Michigan House votes to ban local gun buybacks

Local governments in Michigan wouldn’t be able to buy firearms off of their residents under legislation passed in the Michigan House Wednesday.

House Bill 5479, sponsored by Rep. Annette Glenn, R-Midland, would ban local governments and law enforcement from conducting gun buyback or takeback programs that offer residents compensation for their unwanted firearms. Local law enforcement would still be able to accept and dispose of firearms dropped off voluntarily.

Speaking in support of her bill on the House floor Wednesday, Glenn said it’s not the place of local governments to be buying firearms from residents – she said the buybacks unfairly compete with gun businesses and waste taxpayer dollars.

“While our state and federal constitution guarantees every citizen the right to keep and bear arms, no citizen has the right to sell old firearms to a unit of government at taxpayer expense,” she said.

The measure passed the House 58-49, with Rep. John Chirkun, D-Roseville, joining Republican lawmakers in support. It now heads to the Senate for further review and would need to pass the full Senate and be signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to become law.

House Democrats opposed the bill on grounds that it would interfere with efforts by local governments and law enforcement to keep their communities safe.

Missouri Man Gets 19 Years in Prison for Role in ISIS Attack Planning

A Missouri man accused of plotting a terrorist attack with who he believed to be members of the Islamic State but who were in reality undercover FBI agents was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years in prison.

Robert Lorenzo Hester Jr., 28, of Columbia, pleaded guilty in September to attempting to provide material support to the terror group from October 2016 to February 2017, the Justice Department said.

He posted on social media that he had converted to Islam and posted photos of weapons and the ISIS flag. According to a criminal complaint, Hester was told the attack would target “buses, trains and a train station in Kansas City” on the Presidents Day holiday.

Cleveland County man fatally shoots suspect who attacked him outside of his home

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. – A Cleveland County man shot and killed a suspect who attacked him outside of his home in the early morning hours Wednesday.

The Sheriff’s Office says they received a 911 call at 1:19 a.m. on March 5 about someone beating on the side of a home in Shelby. The owner of the home, Donald Bautista, grabbed his pistol went outside to see what was causing the noise.

Bautista said he saw someone run into the wood-line behind his home moments before he was attacked by a suspect holding a wooden deck railing. Bautista sustained several defensive wounds before he fired one shot, killing the suspect later identified as Robert Burns.

Following an investigation, deputies found that Burns has been staying with friends in the same mobile home park as Bautista. Burns had an altercation with one of the friends and left the home shortly before the shooting. Witnesses say it appeared Burns was extremely impaired.

Bautista did not know Burns prior to this incident.

Italy shutters all schools, universities as COVID-19 death toll reaches 107.

March 4 (UPI) — Italian education officials closed all schools and universities Wednesday in reaction to a coronavirus outbreak that has killed 107 people in the country.

Education Minister Lucia Azzolina made the announcement with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte during a news conference at Palazzo Chigi, Conte’s residence in Rome…………

Italy’s Civil Protection Agency said that in addition to the deaths, there were 2,706 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease in the country as of Wednesday. Most were centered in the Lombardy region, with smaller clusters in Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Piedmont, the Marche, Campania, Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Sicily, Puglia, Abruzzo, Trento, Molise, Umbria, Bolzano, Calabria, Sardinia and Basilicata.

Some 276 people have recovered from the disease.

Iran’s coronavirus response: Pride, paranoia, secrecy, chaos

Nearly three dozen Iranian government officials and members of parliament are infected, and a senior adviser to the supreme leader has died.

The Health Ministry has proposed sending 300,000 militia members door to door on a desperate mission to sanitize homes. The top prosecutor has warned that anyone hoarding face masks and other public health equipment risks the death penalty.

Iran’s leaders confidently predicted just two weeks ago that the coronavirus contagion ravaging China would not be a problem in their country. They even bragged of exporting face masks to their Chinese trading partners.

Now Iran is battered by coronavirus infections that have killed 77 people, among the most outside of China, officials said Tuesday. But instead of receiving government help, overwhelmed doctors and nurses say they have been warned by security forces to keep quiet. And some officials say Tehran’s hierarchy is understating the true extent of the outbreak — probably, experts contend, because it will be viewed as a failure that enemies will exploit.

As the world wrestles with the spread of the coronavirus, the epidemic in Iran is a lesson in what happens when a secretive state with limited resources tries to play down an outbreak and then finds it very difficult to contain.

Intruder shot by homeowner in Juneau County break in

KINGSTON TOWNSHIP, Wis. (WKBT) – A man attempting to break into a home in Kinston Township was shot by the homeowner early Wednesday morning in Juneau County.

The Juneau County Communications Center received a call at 3:50 a.m. on Wednesday, March 4 regarding the incident.

According to the Juneau County Sheriff’s Office, the incident remains under investigation with no other information being released at this time. Authorities say there is no danger to the public.

The sheriff’s office was assisted by Wisconsin State Patrol, Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, and Cutler Fire Department.

Boom: FBI gun checks surge 30% amid Biden, Bloomberg gun grab threats

FBI gun background checks required in most weapon sales have jumped 30% as consumers have rushed in to gun stores and shows to load up amid threats from Democratic presidential candidates to end sales and safety concerns as the coronavirus spreads.

Background checks in January and February recorded the highest number ever for the period, said the FBI. In just two months, there have been 5,505,169 checks. Last year, there were 4,218,980 background checks in January and February.

If the trend continues the way arms industry officials expect, 2020 will record the most-ever checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, at over 30 million.

BIDEN’S HATRED OF GUN OWNERS CLEAR BY NAMING BETO AS POINT MAN: CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA – Democrat Joe Biden made it clear in Texas that he despises American gun owners by declaring former rival Beto O’Rourke, the gun-grabbing former Texas congressman, as his point man on what he called “the gun problem,” the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“For Biden to embrace Beto should erase any doubt where the former vice president truly stands on gun rights,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Months ago, we vowed to let nobody forget O’Rourke’s brazen threat to take away people’s firearms, and we meant it.”

O’Rourke’s presidential campaign crumbled after he declared during a debate in Houston, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR15, your AK47.” When nobody else on stage at the time made any effort at all to counter the statement, Gottlieb said Democrats had officially become the “Party of Gun Confiscation.”

Biden told O’Rourke in front of his Dallas audience, “You’re gonna take care of the gun problem with me, you’re gonna be the one who leads this effort. I’m counting on you, I’m counting on you, we need you badly.”

“I’ll tell you what Biden needs even worse than O’Rourke,” Gottlieb responded. “He needs to kiss any credibility he ever had with gun owners a permanent goodbye. Beto O’Rourke represents everything that is wrong with today’s gun ban extremism, and he is one of the worst enemies of the Second Amendment. While he was campaigning, he said gun owners would be given the option of turning in their guns in exchange for cash, or risk being prosecuted. Then he outright threatened to confiscate the firearms of law-abiding Americans.

“We’re not sure how to explain this to Biden,” he added, “but accepting O’Rourke’s endorsement and then vowing to put him in charge of national gun policy, should he win in November, amounts to quid-pro-quo.

“Biden’s mask is completely off,” Gottlieb concluded. “He’s not just a doddering Democrat pushing to become president, he’s an extremist anti-gunner who just promised to put a gun prohibition fanatic in charge of his administration’s gun policy. That’s not just a difference in philosophy, it’s a declaration of war.”

Homeowner Shoots, Kills Intruder

MILTON, GA — A homeowner shot and killed an intruder Saturday in Milton, police said.

At 8:40 p.m. on Saturday, Milton Police received a 911 call regarding burglary at a home in the 12000 block of New Providence Road.

Prior to police arrival, the suspect reportedly forcibly broke into the home through a locked front door and confronted the homeowner. The homeowner shot the intruder with a handgun, striking him multiple times in the torso.

The suspect was treated at the scene by Milton Fire-Rescue personnel for gunshot wounds, and transported to WellStar North Fulton Hospital. The suspect was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The deceased suspect was identified as Corey Patton II, 23, from Charlotte, North Carolina. Milton Police said they do not believe there are any other suspects in this case.

Man shot by law enforcement after reportedly trying to carjack off-duty Pueblo County deputy

Definite mistake in the victim selection process. And the copy writer for KKTV need some more schooling because I did a ‘whut?’ the first time I read that headline.

PUEBLO, Colo (KKTV) – A man is dead after first leading police on a chase and then trying to carjack an off-duty Pueblo County sheriff’s deputy late Sunday night.

Pueblo police said officers were investigating a carjacking that happened around 10 p.m. at a 7-Eleven off Elizabeth Street and Highway 50. During that carjacking, officers said the suspect hit the victim in the head with a handgun and stole a 2004 Dodge truck.

The suspect was identified on Tuesday by the Pueblo County Coroner as Joshua Russell of Pueblo.

While police were at the gas station investigating the carjacking, officers said they were talking to a man and woman in an Escalade. During the conversation, the 35-year-old man abruptly took off. At some point during his attempt to flee, police said his car became immobile.

“The speculation is that he hit the curb over here, full head-on, and that’s what damaged the vehicle,” said Sgt. Frank Ortega with the Pueblo Police Department.

Officers sped after the suspect, who didn’t even make it a quarter-mile on Highway 50.

“That individual exited the vehicle with an AR-style rifle and attempted to carjack two vehicles. The first vehicle continued westbound; the second vehicle was an off-duty sheriff’s deputy,” Ortega said.

The deputy fired at the suspect.

“At the same time, or roughly the same time, an on-duty Pueblo police officer engaged the suspect. Several rounds were fired, and the suspect is deceased on scene,” Ortega said.

The shooting happened just before midnight. Ortega said there is no indication that the suspect fired his weapon, but the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is processing the scene for any evidence otherwise. Both the deputy and the officer are on paid administrative leave.

Police said the woman who was with the suspect in the car was interviewed and is cooperating.

Detectives are also investigating whether the suspect is the same person involved in the 7-Eleven carjacking.

“The male that is deceased here on the highway, he doesn’t match the suspect description from the original carjacking exactly,” Ortega said. “But they’re reviewing video from that original incident to see if he’s involved or not.”

Shortly after the shooting, Ortega said police found the Dodge truck that was originally stolen from the 7-Eleven not too far from the scene.

Bloomberg wins American Samoa caucus

And in other meaningless news………

Former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii have won their first delegates thanks to American Samoa.

The island has six Democratic delegates and their caucus awarded five to Bloomberg and one to Gabbard, who hails from Hawaii.

Feds sending health experts to a Washington hospital as state’s death toll from coronavirus reaches nine

This bug gets loose in another nursing home and we’ll see the same thing.

Two more residents of King County, Washington, have died from the coronavirus, bringing the state’s total to nine, as a top health official tells US senators he is deploying more personnel to a Kirkland hospital where most of the patients died.

The two additional victims actually died before the previously reported deaths, on February 26. They were identified as a woman in her 80s who died at her family home and man in his 50s who died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, county health officials said in a statement.

Both were residents of Life Care Center, a chain of long-term nursing facilities that is linked to many of the fatal cases, officials said.

The state has had at least 21 cases. Eight of those who died were from King County, and one was from Snohomish County, county officials said. At least six of the patients died at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland, where the federal health experts are being sent.

Dr. Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary of preparedness and response for the US Department of Health and Human Services, described to a US Senate committee the type of experts he was hoping to send across the country.

“We’re looking to employ and deploy some of our national disaster medical system personnel as well as other federal health care personnel to assist at the Evergreen long-term treatment facility,” he said.

At the Life Care Center that county officials say was home to at least nine of the patients who came down with coronavirus, more than 50 residents and staff members were experiencing symptoms and were tested for the virus, King County health officer Jeffrey Duchin said Monday.

“Current residents and associates continue to be monitored closely, specifically for an elevated temperature, cough and/or shortness of breath,” officials said in a statement on the Life Care website. “Any resident displaying these symptoms is placed in isolation. Associates are screened prior to beginning work and upon leaving.”

A US Department of Homeland Security facility in King County was shut down Tuesday after officials learned an employee had visited a relative at Life Care, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said during a House hearing.

Second Amendment ‘sanctuary’ movement gets some traction in rural Minnesota

CROW WING COUNTY, Minn. — As the debate over tighter gun control regulations heats up in Minnesota, a movement among gun rights advocates to designate Second Amendment sanctuary counties is gaining momentum across the state.

Five northwestern Minnesota county boards — Clearwater, Marshall, Red Lake, Roseau and Wadena — have voted to declare their county as a Second Amendment “sanctuary,” or otherwise dedicated to defending gun rights.

Similar efforts have surfaced in at least two dozen other counties, with some expected to vote in coming weeks. The resolutions are similar, with language saying local resources will not be used to enforce laws believed to infringe on the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Legal experts say the resolutions are symbolic because counties can’t choose not to enforce certain state laws. But in an election year, they are mobilizing rural voters who view gun rights as a critical voting issue.

“I think this is clearly what’s driving this concern, among especially people in greater Minnesota, that they need to take some kind of action for protecting what they perceive to be threats to their gun rights,” said David Schultz, a professor of political science and law at the University of Minnesota and Hamline University.

UPS worker who threatened mass shooting had 20,000 rounds of ammunition, small arsenal, say police
Thomas Andrews was found with 20,000 rounds of ammunition and several guns.

20,ooo?  Thems rookie numbers.

A California UPS worker who threatened to carry out a mass shooting at his employer’s premises had multiple tactical rifles and 20,000 rounds of ammunition at his home when it was raided by police.

Thomas Andrews, 32, of Sunnyvale, California, was reported to police on March 1 for sending threatening text messages to his employer, saying that he was planning a mass shooting at the UPS facility in the city, according to a statement from the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.

“He alluded to a mass shooting in his text messages,” Sunnyvale police Capt. Dan Pistor told the Associated Press. “I definitely think we avoided a tragedy.”

Officers began searching for Andrews that day, who they had discovered was the registered owner of four handguns and a rifle. Shortly after 11 p.m. that evening, officers spotted Andrews driving and attempted to pull him over, but he fled, leading officers into a pursuit on Highway 101.

‘He shot him four or five times’: Shopper shoots, kills armed robbery suspect in Greensboro
The suspect was shot by a customer in the store who had his own gun

GREENSBORO, N.C. — The terrifying armed robbery lasted less than a minute — ending when a customer pulled out their own gun and shot the suspect four to five times.

According to the Greensboro Police Department, 18-year-old Malik Harris tried to rob at gunpoint the convenience store NC Tobacco on the morning of Feb. 29.

GA governor confirms 2 cases of COVID-19 in Fulton County.

Well, Delta airlines does have that hub in Atlanta. What should we expect?

ATLANTA, Ga. (WATE) — Georgia governor Brian Kemp and state public health officials confirmed Monday night the state’s first two COVID-19 coronavirus cases.

According to a news release from the Georgia Department of Public Health, the two cases involve residents of the same household in Fulton County. Both people have mild symptoms and they were being isolated at home with other relatives to keep the illness from spreading.

One of the patients had recently returned from Italy, the release stated.

Earlier Monday evening, Gov. Kemp spoke with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence about the two confirmed coronavirus cases, the news release stated, and the Governor’s Coronavirus Task Force was briefed via conference call at roughly 9:30 p.m. Monday.

We knew that Georgia would likely have confirmed cases of COVID-19, and we planned for it. The immediate risk of COVID-19 to the general public, however, remains low at this time,” said Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H, DPH commissioner. “I cannot emphasize enough the need for all Georgians to follow the simple precautions that DPH always urges to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses.”

Iran Supreme Leader’s top adviser dies from coronavirus: VP and health minister infected

They can be as suspicious as they want. I think the offer of aid was genuine and their refusal makes the bug even more their own problem to deal with.

A top adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died from the coronavirus pandemic amid a sweeping outbreak that has already infected Iran’s vice president and deputy health minister.

This weekend, Iran confirmed the death of Mohammad Mirmohammadi, a senior adviser to the Ayatollah. The news comes amid reports that Iran is trying to cover up the pervasive extent of the coronavirus epidemic in the nation.

The Iranian Health Ministry recorded 523 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours — bringing the total number of people infected in Iran to 1,501, Fox News reported.

The virus has killed at least 66 people in Iran so far. That’s the highest death toll from the coronavirus outside of China. Most of the 1,150 cases of coronavirus observed in the Middle East reportedly originated from Iran.

Last week, Iran rejected U.S. offers of help to contain the virus after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concern that Iran is trying to hide the mass outbreak in the nation.

In a statement, a spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Iran is “suspicious” of America’s offer of aid. He also accused the United States of trying to weaken Iran’s morale. The rep said: “We neither count on such help nor are we ready to accept verbal help.”

MARK STEYN: COVER STORY.

Before Sleepy Joe’s Super Tuesday and COVID-19’s super-spreaders and the super-virus’s increasing proximity to the super Supreme Leader and all the other stuff that will afflict us this coming week, a Monday miscellany of items that may not have caught your eye:

~From our Abbahu Akbar files, as Laura Rosen Cohen would say: For over a decade, I’ve been saying that we’ve been living through an extraordinary moment in human history – the conscious self-extinction of some of the oldest nations on the planet. Also for over a decade, I’ve been saying that if I had to pick a Continental country that would surrender to Sharia first, I’d plump for Sweden. As Laura noticed the other day, in a land that fifty years ago was almost entirely ethnically homogeneous, an increasing number of Swedish grade schools now have a student body whose first language is Arabic. Within thirty years, ethnic Swedes will be a minority in Sweden.

How do you manage such a transition? Obviously, you make it a hate crime even to raise the subject, you racist you. Still and all, people do tend to notice these things. So maybe it’s time to move to the next phase and make the total transformation of cultural mores a sexy lifestyle choice. The above magazine cover is from Swedish Elle, hailing Imane Asry’s stylish hijab as the “Look of the Year”.

There’s an utterly charming Irving Berlin song from a century ago:

The Girl I Love Is On The Magazine Cover

Now the girl I love is on the magazine covered. That’s not an improvement.

You’re not Muslim? Hey, relax; you don’t have to be – yet. It’s just the new chic. And, in certain of the livelier neighborhoods, it might lessen the risk of getting sexually assaulted when you’re walking home after work.

18-Year-Old SUV Driver Deliberately Runs Over Four Teens On Sidewalk.

Nah, there surely can’t be a islamic connection

Four teenagers were injured when an 18-year-old driver intentionally ran them over as they were walking on the sidewalk in Burlingame, California. Two of the victims suffered serious injuries and were taken to Stanford Hospital, while the other two teens were taken to a different hospital with less severe injuries.

The SUV driver, identified as Omeed Adibi, struck a fire hydrant after he mowed them down.

“The neighbor, the front room is where he watches TV, he was just house-sitting for his parents, and he heard a loud crash, and he was the first on the scene with the water going crazy,” local resident Joe Ram told KBCW-TV.

Abidi fled the scene but was taken into custody a few blocks away. Authorities said that he deliberately targeted the group, but did not provide a motive for the attack. He is facing charges of felony hit-and-run and attempted homicide.

Why did Amy Klobuchar drop out?
Party insiders would rather go to a meet-and-greet in Wuhan than see an avowed socialist at the top of the ticket

Down to 5, Bernie, SloJoe, Lieawatha, Gabbard….. and….BeetleBloom.

Minnesota Nice Wasn’t Enough. Neither were Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s center-left positions and bland presentations. And so, today, she left the race for president. Why?

The immediate reason is that her chances of winning anything on Super Tuesday were grim. The only exception was her home state, and it was far from certain. Klobuchar’s failures at the ballot box meant she had no plausible path forward. Her donors would stop giving and her backers would begin blaming her (and other also-rans) for blocking Joe Biden, who they now see as the only center-left candidate with a shot at the nomination. Biden’s huge victory in South Carolina and Bloomberg’s disastrous debates cemented that position.

Party insiders are desperate for an alternative to Bernie Sanders. They would rather go to a meet-and-greet in Wuhan than see an avowed socialist at the top of the ticket. Those pros have solid reasons for their fear. First, they think Sanders would devastate their down-ballot candidates, jeopardizing their chances to keep the House and retake the Senate. They could be wrong, just as Republican insiders were in 2016, but they are convinced Bernie would pose impossible obstacles for centrist Democrats across the country. Second, Bernie would assault the insiders hold on lucrative lobbying contracts and policy influence, just as Trump’s victory smacked down the K Street Republicans, the US Chamber of Commerce, and traditional Republican think tanks.

With Bernie poised to win the biggest Super Tuesday prizes, California and Texas and perhaps others, he is closing-in on the Golden Ring: an insurmountable lead going into the Democratic Convention in Milwaukee. But he hasn’t nailed it down yet. That’s why insiders will exert all their remaining leverage on low-ranking candidates, such as Klobuchar, to get out of the race — and do it now. They’ll also urge endorsements of Biden, while those can still help. Klobuchar’s announcement that she will back him makes her an obvious VP candidate on his ticket……..

Klobuchar’s exit and endorsement won’t shift many votes to Biden. She doesn’t have many to shift. But, together with Pete Buttigieg’s exit and Bloomberg’s failure at retail politics, it establishes Biden as the one candidate to stop Bernie. The question is whether Joe, with his gaffes, goofiness, and geologic age, has enough gas left in the tank to stop the Democratic party’s socialist surge.

Study Proves Mass Shootings Are NOT Becoming More Common

The researchers also noted that more kids are killed each year in incidents involving pools and bicycles than in all the school shootings combined.

Of course, this study didn’t get a whole lot of attention in the mainstream media. That’s not surprising. After all, they seem to be personally invested in selling the idea that our kids aren’t likely to survive to graduate because of some maniac with an AR-15 is going to kill them all. Yet looking at the average over the last 25 years, it’s easy to see that more students are killed in car crashes than by mass shooters.

So why does everyone freak over these?

For one thing, it’s not about the total numbers. It’s about the number of people killed per incident. It’s not about how many have been killed in the last quarter of a century or what the annual average. If a dozen die in a single incident, that’s an even bigger tragedy but if you spread those deaths over an entire year, it’s a statistic.

That’s what’s fueling much of this nonsense.