Articles by Herschel Smith

First up, SilencerCo’s view of the hearing protection act. I like it when people honestly answer questions.

Fully support the HPA

— SilencerCo (@silencerco) May 16, 2025

Second, David asks why anyone would care about this because he sees it as unlikely that it will ever make it to the president’s desk. That may be true, but if nothing else, I want to call out traitors for who they are and try my best to prevent them from claiming success if all they do is decrease the tax stamp fee. And if they want me to grovel for crumbs that fall from the master’s table, I’ll throw the crumbs back in their face.

On that front, it looks like maybe we’ve been successful. I send X posts out virtually every day reminding members of the ways and means committee that they need to pass the HPA in full.

Because Friday’s vote failed to pass the bill through the House, the budget committee will reconvene on Sunday to hash out a bill that will most likely pass. Hopes are high due to the outpouring from the gun community that Section 2 of the HPA will be included. This change would mean that suppressors would be removed from the NFA. Those at AmmoLand News have spoken to in the House are confident that the HPA will be included in the new text. The SHORT Act also has a shot of being included, but that is far from certain.

As for Silencer Central’s view, I think it’s abundantly clear where they stand.

This is a very direct and honest review. Reed doesn’t like the quality and Crye Precision let him down with their customer service. By the way, I trust Reid’s views.

I noted in the comments that Condor got good reviews of their plate carriers. I had also saw a review of the Condor 3-Day Assault Pack some years ago. I thought I’d post it here for those who may be in the market. Let me know if you have either one of these Condor products and what you think of them.

Source.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided against the Trump administration on Friday in a case involving the use of the Alien Enemies Act, a centuries-old wartime law used to deport certain illegal immigrants quickly. The administration had argued that the law allowed for the expedited removal of individuals deemed national security threats, particularly Venezuelan nationals allegedly tied to violent criminal groups. However, the Supreme Court blocked the administration’s efforts.

[ … ]

“Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster,” the ruling read, despite dissents from Justices Thomas and Alito. “But it is not optimal for this Court, far removed from the circumstances on the ground, to determine in the first instance the precise process necessary to satisfy the Constitution in this case. We remand the case to the Fifth Circuit for that purpose.”

You didn’t meet constitutional muster. But we don’t know what is necessary to meet constitutional muster. So, somebody else has to figure that out.

Good Lord. What good are they except to block the administration and enable the deep state?

Silencer Central has spent an enormous about of money lobby on behalf of keeping suppressors as NFA items. The members of the house ways and means committee is trying as hard as they can to keep from allowing you to purchase suppressors without telling the FedGod and filling out paperwork.

They all hate you and a burning hatred.

@RepJasonSmith @RepDavidKustoff @Silencercentral

I predict that unless the full hearing protection act is passed, Rep Smith and Rep Kustoff will hear about it soon enough at election time. I also predict that Silencer Central goes bankrupt for lobbying against the act.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) May 16, 2025

They want us to grovel for crumbs that fall from the master's table like slaves. Silencer Cental has spent an enormous amount of money lobbying them to keep suppressors in the NFA. It's an unrighteous governing and business model. Presumably, Silencer Central sent the…

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) May 16, 2025

Presumably Silencer Central sent them on junkets and sent their families out for nice dinners. All in order to infringe on the 2A.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) May 15, 2025

Presumably Silencer Central sent them on junkets and sent their families out for nice dinners. All in order to infringe on the 2A.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) May 15, 2025

To all the democrat congresscritters who oppose the hearing protection act, I say, "Blow it out of your ass." And I'm ashamed of the republicans who won't say that to you as well.

Democrats Become Unhinged Over Hearing Protection Act https://t.co/Gzy5GSlQYh via @YouTube

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) May 14, 2025

Grim’s Hall (via a reader).

Here in North Carolina, though up in Ashe County, deputies accidentally killed a motorcycle rider by triggering his airbag safety vest. They were unreasonably aggressive, pulling a gun on him and physically dragging him off the bike without bothering to disconnect the safety vest. If you don’t know how these work, they are connected to the bike so that if you come off of it the ripcord causes the airbags to expand. These things exert pretty serious force (as you can see from that link), which can cause problems for breathing — especially if you are also being choked out by a deputy sheriff. An autopsy ruled Mast’s death a homicide and found the cause of death was “compression asphyxia of the torso and neck.”

First of all let’s get past the issue that most cops are overly aggressive and paranoid idiots and probably started the whole downward spiral of this terrible event.

This is also why I don’t like cops touching another man’s gun. The gun might be striker fired. It might be hammer fired. It might have a safety. It might not. It might be in half-cocked position. It might not be. It might have a round in the chamber. It might not. It might have a modified (light) trigger. It might not. It might have other modifications of which the cop is unaware.

Only a stupid department run by imbeciles would have a procedure where a cop touches and pulls another man’s gun off of him for reasons of “officer safety.” I cannot imagine something more unsafe.

David Kustoff is a gun controller and statist. He wants to throw some crumbs your way and hope you’re satisfied.

Suppressors are hearing protection. They're as important as safety glasses or hard hats. But you want us to tell the FedGov about our firearms by registering suppressors. I cannot find words to express how repulsed I am at you.

— CaptainsJournal (@BrutusMaximus50) May 13, 2025

The comments are interesting.

This is my neighbor. No one is mentioning the bear went into his camper and pulled him out!

FYI, the Florida state record bear is 760 lbs, shot in 2015.

That’s my backyard. Shout out from Collier county Naples Florida. Living off Everglades boulevard touching on alligator Alley. The bears are everywhere and they have always been a big problem really tough to keep farm animals and chickens out in the glades.

When you don’t have enough declared enemies, your “allies” suddenly find it convenient to oppose you.  Any time liberty is about to be affirmed and expanded, you can count on the republicans to panic.

Outdoor Life.

The sky-high cost of ammunition during the Covid pandemic shortages have mercifully declined. While ammunition probably feels a lot more expensive than it used to, many prices really have dropped from the all-time, eye-popping peak during the ammo shortage in 2021 and 2022.

That’s the good news. The bad news, as most hunters and shooters have already noticed, is that ammo remains pricier than we’re used to paying. That’s for a few reasons. First, the price of raw materials to make ammunition have generally increased. We’re also several years into a global propellant shortage. While tariffs haven’t yet contributed to high prices for most American-made ammo, they’ve caused price spikes in some segments of the market.

The war in Ukraine has had an awful effect on powder availability and pricing. I don’t expect this to go away. Plan accordingly. Actually, I planned a long time ago.

David Codrea.

“Trump administration says machine guns aren’t protected by Second Amendment,” The Washington Times reports. “The Trump administration is taking heat from gun rights advocates after the Justice Department argued in court that machine guns fall outside the scope of firearms guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”

The story quotes Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Case, who, in arguing a brief in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling, asserted “Machine guns are not the kind of arms protected by the Second Amendment.”

District Judge Carlton Wayne Reeves of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi had properly ruled that the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, codifying that text, history and tradition at the time the Constitution was ratified, defined the standards to be used in determining Founding Era intent.

Besides, the Second Amendment says “arms.” It doesn’t say “kinds of arms.” Continental Congress Delegate Tench Coxe’s views were reflective of what the understanding was at the time, when he wrote, “Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American…. [T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”

Yes, and a thousand times yes.

Theoretically David is of course right. But here’s the issue.

The SCOTUS will not move on this – they won’t even move on Snope, at least not quickly.

The SCOTUS is very, very dependent on what Congress says about things like this. They don’t like to lead the way. They have their finger in the wind on just about every issue before them.

There is zero interest in Congress in this issue. Even if the FedGov loses in court, the SCOTUS will turn it around.

If it never gets to the SCOTUS it will stop at the fifth circuit and the ATF will ignore the ruling and no other circuit will honor it.

The second amendment has been made palatable for the beltway types who want the peasants happy enough, suppressed and taxed to death. So that’s what they have with all of the congressional laws and SCOTUS decisions.

Until of course they get scared of semiautomatic weapons, and then the states pile of those giving us things like the Snope case that the supreme court refuses to deal with.