Archive for the 'Gun Control' Category

Read this article carefully.

Despite this slight downward trend, expanding background checks still enjoys 93 percent support in the latest poll. That support has remained relatively consistent, with the Quinnipiac poll finding the same level of support in June 2016 as in August 2019 and the ABC/Washington Post poll finding the same level of support in May 1999 as in September 2019.

As I said, carefully.  I’ve always told you this was a load of crap, and the author, Stephen Gutowski, does a good job of showing why.

However, while expanding background checks to cover intrastate used gun sales between private individuals has enjoyed consistently high support in polling, it has been far less popular when proposed as ballot initiatives.

Both Nevada and Maine voted on universal background check initiatives in 2016. While Quinnipiac polls put support for the policy at 93 percent in June 2016, neither initiative came anywhere close to that level of support. Nevada’s initiative passed with only 50.45 percent support—a victory of 0.9 percent. Maine’s universal background check initiative failed, with 51.8 percent voting against it.

Nevada’s initiative, which required the FBI to conduct background checks on private sales, was never implemented. The state attorney general determined there was no way for Nevada to force the federal agency to conduct the checks. Instead, Nevada Democrats passed a similar bill along party lines this year that implemented universal background checks without using the problematic language.

The results came despite gun control proponents massively outspending gun rights proponents in both states. Gun control groups involved in the races spent a total of $25,373,391.76 while gun rights groups spent $7,898,134.10—a threefold advantage for the gun control groups.

So what you’ve learned isn’t just that the statists want you separated from your firearms.  You already knew that.  They fear you, and thus they want you unarmed.  What you’ve learned is that they’re lying when they tell you that 93% of the American public wants you disarmed and wants a national registry of guns.

And also what you’ve learned is that when these pollsters and the democrats try to sell that to Trump, they’re trying to separate him from his voting base for the upcoming election.  Whether Trump, who believes in literally nothing at all, believes this crap polling remains to be seen, 3D chess and all that claptrap from the fanbois.

Andrew McCabe writing at CNN.

As a leader in the FBI, I had the opportunity to work closely with the folks who run the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS. I have tremendous respect for them, the demands of their work, and the professional way they do it. As a gun owner and former FBI firearms instructor, I also respect the Second Amendment and appreciate the importance of doing background checks in a way that does not unduly burden law-abiding citizens. From this experience I know there are two simple changes Congress could make to the existing law that would make NICS more effective and the country safer.

First, Congress needs to make clear what it means to be a fugitive.

The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, which required a background check before any person can purchase a firearm from a federally licensed firearms dealer, prohibits the purchase of a firearm by anyone who is a “fugitive from justice.” For almost two decades, the FBI interpreted this to mean that if a NICS check revealed that the purchaser had an outstanding warrant, the sale would be denied.

But in 2017 the Department of Justice issued new guidance limiting the fugitive prohibitor to apply only to people NICS could prove had crossed state lines to avoid prosecution or testifying in a criminal trial.

This new standard levied a burden the FBI could not possibly carry. The minimal information provided by prospective gun purchasers does not give the NICS examiners any insight as to why that person might be running from the law. The FBI lacks the legal authority, resources, or time to fully investigate every gun purchaser with a warrant. This new DOJ guidance ultimately led to the purging of 500,000 records from the NICS database — essentially greenlighting firearms purchases for half a million fugitives.

Congress could change this gap with a stroke of the legislative pen by simply making clear that anyone with an outstanding warrant — for anything — qualifies as a fugitive and is therefore prohibited from purchasing a firearm.

So first of all, he recommends that if you have an outstanding warrant issued by your county Sheriff for failing to show up as a juror, you cannot purchase a firearm.  Let’s continue.

Simply giving NICS additional time to conduct this research would be an easy, inexpensive way to eliminate an obvious vulnerability.

In many cases, it is simply not possible to answer these questions in three business days. Additionally, the compressed time deadline adds unnecessary pressure and stress to the work of examiners who are already challenged by enormous volume.

Well isn’t this just rich.  Andrew McCabe is recommending more manpower for the FedGov, greater delays, and a larger volume of names on the NICS who cannot legally purchase weapons.

Andrew McCabe.  The Andrew McCabe who was part of the deep state with Brennan, Clapper, Comey and Rosenstein.  The same Andrew McCabe who issued the stand-down order on the Clinton email investigation, the same Andrew McCabe who conspired to hide Russian bribes in Uranium One, the same Andrew McCabe who didn’t identify his wife’s financial ties to Clinton on financial disclosure forms, the same Andrew McCabe who conspired to cover up Hillary Clinton crimes, the same Andrew McCabe who tried to pin “excessive use of force” on the American military contractors in Benghazi … that Andrew McCabe.

He’s feeling all lovey now about cracking down on crime.

How rich.  He and CNN are perfect for each other.  What a pit of vipers.

Union Leader.

“The gun owners of America are not fooled,” he said. “Walmart has staked out its position in the culture wars, and we, the 100 million gun owners who don’t commit crimes, are like, wait a minute, you just threw us under the bus.”

Gresham, who has been carrying a concealed weapon for more than 25 years, says he hardly sees anybody openly carrying weapons near New Orleans, where he lives. “I probably have seen one person open-carrying this year,” he said. “But I know thousands of people who conceal carry every day.”

Walmart’s new policy prohibiting open carry, he says, doesn’t affect him. But the way he sees it, “these companies are doing nothing other than trying to show that they’re one of the cool kids.”

And although he’s carried around a firearm for at least 25 years, Gresham says it’s not something he likes to advertise.

Um … what?

Being a good witness to what?  People getting shot while you slip away?  Or have I misinterpreted that?

Being a good witness in terms of hiding your gun so that you don’t have to explain it?  Or do I misunderstand?

What’s he talking about?  I’m not sure, but I don’t like it.  As I’ve explained before, no man lives forever, and it matters how you die.  I refuse to allow a criminal to kill innocent women and children because I wanted to “slip away,” while hiding my gun does that for me.

This is just more of the same shaming of gun owners we’ve witnessed over the last several years.  At some point men have to have scruples and spine, and at some point men have to stop hiding their guns under a bushel.

If I’ve misinterpreted what Mr. Gresham is saying, he’s welcome to drop by and elaborate or correct me.  But based on my reading of the Holy Writ, God expects more of men than that, especially men whom He has called to Himself and given His name.

You’ve seen the lists, whether open or concealed carry.  What gripes me is when gun writers participate in the self-immolation and embarrassment of carrying a gun.  Witness Karen Townsend.

As I wrote earlier this week, this is a solution looking for a problem. Open carry isn’t common, even in gun-friendly Texas. Just as I said about being a Kroger customer, I’m a Walgreens customer and I have never seen anyone take advantage of open carry laws in the store I patronize in Houston.

None of the retailers are saying exactly how they will enforce their decision. In Texas, a retail store must post signs in English and in Spanish that state that store’s gun policy. Store management can ask a customer to leave or call law enforcement over violations to the posted policy.

So according to Karen, if more people did choose to open carry, she wouldn’t have a case to say this is a solution in search of a problem.  In other words, it actually would be a problem demanding a solution.

Folks, the right reaction isn’t to say that open carry isn’t really practiced that much.  That’s saying that there isn’t much exercise of our rights, which is a sad admission of failure on the part of the gun community.  Don’t defend gun ownership that way.  Don’t respond to the controllers by saying that the practice isn’t really that common anyway.

I’ve observed elsewhere that “All of these things are signs and symptoms of the fact that gun owners have been taught by society to respond like dogs or other pets by “operant conditioning.”  The first time you ever openly carried caused you some degree of self consciousness, didn’t it?  Just go ahead and admit it.  It’s useful to demonstrate my point.

Gun owners, and in particular open carriers, are treated like second class citizens, inferior men, uncouth savages, like those who have no etiquette, when exactly the opposite would have been true two hundred years ago.  That’s one reason I openly carry when I can.  In some small way I want to change all of this.  I open carry “For the peace, good and dignity of the country and the welfare of its people.”  So should you.”

Don’t allow them to shame you.

Forbes.

According to an application for a court order filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on September 5, investigators want information on users of Obsidian 4, a tool used to control rifle scopes made by night-vision specialist American Technologies Network Corp. The app allows gun owners to get a live stream, take video and calibrate their gun scope from an Android or iPhone device. According to the Google Play page for Obsidian 4, it has more than 10,000 downloads. Apple doesn’t provide download numbers, so it’s unclear how many iPhone owners could be swept up in this latest government data grab.

If the court approves the demand, and Apple and Google decide to hand over the information, it could include data on thousands of people who have nothing to do with the crimes being investigated, privacy activists warned. Edin Omanovic, lead on Privacy International’s State Surveillance program, said it would set a dangerous precedent and scoop up “huge amounts of innocent people’s personal data.”

As always, the pretext is law enforcement.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) department is seeking information as part of a broad investigation into possible breaches of weapons export regulations. It’s looking into illegal exports of ATN’s scope, though the company itself isn’t under investigation, according to the order. As part of that, investigators are looking for a quick way to find out where the app is in use, as that will likely indicate where the hardware has been shipped.

First, I don’t believe it will be that easy regardless of what they say.  Second, let’s grant for the sake of argument that FedGov really is pursuing the data to enforce export control regulations.  I don’t care.  I have the same opinion on the matter as I do about SWAT teams busting down doors in an effort to find evidence of Marijuana sales before being flushed down the toilet.

I simply don’t care.  If you want to enforce that law, then find another way to get your evidence.  Or better yet, go find and deport illegals rather than worry about things like this.  In other words, go do something the constitution demands you do instead of stretching the boundaries of something you choose to do.

Third, I don’t for one second put past FedGov to lie to the bench in order to build databases of law abiding citizens of who owns what.

This is an all around bad precedent, and it portends very cold winds in the annals of the American police state.

For the time being, ATN has refused.

Following initial reporting on the government demand from Apple and Google of user data for the Obsidian 4 app, ATN stated on Friday that they were not aware of the government’s request for information from the tech giants until a Forbes article broke the story. ATN advised they would not be turning over user information to the DOJ unless required by law.

“ATN has not been contacted by the Department of Justice, Apple, or Google,” the company said in a statement to American Military News on Friday.

“ATN will protect its customers and their identifying data to the absolute extent possible under U.S. law.

Very well, but that’s not Apple or Google.  Do not trust Apple or Google.

Via Dave Hardy, this piece from Stephen Halbrook.

Purportedly to fight street violence, Germany’s Weimar Republic in 1931 decreed gun registration, but warned that the records must not fall into the hands of radical elements. Unfortunately, those radical elements — the National Socialist Party led by Adolf Hitler — seized power in 1933 and used those very same records to disarm political opponents, rendering them incapable of resistance. Disarmed German Jews paid the price in the 1938 Kristallnacht pogrom, a major step in the road to the Holocaust.

Political protest and violence in France prompted Prime Minister Pierre Laval in 1935 to decree firearm registration and repression of the right to assemble. What could possibly go wrong?

The registration records were critical to the Nazis, who overran France five years later, imposing the death penalty for those not turning in their guns, and conscripting the French police to ferret out violators. Despite the chance of being executed, numerous French citizens hid their firearms instead of surrendering them.

The same Pierre Laval became the chief collaborator of the Nazis during the occupation. French newspapers regularly reported the names of gun owners shot by firing squads.

The brave French, who held onto their guns despite the threat of execution, formed the basis for the French Resistance. To be sure, they never had sufficient arms, and prewar restrictions on “military-style” firearms hampered their efforts, leaving them with inferior weapons. Yet, they were able to commit acts of sabotage, gain intelligence, and sustain an underground movement to assist the Allies. After D-Day, they engaged in open armed resistance.

Such experiences are as old as humanity. Tyrants, conquerors, and dictators of every breed disarm their subjects in order to dominate and exploit them. It’s an iron law of history. Has it lost its meaning today?

Universal background checks are no good without a national gun registry, and vice versa.  This is why such cannot be allowed.

Reddit/firearms.

I suspect this is the way it’s going to be for bump stock owners.  No one will come hunting for bump stocks, but if somebody commits a crime, the possession of a bump stock will add to the charges.

Well, I guess the DOJ is proud tonight.

This podcast involves Nick Gillespie (of Reason, a libertarian publication) discussing the coming gun control.  He is the second male to speak in the audio.

It’s a sign of the times that the woman has a more manly, robust, defensible view of rights than the men, who sound like quisling, hand-wringing, scared little boys.

There are a few things I would point out after listening to this.  First, Nick gives rather curt treatment to the notion that gun control is coming.  Eventually it will whether this time or soon.

Second, Nick waxes on and on about how resistance to gun buybacks and confiscations creates problems and makes “conservatives” look bad.  Those who are the very ones, he says, who supposedly support the “rule of law,” will be the ones opposing the rule of law.

This is what happens to unprincipled libertarians who found their rights in virtually nothing at all except that’s the way they want it to be.  It’s better for you to know and understand where yours comes from.  You have the RKBA because the Almighty says so, and any other foundation will wash away and disappoint you.  Philosophers call it a “deontological basis” for defining right and wrong.

If you refuse to found your rights on solid ground, you will become like Nick, just maybe a little more stubborn and unwilling to admit that you don’t have a case to the RKBA when the ruling elite say you don’t.

Free Beacon.

Liberal billionaire George Soros’s advocacy organizations are lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill to repeal an act protecting firearms manufacturers from liability for gun crimes including murder, disclosure forms show.

The Open Society Policy Center is Soros’s D.C.-based 501(c)4 nonprofit that works on domestic and international advocacy and is affiliated with the much larger Open Society Foundations. The center has poured nearly $9 million into lobbying a range of issues so far this year.

Soros’s group reported spending $2.6 million on lobbying throughout the first quarter, covering international, military, and appropriations issues. In addition, the center moved into gun control advocacy and reported lobbying on “issues related to a bill to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.”

As if we didn’t know his position before.  So the Jew who helped the Nazis find Hungarian Jews wants the people to be disarmed.  Color me shocked.

By the way, it’s easy to find the “fact-finders” who claim that George Soros never said what he said about helping the Nazis.  They are all liars, or just stupid and stolid.

Watch this video if you need proof.  It was difficult to get it to YouTube without Google scrubbing it.  Google helped Soros scrub other videos of his 60 Minutes interview, but redditors found tape (and I do mean tape, in a library, that they had to check out and convert to YouTube format), to reload it to YouTube.  Because YouTube = Google = wicked.

So don’t give me any of that crap about Soros never said this-and-that.  Yes … he … did.

Or if you need any other evidence, read this transcript.

KROFT: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. Yes.

KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews.

Mr. SOROS: Yes. That’s right. Yes.

KROFT: I mean, that’s–that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult?

Mr. SOROS: Not–not at all. Not at all. Maybe as a child you don’t–you don’t see the connection. But it was–it created no–no problem at all.

KROFT: No feeling of guilt?

Mr. SOROS: No.

KROFT: For example that, ‘I’m Jewish and here I am, watching these people go. I could just as easily be there. I should be there.’ None of that?

Mr. SOROS: Well, of course I c–I could be on the other side or I could be the one from whom the thing is being taken away. But there was no sense that I shouldn’t be there, because that was–well, actually, in a funny way, it’s just like in markets–that if I weren’t there–of course, I wasn’t doing it, but somebody else would–would–would be taking it away anyhow. And it was the–whether I was there or not, I was only a spectator, the property was being taken away. So the–I had no role in taking away that property. So I had no sense of guilt.  (George Soros, 60 Minutes interview transcript, December 20, 1998)

So enough said.  He is your enemy in every conceivable way.