is now law in the state after the Republicans overrode the veto of the legislation, which originally passed through the state House with a 70 to 23 vote and the state Senate with a 26 to 9 vote.

Under the new law, a student’s gender will be determined by the “biological sex” indicated on the student’s certified birth certificate “as originally issued at the time of birth or adoption.” This means individuals who transitioned to female later in life could not participate on sports teams designated female in the state.

Republican Sen. Robby Mills, the bill’s lead sponsor, has said the measure would ensure girls and women compete against other “biological females.”

Mills has said the bill reflects concerns from parents across the Bluegrass State. He said it “thinks ahead” to prevent situations where girls or women are unfairly competing against biological males.

“It would be crushing for a young lady to train her whole career to have it end up competing against a biological male in the state tournament or state finals,” Mills said during a previous debate on the bill.

In vetoing the measure, Beshear said its backers had failed to present a “single instance” in Kentucky of someone gaining a competitive advantage as a result of a “sex reassignment.”

“Transgender children deserve public officials’ efforts to demonstrate that they are valued members of our communities through compassion, kindness and empathy, even if not understanding,” the governor wrote.

The measure also faced criticism from others in the state.

“This bill is a solution in search of a non-existent problem,” said Samuel Crankshaw, a spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. “It is rooted in hate and unconstitutional.”

American Occupation.

I lived for very many years in rural Vermont. I’d bought a long-abandoned, post-and-beam farmhouse on a third-class dirt road. The realtor was a German immigrant who’d come to Vermont with his wife and infant children just after the war. He suggested that I call a local builder, Bob, to inspect the house, which was superficially in dreadful shape, but the farm and basement were sound. Bob said he’d be glad to put it right, and he and his brother-in-law restored it to its 1805 perfection.

Bob’s family had lived through the war in Germany, and through the famine afterward, and through relocation in America, ignorant of the language. Bob taught himself carpentry and all the building trades, and became a much-respected member of the small town, where all of his contemporary men had fought against the Axis in World War II. His brother-in-law, Eric, had been in the Hitler Youth, and Bob was a glider commando in the Luftwaffe—the equivalent, today, of Delta Force, or the Navy Seals.

My family became friends with Bob, and his wife, Ilse, became a surrogate grandmother—or better, great-aunt—to my kids. His family was my first encounter with the German national character—hard working, honest, and uncomplaining.

Of course I was seldom unaware that the regime he had fought for was dedicated to the destruction of my people and my race (if Jews are a race … in any case, to my like). I asked Eric about the Hitler Youth, and he said that he’d missed one meeting, and was told by his group leader that, should he miss another, he’d be shot. And, Bob, and every other man of fighting age and ability, was conscripted, and what were they to do?

Just as Eric explained, and perhaps apologized for, his membership in the Hitler Youth, Bob would tell me that his father had risked his life saving a Jew of his acquaintance.

To both cases: perhaps, and perhaps not. I never met a German who had lived through that wartime period who did not share with me the history of his family helping the Jews. Putting aside the question of the stories’ truth, I was struck by their seeming necessity for the teller. The current self-protective rationale of the Nazi era invokes an occupation by the forces of evil, which they were mostly too powerless to fight. Most of the people who lived through it are gone, and their descendants are entitled to imagine a history with which they can live—neither absolutely false nor true, but one in which someone tried to act.

Over the last two years in America, I’ve witnessed our own forces of evil with incredulity, despair, and rage. Corruption, blasphemy, and absurdity have been accepted by one-half of the electorate as the cost of doing business; as has the fear this acceptance generates. Does anyone actually believe that men change into women and women into men who can give birth, that the Earth is burning, the seas are rising, and we’ll all perish unless we cover our faces with strips of cotton?

No one does. These proclamations are an act of faith, in a new, as yet unnamed religion, and the vehemence with which one proclaims allegiance to these untruths is an exercise no different from any other ecstatic religious oath. They become the Apostles’ Creed of the left, their proclamation committing the adherent physically to their strictures, exactly as the oath taken on induction to the armed services. The inductee is told to “take one step forward,” and once they do he or she can no longer claim, “I misunderstood the instruction.”

Those currently in power insist on masking, but don’t wear masks. They claim the seas are rising and build mansions on the shore. They abhor the expenditure of fossil fuels and fly exclusively in private jets. And all the while half of the country will not name the disease. Why?

Because the cost of challenging this oppressive orthodoxy has, for them, become too high. Upon a possible awakening, they—or more likely their children—might say that the country was occupied. And they would be right.

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Jody Lyneé Madeira
Professor of Law and Louis F. Niezer Faculty Fellow, Co-Director, Center for Law, Society & Culture, University of Indiana, Bloomington.

It is – again – so thoughtful of them to provide such definite means of positive identification.

“The ways in which we talk about the Second Amendment are also changing, becoming more uncompromising. Many advocates hang their arguments upon the feeble nail of “shall not be infringed,” and maintain that that phrase literally means what it says – that the right to bear arms is absolute, that it cannot be compromised, that it encompasses all or means nothing.

‘[F]eeble nail‘? ‘means what it says‘? If she thinks so little of one enumerated right, what might she think about other rights?

A New Call to Arms: Rewriting Second Amendment Threats

The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), codified at 15 U.S.C. § 7901 et seq., has nearly banished the specter of civil liability for covered gun industry entities. PLCAA was predicated on the claim that gun industry actors, including firearm manufacturers and sellers, were under siege from baseless lawsuits founded on novel legal theories. Prior to its passage, several state courts had held that these entities could be held responsible for knowingly or recklessly distributing their products through sketchy sellers, essentially turning a blind eye to business practices that contributed to gun violence.

In addition to its legal consequences, however, PLCAA had other social and cultural effects. It has helped to establish and reinforce a new narrative supporting contemporary gun rights state legislation. The claim that the firearms industry is under siege has now morphed into the assertion that the Second Amendment itself is under assault, that firearms are disfavored, and that those who own, carry, or use firearms are targets of discrimination.

The breadth and assumptions of PLCAA have also influenced recent state gun rights legislative advocacy, incentivizing measures like permitless carry. To personalize the narrative of gun rights “under siege,” gun rights advocates mobilize citizens to testify in legislatures across the country about how state law schemes infringe on their Second Amendment rights. Many of these laws have been on the books for years but were not questioned until recently. Nearly all are based on traditional doctrinal premises such as home rule and the “longstanding regulations” and “sensitive places” distinctions substantiated in Heller. For example, several state legislatures have assumed the mantle of regulating firearms and ammunition, lifting it from the shoulders of municipalities and cities.

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Las Vegas police considering fatal shooting of teen as self-defense

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department says a man who shot a 16-year-old early Monday morning in the west valley did so in self-defense.

According to Las Vegas police officer Larry Hadfield, the incident occurred at about 6:05 a.m. Monday near Flamingo and Fort Apache roads.

Hadfield said an unrelated man was walking in the area and encountered the teen, who he then got into a dispute with. The teen, according to police, pointed a gun at the man, threatening him.

According to Hadfield, the man was lawfully armed and shot the teen “out of self defense.”

No criminal charges were filed against the man and he was not arrested, police said. The case will be submitted to the Clark County District Attorney’s office for review. The original altercation is part of an ongoing investigation, police said.

The Clark County Coroner’s office on Tuesday identified the teen as Christian Murphy, 16, of Las Vegas.

GOA SLAMS NYC MAYOR’S LOUSY ‘TOUGH-ON-CRIME’ STRATEGY AMID THE CITY’S SKYROCKETING CRIME AND SUBWAY SHOOTING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 12, 2022

Washington, D.C. – Gun Owners of America (GOA) slams New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ failed “tough-on-crime” policies amid today’s NYC subway shooting and the skyrocketing crime that increased 14.5 percent from 2021.

This past November, the Supreme Court heard the case NYSRPA v. Bruen which questioned whether the state of New York’s denial of petitioners’ applications for concealed-carry licenses for self-defense violated the Second Amendment. The Supreme Court is expected to issue a ruling on this case sometime before the end of June.

New York State Police told the Supreme Court that citizens do not need to carry guns on the subway since there are transit police. Mayor Adams also recently increased police presence on the subway to no avail.

Aidan Johnston, GOA’s Director of Federal Affairs, commented:

“Increased police presence cannot stop every tragedy. Once again, NYC’s gun control demonstrated that it has no impact.

“You are your own first responder. We need to empower individuals to defend themselves and exercise their right to bear arms—especially in public places.

“Only by taking up arms and shooting back can Americans restore public safety and take control out of the hands of violent criminals.”

GOA spokesmen are available for interviews. Gun Owners of America, and its sister organization Gun Owners Foundation, are nonprofits dedicated to protecting the right to keep and bear arms without compromise. For more information, visit GOA’s Press Center.

Do Right-to-Carry Concealed Weapons Laws Still Reduce Crime?

A review of the literature studying the effect of right-to-carry laws shows that the weight of evidence indicates that such laws reduced violent crime.

However, more recent studies, using more recent data, tend to find that these laws cause increases in various kinds of violent crime, raising the possibility that circumstances have changed since 2000, causing these laws to become detrimental.

We suggest that these recent studies, which do not use all the available data, are seriously compromised because they compare states that only recently have adopted right-to-carry laws with states that have had these laws for many years, instead of comparing against states with more restrictive laws.

Early adopting states experienced relatively large reductions in crime corresponding to large increases in the number of right-to-carry permits. Late adopting states passed rules making it difficult to obtain permits and exercise the right to carry concealed weapons. Ignoring the fact that these late adopting states with stricter rules on obtaining permits issue relatively few permits can produce perverse results where coefficients imply an increase in crime even though the opposite is true.

We demonstrate this effect with a simple statistical test.

SSRN-id3850436

And then there were 25

Gov. Kemp signs bill allowing concealed carry of handguns without a license

Standing outside Gable Sporting Goods in Douglasville, where Gov. Brian Kemp said he bought his daughter Lucy’s first handgun, the governor signed a bill that allows Georgians to carry concealed handguns without first getting a license from the state.

Making good on a 2018 campaign promise, Kemp signed Senate Bill 319, referred to by backers as “constitutional carry.”

SB 319 allows a “lawful weapons carrier” to carry a concealed handgun everywhere license holders currently are allowed — meaning guns would still be prohibited in places such as the secured areas of airports or government buildings that have security at the entrance, including the state Capitol.

A lawful weapons carrier is defined as anyone who is now lawfully allowed to have a gun. The bill went into effect upon his signature.

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Man shot and killed during home invasion attempt while disguised as nurse

HOUSTON — A man disguised in scrubs died after being shot during an attempted home invasion, according to the Houston Police Department.

The incident happened around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in the 12500 block of Cooperstown Drive in southeast Houston.

Police said an older woman reported hearing a knock at her door when she saw the man dressed to look like a nurse or home health care worker on her porch.

Police said he tried to use that look to get in the home, instead of forcing entry.

When the disguise didn’t work on a woman inside the home, she called her son for help, according to police.

The son told officers he rushed home and found by that time he arrived, the man had broken in the door.

HPD said the son shot and killed the intruder as he was trying to breaking into their house.

“It doesn’t look like there’s any relation at all, it was just a random thing,” HPD Lt. J.P. Horelica said. “The home health care that dropped on the original radio was part a ruse to try to gain entry in the home. When that didn’t work, he tried to force entry in there.”

How can this happen with all the gun control laws NYC has?

Manhunt Underway for Brooklyn Subway Shooter

Authorities in New York City are searching for a suspect and more information following Tuesday morning’s rush hour attack at a Brooklyn subway station that left as many as thirteen commuters injured, including five who were reportedly shot by a gunman that remains at large.

Videos apparently from the aftermath of the attack show air that’s thick with what appears to be smoke, and the Wall Street Journal reported that the FDNY found “several undetonated devices” when they arrived on the scene. The latest update tweeted by NYPD stated that “there are NO active explosive devices at this time.”

According to breaking reports from The New York Post, the “bloody incident broke out around 8:30 a.m. at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park.” Accounts from Twitter suggest that the suspect set off some sort of device and then opened fire, leaving the station platform bloody and victims lying on the ground being attended to by their fellow commuters. Photos published by The New York Post show (content warning) the aftermath of the attack.

According to witness accounts published by The Post, the perpetrator “was described as a 5-foot-5 black man, around 170 pounds wearing an orange vest and gas mask” who dropped “some kind of cylinder that sparked at the top.” The witness said she “thought he was an MTA worker at first because I was like, I didn’t like pay too much attention.”

The manhunt for the suspect remains underway and the New York FOX affiliate reports “he may have fled into the subway system.”

Nebraska concealed carry handgun bill comes short of votes

LINCOLN — In a surprise, state lawmakers failed to muster enough votes Monday to advance a concealed carry handgun bill, called “constitutional carry” by some.

The vote to invoke cloture was 31-9, two short of what’s needed to stop a filibuster and advance a bill. It was also four fewer senators than the number who supported advancement of the bill from first-round debate.

“To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement,” said State Sen. Tom Brewer of Gordon, who has made passing the bill a priority during his six years in office.

25 other states

At least 25 other states have passed such laws. In Nebraska, it would have allowed people to carry a concealed weapon without obtaining a $100 state permit, undergoing a criminal background check and passing a gun safety class.

Brewer had worked for several weeks to negotiate a compromise to Legislative Bill 773 with the Omaha police union and police department, which had expressed concern about the bill watering down existing gun control ordinances in the state’s largest city and complicating their job of reducing gun violence.

The compromise amendment would have left in place an Omaha ordinance that requires registration of handguns. It also would have allowed for the continued prosecution of the crime of “carrying a concealed handgun” if a concealed gun was used in a long list of “covered offenses,” from robbery and kidnapping, to cockfighting and disorderly conduct.

NRA urged ‘no’ vote

But the powerful National Rifle Association urged a “no” vote against the amendment, calling it “a discriminatory attempt to place Omaha’s extreme firearm registration requirement into state law.”

Senators failed to pass the compromise amendment on a 13-29 vote — 12 fewer “yes” votes than needed.

The defeat pushed the Omaha Police Officers Association from neutral on the bill to oppose and sparked a debate over whether voting for LB 773 was a vote against law enforcement.

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Once more, into the fray……….
I think they shouldn’t be regulated as a firearm at all, but getting them off the NFA is a compromise I can live with, for the time being. It would mean that a person would be able to make their own, because, even with this new ‘ghost gun’ regulatory crap, there’s nothing, except state laws, that would stop that.

Hyde-Smith cosponsors bill to reclassify suppressors with regular firearms

U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), of Brookhaven, announced Monday she has cosponsored legislation to reform the regulation of suppressors and make them more available to help preserve the hearing of sportsmen and their hunting dogs.

The Hearing Protection Act (S.2050) would reclassify suppressors to regulate them like a regular firearm.  U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) authored the measure.

“Eliminating a lot of the red tape that restricts access to suppressors could help hunters and sport shooters in Mississippi avoid permanent hearing damage,” Hyde-Smith said.  “The Hearing Protection Act would make commonsense improvements to make it easier for responsible, law-abiding Americans to enjoy their Second Amendment rights and protect their hearing.”

Regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA), suppressors are subject to additional burdens that often exceed those imposed by more liberal European nations that actually require their use to reduce hearing-related injuries.

S.2050 would:

  • Reclassify suppressors to regulate them like traditional firearms;
  • Remove NFA jurisdiction over suppressors;
  • Replace the overly-burdensome federal transfer process with an instantaneous National Instant Criminal Background Check System background check, making the purchasing and transfer process for suppressors equal to the process for a rifle or shotgun;
  • Tax suppressors under the Pittman-Robertson Act instead of the costly NFA, putting more funding into state wildlife conservation agencies.

The Hearing Protection Act would not change any laws in states that already prevent suppressors, nor does it get rid of the requirement of a background check.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, American Suppressor Association, Gun Owners of America, and National Rifle Association support this legislation.