Gun groups are sounding the alarm about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new center aimed at helping states enforce red flag laws.
The DOJ launched its National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center on Saturday to offer assistance to law enforcement officials, social services providers and others who implement red flag laws, which permit judges to temporarily strip individuals deemed a risk to themselves or others of their ability to possess firearms. The center, which will be run by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, was started with a $2 million DOJ grant funded through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) passed in 2022, according to the White House.
“Red flag laws are inherently a violation of the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments because they allow for the confiscation of legal firearms from law-abiding citizens without due process based on anonymous accusations,” the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) said in a statement to the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Thus, they have no place in American Jurisprudence.”
President Joe Biden and the DOJ will use the center to “continue their abuse of the constitutional rights of all Americans,” NAGR said.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in the center’s announcement that it was “the latest example of the Justice Department’s work to use every tool provided by the landmark Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to protect communities from gun violence.”
“The launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order Resource Center will provide our partners across the country with valuable resources to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others,” Garland said.
Twenty-one states, along with the District of Columbia, have passed ERPO laws, according to the DOJ’s press release.
What the hell is this evil? A Federal Red Flag center; We did not authorize this. Announced, of course, just hours after the omnibus passes. https://t.co/IkuK0aTeV8
NAGR Vice President Ryan Flugaur told the Daily Caller News Foundation his organization blames Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who led Republican negotiations on the bill, for the “mess.” Flugaur said it should stop Cornyn from becoming the next Republican Senate leader.
Fifteen Senate Republicans joined Democrats in voting for the BSCA in 2022.
The violence and devastation that will flow from the newly announced "DOJ Red Flag Resource Center"–– funded by the 2022 Bipartisan "Safer Communities" Act––will fall squarely on the shoulders of @JohnCornyn, @MittRomney, and their anti-rights Fudd co-conspirators: https://t.co/ZrDUIgTYSjpic.twitter.com/kvhVpTRyCZ
Gun Owners of America Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston told the DCNF the office was “being created simply to pressure and bribe states into adopting these laws in exchange for more federal money.”
“For example, Michigan enacted a gun confiscation law within a few months of receiving a Cornyn-Murphy ‘grant.’” he said. “The People should demand their state lawmakers push back and never sell out your rights for 30 pieces of silver.”
Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the state’s red flag bill into law in May 2023. The state was awarded a $7,945,884 DOJ grant in February 2023 “to help combat gun violence and enhance behavioral health and crisis care programs,” which was made possible through the BSCA.
Thirty-three members of Congress, led by Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall and Republican West Virginia Rep. Alex Mooney, alleged in a letter last July that the DOJ illegally gave grant money to states that did not have red flag laws to “create and implement extreme risk protection order programs.”
“Every single ‘red flag’ gun confiscation law in the United States lacks due process because the government can convene a hearing and take your firearms away without you or your attorney ever being present to counter the claims being made,” Johnston told the DCNF.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-03-30 13:26:352024-03-30 13:34:40Gun Groups Sound Alarm About New DOJ ‘Red Flag’ Law Center
Apparently the Democrat regime’s gun control mania only applies to law abiding American citizens but not illegals. An Obama judge U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman recently ruled illegals can carry guns.
This all goes back to the relentless war on our first amendment – free speech. Once you criminalize speech (under the Orwellian ‘hate speech), all of our other rights come crashing down, like dominoes.
What the hell is this evil? A Federal Red Flag center; We did not authorize this. Announced, of course, just hours after the omnibus passes. https://t.co/IkuK0aTeV8
President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) made a significant announcement on Saturday with the launch of the National Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) Resource Center, catching some congressional Republicans off guard. Attorney General Merrick Garland emphasized in a press release that the new center aims to equip law enforcement officials and other stakeholders with resources to prevent individuals deemed dangerous from accessing firearms. ERPOs, commonly known as “red flag” laws, enable authorities to confiscate guns from individuals deemed to pose a threat to themselves or others, with provisions to prevent them from purchasing or possessing firearms for the duration of the order.
Garland framed the establishment of the center as a proactive measure in leveraging the tools provided by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to address gun violence. The DOJ’s initiative underscores the administration’s commitment to utilizing all available means to enhance public safety and prevent potential tragedies involving firearms.
The newly launched National ERPO Resource Center includes a website offering a plethora of resources and guidance for stakeholders involved in implementing red flag laws. It provides training and technical assistance to various professionals, including law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, and mental health professionals, involved in executing laws aimed at curbing access to firearms for individuals deemed risky.
Additionally, the center’s website features a comprehensive state-by-state guide on red flag laws across the country, offering specific information on each state’s ERPO legislation. Currently, 21 states and the District of Columbia have enacted red flag laws, reflecting a growing trend in adopting measures to address concerns related to gun violence and mental health.
Republican lawmakers, however, expressed surprise and concern over the DOJ’s move to establish a federal resource center for red flag laws. Some, like Representative Thomas Massie and Senator Mike Lee, voiced opposition to the initiative, questioning its authorization and raising concerns about potential overreach by the federal government in matters traditionally regulated by states.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2024-03-26 05:36:122024-03-29 10:41:39DOJ Creates New Federal ‘Red Flag’ Center To Seize Firearms From Law-Abiding Americans [But Not Illegals]
An illegal immigrant was wrongly banned from possessing guns, according to a recent ruling.
A federal law, Section 922 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, bars illegal immigrants from carrying guns or ammunition. Prosecutors charged Heriberto Carbajal-Flores, the illegal alien, in 2020 after he was found in Chicago carrying a semi-automatic pistol despite “knowing he was an alien illegally and unlawfully in the United States.”
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman rejected two motions to dismiss, but the third motion, based on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, triggered the dismissal of the case on March 8.
“The noncitizen possession statute, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), violates the Second Amendment as applied to Carbajal-Flores,” Judge Coleman, appointed under President Barack Obama, wrote in her 8-page ruling. “Thus, the court grants Carbajal-Flores’ motion to dismiss.”
Lawyers for Mr. Carbajal-Flores had argued in the most recent motion to dismiss that the government could not show that the law in question was “part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms.”
In 2022, the Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment “presumptively protects” conduct that is covered by the amendment’s “plain text.”
BREAKING INSIDE THE PENTAGON:Associate Director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense says, “Why not just have an open border?” “Tear down the wall.”
“I think we should repeal the Second Amendment and take the guns all away!” says Jason Beck, who has a classified security clearance and works for the Department of Defense. Beck, who uses a fake name Aidan Grey in his meetings with a disguised James O’Keefe, describes his extremist policies, including “mobilizing the national guard” to confiscate guns from people’s homes. Beck says he wants a “monopoly on state violence,” a concept he describes as “‘We [the government], are the only ones with guns.”
Jason Beck works in Total Force Requirements & Sourcing Policy in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense. This office oversees the Department of Defense and acts as the principal defense policy maker and adviser to the President of the United States. Beck says he helps “writes answers for testimony” of “the department’s senior leadership – basically they go over to the Hill for hearings on the department’s posture.”
In this shocking footage we get an INSIDE look as Jason Beck tells James O’Keefe: “we need to pack the Supreme Court,” ban the United States Senate, and abolish the electoral college. He also discusses his “bottom surgery’ being painful and the changes to his plumbing.
OMG got a concerning peek under the lid of Pentagon policymaking when James O’Keefe went undercover to have dinner with Jason Beck, the Associate Director in Total Force Requirements & Sourcing Policy for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Headquartered in the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense oversees the Department of Defense (DoD) and acts as the principal defense policy maker and adviser to the President of the United States. The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation’s security.
Oddly enough and never explained, Beck introduced himself to O’Keefe as Aidan Grey. His name was not the only thing Beck was confused about as he detailed his bottom surgery to change his sex, explaining to desired love match O’Keefe: “The plumbing is different.” It is in this mind frame Beck, who has classified security clearance, conducts his work. Beck stated that he helps write answers for senior DoD officials for their testimony before Congress in Posture hearings, is “trying to get policies in place” to revise DoD policies for issues including contracts with private military contractors like former CEO of Blackwater Erik Prince, and implements DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) initiatives throughout the DoD, the nation’s largest government agency. When O’Keefe asked about the recent controversy surrounding Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin hiding his health condition and surgery from the White House, Beck admitted “the way they hid it was really strange um, nobody knew?”
The most disturbing aspect of OMG’s undercover footage of Beck was how he harbored views not only antithetical to the mission of the agency for which he works but also to the very tenets of our government. Beck expressed how he wanted to work on the State’s Monopoly on Violence – the idea that government is “the only legitimate purveyor of violence and enforcement of force, so, we [the government] are the only ones with guns” – something our Founders knew inevitably leads to government tyranny. Nonetheless, Beck advocated for the repeal of the Second Amendment and for the National Guard “to take them [guns] all away,” similar to the forced integration of schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. To ensure individuals within the National Guard followed orders to confiscate Americans’ constitutional right to bear arms, Beck justified packing the United States Supreme Court with a leftist majority so legislation banning all guns could not be overturned as unconstitutional.
Addressing border security, which ensures the security of our nation – the very mission of the DoD, Beck harbored extremist views entirely out of line with the majority of Americans. He claimed the recent immigration bill was “really racist” and wanted to “tear down the wall” even when public health emergencies would allow for the removal of illegal immigrants under Title 42. Instead, Beck demanded: “Why not just have an OPEN BORDER.” He maintained the border is “not a security crisis” and any belief dangerous individuals are coming across the border are “just made up.” It was apparent Beck had not seen OMG’s ongoing border coverage exposing piles of discarded ID cards from China, Venezuela, Cuba, Turkey, Syria, and Egypt found by OMG Citizen Journalists or OMG’s exposé on No Mas Muertas where OMG’s undercover immigrant was held at gun point by Spanish-speaking men who looked and acted like cartel members. Thus, perhaps the only thing more disturbing than Beck’s hatred of Constitutional rights was his ignorance of documented facts and current events. In fact, DoD officials testified before the House Armed Services Committee this week acknowledging concern about an anticipated mass migration into the United States from an incredibly dangerous and unstable Haiti.
The power wielded by Beck influencing DoD policy according to extremist anti-Constitutional views and IRS officials like Alex Mena unconstitutionally using AI to view the contents of our private bank accounts reveals a modern federal bureaucracy that is dangerously unaccountable. We can only hope that OMG and its army of Citizen Journalists continue to expose government corruption and turn the tide.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00O'Keefe Media Grouphttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngO'Keefe Media Group2024-03-14 04:58:512024-03-24 07:10:11VIDEO EXPOSÈ: Secretary of Defense Personnel, “Why Not Just Have An Open Border?”
Remington is leaving Ilion, N.Y., ‘after two centuries, abandoning upstate for a gleaming new factory in Georgia. With it goes the village’s identity.’ so wrote the New York Times.
NY village ‘losing its soul’ as nation’s oldest gun manufacturer flees blue state for Georgia
“Two hundred and eight years of history. Gone, gone,” Ilion, New York, Mayor John P. Stephens told The New York Times. “Ilion is Remington. Remington is Ilion.”
“Two hundred and eight years of history. Gone, gone,” Ilion, New York, Mayor John P. Stephens told The New York Times. “Ilion is Remington. Remington is Ilion.”
Remington, the nation’s oldest gun manufacturer, told union officials late last year that company chiefs at RemArms, the current version of Remington Arms, made the decision to end its New York manufacturing come March. The remaining operations located in Ilion will move to Georgia, where company leaders say the firearms industry is supported and welcomed.
Residents of the New York village, which is located roughly 230 miles northwest of New York City, are bracing for the manufacturer to officially move, which some say will take part of the town’s identity with it.
A view of the Remington Arms Co., Inc. compound in the middle of Ilion, New York, on Feb. 1. The nation’s oldest gun-maker is consolidating operations in Georgia and recently announced plans to shutter the Ilion factory in early March. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
“When Remington leaves, it’s not going to be like a facility leaving, it’s going to be like part of your family has moved off,” Jim Conover, a retired Remington employee who began his career there in 1964, told The Associated Press.
A furnace operator and technician at the factory, Frank “Rusty” Brown, told the outlet that he and generations of his family worked at the facility and noted he and his wife will be out of jobs.
“My mom worked there. My dad worked there. My wife works there with me now. My daughter works there with me now. My second daughter works there with me now. And my son-in-law works there,” Brown said. “So it’s a double-hit for me and my wife: two of us out of a job.”
The closure of the New York location will result in about 300 people losing their jobs in a town of roughly 7,600. The mayor of Ilion told the Daily Mail that the village is expected to lose $1 million in revenue due to the move, in addition to other local businesses taking a financial hit.
”It’s like the town is losing its soul. It’s almost like losing a family member. That’s the thing that people are struggling with, the nostalgia, the history. It feels like we are losing the identity of the town,” Stephens told the outlet.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2024-03-05 06:32:562024-03-28 09:25:43Historic Business Remington Flees New York For Georgia After 208 Years
Two black teenagers shooting at each other charged with the murder of Radio DJ Lisa Lopez-Galvan and of 22 others, 11 of which were children.
This is reason we’ve heard little about this mass shooting except for more cries for Gun Control by Marxist Democrats. This shooting doesn’t help their gun control messaging.
Every mass shooting over last several decades have been done by mentally deranged or gang member teenagers with guns obtained illegally and/or Islamic terrorists; and/or transgenders out for revenge and/or someone identified on social media as a sociopath but ignored by law enforcement and school officials and/or some combination of these factors but never a law abiding conservative/Trump supporter.
The left continues to blame guns and push gun control despite all the evidence that the cause is not guns but deranged, evil, demons behind the guns. With the most draconian gun control they would still obtain guns illegally.
In the unlikely circumstance they couldn’t obtain guns illegally, they would most likely use some other means to kill like explosives, knives, vehicles running over people or car bombs, et. al.
BREAKING: Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Police order crowds away from Union Station after multiple shots ring out while Super Bowl champs celebrate win pic.twitter.com/g0vstfvaXm
“Two [black] juveniles were charged on Thursday, February 15, 2024, by the Office of the Juvenile Officer related to the incident at the Chiefs’ rally on February 14, 2024,” the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Missouri said on Friday.
One woman was killed and 22 others were injured. At least 11 children were injured.
TMZ obtained video of the two minor teens who got into a heated exchange before shooting up the Kansas City Chiefs parade.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Royal A. Brown IIIhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRoyal A. Brown III2024-02-19 14:38:132024-02-23 04:59:44Truth Comes Out About Kansas City Super Bowl Chief’s Victory Parade Shooting — The Shooters are Black!
Democratic Rep. Colin Allred of Texas, who is challenging Republican Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024, has given thousands to a private armed security company despite his history of supporting gun control.
The Senate candidate is a vocal critic of the Second Amendment, supports firearm regulation and has backed anti-police measures in Congress. Allred’s campaigns have disbursed thousands to Eagle Protective Group, which offers private armed security, as well as hundreds more to individuals who appear to be police officers for security, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data.
In 2023, Allred’s Senate campaign doled out over $2,500 to the private armed security company, according to FEC filings. Another $900 was given to Daniel Ramirez, Jorge Cardenas and Beatriz Diaz, all of whom appear to be deputy constables for the county of El Paso.
Allred’s congressional campaign has given $14,496.89 to Eagle Protective Group since its 2018 launch, FEC data shows. The campaign also paid a combined $2,040 for “event security” to two other individuals.
Despite his payments to the private armed security company and to individuals who appear to be police officers, Allred has voiced opposition to the right to bear arms, voted for various forms of gun control and against provisions to support law enforcement.
In 2018, the Democrat said it would’ve been “better” if the Second Amendment “hadn’t been written.” Allred has also been critical of the National Rifle Association (NRA), to which over 400,000 Texas belong.
Allred supported the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order of 2021, a red flag gun law, and voted for the failed Assault Weapons Ban of 2022. The congressman opposed a provision that would’ve made it easier for victims of domestic violence to purchase a firearm.
The congressman also opposed a 2020 measure that would’ve required Washington, D.C., to provide “adequate and continued funding” to the police as the city saw a surge in crime. The congressman voted againstcondemning the Defund the Police movement in 2021.
Cruz is one of the most vulnerable incumbent Senate Republicans running for reelection in 2024. His seat is currently characterized by The Cook Political Report as in the “Lean R” column along with Florida Sen. Rick Scott.
A National Public Affairs survey released on Feb. 9 found Cruz and Allred tied at 44%, with 12% of Texas general election voters remaining undecided. Other polling for a potential matchup indicates Cruz is largely favored to retain the seat, with the Republican leading Allred anywhere from one to 16 points, according to FiveThirtyEight’s compilation.
Texas went for former President Donald Trump in both 2020 and 2016. The former president is likely to be on the ballot in November against President Joe Biden, who the RealClearPolitics average shows Trump is beating by nearly nine points in the Lone Star State.
Allred’s campaign did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-02-17 07:57:112024-02-17 08:00:13Dem Senate Candidate And Gun Control Advocate Has Shelled Out Thousands For His Own Private Security
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is working on a rule that could effectively ban the sale of firearms between private individuals, agency whistleblowers told a watchdog group.
Empower Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog representing one of the Hunter Biden Internal Revenue Service whistleblowers, says that ATF whistleblowers informed it of a 1,300-page document being drafted by the agency that would require background checks for all firearm sales, including those between two private individuals. The new rule would “effectively ban private sales of firearms from one citizen to another,” according to a press release from Empower Oversight.
Empower Oversight submitted a records request to the Department of Justice seeking more information about the rule.
The rule would “violate the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution,” according to Empower Oversight President Tristan Leavitt. Leavitt also said the rule would “circumvent the separation of powers in the Constitution.”
Empower Oversight points out that the ATF’s rule could redefine individuals who occasionally sell guns as being “engaged in the business of dealing in firearms,” thus requiring them to acquire a Federal Firearms Licensee and run background checks on whoever they’re selling to.
In the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986, Congress established that the term “engaged in the business” of selling guns “shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby.”
Leavitt pointed out that the courts would likely strike down the rule and argued that it is likely a ploy to fire up the Democratic base during an election year.
Private background checks are popular with voters, according to polling data.
A poll conducted by Morning Consult and Politico in 2022 found that 81% of registered voters supported background checks at gun shows and for private transfers.
Support for background checks is lower among Republicans than among Democrats. A 2021 Morning Consult and Politico poll found that 77% of Democrats supported background checks for all gun purchases, compared to just 53% of Republicans.
While Americans are open to background checks, banning certain kinds of firearms is unpopular among Americans.
Only 27% of Americans supported banning handgun ownership as of October 2023, according to Gallup. An April 2023 poll conducted by Monmouth University found that more Americans opposed an “assault weapons” ban than supported it.
The Biden administration has consistently pushed for stricter gun laws.
President Joe Biden pushed a rule that forced people who owned pistols with arm braces to register them as short-barreled rifles, Politico reported. Pistol braces remain legal as states and gun rights groups sue the ATF over the rule.
Registering a short-barreled rifle with the ATF carries a cost of $200. The National Firearms Act, the law requiring the registration of short-barreled rifles, was last updated in 1986.
Biden also banned the sale of firearm parts lacking serial numbers, which can be used to construct “ghost guns,” and has continuously pushed for a so-called assault weapons ban, according to Fox News Digital.
Some gun rights groups are ready to fight the ATF’s rule should it come to fruition.
“The records of these sales will eventually end up in the ATF’s firearm registry database,” director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America (GOA) Aidan Johnston told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The ATF maintains a registry of firearms sales, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
Johnston said GOA is “actively preparing to take legal action if and when Joe Biden’s administration releases their rule change.”
Empower Oversight and the ATF did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-02-01 12:19:072024-02-03 08:32:09Whistleblowers Allege ATF Is Drafting Rule That Could Effectively Ban Private Firearm Sales
Legislation pending in the Washington state legislature would force gun owners to purchase insurance.
Democratic State Sens. Patty Kuderer and Javier Valdez of Washington introduced SB5963, which would force insurance companies to ask prospective customers if they own firearms, and to then advise them of the state requirement to own liability insurance, according to the text of the legislation. The legislation did not specify any penalties for those who do not have insurance, nor does it require any specific level of coverage.
As part of their effort to make gun ownership too onerous, Washington Democrats are pushing a bill to force gun owners to hold liability insurance.
Anti-gun legislator Patty Kuderer, whom I don't think has ever handled a firearm, is responsible for this bill.
“By setting this requirement, Washington attempts to reduce the risk and subsequent cost of hardships of gun accidents,” Kuderer claimed during testimony on the legislation at a Monday hearing of the Washington State Senate Law and Justice Committee, according to local newspaper The Olympian. “This bill achieves these goals and reallocates costs without compromising any Second Amendment rights. This is true because this requirement does not regulate, limit or control the manner or method in which people may keep or bear arms. Instead, it simply says you must have liability insurance.”
Kuderer claimed during her remarks that deaths and injuries from firearms cost Washington state $169 million a year during her remarks, saying the bill “provides financial incentive for responsible arms carrying.”
A similar proposal was passed by the city of San Jose, California in 2022, while Los Angeles County enacted a similar requirement in February 2023 after a mass shooting. Democrats in the United States House of Representatives proposed a similar bill in 2013 following the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, but it did not become law.
Yakima County Commissioner Amanda McKinney ripped the legislation, calling it an attack on Second Amendment rights.
“This is yet one more way that Olympia has seen fit to put a cost at simply existing,” McKinney told The Olympian. “And in this case, putting a cost to exercise their constitutional right to simply protect themselves.”
The legislation is scheduled for a vote Tuesday. If passed, the full Washington state House of Representatives will take the bill up for consideration, according to The Olympian.
“The NRA strongly opposes Senate Bill 5963, misguided legislation that unfairly burdens law-abiding gun owners with unnecessary insurance mandates,” NRA Washington Director Aoibheann Cline told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “This bill not only infringes on Second Amendment rights but also exacerbates housing affordability issues, potentially making home ownership unattainable for many.”
SB 5963 fails to address crime and broadly impacts all gun owners, including those ineligible for the required policies. It’s an intrusive measure that risks increasing insurance costs and disproportionately affects low and middle-class gun owners,” Cline added. “The NRA stands with gun owners in rejecting this bill and urges strong opposition to protect our constitutional rights.”
Kuderer did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
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.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-02-01 05:52:442024-02-01 06:00:03Dem-Backed Bill Would Force Gun Owners To Buy ‘Liability’ Insurance In Washington State
A Department of Defense office overseeing special operations invited two terrorism experts to discuss their new book on far-right terrorism in the U.S., screenshots obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.
The invitation appeared to go out via email to “all” staff of SO/LIC, the acronym for the Pentagon’s office overseeing special operations and irregular warfare.
“Serious acts of terrorism have erupted from violent American far-right extremists in recent years, including the 2015 mass murder at a historic Black church in Charleston and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol,” the book’s synopsis, which was also included in the email, reads.
A Department of Defense (DOD) office invited two experts to discuss their new book on far-right terrorism in the U.S. as part of a new series featuring guest speakers, the Daily Caller News Foundation has learned.
The invitation appeared to go out via email to “all” staff of SO/LIC, the acronym for the Pentagon’s office overseeing special operations and irregular warfare, according toscreenshots obtained exclusively by the DCNF. Bruce Hoffman, a professor at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and Jacob Ware, a research fellow at CFR, were scheduled Tuesday to present their book, which traces right-wing domestic terrorism through U.S history, including the Ku Klux Klan and groups involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots seeking to reverse the 2020 election.
“Reminder to please join us at 1200 tomorrow morning via Teams (link below) for this virtual brown bag book talk event — renowned terrorism scholars Dr. Bruce Hoffman and Jacob Ware. Their new book, God, Guns, and Sedition: Far-Right Terrorism in America was released earlier this month,” the invitation, dated Jan. 29 at 9:51 a.m., reads.
“This is the first of what we hope will be a series of brown bag events featuring internal and external speakers,” it said, and was signed by the “FO Team.”
The reminder included a brief description of the book and links to the author’s biographies in documents on the internal office drive.
“Serious acts of terrorism have erupted from violent American far-right extremists in recent years, including the 2015 mass murder at a historic Black church in Charleston and the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol,” the book synopsis, which was also included in the email, read.
“They are the latest flashpoints in a process that has been unfolding for decades, in which vast conspiracy theories and radical ideologies such as white supremacism, racism, antisemitism, xenophobia, and hostility to government converge into a deadly threat to democracy,” it said. “This talk, derived from the speakers’ new book, God, Guns, and Sedition (Columbia Univ. Press) discusses the rise of far-right terrorism in the United States, the impact of U.S. domestic terrorism on our foreign policy and our allies, and policy recommendations to counter far-right terrorism.”
The email did not explain why domestic terrorism, a problem outside of the DOD’s purview, was selected as the topic for the first book talk or who approved it. The DOD didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
.@PentagonPresSec: "Today, @SecDef is directing several immediate actions [from the extremism Stand Down] and the establishment of the Countering Extremism Working Group (CEWG) as we continue to address this issue proactively." pic.twitter.com/NAopzKvkna
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) April 9, 2021
Hoffman and Ware have engaged in presentations and other media to promote their recent release, according to a DCNF review.
The Pentagon initiated a stand-down after the Jan. 6 riots and ordered a review of extremism present within the ranks of U.S. military personnel. Fewer than 100 service members were identified as having participated in extremist activities, but the Pentagon’s focus on right-wing views may have worsened a polarization problem.
Despite two years of work, the Pentagon failed to understand domestic extremism and may have inflated the issue, to the possible detriment of cohesion within the ranks, according to a DOD-funded study released in December.
“God, Guns and Terrorism” opens with a description of an anti-government group in 2020 advocating for the overthrow of the U.S. government, spurred by former President Donald Trump’s social media incitement, a sample of the book on Amazon.com shows. It then describes the “accelerationist” ideology, which the authors say motivates many right-wing anti-government groups, as a “white power strategy to foment violence and chaos as a means to seize power.”
The two recently co-authored an editorial arguing that far-right threats of violence in support of the MAGA agenda is splintering the Republican party. GOP support for Trump could inspire a repeat of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, they said.
“The violent far-right extremist movement is neither loyal to the GOP nor concerned about protecting its own candidates or elected officials. It is an anti-government underground fueled by election denialism and driven by the worst authoritarian impulses,” they wrote.
Ware and Hoffman didn’t respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2024-01-31 04:59:492024-01-31 05:05:06Pentagon’s Special Ops Office Holds Book Talk On ‘Far-Right’ Domestic Terrorism
Rabbi Cary Kozberg has served as a pulpit rabbi, campus rabbi, and long-term care chaplain.
Rabbi Kozberg is a Certified Healthcare Chaplain with the National Association of Jewish Chaplains.
Rabbi Kozberg has been interested in personal self-defense for over four decades and has extensive training in the use of small firearms.
He recently completed the Ohio Peace Officers Training Academy’s handgun qualification test with a perfect score.
Please watch our wide ranging discussion with Rabbi Kozberg on why Jews and Americans must arm themselves, now more the ever, to protect our families, neighborhoods, community and Constitutional Republic.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00DISSENT Television Networkhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDISSENT Television Network2024-01-25 14:35:342024-03-03 12:07:34Personal Self-Defense with Rabbi Cary Kozberg on DISSENT Television
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CODE 20 EXPLAINED
We are in troubling times that may be moving towards a violent conflict. President Trump was robbed of his 2020 re-election; the Communist Biden/Harris/Obama cabal are working to enslave us; both Islam (Islam is an ideology, not a race) and Communism are mortal existential threats along with the People’s Republic of China. The Deep State is real. They’re accountable to NOBODY and they’re hellbent on ERASING your rights and enslaving you.
We Americans have been so tolerant that we tolerate those who will not tolerate us! This must end.
OATH: At one time or another, most of us have sworn a sacred oath that included language to protect and defend our Constitution from all enemies both foreign and domestic. Protecting that Constitution is our main mission. The Democratic Communist Socialist Party (DCSP) government have forsaken that oath – have opted to be traitors. All traitors should face the harshest of mortal consequences for being turncoats.
CODE 20: A decorated former Marine Corps battle planner coined this idea. He fought in Vietnam where Marines successfully used special team tactics against the Communists. He coined CODE 20 as a modern movement to take on anti-Americans in government, in society, in our nation who hate you, your First Amendment guaranteed free speech rights, and the guarantor of free speech, the Second Amendment.
The “CODE 20” refers to a desired number of active patriotic activists in a Zip Code. A CODE 20 does not mean that a group must have exactly 20-members. A group can have as little as three or more than 50 members.
We are a secret society. Large secret societies are NOT secret because, in America, the haters of liberty and freedom will infiltrate such a secret society, plant agents’ provocateur to lure members into doing things that are unwise or illegal so that they (the FBI, DOJ, etc.) can jail them. That’s what happened on January 6, 2021.
CODE 20 are stand-alone operations, unattached to any entity.
The haters are determined to make our great America into a third world banana republic ruled by corrupt criminal racketeers and politicians and those who fund and support them. They pulled the rug out from under more than 75-million American voters in 2020. This cannot be tolerated. We know who our enemies are. [The 2020 election hijacking was perpetrated on we-the-American-people by criminals.]. [To quote Biden: “We have put together, I think, the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization.”] Of the more than 75,000,000 Trump voters are many Democrats and 40+% are minority voters (anti-Trump Republicans and RINOS voted for Biden).
CODE 20 does not have a traditional Command and Control structure. It would be too easy for our enemies, the freedom hating corrupt criminals (the swamp) in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere, and their instruments of terror to identify and take action against us. By being small independent groups focused on legitimate pro-American goals and objectives of our own choosing we can remain anonymous and be incredibly effective and influential.
From Maine to Hawaii, Alaska to Florida and in the territories, there are thousands of zip codes. Within a given zip code, teams of about twenty+- patriots (thus, CODE-20) can self-organize to form powerful independent cells or several cells in highly populated zip codes. Independent cells can act against evil and corrupt politicians, Communists, the lying information media (the Main Stream Pravda), social media oligarchs such as Facebook, Google, YouTube, corrupt civil servants, groups, companies, even so-called religious groups (such as Islam), unions, and much more.
CODE 20’s are powerful, determined, skilled, imaginative and capable activists of all stripes united to defeat the enemies of the American Republic. Strong, smart, tough men and women built this nation and strong, smart, tough women and men will preserve it. We are mostly very nice people – but we must be just as un-nice when necessary.
Our First Amendment (dreaded by tyrants) rights of free speech and assembly are under attack; and our rights to own and bear arms are under attack. Social media Haters are blocking us so that we cannot freely talk to one-another. We are overcoming this.
Action can take many forms such as attending public meetings and calling out corruption in venues such as school boards and teacher unions, neighborhoods, city (planning commission, city council), county, and even statewide entities. We can learn how to effectively approach and influence political leaders:
Here’s another one,
We absolutely must, take both conventional and unconventional steps to preserve and protect our fragile Republic. One very important thing is to get going now to be INFLUENCERS and activists. Become election poll workers and volunteers to make certain that vote tallying is not messed with. Get rid of tallying machines built and/or controlled by outsiders. We must participate as workers and observers to ensure that every legal ballot is counted – once; that no phony ballots sneak into the counting process in the dark of night; that vote counting machines are not doctored so as to cancel votes or switch votes. Ideally, all foreign made machines should be scrapped – tossed out. Use ballots that we certify and manually count or visible hard ballots, either paper or punch cards that can be verified by individual voters or truly non-partisan monitors throughout the process. Everything must be tabulated in an open, transparent process (no black boxes) that does not employ any computerized gadgetry vulnerable to hacking or manipulation.
Our voting/tabulating machines must be:
American made.
Transparent – Visible.
Stand alone with no external wires or power supply cords.
Battery powered.
Tempest protected.
Shielded from the full spectrum of RF interference.
Tamper proof.
Everybody with functioning brain cells must rain again and again on any and all officials involved in any way and every way to get the above done, to restore viability, integrity, efficiency, TRUST. This must be done before the next national elections take place.
Influencers gather contact information on officials and leaders in their community such as Chiefs of Police, Sheriffs, politicians, church and community leaders, etc., and send information that these officials may not otherwise receive; about crooked officials, about enemy ideologies such as the Marxists, the Communists, Moslem Brotherhood, Antifa, BLM, The Council on American-Islamic Relations, anarchists etc. Influencers can do it anonymously or put their name on what you send. Sending by postal mail is most effective. You can use latex gloves to keep your fingerprints from papers and envelopes that you don’t lick.
Public activism is good. Peaceful activism is good. There may be times where less peaceful means may be useful to protect ourselves, to get appropriate attention and action. Patriots stand up for America and do it in a way that commands respect, or even causes great fear among enemies; taken to disable or to cause physical damage, or even something more extreme. We cannot officially condone any deadly actions by a CODE 20 group, team, or individual. Neither will we condemn such actions if carried out in the spirit of protecting our Republic, our Constitution, our culture. This is why this is a self-managed but awesomely powerful movement that the haters of our country cannot use to identify other CODE 20 groups, etc.
CODE 20 will be the STORM!
Most of us may from time to time feel a need for a guideline or set of procedures to help us. Self-education or self-training is essential along with self-governance, and one such tool that has been used successfully by domestic terrorists is the book by Saul Alinsky titled: RULES FOR RADICALS. This is available by special order in bookstores like BARNES and NOBLE, etc., along with other guidelines that can actually be used to help and protect you as you destroy the haters. While it is a tool of the haters there is much valuable information that you can use in your CODE 20 groups.
Being a meaningful or effective political activist is not for the faint of heart: We are warriors, not necessarily combatants, but activists in bringing the haters down. Each CODE 20 group needs all types of people: writers, public speakers, researchers & investigators, fundraisers, computer geeks, logicians, attorneys, performers, everything, and, yes, militant people willing and capable of getting physical if or when necessary. Carrying out acts overtly as well as covertly need to be carefully managed to protect ourselves and team members. We make bad government quake in fear!
EXTREMISM IN DEFENCE OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC AND CONSTITUTION IS A VIRTUE!
Within days of BiDung being installed in your White House, some haters called for interning All Republicans/Conservatives (you and I) in camps. Some haterts have openly called for the extermination of Republicans, Conservatives, Christians, etc. One Main Stream Ptalking head suggested using killer drones to hunt us down and to kill us. They can get away with declaring or supporting such on TV, MSN outlets, social media, etc. if we let them. When they do, we can sit on our backsides, contact the FBI and file a whiny complaint about being threatened; or track them down and cause them to seriously regret threatening us. Some Patriots are reciprocating, calling for the extermination of liberals. All is fair in war. Disable their cars, fires, whatever! Scare their families like they are doing to us.
We have a moral and ethical right to discuss or even apply vigilantism when our government, our federal, state, county, city and local courts and law enforcement refuse or are unable to serve we-the-people. When our civil and legal rights are breached, we rightfully lose confidence in a system that is presently increasingly hostile to every day citizens. (example: The January 6 mistreatment of many innocent demonstrators at the U.S. capitol).
According to the dictionary, being a full fledged vigilante involves becoming armed and possibly using weapons to enforce laws and deal with criminals. For the purpose of the CODE 20 movement, we can consider being a vigilant MILITIA going after and working to influence, punish, or otherwise deal harshly with delinquent or hateful officials and authorities with letter writing campaigns, contacting news media and publishing stories, using phones, the internet, posters, and more, etc., including organizing uprisings.
Possible militia actions: demonstrations, boycotts, vandalize the haters’ property, damage Communist Chinese (mainland, not Taiwan) goods in stores (just damaged packages can cause a product to be gotten rid of). Don’t buy or consume anything from Islamist or Communist countries from hater supporters such as COSTCO, Starbucks, Amazon, Target, etc. Raise hell about your tax dollars being sent abroad to fund terrorists determined to eliminate us (Taliban, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Communist China, etc.).
Finding good quality candidates that can run in local elections, where often the turnout is less than 10% isn’t hard . . . but it is vital. We need good guys on planning commissions, school boards, community boards, city councils, everywhere.
In the 2022 elections note that the Democratic movement had thousands of local and national Political Action Committees to raise billions of dollars to fund their operations and candidates. They did well.
Each CODE 20 group can/should establish one or more Political Action Committee/s (PACs) to raise funds both for operations and fund/support political and related programs in support of winning elections. Make up a list of targets and needs. List them in priority order, take action. Apply every tactic to the haters that they use against you. Do it! Attack everything they treasure. Discourage them. Frighten them. More.
We can start identifying haters, Communist/Marxist, and Sharia compliant Islamic Jihadi operatives and enterprises at the local level. Disrupt them in any and every way possible. Expose them for what they are in the local community. Nearly every city has one or more Democratic party headquarters. Ruin them, and when they repair, mess them up again. The same with Moslem Forward Operating Bases (FOB), i.e. Mosques, Madrassas, Islamic centers, etc. They’ve been doing it to us. Reciprocate…..
Political Islam (the Moslem Brotherhood, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Moslem Student Unions, etc.) are mortal existential enemies of the American Republic, of moral, ethical civilization. Never forget this and know that they may come after you, I, and every decent citizen in our nation. Islamic entities are very subtle at times but they are a major part and parcel of our enemies. They have Mosques (Forward Operating Bases), Madrassas (Islamic schools), stores, and many other tools working against us. At every opportunity damage their signs, property, etc. When they have their month of fasting or other holidays, set up bar-b-q grills (with “CODE-20 MILITIA” signs and posters) nearby and cook pork. It will drive them nuts. On every 9/11 anniversary drive by their Mosques at prayer time and make noise using horns, sirens, fireworks, etc.
Note that just about every mosque has a secret armory (hidden) stocked with weapons, poisons, explosives, and chemicals, etc. The armory is often called a RABAT, and if not hidden in the Mosque itself, it is nearby and is where they plot and prepare against us and even commit honor murdering (no longer in the news because they took this practice underground to avoid unpleasant publicity) of their rebellious women and girls, and others who greatly displease them.
Moslems are active participants with the BLM movement, Antifa, and other anarchist movements. They are to be exposed, opposed, and obstructed at every opportunity. Work to get Moslem Student Unions expelled from high schools, colleges, universities.
Keep track of their local activities. Learn when they buy property and start planning to build a mosque or other facility. They lie to Planning Commissions. Go and call them (and their supporters and fellow travelers, such as Interfaith groups) out. Explain to decision makers that trash will accumulate in streets, sewage lines can become overwhelmed, traffic congestion will occur, that they will park illegally, that Mosques are places where criminal plans are formed, weapons are stashed; they will build minarets and blast out (at over 200db) their five-times daily calls to prayer, and more. We can make it work in our favor. I was a leader in a small city where we blocked/cancelled a proposed 44,000 square foot mega-mosque. I have advised others in how to mess successfully with mosque projects. Do all that you can to make their lives miserable.
Venturing into places like the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area is taking a step into ENEMY TERRITORY. Be careful.
Here is a place where one can find a Congressional friends and foes list: https://www.educationviews.org/keep-this-handy-america-sold-out-by-pontius-pilate-and-cowards/. From this you can identify your Communist, Moslem, Democrat, Socialist, RINO, and swamp dwelling haters and also decent leaders as regards who support liberty during contested elections. Find the names of enemy congress people and senators near you. Get their local office addresses and go there with a handful of fingerprint free notices to hang on car windows in their parking lots where you can hang something like: ATTENTION, personal vehicles in this area are subject to being damaged because you share parking spaces with (for example – Congressman Schiff). Do it a couple of times per year and that staff will find themselves harassed and even afraid – a successful militia/guerilla activity. This tactic can be used against enemies of the Republic at county, city, and other levels.
Use your many skills, talents, abilities, and imagination to devise whatever will work. Support that which is good.
Protect your identity. Use cryptonyms (pseudonyms) within your CODE 20 group so that you cannot be outed using your real name. Nobody should maintain a list of real names together with their cryptonyms. If the FBI/enemy captured it the whole group would be compromised. You could in some instances use a Democratic politician’s surname when going to public political meetings, etc. to challenge the haters.
Don’t trust DHS, the BATF, IRS, FBI or DOJ, etc. They are underhanded and badly compromised. As the world we once knew is increasingly hostile to citizens and patriots who care, be wary.
The Democrats, political Islam, Antifa, and BLM thugs and anarchists are the equivalent of Hitler’s Brown Shirt thugs and they may even get information fed to them by traitorous elements within the government. Remember always that the FBI, DOJ, and others are colluding with and protecting traitors such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barak Hussein Obama, John Kerry, Kamal-a Harris, the Joe Biden crime syndicate, Eric Swalwell, etc.
Use only cash or untraceable gift cards for purchases in connection with your CODE 20 activities.
Get armed up. Learn and apply gun safety. Learn how to stash your guns & ammo away from intrusive cops and ground penetrating radar (Obama put down looking radar in a chopper in every county). Check this out: Guns, Gun confiscation, Gun Control, Gun Politics and Ammo & Guns: Protect Them. Ghost guns are not illegal.
Make copies of this and hand distribute them in your community, within your zip code, in neighboring zip codes. Email this to others, post it on social media, make copies and mail them; blast it all over the country.
SECURITY: We have many enemies. Beware of imposters. Meet with your members in person, never repeating regularly at the same location. Do not communicate electronically (email, messenger, phone, zoom, etc. unless encrypted). Letter (snail) mail is an incredible tool. You can go to this site and download a PDF on Insurrection
“Good Germans” in Hitler’s Germany did nothing to offend the regime. Neither did they do anything to protect or to save decent, innocent people from extermination. Know where you stand.
A good read written by General Mike Flynn:
To gain an insight into what seems to be coming our (your) way (and to get some points on how to proceed as mayhem sets in): https://unconstrainedanalytics.org/insurrection-and-violence-a-citizens-guide.
It’s time for American Jews to put their scruples aside and learn the responsible use of firearms.
As I write this, Israel continues to mourn its deaths and fight its enemies. At the same time, the full extent of Hamas’s savagery has been revealed.
Some of the world supports and empathizes with Israel, but much of it continues to demonize Israel and all Jews. Meanwhile, the so-called “social justice warriors”— both Jewish and non-Jewish – are rightfully being chastised for their unfathomable moral obtuseness.
Recently, the president of a Detroit synagogue was murdered, possibly by a “lone wolf” Muslim terrorist. Violent anti-Israel protests have taken place in Brooklyn and Rhode Island. Muslim children in Philadelphia are chanting, “We will chop off their heads!” Absurdly, the White House press secretary’s answer to a question about rising antisemitism mainly focused on the safety of Muslims.
Clearly, Jews have been put on notice. We are experiencing what the Passover Haggadah warned us of: In every generation, there are those who seek our destruction.
The question is: How will this generation respond? Of course, it will respond with official outrage, sermons from the pulpit, letters to legislators, vigils, rallies, renewed calls for educational programs and dialogue with our foes.
But there is one way to respond that American Jews have avoided. They should avoid it no longer.
The time has come for American Jews to learn and become proficient in the defensive use of firearms.
For 2,000 years, armed resistance against antisemitic violence was not possible. Jews responded to it mostly by calling upon God to redeem them. But at the same time, they believed that their suffering was the consequence of their own covenantal unfaithfulness.
With the birth of modern Zionism, this changed. Zionism advocated replacing the mindset of passive victimhood with pro-active, optimistic self-redemption.
Given the violent Jew hatred of the time, Jews learned that self-redemption included the need to learn self-defense. After almost two millennia, there was a renewed focus on the Talmudic dictum, “When someone comes to kill you, rise up to kill him first.”The world once again saw the phenomenon of “the armed Jew.” This Jew understood that, in a world seeking to annihilate him, self-determination meant the necessary, albeit regrettable, use of weapons.
Today, self-defense is virtually tattooed on to Israel’s psyche, a sine qua non of its survival. This concept of Jewishself-defense was gloriously realized in 1967. It inspired the slogan “Never Again” and has been invoked often over the past 75 years, especially during recent events. Following the 1973 Yom Kippur War, singer/author Kinky Friedman composed a song with the unforgettable refrain: “They ain’t a-makin’ Jews like Jesus anymore/We don’t turn the other cheek the way we done before.”
Yet many American Jews who shep naches at the sight of Jews with guns in Israel have been the very people who believe that Jews “packing heat” in synagogue is anathema.
What accounts for this disconnect? Why is a community that honors the warrior King David and prays for the arrival of his descendant, the Messiah, crippled by an acute case of hoplophobia (fear of weapons)? Why do Jews who celebrate Hannukah, commemorating an armed rebellion that ensured the survival of Judaism, have attitudes about the use of force that are so at odds with those of the Maccabees?
One explanation is that American Jews do not see guns as tools for self-preservation but as a source of goyishe naches (what makes gentiles happy) or an a priori evil. Perhaps these are vestiges of a “morally virtuous” Diaspora victim mindset.
Another explanation is politics. Most American Jews still vote “left of center” and many if not most have assimilated the left’s attitudes about guns and gun ownership.
Perhaps both explanations are accurate.
But if the synagogue attacks in Pittsburgh, Poway and Colleyville and the violence against individual Jews in northeastern cities didn’t change their minds, surely the events of the past couple of weeks—and what may yet occur in this country—should be the “wake up call” for American Jews. The time has come to abandon the “virtue” of noble victimhood and join our Israeli brothers and sisters in embracing the lesson that when someone comes to kill you, kill him first.
Fortunately, many American Jews are doing just that. The scales have fallen from their eyes since Oct. 7. They believed their goodhearted friends and all goodhearted people would naturally side with Israel. They now feel betrayed by many of those “friends” who have embraced “moral equivalence” or deafening silence. Jews who had been adamantly “anti-gun” are now realizing that “hope and good will” is not a plan. They are beginning to understand that learning how to protect themselves with force is necessary, if regrettable.
In cities all over the country, Jews are purchasing firearms and learning how to use them responsibly. In the Jewish communities of Chicago and Los Angeles, there are long-standing organizations that not only work with law enforcement to provide security for Jewish institutions, but also train individual Jews in situational awareness and responsible firearm use. In other cities, Jews have formed “gun clubs,” emphasizing self-defense as a mitzvah. One organization made up largely of Orthodox Jews is known as “Group 1441,” taking its name from Psalm 144:1: “Blessed is the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war.”
Nonetheless, encouraging responsible firearm training remains a “hard sell” in American Jewish institutions. Focusing on the protection offered by law enforcement, rabbis and lay leaders remain doubtful and skittish about laypeople bringing guns into their venues. They are clearly wrong. Given what we are witnessing daily, Jewish communal organizations must concentrate on ways to help individual Jews become more proactive in protecting themselves.
Jewish institutions, synagogues and Jewish federations need to provide programs and classes on basic self-defense to their constituents, including situational awareness, martial arts, “stop-the- bleed” and firearms training classes. Taking a cue from the rabbinic dictum that children should be taught how to swim lest they drown, the time has come for Jewish schools to make it possible for their older students to learn defensive gun use so they don’t “drown.”
In another song, Kinky Friedman sings: “Now it’s time for the chosen ones to choose/Before all hell breaks loose.”
Israelis have made their choice. What will we in the Diaspora choose “before all hell breaks loose”?
In the Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin (29a), we learn: “The father is bound in respect of his son to circumcise, redeem (if the son is a first-born), teach him Torah, marry him off, and teach him a craft. There are those who say: to also teach him to swim. Why “teach him to swim”? The commentator Rashi explains that this is in case he is ever on a ship that is sinking, he will be in less danger of drowning.
As a parent and grandparent, I’m certainly in the company of “those who say”. But in light of the violence targeting Jews in Europe and now here in the States, as well as the continuing tirades against Jews spewed by radicals on both sides of the political and religious spectrums, I am also in the company of “those who say” that the responsibility to teach survival skills to our children should be expanded. I would amend the text to read: “And some say to also teach a child both armed and unarmed self-defense skills.” The accompanying commentary would read: “to also teach a child both armed and unarmed self-defense skills. Lest he/she be in a place where his/her life is suddenly in mortal danger from a violent person. With this in mind, our Sages have taught: ‘if someone comes to kill you, kill him first’ (Sanhedrin 72a).”
Over 28,000 deaths and myriads of wounded due to wars and ongoing terrorist attacks have taught the citizens of Israel the tragic truth of this lesson. Decades before the State was founded, Jews living in Eretz Yisrael realized that self-defense was a sine qua non to their existence. After the State was founded, this affirmation was fueled by the memory of the ashes of Auschwitz, which were still warm in 1948. Through the years, Holocaust awareness created the slogan “Never Again”—now part of contemporary Jewish jargon. But for Israeli Jews, it’s not just a slogan. Rather, it is the existential “equal” sign in the equation “self-defense=existence”. Without ambivalence, they know: if we don’t fight back, we die.
But despite the lessons Israel’s experience should have taught us, “ambivalence” aptly describes how much of the American Jewish Community still feels about Jews fighting back against those who wish to harm us. With a 13% increase in violent anti-Semitic incidents worldwide and 100 of these in the US alone (including 13 American Jews dead so far this year), American Jews may be united in declaring “never again”, but we are far from united in how to insure that those words remain a certainty. Indeed, the American Jews who nod in approval upon seeing young Israelis shlepping rifles around the streets of Jerusalem even when dressed in civilian clothes are often the very same Jews who recoil from the very idea of American Jews “packing heat”, especially in synagogue.
What accounts for this “disconnect”? Why does learning to protect ourselves from our enemies cause such unease in a community that honors the warrior king David and prays for the messianic coming of his descendant? How is it that Jews who annually celebrate Hannukah, commemorating an armed rebellion that insured the survival of Judaism, have attitudes so at odds with those of that rebellion’s leader–the priest Mattathias– who chided his fellow Jews that they must fight to defend themselves, even on the Sabbath? How is it that we reverently recall the heroism of the Warsaw Ghetto defenders on Holocaust Remembrance Day, yet can opine that today’s Nazi-imitating attackers are not evil, but merely maladjusted or ignorant? And why do we believe that our heart-felt pronouncements of “love trumps hate”—expressed most recently this past Yom Hashoa and in the aftermath of Pittsburgh and Poway– will alone protect us?
This last question is part of the problem itself. It was once said that the Holocaust was supposed to end Jew-hatred. Seven decades later, it has not disappeared, but has morphed into new virulent forms. Public statements, op-ed pieces, and interfaith vigils are all well-meaning and necessary. But they are clearly not enough.
Another reason for this “disconnect” is how American Jews generally view guns: that they are a priori evil. Despite the opinion of experts that signs prohibiting guns make worship venues more vulnerable to shooters who look for soft targets, these Jews prefer that synagogues still post such signs,. There are also those who may not view guns as evil per se, but still see them as an example of what was once called “goyishe naches”– things that only gentiles enjoy. And for Jews who lean left politically (as so many do), these attitudes are strengthened when guns are associated with political attitudes that they hold as anathema.
It often follows then that, should the community need the protection of armed security, it is better to leave it exclusively to “the professionals”. Rather than promote self-defense in our own ranks like our Israeli brethren, the conventional wisdom is: better to leave it to mercenaries (!) so we don’t get our own hands shmutzik (dirty).
But, invoking again the phrase “there are others who say”: without a robust approach to self-protection to supplement educational and diplomatic efforts, sentiments of goodwill toward others will ultimately be just bromides.
Think of fire safety. No one disagrees that knowledge of fire safety and fire prevention is a necessity even though statistically, fires rarely occur. But should a fire suddenly break out, knowledge of prevention is no longer the point: it won’t prevent the fire itself from spreading. Between the time the fire department is called and the time it arrives, the fire will need to be contained by “non-professionals” in whatever ways available. In such emergencies (think Pittsburgh and Poway), the persons who are present need to know how to effectively respond. The first responders may be minutes away, but it’s the seconds that count.
Those who advocate that synagogue security be left exclusively to “the professionals” forget that the professionals are not superheroes– just humans like the rest of us. Every law enforcement officer who carries a firearm had to be trained and is required to maintain competence with that firearm. It is part of their “continuing education”. Why should competence with firearms not be part of our Jewish “continuing education”, if only because it is immoral to expect others to risk their lives for our safety, if we are not prepared to take any risk at all?
But there is another compelling reason why wherever it is legally possible, Jews should learn responsible firearms use. Why does the Talmud teach “if someone comes to kill you, kill him first”? Because our lives are sacred. We are their stewards, and therefore have a responsibility to their Owner to protect them. The commandment hee-shamair l’kha u’shmor et nafsh’kha/take utmost care and guard yourselves (Deut. 4:9) makes use of a firearm in self-defense or in defense of others indeed a sacred act. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein understood this—which is why he made sure a gun and a responsible person were ready…just in case. How many more lives would have been lost had that not been the case?
However, more Jews are coming around to this way of thinking. Individuals are seeking proper training and groups like Guns n’Moses, Glocks and Bagels, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearm Ownership can be found on social media. Resonating with the biblical teaching “a living dog is better than a dead lion” (Ecclesiastes 9:4), these Jews believe that living their lives is better than others delivering eulogies about their lives.
In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites find themselves between Pharaoh’s chariots and the sea. They cry to Moses that it would have been better to remain slaves than to die, as they believe they will. Moses responds by telling them to stand by and watch G-d’s deliverance. G-d responds: “Why do you cry out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward!”
It is a good bet that we will not experience the sort of dramatic rescue our ancestors experienced. But like them, a question and a risk confronts us: will we Jews in the Diaspora stand by and wait, or will we jump in? Will we avoid the water and possibly let others drown us? Or will we move forward?
Kinky Friedman once observed, “it’s time for the chosen ones to choose”. Our Israeli brothers and sisters have made their choice. How will we in the Diaspora choose?
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Rabbi Cary Kozberghttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRabbi Cary Kozberg2024-01-08 18:06:262024-01-24 09:42:23Learning to Shoot and Not Drown
The FBI possesses over 13.9 million records tied to illegal aliens in a database used to run background checks on individuals seeking to purchase firearms, the bureau told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The FBI maintains what is known as the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is a database of records of individuals who are disqualified from purchasing a firearm. As of October 31, there were 13,925,469 records in NICS Indices of illegal/unlawful aliens, the bureau told the DCNF.
The more than 13.9 million indices involving illegal aliens in the NICS database represent unique prohibiting events, such as an arrest, conviction or a commitment to a mental institution, and not unique individuals, the FBI said.
“The NICS Indices contain descriptive information of individuals identified as being prohibited from receiving a firearm-related permit based on federal or state firearm prohibitions,” the FBI told DCNF.
“An individual is entered into the NICS indices based on each prohibiting event. If there is more than one prohibiting event, then a person could have multiple entries in the NICS Indices,” said the FBI.
“A new entry into the NICS Indices,” the FBI said, “is triggered by a prohibiting event, which, depending on the jurisdiction, could be an arrest, a conviction, the issuance of a disqualifying protection order, an involuntary commitment to a mental institution, etc.”
Between November 1988 and November 2023, there were 47,930 denials of firearms purchases to illegal/unlawful aliens involving the NICS database, according to data published by the FBI.
ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) contribute 99.5% of the information on the records of illegal aliens in NICS, the FBI said. Others can come from state and local agencies.
A 2018 Government Accountability Report noted that “making false written statements on” an ATF firearms-purchase background check form is “a felony under federal law.” However, the same report indicated that in cases where individuals were denied a firearm, “few” have faced prosecution. In fiscal year 2017, NICS checks resulted in roughly 112,000 denials, which only led to 12 prosecutions by June 2018.
“Federal and selected state law enforcement agencies that process firearm-related background checks through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) collectively investigate and prosecute a small percentage of individuals who falsify information on a firearms form (e.g., do not disclose a felony conviction) and are denied a purchase,” the GAO reported.
The number of illegal immigrants entering the country through the southern border has hit record levels in recent years, according to federal data. Border Patrol recorded more than 2.2 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022 at the U.S.-Mexico border and more than 2 million in fiscal year 2023.
With that, there’s concern migrants coming to the U.S. illegally could still get their hands on a gun through a licensed firearms dealer, Peter Forcelli, a retired Deputy Assistant Director from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told the DCNF.
If there’s no record of an illegal alien in the NICS database, a firearm could be sold if the individual lies about their immigration status on their application, which is a felony, and/or may possess an ID from a state that allows noncitizens to obtain driver’s licenses, he said.
“As long as [you] have a license and no history, you can buy guns. This is really an open door for terrorists and those wishing to do us harm to be able to acquire firearms,” said Forcelli, who blew the whistle on the Obama administration’s Operation Fast and Furious in which the federal government allowed criminals to purchase firearms in Arizona in a failed effort to track the guns to criminal organizations in Mexico.
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http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2023-12-28 15:13:572024-01-09 13:13:44FBI Gun Background Check Database Contains Nearly 14 Million Entries For Illegal Immigrants
