BREAKING: Iran Admits to Shooting Down Ukrainian Plane, But Still Blames US

“A sad day. Preliminary conclusions of internal investigation by Armed Forces:

Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster

Our profound regrets, apologies and condolences to our people, to the families of all victims, and to other affected nations.
?”

The U.S of course had nothing to do with it, so Iran’s apology is less than sincere.

I had posted elsewhere that an Air Defense battery saw the plane on their radar. The commander freaked out, believing it was one of the B52s (so publicly deployed to Diego Garcia) and decided to shoot first and ask questions later. Which brings a quotation to mind:
Stupid is as Stupid does.

100,000 gun owners to fight new Virginia bans: ‘We’re not the problem.’

Some 100,000 Virginia gun owners who have rallied at county and town meetings for “gun sanctuaries” on Thursday began “bombarding” state Democratic lawmakers eager to use their new majority in Richmond to push through new restrictions and bans.

“Now it’s time. Now we’re going to melt down their phones, explode their inboxes on their email. We’re going to bombard them more than they’ve been bombarded,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which is leading the gun sanctuary movement.

On Thursday, he issued an “alert” to supporters to start lobbying lawmakers in Richmond against gun control. He said that the new anti-gun laws from Democrats are “pouring in like a waterfall.”

Later this month, his group is also organizing its annual “lobbying day” that is expected to draw dozens of buses full of supporters from around Virginia as well as from 13 states as far away as Texas, Florida, and Connecticut.

“They picked a fight with a set of people who are tired of it. We’re tired of being the whipping boy. Every time somebody shoots up a bunch of people in a gun-free zone, they come after us, and we’re tired of it. We’re fed up, and we’re not giving up any more. We’re not the problem,” he told Secrets.

Curaçao can no longer handle the number of Venezuelans.

But surely they can’t be leaving a ‘socialist paradise’?

WILLEMSTAD – The number of Venezuelans in Curaçao will have risen to 21,000 by the end of 2020. That presence leads to such great pressure on general resources that Curaçao can no longer bear that.

Lesley Fer, director of Risk Management and Disaster Policy, said this yesterday during a presentation for the Interparliamentary Kingdom Consultation, IPKO.

Therefore, according to Fer, the problem must be tackled throughout the Kingdom.

“We are not only dealing with a humanitarian problem, but the Venezuelan refugees also bring drugs and weapons – even hand grenades. In addition, as a crisis controller, I have to monitor whether no members of Hezbollah or the Colombian guerrilla movement ELN are coming to the island. The closure of the borders led to a 20% reduction in tourism. Illegal Venezuelans have a substantial influence on employment (disruption of the labor market), medical costs (such as pregnancies for which they are not insured) and public health, partly due to illegal prostitution. Assistance and removal cost the government hands full of money,” said Fer.

“I am responsible for risk management on the island. Due to the problems with Venezuelans I spend 85 percent of my time on this. The coast guard and the police are also largely concerned with the Venezuelan problem, as well as customs, border police, the admission organization and various ministries. We are unable to do other important core tasks of the government.”

Democrat Bill Mandates Licensing of All Virginia AR-15 Owners

A bill from Delegate Mark Levine (D) mandates all Virginia AR-15 owners acquire a license of ownership from the state.

Those who do not acquire a license yet remain in possession of AR-15s will be labeled felons.

Levine’s legislation, HB 961, applies to AR-15s and all guns which Democrats refer to as “assault firearms.”

Levine defines an “assault firearm” as “a semi-automatic center-fire rifle that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material with a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 10 rounds.”

He also notes certain cosmetic traits that place a certain gun under the “assault firearm” classification:

An “assault firearm” means  a semi-automatic center-fire rifle that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has one of the following characteristics: (i) a folding or telescoping stock; (ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the rifle; (iii) a thumbhole stock; (iv) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (v) a bayonet mount; (vi) a grenade launcher; (vii) a flare launcher; (viii) a silencer; (ix) a flash suppressor; (x) a muzzle brake; (xi) a muzzle compensator; (xii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting (a) a silencer, (b) a flash suppressor, (c) a muzzle brake, or (d) a muzzle compensator; or (xiii) any characteristic of like kind as enumerated in clauses (i) through (xii).

If Levine’s bill passes the state legislature and is signed into law, current AR-15 owners–and owners of other so-called “assault firearms”–will have a grace period in which to acquire license from the state. 

Levine uses the summary of his bill to note that “any person who legally owns an assault firearm on July 1, 2020, may retain possession of such assault firearm after January 1, 2021, if such person has obtained a permit from the Department of State Police to possess an assault firearm in accordance with procedures established in the bill.”

Why Journalists and Politicians are Frightened by Armed Defense

Armed citizens stopped a mass murderer at the West Freeway Church of Christ. When we plain folk in fly-over country heard that the attacker was stopped quickly, most of us thought, “Praise God.” In contrast, Joe Biden said it was irrational to allow anyone to be armed at any religious institution. Some journalists said they were terrified that ordinary citizens could be armed at church.

Why is the emotional response from politicians and journalists so different from ours? We know something that they don’t know. Those of us who live in fly-over country know Armed America, and the elites don’t.

We know real gun owners-  We know real people people who own guns, rather than the two-dimensional cardboard-cutout characters portrayed by Hollywood and the media. With over a hundred million gun owners in the US, they are easy to find. Legally licensed gun owners are our friends, our co-workers, our associates, and our neighbors.

I have a news flash for Vice President Joe and the journalists. Ordinary people are armed. Millions of us carry a legally concealed personal firearm in public. Unless you live in one of the elite bubbles in the US, then you are standing shoulder to shoulder with Armed America.

We’ve seen their good judgement. We’ve met Armed America and we’ve seen their restraint. We’re not surprised to learn that individuals who are licensed to carry a firearm in public are among the most law abiding groups that sociologists can find. That makes us different from Joe Biden and Co. Most elites don’t have a friend who drives a pickup truck, much less a friend who is a licensed concealed carrier.

We know and trust our neighbors- We have a positive opinion of our neighbors, our community and our town. We formed this judgement through experience. We’ve seen our fellow citizens solve challenging problems. We’ve seen their character under challenging circumstances, like fires, earthquakes, hurricanes and floods. We’ve seen a broad segment of society rise to the occasion and do their best for themselves and for those around them.

We’re comfortable with our neighbors. The media elites are only comfortable with other elites. Select law enforcement officers can be armed, according to the elites. Select bodyguards can be armed, according to the elites. You and I, average voters, not so much.

We actually believe in “diversity:” Our circle of friends includes people of all ages, backgrounds, and races. If you want to see elitism, look at the makeup of the MSM and at our elite colleges. If you doubt me, try to find a conservative-Christian-Republican male in the Sociology Department at your local college.

Also, consider the “diversity” of the editors at the Huffington post.

Only young college-educated women need apply

We’ve seen bad people do bad things- We’ve seen what criminals do. We’ve seen their effect on our family, our neighbors, and our communities. In our world, violence doesn’t happen in slow motion at 35 frames a second on a 60 inch screen; it happens in the parking lot at the corner store after dark. Our connection to reality is stronger than a TV crime-drama where the bad guy is brought to justice in 42 minutes.

Ordinary citizens like us defend ourselves thousands of times a day. We are not the easy victims the criminals expected. The bad guy meets Armed America and runs the other way. In that way, Armed America is making me and my family safer every day,  just like the defenders did at the Church of Christ in Texas.

Armed America frightens the elites. Maybe the elites like Joe Biden had better stay home and have their food delivered by Amazon so they feel safe. Don’t tell them the Amazon driver might be carrying. That might upset Joe and the mainstream journalists.

We’ll keep that truth to ourselves.

Students for 2A Tell Anti-Gunners to ‘Come and Take It

Not even three weeks ago the National Rifle Association (NRA) conducted a soft launch of the Students for 2A group at Turning Point USA’s Student Action Summit. In just a short period of time, the newly-formed organization has gained momentum amongst college students ages 18 to 24 and garnered more than 15,000 followers across various social media platforms.

The message is simple: the anti-gun left continually launches attacks at law-abiding gun owners. They want to ban commonly-owned firearms, like the AR-15, and make universal background checks a reality. But the young adults are fighting back for their Second Amendment rights.

A montage of various students explains exactly why the organization was started.

“Every day on college campuses across America, students like me are demonized, attacked and silenced by the ‘tolerant’ left,” students in the montage explain. “But we have something they don’t have: facts. So-called ‘universal’ background checks will never be universal because criminals do not comply with the law. Despite the narrative being pushed by the anti-gun left, unintentional firearm fatalities among young people are near historic lows.”

“Americans regularly use firearms for self-defense up to over one million times per year. There has never been a more important time for students like me to speak out,” the narrators explained. “We are law-abiding Americans and we demand the freedom to defend ourselves. So let us be clear to all anti-gun extremists trying to destroy our rights: you will never succeed. We will always fight back.”

“And, by the way, my rights don’t end where your feelings begin,” the students said. “Come and take it.”

 

 

Saying gun rights only applies to a militia is like saying free speech only applies while in the process of petitioning the government

A letter was published titled “Enact gun control without repealing the Second Amendment” (Mercurynews.com, Jan. 5) implying that the right of the people to keep and bear arms was subject to being within a “well-regulated militia.”

Good thing this letter-writer isn’t a lawyer. If that were the case, your right to freedom of speech is only protected while in the process of petitioning the government for a redress of grievances.

Stay in your lane, and out of constitutional law.

Neil Stokes
Redwood City

 

Iran supreme leader says missile attack was a ‘slap on the face’ for US but it was ‘not enough’

Well, it was ‘not enough’ because it turns out the Iranians can’t hit the broad side of a barn with their missiles (when they can actually get them to fly properly). The line that they were purposefully trying to miss so as to not kill or injure any U.S. soldiers was hogwash.

Iranian ballistics missile attacks on two Iraqi military bases housing American troops early Wednesday was a “slap on the face” to the U.S., Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech hours after the strikes.

But “such military actions are not enough,” Khamenei said on Twitter, suggesting further acts of revenge for the U.S. killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.

Appeals Court Allows Use of $3.6 Billion in Military Funds for Border Wall

A federal appeals court allowed the administration to use a certain set of Defense Department funds for the construction of the border wall after a lower court blocked the administration from dipping into them last month.

The ruling marks a victory for President Donald Trump, who has sought to shore up funds for his signature border wall. The money is separate from other funds that the Supreme Court allowed to be used last year.

In a 2-1 ruling, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay of a Texas judge’s order, which the administration had appealed. The case is still ongoing.

The use of Defense Department funds for the President’s border wall has received pushback from numerous groups and states, which have argued the administration circumvented Congress to shore up wall funds.

The latest ruling applies to the military construction funds. Last September, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper authorized diverting $3.6 billion in the construction funds for 11 wall projects on the southern border with Mexico. The Pentagon said at the time that half the money was coming from deferred projects overseas, and the other half was planned for projects in the US.

The ruling doesn’t apply to the use of other funds, including counter-drug and Treasury Forfeiture Funds, that have been designated for wall construction.

Man killed while allegedly trying to rob ATM guards in North County ID’d; 2 suspects at large

ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KMOV.com) – Police have identified the suspect who was killed while allegedly trying to rob two armed guards who were servicing an ATM in North County Tuesday.

According to authorities, two suspects waited in the parking lot of Vantage Credit Union at 601 Greenway Chase Drive near New Halls Ferry for the guards to arrive. A third suspect waited inside a getaway vehicle.

When the guards showed up around 1:40 p.m. and began working on the machine, two suspects wearing ski masks approached them. Both guards fired their guns and at least one of the suspects fired his weapon, according to police.

“I thought [the guards] acted very quickly,” Lt. Matt O’Neill with St. Louis County police said. “That was very quick thinking on his part. He was actually going to give them the money and he started shooting.”

During the shooting, one suspect was shot and later died in the hospital. He was identified by police Wednesday morning as 19-year-old Jordan Pruitt, of St. Louis.

The guards were unharmed. They are reportedly cooperating with the police investigation.

update:

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. (KMOV.com) — The 20-year-old man who was shot and killed while allegedly robbing an ATM technician in North County Tuesday pleaded guilty to a similar crime at a bank just three miles away, according to documents obtained from the St. Louis County Prosecutors Office.

Jordan Pruitt pleaded guilty to robbing an ATM technician at the Vantage Credit Union on West Florissant at New Halls Ferry in December 2017. At the time of Tuesday’s alleged crime, Pruitt was out on bail awaiting sentencing.

In December 2017, police said Pruitt put a knife to the neck of the ATM technician, but was scared away by an armed eye witness.

Intruder shot and killed by resident in Grand Rapids

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Police are investigating after a homeowner shot and killed an intruder overnight.

It happened just before 2:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 600 block of Houseman Avenue NE Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids police say a 51-year-old man showed up to the home to confront a woman inside.

The man pushed his way into the home where an argument ensued. A 38-year-old man inside the home then confronted the intruder and ended up shooting the intruder in the chest, killing him.

Police say it appears the victim is known by the shooter and another woman who lived inside the home.

There are no charges at this time and the investigation is on-going

Gun-grabbers Northam and Bloomberg claim Virginia’s Second Amendment–supporters spreading ‘misinformation’

A day after a huge crowd showed up at a Virginia Beach City Council  meeting to add their locality to over 100 of Virginia’s Second Amendment sanctuaries, the state’s governor and his financier, Michael Bloomberg, in separate press conferences, tried to reassure the public they had no plans to confiscate guns. Bloomberg and Ralph Northam made their comments in Richmond on Tuesday as Virginia’s new Democratic legislative majority convenes to take up gun control measures.

The former New York City mayor insisted that “nobody’s trying to take away anybody’s handguns — or rifles or shotguns. What we’re trying to do is have sensible gun regulations.”

Bloomberg also said confiscating AR-15-style rifles currently in circulation would be difficult. “It’s probably impossible to get all those back,” he said. “One can only hope that when people see the damage they can cause, and the danger of having them in their houses, they’ll decide to just take them to the local police station and say, ‘Please get rid of this.'” Bloomberg is referring to the bill receiving the most attention, Senate Bill 16, which has no grandfather clause and would make it illegal to sell or even possess a number of firearms that are currently legal.

At his press conference with leading Democrats in the state Legislature, Northam parroted Bloomberg, stating, “We have no intention of calling out the National Guard. We’re not going to cut off people’s electricity. We’re not going door to door and confiscate individuals’ weapons…saying things like we’re going to cut off people’s electricity, I don’t know where things like that come from, but they’re intimidating, they provoke fear, they’re not necessary.”

Northam doesn’t know where these things come from? In early December, when Northam was asked by a reporter if local governments would face retaliation for declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries, Northam responded, “If we have constitutional laws on the books and law enforcement officers are not enforcing those laws on the books, then there are going to be consequences, but I’ll cross that bridge if and when we get to it.”

At the same time Northam was threatening law officers, a Democratic Virginia congressman named Donald McEachin suggested that the governor should send in the National Guard if necessary.

Then there’s the “intimidating” gun law proposals heading to the General Assembly this week.

From Bearing Arms (not a complete list)

While Northam and Bloomberg attempt to convince law-abiding Virginians they have nothing to fear, the Virginia Citizens Defense League  announced  a “Lobby Day Rally” on January 20 in support of “rooting out every nugget of gun control it can detect in Virginia.”

Virginia Bill Aims to Shut Down NRA Headquarters Range

Virginia House Bill no. 567, prefiled on 6 January, 2020, and offered on 8 January, 2020, seems aimed particularly at the NRA headquarters range at 11250 Waples Mill Rd. in Fairfax, Virginia. HB 567 contains a number of provisions that single out the NRA HQ range from nearly all others. Here are the provisions of the bill:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title 18.2 a section numbered 18.2-511.2 as follows:

§ 18.2-511.2. Indoor shooting ranges; prohibited in private buildings; exceptions; penalty.

A. As used in this section, “indoor shooting range” means any fully enclosed or indoor area or facility designed for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes, skeet, trap, or black powder or any other similar sport shooting.

B. It is unlawful to operate an indoor shooting range in any building not owned or leased by the Commonwealth or the federal government unless (i) fewer than 50 employees work in the building or (ii) (a) at least 90 percent of the users of the indoor shooting range are law-enforcement officers, as defined in § 9.1-101, or federal law-enforcement officers, (b) the indoor shooting range maintains a log of each user’s name, phone number, address, and the law-enforcement agency where such user is employed, and (c) the indoor shooting range verifies each user’s identity and address by requiring all users to present a government-issued photo-identification card.

C. Any person that violates the provisions of this section is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 nor more than $100,000 for the initial violation and $5,000 per day for each day of violation thereafter.

The NRA HQ range is located in the NRA HQ building in Fairfax, Virginia.

  • It is indoors.
  • It is privately owned.
  • More than 50 employees work in the building.
  • It is open to the public.

Only one of the other indoor ranges found, in a quick survey of Virginia indoor ranges, were in buildings over two stories tall. The Colonial Shooting Acadamy, in Richmond, Virginia, is a three-story facility. It has a few more than 50 employees working in its building. It is the biggest indoor range in Virginia. The owners would like to expand and hire more employees. This bill would make expansion impossible. Large indoor urban ranges have been expanding across the country. The trend was arguably started with the Scottsdale Gun Club in Arizona.

Full disclosure, Terry Schmidt is my second cousin. He and his wife Nadine conceived of the Scottsdale gun club and now own majority interests and manage the concern. Terry credits me with planting the seed of his lifelong fascination and career with firearms.

Many small businesses have less than 50 employees to avoid burdensome federal regulations that apply to businesses that have over 50 employees. It is a large range, indeed, which would employ over 50 people in one building.

The bill would likely face challenges under both the Virginia State Constitution and the federal Constitution under the Second Amendment.

The Seventh Circuit has ruled the availability of gun ranges, to serve the public, is protected to some extent, by the Second Amendment.

It seems unlikely the proposed Virginia law would meet the requirements to pass muster under the Second Amendment. What rationale would require the limitation of gun ranges to buildings that employ less than 50 people?

Governments have deep pockets to defend against lawsuits. They are spending other people’s money.

The lawsuits required to defend against the host of laws infringing on the Second Amendment in Virginia will be costly. They will not be funded by tax dollars, but by private individuals.

The individuals may band together into groups or organizations to fund the lawsuits, but the money will not be taken from other people by force, as is tax money.

NJ gave Texas church gunman plea deal that wiped out gun felony’

After seeing so many of these plea bargains letting criminals free to commit more crime, that wouldn’t have happened because they still would have been behind bars, it makes the conspiracy theory that it’s a plan not seem all that off the wall anymore.

ELIZABETH — The gunman who killed two congregants at a Texas church last month had been charged years earlier with a felony gun offense in New Jersey, where prosecutors later downgraded the crime to a low-level misdemeanor that had nothing to do with firearms.

Since the Dec. 29 shootout at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas, much has come out about Keith Thomas Kinnunen’s criminal record, which seems to follow a pattern: He would get charged with serious, sometimes violent crimes, which later were pleaded down to less-consequential offenses.

Despite Kinnunen’s history of mental illness — including a 2012 judge’s order declaring him unfit to stand trial — it does not appear his plea deals were enough to trigger legal provisions limiting gun ownership, which would apply in cases involving domestic violence and felonies.

Linden police arrested Kinnunen in Sept. 12, 2016, after finding him with a 12-gauge shotgun, the same kind he used last month in the Texas church. Linden police said Kinnunen, who had been riding a bicycle near the Phillips 66 refinery, told them he was homeless and was taking photos of “interesting sites.”

He was charged with unlawful possession of a rifle/shotgun, a third-degree indictable crime that in other states would be called a felony.

In January 2017, he accepted a plea deal finding him guilty of criminal trespass, a low-level misdemeanor that state law classifies as a petty disorderly persons offense.

As part of the deal, a Superior Court judge in July 2017 sentenced him to 303 days of time served at Union County Jail and ordered him to forfeit his weapon.

A spokesman for the Union County Prosecutor’s Office last week defended the deal as “fully reasonable and legally appropriate.”

“The assistant prosecutor assigned to this case consulted with a member of the Union County Police Department Ballistics Unit, who determined that because the recovered weapon was missing a fundamental component, it was inoperable under the definition outlined in the applicable statute,” the spokesman for the office said in a written statement.

In Oklahoma in 2011, Kinnunen was charged with felony assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after attacking the owner of a doughnut shop. He was also charged with arson in a separate offense in which he was accused of starting a fire at a cotton field with flaming tampons. Police also said that he forced his underage to throw around a flaming football.

An Oklahoma judge in 2012 ruled him mentally incompetent to stand trial and committed him to a psychiatric facility. A year later, he pleaded guilty after the charges were downgraded to misdemeanors.

In 2012, an ex-wife in Oklahoma filed for a protective order that described him as “a violent, paranoid person with a long line of assault and battery w/ and without firearms.”

Another ex-wife told The Associated Press that they divorced in 2011 after he got “more and more” into drugs that “messed with his head.”

In 2008, he was charged with aggravated assault in Texas. The charged was later downgraded to misdemeanor deadly conduct.

On Dec. 29, Kinnunen walked into the packed White Settlement church wearing a fake beard and wig and opened fire, killing 67-year-old Richard White and 64-year-old Anton “Tony” Wallace. Kinnunen was then killed by a single shot by security volunteer Jack Wilson.

The motive for the attack was unclear. The church had previously helped feed the shooter. The pastor told The Associated Press that Kinnunen was angry when the congregation declined to give him money.

 

Pascagoula homeowner shoots, kills armed burglar

PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WKRG) — A Pascagoula homeowner fatally shot an armed person who was burglarizing his home.

Pascagoula Police responded to 3202 Nathan Hale Ave at 11:44 a.m. Tuesday. When officers arrived, the homeowner said he shot an armed person who was burglarizing his home. The suspect was pronounced dead on scene.

Pascagoula Police are currently investigating.

2 dead, 2 wounded in shootout in the East Side neighborhood

Two people were killed and two others wounded in a shooting Sunday in the East Side neighborhood.

About 3:50 p.m., three men, 39, 27 and 20, were standing in the 10000 block of South Avenue M, when an unknown vehicle pulled up and two males jumped out, Chicago police said. Both males pulled out weapons and fired shots at all three men.

The 27-year-old man, who is a valid concealed carry license holder, pulled out his own weapon and returned fire, fatally striking one of the shooters, 17-year-old Michael E. Portis, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. Portis, who lived in South Shore, was dead at the scene.

The other male got back into the vehicle and sped off, police said.

Elvis Garcia, 39, was struck in the leg and abdomen and rushed to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, authorities said. He lived on the city’s Southeast Side.

The 20-year-old man was struck in the right arm and taken to Trinity Hospital, where he was stabilized, police said. The 27-year-old was struck in the left arm and taken to the same hospital, where he is listed in good condition.

Area South detectives are investigating.

Missile attacks target US forces in Iraq

Talk about sucking all the oxygen out of the news cycle. If the President orders the strikes as promised, this is going to be 99% of what we’ll hear for the next whatever.

Iran fired “more than a dozen ballistic missiles” into Iraq, targeting U.S. military and coalition forces early Wednesday, Pentagon officials said, in a major retaliation by the rogue regime after the U.S. airstrike that killed Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani last week.

The missiles launched by Iran targeted military bases in Al-Assad and Erbil, the Pentagon added.

Initial assessments showed “no U.S. casualties,” a U.S. military official in Baghdad told Fox News, adding that the U.S. was continuing to look into possible damage.

President Trump did not immediately respond, and the White House eventually said he would not make an address to the nation or other on-camera statement Tuesday.

Update:

Ten missiles hit Al-Assad Air Base, one missile hit a military base in Erbil and four missiles failed to hit their targets, according to a U.S. military spokesman for Central Command, responsible for American forces in the Middle East.
The attacks unfolded in two waves, each about an hour apart.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES’ GUN CONTROL: AVERAGE AMERICANS CAN’T BE TRUSTED

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is stumping on the presidential campaign trail telling Americans they can’t be trusted to exercise their right to own a gun.

Not for self-protection. Not for recreational shooting or hunting. Not even because it’s a God-given right enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

He says this, of course, surrounded by an armed security team. They’re not armed with lollipops and wishful thoughts. They’re carrying the cold steel that the guy who writes the checks for Moms Demand Action and Everytown says Americans can’t be trusted to own.

No Guns for You
It sounds disturbing enough. It’s even more disturbing that Bloomberg made this announcement after hearing the news of Jack Wilson, a concealed carry permit holder and member of the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas. Wilson responded immediately to the threat of a murderer in his church and neutralized the threat just six seconds after it began. His swift reaction in just six seconds saved countless lives among the 242 worshipers in attending services that morning when the police standard to response is six minutes.

“It’s the job of law enforcement to have guns and to decide when to shoot,” Bloomberg explained at a campaign stop in Montgomery, Ala. “You just do not want the average citizen carrying a gun in a crowded place.”

That’s telling for the guy who wants to take the oath of office to uphold and defend the Constitution. Maybe his oath will include exception clauses that will negate the Second Amendment, or the 2008 Heller decision that affirmed the Second Amendment is an individual “right of the People,” not the police.

Bloomberg’s dismissal of fundamental rights goes beyond ignorance, but willfully dismisses the legal actions taken by at least six other parishioners who also drew their concealed firearms yet chose not to fire. Bloomberg’s fact-burying might be because it’s exactly what undermines his gun-grabbing argument. Here is a case of armed and trained citizens who were in a crowded place and didn’t fire their firearms.

Heaven Sent
It should be noted the difference in how Wilson and Bloomberg see themselves. Wilson has been telling media he simply “killed evil” and he’s not a hero. Bloomberg, on the other hand, has publicly professed he’s earned a spot in heaven because he’s paid so much into gun control.

“I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed,” Bloomberg said in 2014. “I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”

Personally, I think Bloomie is going to get a big surprise if he believes he ‘earned’ a place in heaven. ed.

Bloomberg’s Bad Company
Bloomberg wasn’t alone in his criticism of armed self-protection and Americans embracing their Second Amendment rights. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) flatly said she wouldn’t support concealed carry reciprocity even after being confronted with the fact it saved Texan lives.

Former Vice President Joe Biden criticized Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for signing the law that protected Texans’ rights to carry a gun into a place of worship as “absolutely irrational.” Former Army Ranger sniper and book author Ryan Cleckner noted Biden’s ideas on gun control would have cost lives.

“He was dead wrong,” Cleckner explained. “If he has his way, there would be a lot more people dead in that church.”

Texas’ Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick drove the point home.

“Let’s be very clear to the American people that Joe Biden is dangerous,” Patrick said. “He’s not just an idiotic person who says impossible, absurd things, and he’s not just naive, but he’s dangerous. Americans will have to understand, whether you believe in owning a gun or not owning a gun, that the Democrats are dangerous.”

Unfortunately, Bloomberg, Biden and the rest of the Democratic gun control contenders are proving he’s not the only one.

Good Guys with Guns

Good Guys with Guns highlights self-defense stories where people used a firearm to defend themselves and others from violent criminals and the impact it had on their lives. The book also discusses the debate over the right to keep and bear arm

excerpt:
Here’s a challenge. Using your favorite Internet search engine, type in the words “No charges were filed” and see what happens. When the authors did this as part of our research, using Google we were advised that there were 925 million results.

Or try “No charges were filed in shooting” and one will find a more modest 30 million references. Even considering that there will be a multitude of repeat reports dealing with the same incidents, you are still talking about millions of self-defense uses of firearms. Some of these cases are intriguing and involve armed private citizens, while many involve police officers shooting suspects.