Robbery victim shoots, kills suspected thief on way to meet online date

HOUSTON – A man claims he shot and killed another man who tried to rob him during what he believed was a meetup with a woman he met online.

According to deputies in Harris County, the victim said he planned to meet the woman at an apartment complex along Uvalde Road in Northeast Houston when two men walked up and tried to rob him at gunpoint.

The victim said he pulled out his own gun and shot one of the men before taking off. He drove to a nearby gas station where he called for help.

By the time officers arrived at the apartment complex, the suspected robber was dead. Investigators said they found a toy gun at the scene.

The alleged victim was questioned. Deputies also said they weren’t sure of the ages of people involved, but said at least one may be a juvenile.

GOA Announces 21 Lawmakers Signed On To Oppose VA Rule

A lot of veterans make use of services through the Veterans Administration. A lot who have other options don’t, of course, but many others do. After all, it’s there, and it’s supposed to help veterans.

Granted, the scandals surrounding the VA are legion, and most of us already know about the legendary wait times for treatment and so on. Hell, I still remember a Democrat during the healthcare debates saying single-payer would be like the VA as if it were a good thing. Clearly, he never had to wait weeks for an appointment that should have taken a day or two at most.

Anyway, it seems a recent change in the rules has the VA submitting information to the FBI for inclusion on the NICS check.

This presents something of a problem, and Gun Owners of America has kicked off a petition to try to kill the rule.

Twenty-One Congressmen Support GOA’s Petition to VA for Rulemaking

Springfield, VA – Gun Owners of America (GOA) Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston released the following statement:

“Yesterday, 21 Members of Congress led by Representative Andy Biggs wrote a letter to the President urging him to take action to eliminate the VA Fiduciary Rule, which has arbitrarily disarmed over 250,000 of our nation’s veterans.”

“After Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, and the Independence Fund submitted our petition for rulemaking to the Department of Veterans Affairs, we received overwhelming support from public officials.”

“We were grateful to see leaders like Representative Chip Roy and Dr. Phil Roe write their letter to POTUS last week in defense of veterans’ rights.”

“Gun Owners of America is equally thankful for the support expressed by Representative Biggs and his 20 Republican colleagues who urged President Trump to take up our petition for rulemaking.”

“We hope to see the Trump Administration take this first step towards eliminating the VA fiduciary rule, restoring the rights of these veterans post haste, and ending this dark chapter of Second Amendment history.”

The problem is that there are people who are deemed incompetent to handle their VA benefits on their own. This could be for a number of reasons, but the ruling comes in one of two ways.

One way is that a court makes the ruling. This isn’t very different from how most non-veterans would be declared incompetent.

However, another way is that someone within the VA can make the determination on their own. In theory, they need supporting evidence, but for me, the problem is still that some bureaucrat is making a determination about someone else’s civil liberties. Even if there is supporting evidence, it shouldn’t be up to some schmuck in an office to make that determination.

And yet, this “finding” gets reported to the NICS as someone being “adjudicated as mentally defective,” thus ineligible to own a firearm.

Further, it looks like this is really about being financially competent. Continue reading “”

Home intruder shot in Kinsey Sunday morning dies

DOTHAN, Ala. (WTVY) – The Houston County Sheriff’s Office providing additional details today in a shooting over the weekend that led to one man’s death.

No charges will be filed in the case, because Sheriff Donald Valenza said 34-year-old Dantrail Mills was trying to break into a Kinsey home when he was shot by the homeowner. On Sunday, Oct. 11 around 2:00 a.m. the Houston County Sheriff’s Office received a call for a possible burglary in progress on Nomad Circle.

Mills was armed and had parked about 90 to 100 feet from the home. When Mills entered the home he was met by a male resident who fired multiple times.

Mills is no stranger to law enforcement. He’s been arrested more than 20 times. He was currently on federal probation.

Sheriff Valenza said the motive is unclear but Mills and the residents knew each other.

“When the subject breached the house, he and the other male engaged and Mr. Mills was shot and rescue arrived and transported him to the medical center where he was treated,” Sheriff Valenza said.

Sheriff Valenza says Mills died on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

No one else in the home was injured.

Behind the social-media blackout of Biden family corruption.

………..Seeing the Biden family’s corruption as part of this entrenched system is why the social-media censorship of that story should not be seen as a separate, stand-alone scandal. It is integral to understanding how the Swamp’s ecosystem operations, how it defines our politics.

The operation is visible in the New York Post exposé of Biden family corruption. The FBI has had those documents for months, so they should be either verified or discredited by now. Those findings, if they exist, have not leaked. If the emails are legitimate, they are bombshells. If they are false, they are worse than duds. They are a major disinformation campaign — an assault on our election — and we need to know who is behind it so we can hold them accountable.

Twitter and Facebook have prevented dissemination of the Post story on their platforms. The reason, they say, is that they have not substantiated it themselves. They decided to block all users, including members of Congress and the President’s press secretary, from sharing links to these published stories. Big Tech Knows Best.

Remember, this story was published by a major newspaper, a reputable one with a large circulation, subject to libel and defamation laws. Notice that the Biden presidential campaign has not denied the documents are authentic.

When venues that claim to be ‘neutral’ (but aren’t) and take advantage of laws that shield neutral venues from legal jeopardy, that should be illegal.


BLUF:
THE GRAVE DANGERS posed by the censorship actions of yesterday should be self-evident. Just over two weeks before a presidential election, Silicon Valley giants — whose industry leaders and workforce overwhelmingly favor the Democratic candidate — took extraordinary steps to block millions, perhaps tens of millions, of American voters from being exposed to what purports to be a major exposé by one of the country’s oldest and largest newspapers.

As the New York Times put it in an article in March about the political preferences of tech leaders: “Silicon Valley has long leaned blue.” Large numbers of tech executives, including Facebook’s second-in-command Sheryl Sandberg, were also vocally supportive of Hillary Clinton in 2016. At the very least, the perception, if not the reality, has been created that these tech giants are using their unprecedented power over political and election-related information to prevent the dissemination of negative reporting about the presidential candidate they favor. Whatever that is, it is not democratic or something to cheer.

The rationale offered by both Twitter and Facebook to justify this censorship makes it more alarming, not less.

Facebook and Twitter Cross a Line Far More Dangerous Than What They Censor
Just weeks before the election, the tech giants unite to block access to incriminating reporting about their preferred candidate.

THE NEW YORK POST IS one of the country’s oldest and largest newspapers. Founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton, only three U.S. newspapers are more widely circulated. Ever since it was purchased in 1976 by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, it has been known — like most Murdoch-owned papers — for right-wing tabloid sensationalism, albeit one that has some real reporters and editors and is capable of reliable journalism.

On Wednesday morning, the paper published on its cover what it heralded as a “blockbuster” scoop: “smoking gun” evidence, in its words, in the form of emails purportedly showing that Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, traded on his father’s position by securing favors from the then-Vice President to benefit the Ukranian energy company Burisma, which paid the supremely unqualified Hunter $50,000 each month to sit on its Board. While the Biden campaign denies that any such meetings or favors ever occurred, neither the campaign nor Hunter, at least as of now, has denied the authenticity of the emails.

The Post’s hyping of the story as some cataclysmic bombshell was overblown. While these emails, if authenticated, provide some new details and corroboration, the broad outlines of this story have long been known: Hunter was paid a very large monthly sum by Burisma at the same time that his father was quite active in using the force of the U.S. Government to influence Ukraine’s internal affairs.

Along with emails relating to Burisma, the New York Post also gratuitously published several photographs of Hunter, who has spoken openly and commendably of his past struggles with substance abuse, in what appeared to various states of drug use. There was no conceivable public interest in publishing those, and every reason not to.

The Post’s explanation of how these documents were obtained is bizarre at best — they claim that Hunter Biden indefinitely left his laptop containing the emails at a repair store, and the store’s owner, alarmed by the corruption they revealed, gave the materials from the hard drive to the FBI and then to Rudy Giuliani.

While there is no proof that Biden followed through on any of Hunter’s promises to Burisma, there is no reason, at least thus far, to doubt that the emails are genuine. And if they are genuine, they at least add to what is undeniably a relevant and newsworthy story involving influence-peddling relating to Hunter Biden’s work in Ukraine and his trading on the name and power of his father, now the front-runner in the 2020 presidential election.

BUT THE POST, for all its longevity, power and influence, ran smack into two entities far more powerful than it: Facebook and Twitter. Almost immediately upon publication, pro-Biden journalists created a climate of extreme hostility and suppression toward the Post story, making clear that any journalist even mentioning it would be roundly attacked. For the crime of simply noting the story on Twitter (while pointing out its flaws), New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman was instantly vilified to the point where her name, along with the phrase “MAGA Haberman,” were trending on Twitter.

(That Haberman is a crypto-Trump supporter is preposterous for so many reasons, including the fact that she is responsible for countless front-page Times stories that reflect negatively on the president; moreover, the 2016 Clinton campaign considered Haberman one of their most favorable reporters).

The two Silicon Valley giants saw that hostile climate and reacted. Just two hours after the story was online, Facebook intervened. The company dispatched a life-long Democratic Party operative who now works for Facebook — Andy Stone, previously a communications operative for Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, among other DC Democratic jobs — to announce that Facebook was “reducing [the article’s] distribution on our platform”: in other words, tinkering with its own algorithms to suppress the ability of users to discuss or share the news article. The long-time Democratic Party official did not try to hide his contempt for the article, beginning his censorship announcement by snidely noting: “I will intentionally not link to the New York Post.”

Twitter’s suppression efforts went far beyond Facebook’s. They banned entirely all users’ ability to share the Post article — not just on their public timeline but even using the platform’s private Direct Messaging feature.

Continue reading “”

Learn to Practice Situational Awareness.

Those of us who teach don’t have too much difficulty helping a student learn to shoot well enough to defend themselves. It is also relatively easy to teach a student to do speed loads and clear malfunctions. The real challenge is trying to teach that student to spot a criminal attack early enough that there is time to prepare and respond.

Too many people just don’t pay enough attention to what is going on around them. And then, in many cases, they may see it but not understand what is happening. This is the reason that so many criminal attacks seem to occur at such close range.  In most cases, if the citizen were more observant and understood what was being seen, the criminal would never get that close.

Citizens will often look at a police video and wonder why the officers were using the level of force that they were when it seems to unnecessary. The citizen is seeing it, but not from the same level of experience and training that the officers are. People who have survived a robbery, rape or assault, are seldom difficult to convince that they need to take a greater interest in their personal safety. But, that is a high price to pay for education and it assumes that the citizen will survive — which, as we know, is sadly not always the case.

The first step is to force yourself to be more observant of things that are going on around you. When walking out of the restaurant, into the dark parking lot, you are scanning the area instead of listening to your friend’s funny joke.  You are looking for things and people that appear to be out of place: that group of what appears to be street punks standing next to the cars in this high-end eatery; the person who is looking at you but turns away when he sees that you’ve noticed; the guy coming out of the darkness, asking for directions.

The person who has some street experience has a leg up on understanding the criminal mind because he has already seen crooks in action. But, the average citizen can also increase his knowledge on the subject without having to learn by being a victim. I highly recommend getting some books, videos or training classes on body language because the crook will nearly always give himself away if you know what you are looking at.

In addition, take the time to study reports of actual criminal attacks. What was the first clue that a victim should have seen? What mistakes did the victim make that set him up for the attack? It will often become clear that the victim simply wasn’t paying attention.

I live in an area that has a lot of rattlesnakes, yet I’ve never been bitten. Early on, I learned what rattlesnakes looked like and what they are capable of. Then, having a healthy respect for those rascals, I determined to be extremely observant and careful. I can teach you to shoot and run your gun, but I can’t make you pay attention to what is going on around you. Hopefully, you will teach yourself to watch and understand those snakes that walk among us.

About That Laptop

In today’s New York Post article on the abandoned Hunter Biden laptop, Emma-Jo Morris and Gabrielle Fonrouge report:

Naomi [Biden] didn’t return a request for comment, but neither Hunter Biden’s lawyer nor Joe Biden’s campaign have disputed the validity of the trove of data that The Post obtained after being extracted from a MacBook Pro laptop. The owner of a Delaware computer-repair shop said the machine was dropped off in April 2019 but never retrieved.

If you have followed the Steele Dossier’s disinformation from its first appearances in the American media, you may recall Mother Jones’s David Corn as an essential conduit. See, for example, Andrew McCarthy’s NR column “Steele’s Dossier Source Was a Suspected Russian Spy.” Now Corn warns: “Giuliani and the New York Post Are Pushing Russian Disinformation.” He should know.

JOE adds: You know, if the Biden Foreign Collusion scandals were in fact hoaxes, you’d think that the evidence that’s hard to fake — you know, actual bank wire transfers — wouldn’t have appeared first, and been verified by the banks. You’d think the shady emails suggesting collusion would appear first, and the hard evidence would be hard to find.

BLUF:
To find out more about the Ghost Gunner and reserve their machine for a $500 deposit, readers can visit www.ghostgunner.net .

Ghost Gunner 3 CNC Machine – Defeating Gun Control One Cut at a Time

A couple of years ago, I tested out the Ghost Gunner 2 by Defense Distributed. The Ghost Gunner 2 was great for taking an 80% lower and turning it into a fully working firearm. In November of 2019 AmmoLand News reported the next GG3 would be a ground-up redesign.  So when Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed gave me the chance to review their new Ghost Gunner 3 CNC machine, I couldn’t say no. Before we get into my review of the latest Ghost Gunner, we have to talk about what it does and why it is groundbreaking.

Ghost Gunner 3 CNC Machine

To put it simply, The Ghost Gunner is a purpose-built CNC machine that lets anyone turn an 80% lower receiver into a fully working firearm. Defense Distributed designed the Ghost Gunner not only to finish 80% AR15, AR10, AR9, and AR45 lowers, but it also complete 1911 and Polymer 80 frames. In 2021 they will be releasing a cutting code for an AKM. The operator doesn’t need to have any machine skills to use the Ghost Gunner. Continue reading “”

Gun owners rally outside Newport News Police headquarters in support of Second Amendment rights

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Armed protesters gathered outside the Newport News Police Department headquarters exercising their Second Amendment rights, which they say are being taken away from them.

A city ordinance passed over the summer now bans open carry of firearms at city buildings, facilities and parks.

“We ain’t running! We ain’t here to run!”

Dozens of gun owners with their weapons in hand gathered outside the police headquarters, protesting against the ordinance they say is unconstitutional.

“We are all here, and we are all heavily armed. We are unified, and if you mess with one of us, you are going to mess with all of us this time,” said organizer Mike Dunn.

Dunn was arrested last week for trying to go into Huntington Park with his gun. In response, he organized a protest in front of the police headquarters with Police Chief Steve Drew’s “OK.”

“I thought it was good dialogue. They didn’t have to talk to me – I appreciate they did, but I think it shows good faith,” said Chief Drew.

According to Chief Drew, the group did not defy the city ordinance since they were outside headquarters. Continue reading “”

Teen shot to death while trying to rob man with toy gun

HARRIS COUNTY TX(KTRK) — A man is claiming self-defense after he shot and killed one of two teen robbery suspects who approached him with a toy gun overnight in northeast Harris County, the sheriff’s office said.

The deadly shooting happened around 1:40 a.m. at the Forest Creek Apartments on Uvalde near Wallisville Road.

The man told deputies he went to the apartment complex to meet a woman he connected with on a dating website. He alleges that while he was there, two people approached him with what he thought was a real gun.

That’s when the man pulled out his own gun, shooting one of the teens. According to deputies, the second suspect tried to give his friend CPR, but the other teen died.

After the shooting, the man’s gun jammed. He then drove to a gas station nearby and called 911.

Deputies say though the weapon looked realistic, it was actually a toy AR-15 rifle.

“We did find what turned out to be a toy gun, but we’ve also got some other evidence over there,” said HCSO Sgt. Ben Beall. “We’re in the early stages of the investigation and it’s going to take a little bit to figure this out.”

The second teen in the attempted robbery was being questioned, but it wasn’t known if any arrests were made.

Ultimately, the case may go to a grand jury for charges.  (actually it will go to a GJ, because that is Texas state law for all homicides)


Shooting at Spartanburg convenience store that left man dead ruled justifiable

A man who shot and killed another man at a Spartanburg convenience store earlier this week will not face homicide charges, the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday night.

Russell David Berry Sr., 58, of Duncan, was shot Tuesday at the QuikTrip on Reidville Road and died in the operating room about three hours later, Coroner Rusty Clevenger said.

Lt. Kevin Bobo released new information and a description of what was captured on security video that led to the decision by the 7th Circuit Solicitor’s Office.

Bobo said deputies responded to the shooting call about 11 p.m.

He said before deputies arrived, 911 dispatchers advised deputies that witnesses said there was a victim in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.

Bobo identified the victim as Berry.

Witnesses also said the shooter had laid his gun on the ground, had laced his fingers behind his head, and was laying on his stomach in the parking lot, Bobo said.

Dispatchers also informed deputies the man asked the witnesses to call 911, and that the shooting was in self-defense, according to Bobo.

When deputies arrived, they found both Berry and the shooter, whose name was not released, as EMS began treating the Berry.

The man was taken to the sheriff’s office for questioning by one investigator while another investigator remained at the scene, interviewing witnesses and gathering video.

Investigators now say the man had first been to CVS behind the QT, attempting to get a money order to send to his family out of country, but the machine there wasn’t working correctly.

The man asked the CVS clerk where the closest ATM was, and she told him there was one inside the QT.

Berry was inside the CVS at the same time as the man, but from the store’s security video, it doesn’t appear they interacted, Bobo said.

Once the man left CVS and went to QT, Berry came outside from CVS but stayed in his car in the parking lot closest to the QT, Bobo said.

About 10 minutes later, the man left the QT and was headed toward his vehicle when Berry got out of his car and headed toward the suspect in a hurried manner, Bobo said.

At some point, Berry can be seen taking a swing at the man, but misses as the suspect runs away.

The man has a valid concealed weapons permit and had both his permit and his weapon on him, Bobo said.

“Fearing for his life, as Berry kept coming towards him, he pulled his pistol from his waistband and fired one time at Berry, hitting him in the stomach,” Bobo said in a release.

The lead violent crime investigator met with the solicitor’s office on Thursday afternoon, who reviewed the case file, according to Bobo.

Based on the statement from the man, which was corroborated by both the statements from the witnesses as well as the video from CVS and QT, the solicitor’s office ruled this incident as a justifiable homicide, and no criminal charges against the man will be filed, Bobo said.

Despite that ruling, the investigation remains active, and the lead investigator still has several pieces of the investigation to wrap up, Bobo said.

The great lesson of the Trump era is that pretty much all of the “nonpartisan” institutions are filled with corrupt, partisan hacks. Who are all on the same team, regardless of what flag they fly. –Prof Reynolds

Emails reveal how Hunter Biden tried to cash in big on behalf of family with Chinese firm

Hunter Biden pursued lucrative deals involving China’s largest private energy company — including one that he said would be “interesting for me and my family,” emails obtained by The Post show.

One email sent to Biden on May 13, 2017, with the subject line “Expectations,” included details of “remuneration packages” for six people involved in an unspecified business venture.

Biden was identified as “Chair / Vice Chair depending on agreement with CEFC,” an apparent reference to the former Shanghai-based conglomerate CEFC China Energy Co.

His pay was pegged at “850” and the email also noted that “Hunter has some office expectations he will elaborate.”

In addition, the email outlined a “provisional agreement” under which 80 percent of the “equity,” or shares in the new company, would be split equally among four people whose initials correspond to the sender and three recipients, with “H” apparently referring to Biden.

The deal also listed “10 Jim” and “10 held by H for the big guy?”

Neither Jim nor the “big guy” was identified further.

The email’s author, James Gilliar of the international consulting firm J2cR, also noted, “I am happy to raise any detail with Zang if there is [sic] shortfalls ?”

“Zang” is an apparent reference to Zang Jian Jun, the former executive director of CEFC China.

The email is contained in a trove of data that the owner of a computer repair shop in Delaware said was recovered from a MacBook Pro laptop that was dropped off in April 2019 and never retrieved.

The computer was seized by the FBI, and a copy of its contents made by the shop owner shared with The Post this week by former Mayor Rudy ­Giuliani. Continue reading “”

Gun-owning St. Louis couple plead not guilty to gun and tampering charges

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A St. Louis couple celebrated in some circles and vilified in others for waving guns at protesters marching on their private street pleaded not guilty to two felony charges at a brief hearing Wednesday.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who are both attorneys in their early 60s, were indicted by a St. Louis grand jury last week on charges of unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with evidence. They will appear in court again Oct. 28.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner originally filed the weapons charge in July. The grand jury added the evidence tampering charge. The indictment states that a semiautomatic pistol was altered in a way that “obstructed the prosecution of Patricia McCloskey” on the weapons charge.

The McCloskeys have blamed the “leftist” Democrats in St. Louis for their plight and have become folk heroes among some conservatives. They have received support from President Donald Trump and they spoke on video during the opening night of the Republican National Convention. Continue reading “”

Suspension of AR-15 pistol ban turns focus to Biden gun control pledge

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives has temporarily backed off criminalizing a type of gun used by 3-4 million people in the United States until after the presidential election, likely stoking the issue of gun control.

The New Hampshire maker of a popular styled AR-15 “pistol” today said that the ATF suspended its surprise decision made last week to outlaw the gun, called the “Honey Badger” pistol.

Q, LLC told customers, “Our attorneys received a letter from ATF Chief Counsel Joel Roessner ‘temporarily suspending the Cease and Desist letter’ associated with the Honey Badger Pistol by Q. The letter states that the suspension, will remain in effect for a period of sixty (60) days … unless withdrawn or extended by ATF.’ The stated purpose of the suspension is to allow the Department of Justice an opportunity, ‘to further review the applicability of the National Firearms Act to the manufacture and transfer of the model Honey Badger Pistol firearm.’”

It said the move will delay, though not reverse, the earlier cease and desist until after the election, a tactic the company decried.

“We believe this 60-day suspension is an effort to put manufacturers, distributors, and consumers at ease, and to postpone the issue past the presidential election in hopes that a new administration will take a different view,” said the company, adding, “using licensees as political pawns is unbecoming of a regulatory agency and ignoring the underlying evaluation in this letter is simply irresponsible. Q will not succumb to this level or irresponsibility. Therefore, without further clarification from ATF on their evaluation, we will not continue manufacturing the Honey Badger Pistol.”

The ATF suspension came after several gun groups, notably the National Rifle Association and Gun Owners of America, activated members to complain to the White House and ATF. Gun owners said they fear the move against the Honey Badger was the first to ban the AR pistol eventually. Continue reading “”

Does being able to speak make a Judge’s First Amendment rulings also suspect? And another Senator confirms that being a tone deaf, clueless idjit, isn’t a disqualifier from office.


“Does Owning a Gun Make a Judge’s Second Amendment Rulings Suspect?”
“Barrett says she owns a gun, but could fairly judge a case on gun rights” — why the “but”?

Jacob Sullum (Reason) writes about this question, beginning with:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R–S.C.) was trying to help out Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett when he asked her whether she owns a gun during her confirmation hearing yesterday. But the premise of his question—that gun ownership might be viewed as disqualifying a judge from dealing fairly with cases involving the Second Amendment—could not be more absurd. Here is the relevant exchange:

Graham: When it comes to your personal views about this topic, do you own a gun?

Barrett: We do own a gun.

Graham: OK. All right. Do you think you could fairly decide a [Second Amendment] case even though you own a gun?

Barrett: Yes.

CNN highlighted that exchange in a headline and tweet, noting that “Barrett says she owns a gun, but could fairly judge a case on gun rights.” The Independent also considered the point noteworthy: “Nominee owns a gun, but says she would rule ‘fairly’ on gun control cases.” So did Fox News: “Barrett admits to owning a gun, says she can set aside beliefs to rule on 2nd Amendment fairly.”

Sullum’s analysis strikes me as quite right; a bit obvious, to be sure, but the sort of obvious that people (or at least headline writers) apparently need to be reminded about.

80% Silencers, the Political Ramifications of Mass Ownership

In the first two parts of this on home made silencers series, I wrote of how we arrived at the current situation, historically, and what exists today, in terms of the technology and legal system, for individuals to make their own silencers utilizing the ATF Form 1.

Because of the tremendous bureaucratic and monetary infringements imposed by the National Firearms Act (NFA), very few form 1’s (required to legally make your own silencer, short-barreled rifle, or shotgun) were processed as late as 1990.

It took two more years, to 2016, to more than double again, to 49,985 Form 1s per year. That was the peak, so far. Record firearms sales in 2020 lead to the prediction over 50,000 Form 1’s will be processed this year. The figures for 2019 Form 1’s have not been released at this time, but should be out soon.

About 120 times as many Form 1s are being processed each year, as were being processed 30 years ago. Entire forums on the Internet trade information on what works and what doesn’t.

Forums such as silencertalk.com are potent places for political organizing.

Analysis of the ATF figures shows about 75% of the current Form 1s are for silencers. Most of the rest are for short-barrelled rifles (SBR). SBR Form 1s have probably dropped off as pistol arm braces gained popularity.

The vast increase in the number of legal silencers is altering the political and judicial landscapes.

Such visible numbers are a sign of political and judicial strength. Second Amendment supporters have every logical argument to repeal the National Firearms Act. They do not have the political support in Congress to do so…yet.

The inclusion of silencers in the NFA may be the worst public health blunder made by the Federal Government. Tens of millions of gun owners’ hearing has been adversely affected.

Two million legal silencers are merely the start. There are about 100 million firearms owners who could benefit from owning inexpensive and effective silencers in the United States. Market saturation of silencers in the United States might top out in the area of 200 million. Continue reading “”

Clerk fatally shoots would-be robber at northeast Columbus store

COLUMBUS OHIO (WCMH) — Police say an exchange of gunfire led to a clerk fatally injuring a robber at a northeast Columbus store.

According to the Columbus Division of Police, at about 1:09 a.m., two armed suspects wearing masks entered the Beechcroft Newstand along E. Dublin-Granville Road and demanded money.

Police say the clerk fatally shot one of the suspects during an exchange of gunfire.

The other suspect fired shots, striking the clerk and a customer before running from the scene.

The robbery suspect fatally shot has been identified as Juanye Hawkins-Payne, 19.

The clerk and the customer were taken to an area hospital where they were treated and released.

The other robbery suspect, Daythan Jones, 20, has been arrested according to police, and charged with murder.

Police continue to investigate the shooting.


Jewelry store owner shoots robbery suspect 4 times after being stabbed in the head

HAMTRAMCK, Mich. (FOX 2) – A jewelry store owner got attacked in an attempted robbery, being stabbed in the head – but shot the suspect four times.

Both men are still alive after the incident which happened at Naya’s Jewelry on Joseph Campau Friday afternoon.

Hamtramck jewelry store owner guns down robbery suspect after being stabbed

“We had a stabbing and a shooting,” said Max Garbarino, Hamtramck community safety director.

Police say the suspect stabbed the store owner in the head but the owner defended himself and shot the suspect four times. Both men were taken to a nearby hospital

The whole incident happened so fast, the suspect never was able to try to steal anything, investigators say.

“I don’t know of any of our jewelry stores where they’re not armed, so it’s very foolish for someone to do that here,” Garbarino said.

Investigators aren’t disclosing the extent of their injuries but they did say the store owner is expected to recover.

“The store owner was talking to our officers and giving us details so I’m fairly certain he’ll probably be ok,” Garbarino said.