Matt Gaetz Calls To Abolish The ATF After Agency Issues Rule Allegedly Making It Harder For Certain People To Buy Guns

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Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced legislation Wednesday that would abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after they enacted a rule that would make pistol stabilizing braces illegal for anyone without a certain license.

The legislation, titled the “Abolish the ATF Act,” would totally eliminate the ATF immediately after the bill is enacted. Gaetz introduced the bill after the ATF announced they would make gun owners face the possibility of being charged with a felony if they do not register their firearms with the stabilizing braces.

Gaetz said that the House GOP has the ATF in their “crosshairs.”

“House Republicans have the ATF in our crosshairs. The continued existence of the ATF is increasingly unwarranted based on their repeated actions to convert law-abiding citizens into felons. They must be stopped. My bill today would abolish the ATF once and for all,” Gaetz said in a statement.

READ THE LEGISLATION HERE: 

(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers

In June of 2021, Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also introduced legislation that would abolish ATF if signed into law, which Gaetz was a co-sponsor of. The Daily Caller first obtained that legislation, titled the “Brian A. Terry Memorial Eliminate the ATF Act.” The bill was named after Marine and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was killed in a gunfight after a group of armed men attempted to rob smugglers who were transporting drugs from Mexico to the U.S.

The Caller also broke the news of legislation introduced by Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall in the Senate that would protect Americans’ second amendment rights from the ATF-proposed registry for firearms with stabilizing braces.

Democrats have been focused on passing legislation that would stop gun trafficking, ban the import, sale, manufacture, transfer or possession of high-capacity magazines, raise the purchase age for certain rifles from 18 to 21 and promote safer storage of guns.

AUTHOR

HENRY RODGERS

Chief national correspondent. Follow Henry Rodgers On Twitter

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EDITORS NOTE:

Blue States Attempted To Crackdown On Guns. Firearm Sales Skyrocketed Instead

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Blue states have recently introduced restrictive gun laws that aim to remove firearms from the streets, but numerous states are now seeing massive increases in gun sales as Americans begin to “vote with their wallets,” according to data from the Firearm Industry Trade Association (NSSF).

Gun sales in Oregon, Washington and Illinois jumped either before or after legislators introduced or passed restrictive gun measures, according to National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) data adjusted by the NSSF. The number of gun sales per month in each state was based on the number of firearm background checks performed by NICS.

‘Threats, and actual legislation to limit the right of law-abiding citizens to own the firearm of their choosing, does have an effect on firearm sales,” NSSF Public Affairs Managing Director Mark Oliva told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

In November, Oregon residents narrowly passed Ballot Measure 114, a gun law that requires background checks, firearm training, fingerprint collection and a permit to purchase a gun. Following the law’s passing, background checks jumped from 29,472 in October to 86,075 in November, according to NSSF data obtained by the DCNF.

“Oregon’s figures easily demonstrate that Oregonians acted while they had the opportunity to buy the guns of their choice before the state moved to infringe on their Constitutional rights,” Oliva told the DCNF.

In March 2022, Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed three gun laws that restrict gun usage, including where guns can be carried, how to handle firearms without serial numbers and what kinds of magazines can be made and sold, according to The Spokesman-Review. After signing the laws, background checks jumped from 39,247 in February to 59,419 in March, according to the NSSF data.

In December 2022, Inslee announced additional gun control legislation that would ban “assault-style” weapons, hold manufacturers and retailers accountable for gun sales and implement a permit-to-purchase requirement for all gun buyers, according to a press conference.

“We intend in this session of the legislature to give Washingtonians assertive, effective and protective laws to protect them and their children against this epidemic of gun violence,” Inslee said.

Background checks in Illinois were at 33,326 in November, jumping to 42,305 in December, according to NSSF data.

“Every time new restrictions on firearms ownership are enacted we always see a spike in gun sales. The gun prohibition lobby is the best gun salesman out there. When people’s Second Amendment rights are attacked they respond by exercising them,” Second Amendment Foundation Founder Alan Gottlieb told the DCNF.

In January, Illinois passed a ban on “assault weapons” that went into effect immediately. The law banned more than 100 guns that were deemed “weapons of war” and limited magazine capacity to 10 rounds for long guns and 15 rounds for handguns, according to the legislation. However, the law states that gun owners can keep any firearm purchased before the ban took effect.

Leading up to the law’s passing, background checks climbed from 33,318 to 51,301 over a three-month period, according to NSSF data. “There’s been quite a rush of people trying to get in under the wire,” Maxon Shooter’s Supplies Owner Dan Eldridge told the Illinois Newsroom.

“Obviously, the law-abiding gun owners are concerned. And they’re voting with their wallets,” he continued.

AUTHOR

BRONSON WINSLOW

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: Gun Sales Jump In Oregon With 36,000 People Waiting On Delayed Background Checks

RELATED VIDEO: Why Would You Ever Carry Concealed a Taurus G2c

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Remembering When Gun Control Was at Least Remotely Rational

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A curious mutation in gun control activism occurred during the last few decades, whence began a fixation on something dubbed the “assault rifle.”

Never mind that an assault rifle, insofar as the designation was ever at all valid, had always referenced a weapon with a “select fire” feature allowing three types of operation: semi-automatic, fully-automatic or in three-shot bursts. This doesn’t, of course, describe the class of rifles (e.g., AR-15-style) now targeted, whose operation is semi-automatic only (one bullet released per trigger pull), just like 50 percent of all new guns sold. But whatever you call them, here are two facts:

The obsession with banning them is much, much newer than they are.

They’re merely part of a weapons class (rifles) used in fewer killings than are “personal weapons” — hands, fists and feet. That’s according to the FBI, mind you.

In contrast, handguns are used in 62 percent of murders committed with firearms. There was a time when this guided gun-control activists’ thinking, too.

Back in the ’80s and into the ’90s, our rancorous firearms debates centered around banning handguns. I disagreed with such a course, but at least the gun-control set’s arguments contained a smidgen of logic.

These weapons are used to commit a robust plurality of our nation’s murders, they said.

They’re concealable and thus are criminals’ firearm of choice, they said. So if anyone believed in gun control as remedy, the focus on handguns at least made sense: Banning firearms would reduce crime, the thesis went, so it was rational to focus on the guns most used, by far, in crimes. It was today’s SJW’s grandfather’s gun control.

But those days now almost seem quaint. Emotion, which always figured prominently in gun-control appeals, has now completely taken over. No longer is there focus on handguns, not even a peep. Instead, it’s all Assault Weapons™ all the time. A couple of reasons for this leap to mind:

  • High-profile mass shootings, which became a lamentably regular phenomenon starting in the ’90s, are often committed with semi-automatic sporting rifles such as the AR-15 (even though a semi-automatic shotgun would be far more effective in such a scenario; i.e., against soft targets at close range).
  • They’re low-hanging fruit — Gun grabbers’ previous failures perhaps taught them that targeting handguns is currently in vain; pistols are the most commonly owned type of firearm, after all. So they focus on AR-15-type weapons.

This can be effective because

  • laymen often find them scary, as they may look like sub-machine guns they see in movies. And as anti-Second Amendment activist Josh Sugarmann demagogically put it in 1989, “Assault weapons…are a new topic. The weapons’ menacing looks, coupled with the public’s confusion over fully-automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons — anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun — can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons”;
  • AR-15-type rifles are possessed by only a minority of gun owners, and with gun owners being just 32 percent of the country, this translates into their being in relatively few Americans’ hands. And people are more amenable to banning a product when doing so won’t affect them directly; and
  • given how the weapons have been misrepresented, the argument “Why do you need such things, anyway?” can be persuasive.

As to the last point, one correct response is that if our freedoms are based on “needs,” we’ll have relatively few freedoms left. We don’t need a fast sports car, ice cream, opera, palatial homes, swimming pools (drowning is the most common cause of death in children 1-4), to go hang-gliding (one of the more dangerous sports) or a multitude of other things. This is why a freedom must be considered innocent until proven guilty; the burden must lie not with the person who’d retain it, but with the one who’d remove it.

Lastly, those who’d criminalize firearms generally believe the weapons are at best superfluous because they trust the government to protect them. That’s certainly a quaint idea. Remember the L.A. riots in 1992, when the government, constrained by political correctness, refused to quell the unrest and allowed miscreants to run amuck? Hapless truck driver Reginald Denny was beaten to within an inch of his life, and some of the only people we saw who could defend themselves were Korean store owners wielding firearms. There also was Hurricane Katrina in 2005, during which many police abandoned their posts and armed gangs were roaming about. Then, of course, there were 2020’s 600-plus BLM/Antifa riots, which also were allowed to proceed unfettered and destroyed billions in property and claimed at least two dozen lives.

But, hey, we’re sure that the next time the boogeymen come, the gubmint will be there for you, right?

Well, you just rest secure in that knowledge, Mr. Liberal, and may you, if worse comes to worst, rest in peace. I’ll just rest with a piece, thank you.

Contact Selwyn Duke, follow him on MeWe, Gettr or Parler, or log on to SelwynDuke.com

©Selwyn Duke. All rights reserved.

ATF Abandons Plans to Destroy Gunrunning Program Evidence

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In a letter to the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) sent in early December, House Judiciary ranking member Jim Jordan (R-OH) urged the Bureau to abandon its plans to destroy gunrunning evidence from Obama-era Attorney General Eric Holder‘s Operation Fast and Furious.

The letter said, in part:

Although the ATF apparently intends to forget its dangerous misconduct in Operation Fast and Furious, the scandal is still a matter of public concern. In fact, earlier this year, prosecutors in Mexico charged seven individuals with crimes related to Operation Fast and Furious, including Mexico’s former top police official and a former Mexican Federal Police commander. Given the potential for ongoing criminal and possible civil actions, it is not in the interest of justice for the ATF to destroy potential evidence associated with Operation Fast and Furious. I request that you immediately take steps to preserve all evidence associated with Operation Fast and Furious and confirm in writing that you have done so.

The ATF responded to Jordan by letting him know they would not destroy the firearms. The House Judiciary GOP responded to the ATF’s reversal by tweeting, “The agency reversed course and informed us that it will now preserve the evidence related to the Obama/Biden scandal.”

Jordan noted that the continued existence of the evidence is paramount, as “there is still ongoing litigation in Mexico” concerning Fast and Furious.

Moreover, Jordan pointed out that the gunrunning scheme failed to result in the arrest of drug cartel leaders, which was the ubiquitous goal of the operation, and it resulted in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Eric Holder

48 Known Connections

Holder Exhorts “Voting-Rights” Activists to Protest in the Streets & Get Arrested

In an August 12, 2021 appearance on MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, Holder said that leftwing protesters needed to be “in the streets” getting arrested in the political fight over voting laws like the radical For The People Act. When Maddow asked Holder to discuss what he thought about “the direct action strategy that is being brought by voting rights advocates,” he replied:

“Power concedes nothing without demand. We too often underestimate the power we have as regular American citizens by marching, by protesting, by raising our voices. That’s a really important part of the thing that I’m leading, The National Democratic Redistricting Committee. We have a big advocacy campaign to get American citizens involved in this fight. If we make our voices known if we demand the kind of change, the fair change we’re seeking, I think it will help in the process. Raising the consciousness of people by demonstrating, by getting arrested, by doing the things that ended segregation. If you asked people back in the 1950s, do you think marching, demonstrating will bring down a system of American apartheid? You probably would have said, no, that won’t happen. We shouldn’t lose faith right now. We shouldn’t lose faith. Citizens can make a change. Citizens need to be in the streets. Citizens need to be demonstrating. Citizens need to be calling representatives to demand the kind of change that will make this country more representative, make our democracy more fair.”

To learn more about Eric Holder, click here.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Discover the Networks column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Double Standard Explained

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Double Standard Explained

If plastic water bottles are okay, but plastic bags are banned, you might live in a nation (state) that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots

If you can get arrested for hunting or fishing without a license, but not for entering and remaining in the country illegally, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you MUST show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If the government wants to prevent stable, law-abiding citizens from owning gun magazines that hold more than ten rounds, but gives twenty F-16 fighter jets to the crazy new leaders in Egypt, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If, in the nation’s largest city, you can buy two 16-ounce sodas, but not one 24-ounce soda, because 24-ounces of a sugary drink might make you fat, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If an 80-year-old woman who is confined to a wheelchair or a three-year-old girl can be strip-searched by the TSA at the airport, but a woman in a burka or a hijab is only subject to having her neck and head searched, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If your government believes that the best way to eradicate trillions of dollars of debt is to spend [give away] trillions more, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If a seven-year-old boy can be thrown out of school for saying his teacher is “cute” but hosting a sexual exploration or diversity class in grade school is perfectly acceptable, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

If you pay your mortgage faithfully, denying yourself the newest big-screen TV, while your neighbor buys iPhone’s, time shares, a wall-sized do-it-all plasma screen TV and new cars, and the government forgives his debt when he defaults on his mortgage, you might live in a nation that was founded by geniuses but is run by idiots.

LET’S SEE IF I GOT THIS RIGHT!

  • IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR.
  • IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY.
  • IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.
  • IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED.
  • IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.
  • IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.
  • IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT.

IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET:

  • A JOB, A DRIVERS LICENSE,
  • SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, WELFARE,
  • FOOD STAMPS, CREDIT CARDS,
  • SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE,
  • FREE EDUCATION, FREE HEALTH CARE,
  • A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON
  • BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE
  • THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY’S FLAG WHILE YOU
  • PROTEST THAT YOU DON’T GET ENOUGH RESPECT AND, IN MANY INSTANCES, YOU CAN VOTE, THAT IS IF YOU VOTE DEMOCRAT!
  • I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT I HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION!
  • PLEASE KEEP THIS GOING! SEND TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
  • IT’S TIME TO WAKE UP AMERICA! IT’S TIME FOR AMERICANS TO WAKE UP!

Ronald Reagan said, “Both politicians and diapers need to be changed often and for the same reason.”

Supposedly when Albert Einstein was asked “is there a limit to intelligence”, he responded ‘yes, but there is no limit to stupidity’

©Wallace Bruschweiler. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Democrats Reject GOP Request For More Information On USPS Surveillance Of Conservatives, Gun Rights Advocates

RELATED TWEET:

Sensible Second Amendment Logic 101

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A reader, h/t TJS, sent us the following ten steps to achieve Second Amendment logic. Please ponder these simple common sense statements. Enjoy.

  1. I’ve no problem with vigorous background checks when it comes to firearms. But, while we’re at it, let’s do the same when it comes to immigration, voter I.D.s, and candidates running for office.
  2. Eleven teens die each day because of texting while driving. Maybe it’s time to raise the age of Smart Phone ownership to 21.
  3. The Second Amendment makes more women equal than the entire feminist movement.
  4. Legal gun owners have 300 million guns and an estimated trillion rounds of ammunition. Seriously, folks, if gun owners were the problem, you’d know about it real quick.
  5. When President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy were murdered, nobody blamed the rifles and gun used.
  6. The National Rifle Association (NRA) members have murdered zero people and this non-profit receives nothing in government funding.
  7. On the other hand, Planned Parenthood (PP) murders 350,000 babies annually and receives $500,000,000 in American tax dollars annually.
  8. Folks keep screaming about another Civil War. One side knows how to shoot and probably has a trillion rounds at the ready. The other side has crying closets, is hopelessly confused about which bathroom they should use or the clothes they should wear. So, what’s your thoughts about how that Civil War would work out?
  9. A man named Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. left 300,000 guns, and ammunition, for the radical, vicious, terrorist Taliban in Afghanistan and then he has the gall to be lecturing law abiding gun owners about gun control.
  10. If gun control laws actually worked, Chicago would be Mayberry, USA.

Common sense wouldn’t you say?

Please read America’s Rifle: The Case for the AR-15

©Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

RELATED TWEET:

Oregon Prepared To Institute ‘One Of The Most Extreme’ Gun Restrictions In The Country

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Oregon voters are considering passing one of the most restrictive gun control measures in the country that would raise the barriers to purchase a firearm and place gun owners on a searchable database.

Measure 114, often referred to as the Reduction of Gun Violence Act, is a ballot measure that will require background checks, firearm training, fingerprint collection and a permit to purchase any firearm, according to the legislation. Oregon already requires background checks for gun owners, and the new legislation will cost the state $49 million annually while also placing an expected 300,000 residents on a gun owner database, according to Fox News.

“This is the most extreme gun control measure in the country, or at least one of the most extreme. It will virtually eliminate firearm sales in Oregon as written,” Oregon State Shooting Association President Kerry Spurgin told Fox News.

The legislation would require those who wish to own a firearm to complete a gun safety course regulated by the police. The measure also would restrict magazine capacity to ten rounds, an issue gun control groups have prioritized for many years.

“This measure will not make our community safer. It will put our communities at greater risk for violence because it requires that every sheriff’s office and police agency divert scarce public safety resources to background systems that already exist,” Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson said in a video statement, according to Fox News.

California maintains a similar database for owners of concealed carry permits, yet the Reduction of Gun Violence Act aims to place all gun owners on a database, according to the legislation. Data on gun owners from the California database was leaked in June, and gun rights advocates have argued that a centralized gun database will lead to an abuse of power.

The legislation was pushed on to the Nov. 8 midterm ballot by Lift Every Voice Oregon, which obtained over 130,000 signatures, Fox News reported. A Oct. 4 poll by The Oregonian shows that 51% of likely voters will support the measure in November.

Lift Every Voice Oregon did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

AUTHOR

BRONSON WINSLOW

Contributor.

RELATED VIDEO: Stop the Looting, Vandalizing and Crime in America Now!

RELATED ARTICLE: California DOJ Breaks Silence After Massive Leak Of Gun Owners’ Private Info

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved. Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

FLORIDA: Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd doesn’t mince words, ‘Shoot looters on sight’

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TL, one of our readers, sent us a link to an article by Citizen Free Press in an email adding,

I worked a bank robbery case with Grady when he was a rookie, my how he has changed over the years.

Grady Judd is the sheriff of Polk County, Florida and has served in this position since 2005.

Citizen Free Press in an article titled Sheriff Grady Judd doesn’t mince words… Shoot looters on sight… reported,

‘Shoot looters like grated cheese’

About Sheriff Grady Judd

Grady Judd began his career at the Polk County Sheriff ’s Office (Florida) in 1972 as a dispatcher. After transferring to the Patrol Division in 1974, he quickly progressed through the ranks – holding every rank from Sergeant to Colonel. Polk County overwhelmingly elected Grady to serve as Sheriff in 2004.

Sheriff Judd has earned higher education degrees through the Masters level – having obtained both Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Rollins College. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the Senior Management Institute for Police, the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar, and the FBI National Executive Institute. He was a participant of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP).

Sheriff Judd has taught as an adjunct professor at both the University of South Florida and Florida Southern College. He is a Polk County School Board Hall of Fame inductee, a past recipient of Polk State College’s prestigious Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2008 Boy Scouts of America Distinguished Citizen Award, Protect Our Children Junny Award, the 2013 Callyo’s Leaders in Online Child Protection Award, as well as the 2013 Church Women United Human Rights Award. He is a past President of the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Major County Sheriffs of America, a national organization serving counties with a population of 500,000 or more.

Grady has been married to Marisa since 1972, and they have two adult sons and 13 grandchildren.

©Citizen Free Press. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: Sheriff Tells Homeowners How to Handle Looters

Supreme Court Overturns Massachusetts Unconstitutional Gun Control Law

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The Supreme Court is the last man standing in defense of our Constitutional rights.

The case was considered a landmark ruling by the court, opening up the potential for new challenges to state and local restrictions on guns……

It is, essentially, a right to self defense. And this era of Democrat lawlessness, it is essential.

Supreme Court vacates controversial Massachusetts gun control law

The Massachusetts gun control law places strict restrictions on the ability to purchase and possess handguns

By Michael Lee | Fox News October 5, 2022:

The Supreme Court ordered a lower court ruling on a Massachusetts gun control law to be vacated and directed a lower court to reconsider the case.

The case in question, Morin v. Lyver, centers around a controversial Massachusetts law that imposes strict restrictions on the possession and purchase of handguns, including the need for a license in order to purchase or posses a pistol. The law also includes a lifetime ban on purchasing handguns on anyone convicted of a nonviolent misdemeanor involving the possession or use of guns.

The U.S. District Court of Massachusetts originally found the law constitutional, but the Supreme Court on Monday ordered that ruling vacated and the case “remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit for further consideration in light of New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen.”
The case, a 6-3 ruling earlier this year, struck down a New York law that required people to demonstrate “proper cause” to obtain a concealed handgun permit.

“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,’” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority at the time. “We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need.”

The case was considered a landmark ruling by the court, opening up the potential for new challenges to state and local restrictions on guns……

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

RELATED ARTICLE: Most Of The Looters Arrested In Hurricane-Ravaged Florida Are Illegal Aliens

EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

The Stasi Actions Of The Politicized DOJ

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“East Germany was so total in its totalitarianism that everything was banned which wasn’t compulsory.” —  P. J. O’Rourke

“It’s an historical fact that the Stasi did horrible things and that they monitored a lot of people in East Germany, but I find it very interesting to think about the importance of the Western secret services back then and still working today.” —  Christian Schwochow, German Film Director

“While the Antifascist Action and all opposing groups were banned after Hitler became head of state, the antifa communist ideology never went away. From the ashes of WWII, it was absorbed and institutionalized in the official state ideology of what would become the German Democratic Republic, also known as East Germany. From 1949 to 1990, East Germany existed as a communist state carved out of the Weimar Republic by the Soviet Union, one of WWII’s victorious Allied leaders. For over forty years, the extremely repressive conditions in East Germany exemplified what “antifa” state-building actually looks like.” — Andy Ngo, Journalist, Author

“I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision, so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.” — Former Idaho Senator, Frank Church

Who were the Stasi?  One of the most hated and feared institutions of the East

German communist government. They were the internal security and police apparatus in the Soviet zone of occupation in East Germany after World War II.  Their job was to spy on the people.  They were similar to the KGB in that their spying (gathering intelligence) kept the government informed enough to squash any dissent.

Like a giant octopus, the Stasi’s tentacles probed every aspect of life; all major industrial plants, apartment buildings, schools, universities, hospitals and theologians had informers.   Doctors, lawyers, journalists, writers, actors, and sports figures were co-opted by Stasi officers, as were waiters and hotel personnel.

The Stasi was one of the most successful intelligence services in history: they kept almost unimaginably detailed files and records on large quantities of the population, and created an atmosphere of fear and unease that they then proceeded to exploit.

Lives were lost trying to escape communist/fascist control.

Just as Italy’s Benito Mussolini established and controlled his power between 1922 to 1930, we have seen exactly the same tactics in America.  He used violence and intimidation of opposing parties, media was controlled along with censorship, education in schools and universities was closely monitored, and trade unions were controlled through the state.

The old “turn in your neighbor” that we saw in Nazi Germany, Italy, Poland, and other countries run by totalitarian oligarchs was revived in Biden’s recent fascist speech.

Perhaps it isn’t as obvious to the majority of Americans, but Stasi tactics are alive and well in America more so under Biden’s Department of Justice, with Merrick Garland as the Attorney General.  And every intelligence department is “woke” enough to be in on the totalitarian takeover of America.

FBI Raids

We’ve seen enough examples of the attacks on opposition leadership via the overzealous raids by the Stasi FBI.  Roger Stone, Peter Navarro, Paul Manafort, Mike Lindell and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, to name just a few, were subjected to hordes of armed agents descending upon their homes, some in the middle of the night.

Steve Bannon told Charlie Kirk that the FBI “rolled in on” 35 senior members of MAGA Republican supporters of Donald Trump.”  Saying the alleged searches were unnecessary because their targets have lawyers, he called the FBI the “jackbooted Gestapo,” a reference to the secret police of Nazi Germany.

The FBI’s history belies their motto of fidelity, bravery and integrity.  The same can now be said of the rest of the intelligence network.

Think about what just happened to Mark Houck, father of seven, a noted Catholic, and pro-life activist. After an incident between Houck, his son, and a belligerent pro-abortionist escort, the DOJ found good reason for 30 armed agents to show up at his house and drag him away in hand-cuffs in front of his wife and children in the middle of the night.

When both the city police and the district attorney declined to file charges against Houck for pushing the pro-abortionist away from his son, the escort filed a private criminal complaint in Philadelphia municipal court. The case was dismissed in July when the man repeatedly didn’t show up in court.

Twenty-two members of Congress demanded answers from Attorney General Merrick Garland over the Stasi actions of the politicized FBI.  Where were the other 240 Republicans in the House and Senate?  Silent as usual.

FBI Attack on Private Property

Karl Marx said, “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.”  The FBI is following Marxist doctrine.

Zero Hedge reported on September 26th, that the FBI Misled Judge, Then Seized $86 Million In Cash From Beverly Hills Safe-Deposit Boxes.

The FBI ‘drilled and pried’ their way into 1,400 safe-deposit boxes at a private vault company in Beverly Hills after misleading a judge about their plan to permanently confiscate everything inside every box containing at least $5,000 in cash or goods, a senior FBI agent recently testified.

This was private property!

Sean Davis tweeted, “The FBI is trash. It is both a domestic terrorist organization and a criminal cartel, and it should no longer be allowed to exist in what used to be a free country with laws.”  He is right!

Destruction of the fourth amendment of the Bill of Rights!

Amendment IV states: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The FBI menace is escalating.

FBI Whistleblowers

Miranda Devine’s September 28, 2022 article in the New York Post tells of 30 ex-FBI agents who are standing up for the latest whistleblower, Stephen Friend.

Those 30 former agents include a retired deputy assistant director, head of counterterrorism and five SWAT team members, who have spoken out publicly in support of suspended FBI whistleblower Stephen Friend.  Friend alleged that the FBI has been manipulating case-file management in order to falsely inflate the threat of domestic terrorism, and using unconstitutional excessive force against political dissenters.

Many former agents hailed Friend, a SWAT team member in Florida, as a “hero” after he was punished for refusing to participate in what he regarded as unnecessarily heavy-handed SWAT raids over Jan. 6 misdemeanors.

The FBI is no longer devoid of political partisanship.  As such, whistleblowers have come forward against the use of swat teams “to arrest non-violent senior citizens and others with political opinions not currently tolerated by this administration, compounded by the idea that many of these cases involve misdemeanor criminal charges.”

Economic Fascism

Far too many physicians, nurses, airline pilots, and federal and state employees have been forced to take the COVID inoculations, or lose their jobs.  The unconstitutional mandates were totalitarian in nature and have ruined faith in the medical industry who along with the Biden administration, the NIH, CDC, FDA, AMA, medical journals and group practices, promoted masks, social distancing, lockdowns and clot shots.  All were unconstitutional and all were highly damaging to society and especially to the middle class.  This was all planned and exposed by Dr. Richard Day in 1969.  Dr. Lawrence Dunegan recorded what he remembered of the lecture given by Day, and it was the New World Order plan for society, most of which was already completed.

Corporate entities jumped on the bandwagon for all of it, but now the woke propaganda fear porn spread by the alphabet agencies has taken a new turn.  What is promoted in the “Codes of Conduct or Ethics” in America’s job openings is alarming and invasive.

A friend of mine received this link from “All Time Favorites”  because her former business used to be listed as one of their vendors, and they sent this out to their entire mail list.  She sent it to me with the statement, “They will not hire anyone who has anything to do with anyone Trump even knows, it seems, or anyone who disagrees with vaccines or Ukraine, etc.

It is crazy. I have never seen anything like this.”

Here is what was listed under their Code of Conduct:

  • Good moral character, ethics, honesty, and high integrity are very important to All Time Favorites.
  • You agree to abide by a code of conduct outlined here while working with All Time Favorites.
  • You agree to not do business with nor show admiration or positive support for those who do not fit this code of conduct.
  • This is not about politics.
  • Examples of those who you agree NOT to do events for nor associate with include:
  • Q-anon, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and any business Donald J. Trump owns/runs, his family owns/runs, or his business partners. (This would include Eric Trump’s fundraising for St. Jude’s.)
  • You also agree not to mass distribute nor promote false information.
    For example (but not limited to): False information about Covid-19 and related vaccines; that the election was stolen from Donald Trump in 2020, or similar.
  • Our experience shows us that people who follow and support those who tell lies, bully, disrespect and degrade others, usually show us that they do not have the respect, character, morals and integrity we require to serve our clients.
  • You agree not to threaten, bully, disrespect ethnic groups or cheat others in your business transactions.
  • Currently, due to the Ukraine invasion by Russia, you are not supporting or showing any support of Putin and those under his direction.
  • ATF DOES monitor social media posts and other communication to assure our code of conduct is adhered to.

Patriotic Americans are not just the enemies of the Biden state, but enemies of every single vestige of society as well.  The first amendment, which gives all Americans the liberty and freedom to freely speak about what they believe, has been squelched by the very enemies of the nation, those controlled by the Marxist/Fascist propaganda.

In Thomas J. DiLorenzo’s 1994 article, Economic Fascism, he clearly explains what we’re facing in 2022.

He states that when people hear the word “fascism, they naturally think of ugly racism and the anti-Semitism practiced by the regimes of Mussolini and Hitler,” but the reality is there was also an economic policy component of fascism known as “corporatism,” practiced by the two totalitarians.  DiLorenzo tells us that corporatism was adopted in Italy and Germany in the 1930s and was held up as a “model” by intellectuals and policy makers in America and Europe.  A version of this fascist corporatism was adopted in the USA in the 1930s and is still around.  Rather than “fascism,” it is called “planned capitalism.”  “The word fascism may no longer be politically acceptable, but its synonym, ‘industrial policy’ is still as popular as ever.”

Economist Lawrence Dennis was one of the most outspoken American fascists and in his 1936 book, The Coming American Fascism, he declared that defenders of 18th-century Americanism were sure to become the laughing stock of their own countrymen.  He believed that the adoption of economic fascism would actually intensify “national spirit” and put it behind “the enterprises of public welfare and social control.”  What he bemoaned was the fact that the stumbling block to economic fascism was “liberal norms of law or constitution guarantees of private rights.”  (Emphasis mine.)

Many of those wonderful God-given rights are today being trampled underfoot not only by the totalitarian despots in charge of the once greatest country on earth but by their corporate acolytes.  The above “Code of Conduct” is a prime example.

In the article, Off-Duty Conduct and Employee Rights, the author states, “Federal antidiscrimination laws that apply to private employment do not protect political beliefs or affiliations.”  So, your private life is not private from your employer.

There are however, questions an employer is not allowed to ask.  Unfortunately, one of the questions considered unlawful is, “Are you a United States citizen?”  Huh?!

I didn’t see any of the protestors who were involved in Antifa or BLM riots losing their employment.  In fact, Team Biden and his apparatchiks encouraged street demonstrations that might spiral out of control.  Nearly all of them did.

Whistleblower Edward Snowden

In Daniel Ellsberg’s nine-year-old Guardian article, Edward Snowden: saving us from the United Stasi of America, he calls, “Edward Snowden’s whistleblowing a chance to roll back what is tantamount to an ‘executive coup’ against the US Constitution.”

He also believed that we had not yet become a police state although another tragedy like that of 9/11 would push us over the brink.  I believe we have reached that point inasmuch as the entire C-19 project against Americans, including the mandated inoculations, have thrown us into that authoritarian camp.

The dangerous abyss that Idaho Senator Frank Church warned of years ago is now upon us.  The dangerous prospect of which he warned was that America’s intelligence gathering capability – which is today beyond any comparison with what existed in his pre-digital era – “at any time could be turned around on the American people and no American would have any privacy left.”

Ellsberg states, “That has now happened. That is what Snowden has exposed, with official, secret documents. The NSA, FBI and CIA have, with the new digital technology, surveillance powers over our own citizens that the Stasi – the secret police in the former “democratic republic” of East Germany – could scarcely have dreamed of. Snowden reveals that the so-called intelligence community has become the United Stasi of America.

“Snowden did what he did because he recognized the NSA’s surveillance programs for what they are: dangerous, unconstitutional activity. This wholesale invasion of Americans’ and foreign citizens’ privacy does not contribute to our security; it puts in danger the very liberties we’re trying to protect.”

Conclusion

Our private lives, aside from our employment, are only one faction of the encroaching takeover of America by those who have long promoted the New World Order, now called the Great Reset, which is nothing more than United Nations Agenda 21/30.

In the last few years, Americans have seen the despotic and repressive destruction of our health care system.  Dr. Richard Day’s lecture of 1969 entitled, The New Order of Barbarians, told us the plan.  That dark agenda is upon us.

Next up, we’ll study the Stasi control of our health care which was once ranked among the world’s healthiest populations in 1984.  But in 2021, a study by the Commonwealth Fund ranked America’s health care system dead last among industrialized nations, with the highest infant mortality and lowest life expectancy.  In the 38 years between 1984 and 2022, Anthony Fauci has been the catalyst of desolation.

©Kelleigh Nelson. All rights reserved.

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‘We’re A Second Amendment State’: DeSantis Warns Off Prospective Ian Looters

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Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a stern warning during a Friday press conference in Fort Myers to would-be looters in the wake of Hurricane Ian.

“I can tell you in the state of Florida, you never know what may be lurking behind somebody’s home,” the governor cautioned, according to Fox News.

“And I would not want to chance that if I were you — given that we’re a Second Amendment state.”

DeSantis warned against taking advantage of vulnerable people in areas hit hardest by Ian’s destruction. “We want to make sure we’re maintaining law and order,” he said. Local law enforcement remains involved in monitoring any and all looting and state assistance could be called on for help, DeSantis noted further. One sign reading, “You loot, we shoot” was spotted by the governor in Punta Gorda, Fox News reported.

The Category 4 storm left more than 2 million without power after making landfall Wednesday. Flooding hit Fort Myers, Florida particularly hard, where looters were arrested Friday on Fort Myers Beach, according to ABC 3. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office expressed a zero tolerance stance on looting, promising to arrest any involved in criminal activity, the outlet said.

“We are not going to look like Chicago or New York where we’re letting people out in 24 hours so they can go back and loot another home,” tweeted Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody in response to reports of looting. “That will not be tolerated here.”

AUTHOR

ALYSSA BLAKEMORE

Contributor.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

It’s ‘Unreasonable’ for Banks to Share Your Financial Info With the Government, 8 in 10 Americans Say

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About a fifth, 21%, think it is reasonable.

hat if your bank shared what you spent your money on with the federal government? By law, banks and other financial institutions (like car dealerships, jewelers, pawn shops) are required to report certain types of purchases people make to financial regulators. What do Americans think of this?

A new Cato Institute national survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted by YouGov finds that 79% of Americans believe it is “unreasonable” for your bank to share your financial records and bank transactions with the federal government. About a fifth, 21%, think it is reasonable.

Instead, and overwhelming majority—83%—think that the government should first obtain a warrant to access your financial records, while 17% think a warrant shouldn’t be needed.

Even in an era of hyper‐​partisanship, Democrats, Republicans, and independents agree on this issue. Majorities of Democrats (68%), independents (83%), and Republicans (89%) think it’s unreasonable for your bank to share your financial records with the government. Similarly, overwhelming majorities of Democrats (82%), independents (76%), and Republicans (87%) think a warrant should be needed first.

The issue somewhat divides a portion of the Democratic coalition. Americans who identify as “very liberal” were the most likely (41%) group to think it’s reasonable for banks to share customers’ records with the federal government compared with 26% of mainline liberals.  Nevertheless, strong majorities of both strong liberals (59%) and moderate liberals (74%) believe sharing what people buy with the federal government is unacceptable. Furthermore, the same percentage (86%) of both say the government should need to obtain a warrant before reviewing purchases people make.

The Cato Institute 2022 Financial Privacy National Survey was designed and conducted by the Cato Institute in collaboration with YouGov. YouGov collected responses online August 17 to 23, 2022, from a national sample of 2,000 Americans 18 years of age and older. Restrictions are put in place to ensure that only the people selected and contacted by YouGov are allowed to participate. The margin of error for the survey is +/- 2.39 percentage points at the 95% level of confidence.

The topline questionnaire and survey methodology can be found here. If you would like to speak to Dr. Ekins on the poll’s results please contact pr@​cato.​org or 202–789-5200.

This Cato Institute article was republished with permission.

AUTHOR

Emily Ekins

Emily Ekins is a research fellow at the Cato Institute.

EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Gun Safety: Good Mother in a Bad Neighborhood

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No matter what country, state, or city you live in, every neighborhood has pros and cons. Most big cities in the United States tend to have “good” areas and “bad” ones, though it is unclear to me exactly what differentiates one from the other. What I do know is that too many neighborhoods are wracked by the (supposed) “gun violence” and abuse of gun ownership.

I had a horrible experience in the past, which made me realize that carrying a firearm for self-defense is vital. I have a 2-year-old child and we live in Tolleson, which is among the 10 most dangerous towns in Arizona, so I am fully committed to protecting myself and my family by arming myself and maintaining gun safety.

Regarding firearm safety and awareness, here are two important things to consider:

Care About Mental Health

DRGO released the story of a young woman, Shayna Lopez-Rivas, who was denied her Second Amendment rights just because she was seeking mental health help for an ongoing case of PTSD. As a rape survivor, this woman had already gone through many painful experiences, so she was simply looking to protect herself just like any other citizen.

Psychiatrist Dr. Robert Young, DRGO Editor [Ed: no relation], explains the importance of gun ownership very clearly. He describes the Right to Keep and Bear Arms using the words of St. George Tucker: “the palladium of liberty”. According to Dr. Young, owning guns is a basic individual right just like all other rights of the American people. He also adds that for society to be successful, it is the responsibility of the individuals to care their own safety and the safety of others.

Shootings are not only a societal problem, but they are also a matter of public health. Not just physically, as commonly held by anti-gun academics, but because they can deeply affect survivors’ mental states. At the same time, you should not want your child to hate or reject guns simply because of the risk of misuse. Teaching gun safety is much more effective than banning guns from the home or society. Every citizen has the right to own a firearm, and this right should not be denied based on someone’s mental health short of dangerous ideas.

Make Sure Your Child is Safe in Other Homes

When my child grows older and asks me to spend time at friends’ houses, I will support that. However, I will make sure that neither he nor his playmates come in contact with unsecured guns while they play. I will share my family’s safety measures and will discuss theirs with the playmates’ parents.

Sadly, many neighborhoods have been targeted for their endemic violence, which has led children and adolescents to poor life outcomes and self-perpetuating cycles of deprivation and crime.

In 2019, Everytown Research reported a study of 7-year-olds, showing that 75% of those who lived in urban neighborhoods had heard gunshots at least once, 18% had seen a dead body, and 61% worried that they might get injured or killed.

To prevent children from developing misconceptions about the use of guns, they must understand the deeper meaning behind gun ownership, which is instilled in the country’s Constitution. Parents have the responsibility to communicate openly with their children, explaining the importance of staying safe when using a gun and how they should behave when they see one. As per the US Constitution, citizens cannot be prohibited from firearm possession. However, parents should be aware that kids have a natural curiosity about guns, therefore lack of education about the matter may cost their life.

Parents should explain to children that if they ever come across a gun, they should immediately leave the area and find an adult. As they get older, conversations may be expanded to discuss the difference between gun use in TV shows and video games vs reality. A good way to keep the topic alive is by using the TV news as a starting point to talk about how dangerous guns can be and how to stay safe.

Among the debates about gun ownership, my focus is on the use of guns for self-defense. In particular, firearm use should be evaluated not by how many people have died in shootings, but by how many lives have been saved because of their defensive use, not even fired in 90% of cases. As a mother, I will teach my son that defensive gun use is much more than just owning and carrying a weapon. Successful gun defense occurs when crimes are prevented rather than when someone gets killed. Numerous studies have shown that defensive gun use is more protective than restrictionist anti-gun laws.

Concluding Remarks

Violence can shape the lives of children who witness it, leaving them living in fear that they will become victims. Showing that you are prepared to defend them reassures them that their lives are precious, that they will be kept safe. Teaching them the rules of firearm safety and shooting skills as they grow up encourages them to take their safety into their own hands, as we all must in the end.

©Marcie Young. All rights reserved.

McDonald’s CEO Warns Chicago Mayor Lightfoot that Soaring Crime is Leaving its Corporate Staff Too Terrified to Return to HQ

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Mayor Lori Lightfoot has allowed criminals to take over the once great city of Chicago. As such, we are now seeing a corporate exodus out of the Windy City. How long before McDonald’s follows Boeing, Citadel, the Chicago Bears and others out of Chicago? Not very long at this rate. The city of Muddy Waters, John Belushi, John Hughes, and Michael Jordan is dying before our eyes. Little to no media coverage on Lightfoot’s willful incompetence. Shameful.

McDonald’s CEO warns Chicago Mayor Lightfoot that soaring crime in burger giant’s home city is leaving its corporate staff too terrified to return to its HQ

  • Chris Kempczinski spoke last and says the violence has been a problem when trying to convince employees to come back
  • He said: ‘Everywhere I go, I’m confronted by the same question: ‘What’s going on in Chicago? There is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis’ 
  • Crime is up 37 percent from this point in 2021, according to the city’s own data 
  • Murders and shootings are down double digits but thefts are up a shocking 64 percent
  • Previously, Kempczinski appeared to blame parents of two children who were shot and killed in a McDonald’s drive-thru in Chicago to Mayor Lori Lightfoot 
  • Kempczinski – who lives in the city with his family – pledged to not only keep the golden arches headquartered in Chicago but build a new innovation center 

By DailyMail.co.uk, Sept 16, 2022

The CEO of McDonald’s is speaking out about the crime crisis in Chicago and believes the lack of safety is keeping employees from returning to the fast food giant’s Windy City HQ in a warning to Democrat Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Chris Kempczinski spoke last Wednesday at the Economic Club of Chicago, where he says the violence has been a problem when trying to convince employees to come back.

He said: ‘Everywhere I go, I’m confronted by the same question: ‘What’s going on in Chicago? There is a general sense out there that our city is in crisis.’

View Chicago Crime Statistics Here.

AUTHOR

Geller Report Staff

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

How the James-Younger Gang’s Historic Defeat Showed the Importance of a Well-Armed and Responsible Citizenry

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The outlaws met their match on September 7 in 1876. They fell not to federal marshals but to the townspeople of Northfield, Minnesota.

“Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you.” Thus spoke Alexander Graham Bell on March 10, 1876, in the world’s first successful telephone message. Twenty-two-year-old Thomas Augustus Watson thereby became history’s first recipient of a phone call, though he was no further away than an adjacent room. Telemarketers would inevitably follow.

Six months later, on today’s very date—September 7 in 1876—telephonic communication in remote Northfield, Minnesota was still years in the future. Nonetheless, local townspeople by word of mouth put an effective end to a notorious crime spree. “Get your guns, boys, they’re robbing the bank!” shouted Northfield resident J. S. Allen.

The bank robbers on that day were among the most feared and famous outlaws of the day, the James-Younger Gang. Members included Jesse James and his brother Frank, the Younger brothers (Cole, John, Bob, and Jim), plus occasional cohorts such as Clell Miller, Charlie Pitts and Bill Chadwell. Most hailed from Missouri but over an entire decade, they robbed and killed in multiple states from Texas to Kentucky to Iowa and finally, Minnesota.

Not wanting to hold up the First National Bank of Northfield on empty stomachs, the Gang sat down for fried eggs and whisky at a restaurant at about noon. Tanked up and ready to go shortly before 2:00 pm, they headed over to the bank. Having noticed the outlaws (alert residents later testified that the thugs reeked of alcohol), the stage was set for a violent confrontation.

Gunshots rang out and a Swedish immigrant selling vegetables fell dead. Inside the bank, teller James Heywood refused to cooperate by forking over the cash and was shot dead on the spot. As townspeople opened fire, the Gang attempted to escape with a few bags of nickels. Two of the thugs were killed, and every one of the remaining six (including Jesse James himself) was wounded.

What’s the difference, asks an old joke, between a successful bank robber and one who ends up in prison? One’s a pro, and one’s a con. In the end, the James-Younger Gang were definitely in the latter category.

Well-armed and public-spirited Northfield citizens formed a posse and pursued the crooks. All but brothers Frank and Jesse James were either killed or caught and sentenced to long prison terms. To this very day, Northfield hosts an annual “Defeat of Jesse James Days” celebration in September to commemorate the town’s break-up of the James-Younger Gang.

In his riveting book, Chasing Frank and Jesse James: The Bungled Northfield Bank Robbery and the Long Manhunt, Wayne Fanebust assesses this colorful episode:

[I]t was a huge mistake for the James–Younger gang to venture forth into Minnesota, looking for fat bank to rob. It was extremely arrogant of the Missouri outlaws to think that the hard-working farm and businesspeople of the northern prairie would simply run away once the shooting started. And when the shooting started at Northfield, Minnesota, the townspeople offered stiff and brave resistance, exchanging gunfire with gunfire. When the shooting stopped, two outlaws lay dead in the street, and the rest were shot up and sent riding for their lives. Two citizens of Northfield were killed in a shocking crime that set in motion one of the greatest and most exciting manhunts in American history.

When the James Brothers resumed their crime spree (mostly train robberies) a few years later, Missouri Governor Thomas Crittenden privatized their apprehension by offering a huge reward.

On April 3, 1882, an aspiring Gang member named Bob Ford fired the fatal shot that killed Jesse James in St. Joseph, Missouri. The story is dramatized in the 2007 Brad Pitt/Casey Affleck film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Jesse’s brother Frank surrendered shortly thereafter.

A fifteen-year theft and murder saga had come to an abrupt end, underscoring the wisdom of the adage, “A gun in hand is better than a cop on the phone.”

When the cops do their job and do it well, I’m the first to offer thanks. But we should always be just as grateful for a well-armed, vigilant, and responsible citizenry.

AUTHOR

Lawrence W. Reed

Lawrence W. Reed is FEE’s President Emeritus, Humphreys Family Senior Fellow, and Ron Manners Global Ambassador for Liberty, having served for nearly 11 years as FEE’s president (2008-2019). He is author of the 2020 book, Was Jesus a Socialist? as well as Real Heroes: Incredible True Stories of Courage, Character, and Conviction and Excuse Me, Professor: Challenging the Myths of Progressivism. Follow on LinkedIn and Like his public figure page on Facebook. His website is www.lawrencewreed.com.

EDITORS NOTE: This FEE column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.