Gun Rights: The Death of a Thousand Cuts

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Joe Biden played fast and loose with the truth about guns after the tragedy in Nashville this week.

We’ll get to that but, first, a little refresher on why we have the Second Amendment.  It’s not for personal protection.  It’s so that We The People can resist a rogue tyrannical government.  The Founders knew even then how often governments become tyrannical and turn on their own people.  Moreover, under our system, we are considered to be born with individual rights, including the right to bear arms, and no further explanation or apology is necessary.

Biden said AR-15s are “weapons of war”.  This implies AR-15s are fully automatic weapons, which they are not.  AR-15s are not fully automatic assault rifles, despite their looks.  Biden also claimed, “You’re not allowed to own a machine gun.”  That’s not true.  You can own a machine gun – a fully automatic weapon – if you’re at least 21, a legal resident of the U.S., eligible to purchase a firearm, pass an 8-10 month background check, pay the $200 transfer tax, and are not otherwise a “prohibited person”.

Biden made these claims in the service of more gun control, as if taking guns away from law-abiding citizens is going to accomplish anything.  These arguments come out every time there’s a tragedy, but the gun grabbers in the government are becoming increasingly brazen.  They’re assaulting gun rights in ways that would have been unthinkable even five years ago.

Joe Biden went around Congress and directed the Attorney General to take the U.S. as “close as possible” to universal background checks without legislation.

The ATF adopted a “zero tolerance” policy against gun stores that violate federal firearm licensing requirements, meaning licenses can now be taken away for minor infractions even without a prior history of violations.  Sixteen ATF agents swooped down on a gun store in Georgia for a surprise inspection, but left after learning a member of Congress was watching.

The ATF recently expanded the gun registry by administratively declaring pistol owners who add stabilizing braces must register.

The ATF is also using income data to conduct warrantless tracking of gun purchasers with low income who, the bureau figures, should not be able to afford to buy guns.

The FBI massively underreported the number of active shooting incidents ended by good guys with guns.

Congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would further restrict the sale of ammunition and require sellers to report purchases in some instances.

A Maryland bill would require embedded trackers in some guns sold in the state.

New York passed a law last year requiring gun owners who apply for a concealed carry permit to submit their social media history to the state.

That’s a lot of hostility to gun rights, but the gun grabbers aren’t done.  Did you ever hear them say ‘we promise to stop after this – this far and no farther’?  Of course not.  They want ALL our freedom, so I’m not willing to give them ANY of it.  Don’t doubt me when I say they want all our freedom.  Randi Weingarten, the head of the American Federation of Teachers union, just called for a complete ban on guns.

So the gun grabbers have put me in the position of saying ‘no compromises’ because I know their incessant demands are never going to stop.  They’re already showing the kind of tyrannical tendencies the Second Amendment is intended to deter.  Even if you don’t like guns, the forces of liberty must band together to stop the gun grabbers from taking any more of our freedom.

©Christopher Wright. All rights reserved.

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‘Trans joy’ in Nashville

If the Mentally Ill ‘Mustn’t Own Guns,’ What About ‘Trans’ People?

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The timing of the tragic Nashville shooting, in which a MUSS (Made-up Sexual Status, aka “transgender”) individual killed six at a Christian school, is a bit odd. National Public Radio had just recently done a piece on how MUSS and other “LGBTQ” people are buying guns because, the story goes, they believe they’re imperiled by conservatives. As one sexual devolutionary NPR quoted put it, “If the world is dangerous, then you have to be dangerous back, and that very much has pushed me into where I am now.”

As for what pushed 28-year-old Audrey Hale into opening fire Monday at The Covenant School, which she once attended, the media largely pretend to have no clue. They don’t want you to have one, either. This is why, shamelessly, they often hide Hale’s MUSS status and instead focus on guns. Here’s how brazen it is, too:

With jihadist-like zeal and as a rule, the media will use a MUSS individual’s “preferred pronouns” and chosen opposite-sex name and seek to “cancel” anyone not following suit. Yet now, they not only happily “deadname” Hale, but identify her as a “female suspect” or “female shooter” and reference her using feminine pronouns.

Newsweek did this, making no mention whatsoever of Hale’s MUSS status. Metro at least noted that the woman “identified as transgender,” though it still used feminine pronouns even though the killer had embraced he/him ones. (The deadnaming is perhaps understandable, as reports that Hale was going by first name “Aiden” are unconfirmed.) I mean, you’d almost think these articles were written by Selwyn Duke — except for one thing:

The media hide Hale’s MUSS status because, if they didn’t, you just might suspect the shooting could’ve been an anti-Christian hate crime.

Second, it might occur to some people that maybe, just perhaps, society has more to fear from MUSS individuals than they do from society.

This is reality, too. Contrary to media myth and as I reported in 2020, studies have shown that MUSS individuals are less likely to be murdered than normal people are and are more likely to kill than be killed. (They’re also overrepresented among pedophiles.)

This raises a question, given “Red Flag” laws’ popularity: Do we need Rainbow Flag laws?

For the record, I’m skeptical of such legislation, to say the least, and know that removal of Second Amendment rights is not the real remedy for crime. The issue, though, is hypocrisy.

Red Flag laws have been sold with the idea that guns “must be kept from the mentally ill’s hands.” We’ve heard this continually. Yet how, then, does it make sense giving a whole category of mentally ill individuals a special dispensation from this prohibition by reclassifying their psychological disorder as an “identity” or “lifestyle choice”?

As I’ve pointed out for years, the MUSS phenomenon is not a biological matter requiring a biological remedy, but results from serious psychological issues. Audrey Hale isn’t the first MUSS mass shooter, either. WND cited other examples in 2019 and, quoting a report by website National Justice, related that MUSS individuals’ “small population is well represented among murderers, serial killers and pedophiles.”

Personally speaking, I cannot think of another group with so many hostile, unstable members. Coming to mind is the MUSS individual who commented, after I wrote an article criticizing the MUSS agenda, that he wanted “my head on a platter.” Then there was the 2015 Dr. Drew program incident in which Robert Tur (aka “Zoey” Tur), a large, muscular man in a dress, grabbed commentator Ben Shapiro’s neck and threatened to send him “home in an ambulance” (video below).

When was the last time you saw someone threaten this kind of violence during a political/social discussion?

Such behavior is hardly unfathomable. MUSS individuals are very troubled, generally unhappy people uncomfortable in their own skin. And the lie they’re living — that they can be the opposite sex — is so grand and fragile that Truth’s slightest utterance can burst their bubble. This can be enraging. They may externalize, too, attributing their unhappiness to others’ failure to affirm their delusion. They then may lash out at those they believe are making them miserable.

There also are the drugs MUSS individuals often take. Given the studies indicating steroid use can cause increased aggression, one could wonder: Was Hale on testosterone?

Hormones are powerful substances. How does putting people on a cross-sex hormone regimen, along with perhaps other drugs, affect their mentality? Is giving an already disturbed individual a cocktail of medications designed to induce opposite-sex physical changes really a good idea?

The bottom line, however, concerns whether we’re serious about keeping guns out of the mentally ill’s hands. If so, then “mentally ill” mustn’t be defined based on political will.

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

©Selwyn Duke. All rights reserved.

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How a Truly Catholic President Would Speak

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Michael Pakaluk: All Americans must take responsibility for the common good, which is our nation’s culture. You cannot change the world.  But you can change your own life.

Off the record – before his speech begins – to the press corps:

“I would ordinarily be enjoying an ice cream cone right now – you know how much I love the stuff; I’ve got a whole freezer full.  But I take my Catholic faith seriously, as you know.   It’s Lent.  I’ve been fasting. – (Laughs ) Yeah, me too! – Can I offer a personal confession? As president, I get briefed on a lot of bad things that the nation never hears about.  I have no idea how I’d be able to do this job without the graces that come from prayer and fasting, even outside of Lent.”

Press conference begins:

Good afternoon, fellow Americans. It’s common for politicians to use violence like the horrific crime this morning to attack their opponents for not supporting gun control or assault rifle bans.  I am not going to treat this tragedy that way. Because it would be exploitation.  About 500 people die in mass shootings every year.  While lamentable, a far larger number, 25,000 commit suicide each year with guns.  I’d insult you if I said the problem of suicide was a problem of guns.

Another 25,000 are murdered in our cities with guns.  Guns make it easier to murder, but for centuries criminals killed with knives.

The colonists all owned pistols and rifles. But mass murders of random people were relatively unknown in our country until recently.  One of the first was in 1949, the “Walk of Death” in Camden, New Jersey, by a decorated veteran.  He shot 13 at point blank, including children. Since 2000 these incidents have skyrocketed.  A bar chart would show a trend going sharply upward.

Guns do not rise up of their own volition, place themselves in people’s hands, and begin firing at school children.  They are instruments, for bad and sometimes for good.  Our country has a problem romanticizing guns. Surely, it’s easier to ban imaginary guns than real guns, no? I propose this, then: just as we did with cigarettes, let’s ban all guns from movies, tv shows, and video games.  Not sure that you’re in favor?  Well, until you stop wanting to entertain yourself by watching murders with guns, I won’t take seriously your talk of banning guns.

Let’s be honest that these shootings especially in schools disturb us because we take them to stand for our society as a whole.  In economics, we learn that, although each of us has freedom, when numbers are large, individuals will invariably display the motives that to some degree are affecting many.  The causes of these mass shootings are likely to be found there.

There are two kinds of mass killers.  One hates himself and wants to destroy himself.  He often begins by murdering his family and ends by killing himself.  Another hates everyone else.  Sometimes the two kinds of killers are combined in one.  And often a mass killer aims to “make a statement.”

So what kind of society produces citizens who want to make statements like that?

A story in the Wall Street Journal last weekend carried the headline, “America Pulls Back from Values that Once Defined It.” The report begins, “Patriotism, religious faith, having children. . .are receding in importance for Americans.”  In 1998, when the survey began, 70% said patriotism was important.  Now it’s 38%.  Religion used to be important for 62% of Americans; now it’s 39%.   Having children was 59%; now it’s 30%.  Another statistic won’t surprise you, if you’ve been paying attention to universities: tolerance has declined as a value from 80% to only 58%.

A pollster commented, “these differences are so dramatic, it paints a new and surprising portrait of a changing America.“  I remind you that these numbers were dropping precipitously over the two decades when mass shootings were rising precipitously.  So, that is the first thing I want to say – culture abhors a vacuum.  If good recedes, we cannot be surprised if evil asserts itself.

The dramatic differences in that poll didn’t come from just anywhere.  In large part, they are the effect of our system of schooling, as many of you learned during the pandemic, when you could inspect your children’s curriculum.  Therefore, I am announcing today a whole-of-government effort to support school vouchers and parental choice, and to facilitate homeschooling.

Then there is the ideology of “the unencumbered self.”  The Supreme Court in Dobbs overturned Roe v Wade, which was based not on our Constitution but on this destructive ideology of autonomy.  Ask yourself: If it’s not so important what we choose, as that we are the ones who choose it – on what basis do we criticize someone’s choice to destroy rather than to build?  Why couldn’t malice express a person’s autonomy as much as love?

Culture abhors a vacuum.  Although several states have admirably acted to affirm the dignity of each human person from conception, I also announce today a whole-of-government approach to support women in carrying through their pregnancies.  I want to see a bipartisan effort to have all medical expenses of prenatal care, birth, and early childhood supported as a public good.  And I pledge to you that I will work to take up once again a Human Life Amendment.

Also, henceforth, the executive branch of the Federal government will in no way lend support to transgenderism, which is simply the latest expression of the destructive ideology of the “unencumbered self.”

Following President Washington’s example, I wish to give a warning.  I want all Americans to take responsibility for the common good, which is our nation’s culture.  You cannot change the world.  But you can change your own life.  If shooting down children in cold blood strikes you as “demonic” – not my words, but what you yourselves say – then reject anything occult and demonic, anything that even hints at it, in your own lives.  Have no part in it.

Finally, following President Lincoln’s example, 160 years later to the day, I hereby proclaim tomorrow, March 30th, as a National Day of Prayer and Fasting.

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AUTHOR

Michael Pakaluk

Michael Pakaluk, an Aristotle scholar and Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, is a professor in the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America. He lives in Hyattsville, MD with his wife Catherine, also a professor at the Busch School, and their eight children. His acclaimed book on the Gospel of Mark is The Memoirs of St Peter. His new book, Mary’s Voice in the Gospel of John: A New Translation with Commentary, is now available. Prof. Pakaluk was appointed to the Pontifical Academy of St Thomas Aquinas by Pope Benedict XVI.

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EDITORS NOTE: This The Catholic Thing article is republished with permission. All rights reserved. © 2023 The Catholic Thing. All rights reserved. For reprint rights, write to: info@frinstitute.org. The Catholic Thing is a forum for intelligent Catholic commentary. Opinions expressed by writers are solely their own.

The ATF Expansion of the Gun Registry Turns Law-Abiding Gun Owners into Felons

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Despite decades of warnings from crime prevention and law experts, the Biden administration has taken a page out of FDR’s book to crack down on legal gun owners.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has followed through on their plan to turn millions of lawful gun owners into felons in the name of “public safety” by reclassifying pistols with stabilizing braces as short-barreled rifles, effectively expanding the unconstitutional national gun registry.

Stabilizing braces are devices that can be attached to pistols to aid the user in balancing their arm. Originally created to help people with disabilities, the accessory is now more popular amongst mainstream shooters who use them to adapt pistols into guns that can be shot from the shoulder, which has been legal to do in the past. Now, there’s a big hoop to jump through if you don’t want to be hit with fines and/or jail time.

As the Department of Justice first proposed on June 7, 2021 and put into practice on January 13, 2023, those who wish to add stabilizers to their pistols “must comply with the heightened regulations on those dangerous and easily concealable weapons.”

Under the new rules, any pistol modified with such a brace is now considered to be a short-barreled rifle. As the DOJ explained themselves, the National Firearms Act (NFA) has, since the 1930s, “imposed requirements on short-barreled rifles because they are more easily concealable than long-barreled rifles but have more destructive power than traditional handguns.”

“Beyond background checks and serial numbers, those heightened requirements include taxation and registration requirements that include background checks for all transfers including private transfers,” the statement reads. The tax required for anyone making or buying a short-barreled rifle is $200.

The Biden administration has generously granted all of the impacted manufacturers, dealers, and individuals a 120-day period to comply—by registering the firearm, removing the brace, surrendering the firearm to ATF, or destroying it.

Attorney General Merrick Garland “directed” the ATF to “address the issue of stabilizing braces” within 60 days at an April 2021 event with President Joe Biden, prompting the swift action taken by the DOJ in announcing the proposed rule the next month.

Biden had also previously selected former Obama advisor Steven Dettelbach to serve as the head of the ATF, who helped the administration reach their goal of passing yet another gun control law.

While the bureau claims the new rule won’t impact stabilizing braces “that are objectively designed and intended as a ‘stabilizing brace’ for use by individuals with disabilities, and not for shouldering the weapon as a rifle,” there is no “objective” standard listed for what disabled people are allowed to carry, or what is “intended” as an aid.

The history of tyrannical politicians attempting to force every gun owner to register their weapons with the government is long. In 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt considered implementing a ban on fully-automatic firearms, but was faced with pushback from the DOJ, which argued that it would violate the Second Amendment.

To compromise, the administration instead pushed for legislation to require the registration of fully-automatic firearms, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and firearm sound suppressors. This idea became law in the form of the National Firearms Act of 1934, which is what the current-day DOJ and ATF have used to justify their expansion of the national gun registry for law-abiding citizens.

Roosevelt was set on creating a national firearm registry for every gun, demonstrated by his appointment of Homer Cummings to the position of Attorney General, who helped draft the NFA.

“Show me the man who doesn’t want his gun registered and I will show you a man who shouldn’t have a gun,” Cummings wrote in 1938, the year he pushed for separate handgun registration legislation.

Fast forward by approximately 50 years, and then-President Ronald Reagan signs the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, which federally prohibits national gun registries. Though Reagan faltered on the Second Amendment at times (see: the Mulford Act), this was a good policy that was unfortunately ignored by anti-gun politicians.

Experts have been warning about the dystopian consequences of criminalizing stabilizing braces, which are used by disabled and able-bodied individuals alike to increase balance and accuracy.

Dr. John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, wrote for Real Clear Politics: “Few seem to realize that stabilizing braces for pistols were originally designed to allow wounded and disabled veterans who may have lost the use of part of their hand to hold handguns. They are essentially a strap attached to the gun. Disabled individuals are often viewed as easy targets by criminals, and stabilizers make it easier to defend themselves.”

He cites Rick Cicero, a disabled veteran who lost his right arm and leg in an explosion while serving in Afghanistan 13 years ago.

“If they take this away, they’re violating their own law because this is designed and employed for people like me,” Cicero told Spectrum News 9 after the DOJ proposed the rule in 2021.

Cicero, who teaches fellow injured veterans on how to shoot again, added that “the most important thing to me about this brace, this whole aspect, is another avenue of getting injured veterans out of the house.”

According to Dr. Lott, the two instances that Biden cited to garner support for the new ATF policy weren’t even valid examples of braces being used to better commit a crime.

“All this started after President Biden cited a crime in 2021 in Colorado – where a shooter used a pistol stabilizing brace when attacking shoppers in a grocery store – to justify calling for classifying such brace-affixed pistols as machine guns,” Lott wrote. “Ahmed Al Alwi murdered 10 people at close range in a Boulder, Colo. grocery store. A previous shooting in 2019 by Connor Betts, in Dayton, Ohio, also involved a pistol brace. These are the only two cases of their kind and, more importantly, neither of them had any difficulty holding their guns and all their shots were fired at a short distance. There is no evidence that the brace made any difference in their ability to carry out the attacks. And there has been no surge in crime by the disabled or others using these braces.”

This all stems back to the inherent right that Americans have to self-protection through gun ownership. As FEE’s Brett Cooper wrote at the time of the rule proposal, James Madison condemned a governmental structure in which overarching entities can rewrite the law as they see fit.

In Federalist No. 48, the founding father warned that “the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.”

“This is exactly what is happening today,” Cooper wrote. “This stealth power grab should concern all Americans, even if they are outside the immediately-impacted gun community.”

AUTHOR

Olivia Rondeau

Olivia is a 21-year-old political commentator, strategist, and journalist hailing from the Washington, DC area, and currently based in Los Angeles.

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

Biden Gun Order Fails Background Check

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Like most grandmothers, Carolyn Pettiford thought she was done raising children. A horrible February night in 2022 changed that forever. Her daughter, Ashley, had been parked on a Kansas City street when a man walked up, leaned into the car, and fired a gun twice. When police arrived, they found Ashley and her boyfriend dead, and Carolyn’s terrified five-year-old grandson alive, but shot badly in the face in the backseat. “He’s a pretty strong kid,” Carolyn says. But “to have to tell a five-year-old that he won’t be able to talk to his mother… that he will never be able to see his mother or to hug her, it’s hard.”

There are 20,138 families like Carolyn’s, who started 2023 with an empty seat at the dinner table because gun violence killed someone they loved last year. And while everyone’s stories are different, they all have one thing in common: There isn’t a single gun control policy that could have prevented them.

President Joe Biden, standing in front of a California dance hall where 11 people were mowed down in January, claims otherwise. Last Tuesday, by executive order, he announced a series of new attacks on the Second Amendment — all under the guise that stricter gun policies will somehow end the violence. It’s time, he said emphatically, to “do something. Do something big.” The trouble is, Democrats don’t seem to care if that “something” is the right thing.

Under Biden’s latest congressional end-run, he aims to move America “as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation” — which, as conservatives know, is just his lawless way of pushing the country closer to a national firearms registry that could facilitate totalitarian control. Like most Republicans, Congressman Greg Murphy (N.C.) is outraged by the idea, since a) Biden has no constitutional authority to impose these policies without Congress, b) it’s an invasion of Americans’ privacy, and c) it won’t do anything to prevent the bloodshed on our cities’ streets.

“The sad thing is,” Murphy told me on “Washington Watch,” “this is an absolute aberration and misunderstanding of who commits crimes with guns. It’s not law-abiding people, but that’s who he’s after.” So what purpose does any of this grandstanding serve? “I don’t know of one,” the congressman replied. “I don’t know that [there’s] any need for … the government to know who owns a gun and who does not own a gun. I’d love for them to know which criminals own guns — I could probably get behind that. But … law-abiding citizens? That’s not the right of the government. We have a right to own a gun for hunting, for self-protection. And the government has no right to intrude upon that privacy.”

Among other things, the order also weaponizes the DOJ to crackdown on gun sellers they believe aren’t policing buyers strongly enough. But gun sellers aren’t the problem, the data argues. Criminals are.

Josiah O’Neil, a former deputy sheriff in southern California who just ran for Congress, believes there’s a major flaw in the Left’s thinking, which is that gun control laws always assume someone who’s willing to commit murder would hesitate to break gun laws. “I’ve never met a criminal, whether in my local law enforcement or federal work, that respected laws. By definition, criminals don’t,” he explained on “Washington Watch” after the Uvalde massacre.

If anything, these knee-jerk reactions — these supposed “gun control” efforts — turn innocent citizens into sitting ducks. “When places adopt stricter gun control laws, there tends to be an increase in violent crime,” explained scholar John Lott. His research at the Crime Prevention Research Center found that “every place in the world that’s banned, either all guns or all handguns has seen an increase in murder.” Domestically, “over 94% of the successful mass public shootings that have occurred in the United States since 1950 have taken place in areas where citizens weren’t allowed to … have guns.”

Just look at Chicago and Baltimore — cities with some of the strictest gun laws in the country. Gun-related violence is through the roof. That’s because the same criminals who break the law to shoot someone are breaking the law to get the guns to do it with.

In Kansas City, where Ashley was killed, federal investigators say there are more than 2,000 stolen and illegal guns “floating” around the area. In fact, the man who ended her life and blinded her son used one. That’s also in keeping with the Justice Department’s findings from 2019 (the most recent data available). Only 10.1% of the inmates the government surveyed got their guns from a retail source. The other 90% either stole their firearms, bought them from an underground store, took them from their victims, received them as a gift, had someone else buy them, or bought, borrowed, traded, or rented them from friends or family. Barely 7% bought the gun in their own name and just 6.7% underwent a background check.

Last month, a blockbuster report from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms confirmed the trend, pointing out that more than a million guns were stolen from private citizens from 2017-2021. “Crime guns may change hands a number of times after that first retail sale, and some of those transactions may be theft or violate [firearm laws]. But what we know is from the large numbers of gun sales, there are lots of ways that legal guns end up in the hands of prohibited persons.”

And unfortunately, thanks to the Democrats’ other failed policies — defunding the police, for one — there’s a serious shortage of law enforcers to track those illegal guns down. From small towns to big cities, National Police Association spokesman Betsy Branter Smith warns that the “anti-police rhetoric of 2020 and its political fallout” has put departments at their lowest populations in 30 years. “I think this could be a generational problem,” she warned. “This could go on for years. Even if, let’s say, I could flip a magic switch tomorrow, and everyone loved the police and every kid in America wanted to be a cop … it takes nine months to a year from the date of hire for a person to become a police officer.”

But it isn’t just the reduction in force, it’s the reduction in penalties too. When people do commit crimes, Democrats are seeing to it that they aren’t punished. In Washington, D.C. right now, two-thirds of the arrests (67%) aren’t even prosecuted. The city’s criminal code has been so relaxed that “about half the people charged with murder typically have a prior gun arrest, according to police, though not necessarily a conviction.”

Even on routine traffic stops, The Washington Post reports, police are finding and seizing illegal guns. It’s a regular occurrence, officers say. In a single week last year, D.C. arrested 23 people for gun offenses, and “prosecutors did not pursue charges against 13 of them.” The city’s police chief, Robert Contee, fumed that the refusal to punish offenders is “very frustrating,” especially since so many of these people who are released from custody could be “picking up another gun.”

“[I] want to see people going to jail and being held accountable when they violate our community and go out there and use illegal firearms in our city.” Until then, Contee argues, nothing will change. The Left can scapegoat legal gun owners and sellers all it wants, but that doesn’t solve the deeper problems their policies are creating.

As plenty of people have pointed out, nothing the president has done would have stopped a single shooting we’ve witnessed — not Uvalde, not Monterey, not even Ashley Pettiford. This latest order isn’t action; it’s political theater, designed to play on people’s emotions and fears. Biden isn’t “accelerat[ing]” the work “to save more lives.” He’s distracting Americans from the border crisis, growing national security threats, and the economy — and wiping his feet on the Constitution as he does it.

Carolyn — and every parent who’s buried a child — deserves better.

AUTHOR

Tony Perkins

Tony Perkins is president of Family Research Council and executive editor of The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

Biden Poses For Photo With Member Of Alleged Chinese Intel Front Group At Los Angeles Gun Control Rally

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President Joe Biden posed for a photo with a member of an alleged Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intelligence front group after delivering a speech on gun control this week, a Daily Caller News Foundation analysis of video footage of the event found.

Biden announced an executive order aimed at “increasing the number of background checks conducted before firearm sales” in Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday, before taking a photo with Ma “Derek” Shurong, Fox News’ footage from the event reveals. Ma is listed as a member of the China Overseas Exchange Association (COEA) between 2017 and 2019, according to the group’s website. Ma is listed as starting a five-year position with the related China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA) in 2019, the Daily Caller New Foundation recently revealed.

In addition to COEA and COFA’s publicly available membership rosters, which both list Ma as a “director,” footage from Chinese state-run media outlet CCTV shows Ma in attendance at COEA’s Beijing council meeting on September 28, 2017, the DCNF determined.

Multiple Chinese intelligence experts recently told the DCNF that both COEA and COFA, which merged in 2019, serve the United Front Work Department (UFWD), a CCP “intelligence service” which conducts “influence operations” and “intelligence collection” abroad, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).

At the Los Angeles rally, Biden moved through the crowd when he stopped and exchanged a few words with Ma and smiled while photos were taken, Fox News’ footage shows.

California Democratic Rep. Judy Chu also delivered a speech during Tuesday’s event, Fox News footage shows.

“It feels as though the attack on Monterey Park was an attack on Asian America,” Chu said in her speech, though she omitted the fact the Monterey Park shooting was perpetrated by an Asian man.

Chu recently came under scrutiny for her ties to alleged UFWD front groups and their respective members, including Ma. Since 2013, Chu has awarded Ma at least five certificates of “Congressional Recognition,” according to multiple Chinese-language news reports.

In October 2022, Ma donated $900 to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ campaign, according to campaign finance records.

Ma also participated in a press conference with Bass and Rep. Chu on September 10, 2022, according to AMTV footage of the event. During the press conference, Ma stood smiling beside Bass while she promised to “increase the representation of Asians in the Los Angeles Police Department,” among other things.

Before Tuesday’s event in Monterey Park, Bass met Biden at LAX airport when he landed, NBC News reported.

Bass’ interactions with alleged UFWD front groups recently drew criticism after a Washington Free Beacon report revealed the Los Angeles mayor met with representatives from the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) in February. In 2020, the State Department designated CPAFFC as a UFWD “affiliate,” characterizing it as an organization “tasked with co-opting subnational governments” that seeks to “malignly influence state and local leaders to promote the [China’s] global agenda.”

During the February meeting with CPAFFC, Bass and the alleged front group’s president, Lin Songtian, reportedly discussed “stabilization and improvement of Sino-U.S. relations,” The Washington Free Beacon reported.

In addition to CPAFFC, Bass also has ties to alleged UFWD front group member Dominic Ng, the CEO of East West Bank. Bass appointed Ng an honorary co-chair of her Mayoral Transition Advisory Team on Dec. 6, according to the City of Los Angeles’ website.

Similar to Ma, Ng was listed as the “executive director” of COEA between 2013 and 2017 and was listed as holding the same title at COFA beginning in 2019, the DCNF reported on Feb. 9.

An East West Bank spokesman claimed that Ng merely served in an “honorary” position at the “executive-director level” at COEA, and left in 2014 citing “non-participation.” East West Bank also claimed that Ng “was later invited to join” COFA, yet “declined the invitation and was not aware his name was listed as a member on the association’s website until revealed by the recent media coverage,” according to a Feb. 25 statement from the bank.

As with Ma, Ng donated $1,500 to Karen Bass for Mayor 2022, campaign finance records show.

Ng also donated $100,000 to the Biden Victory Fund and $35,500 to the Democratic National Committee in 2020, the year before Biden appointed the banker to serve as U.S. representative to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), according to campaign finance records.

The White House, Chu and Bass did not respond immediately to the DCNF’s request for comment. Ma didn’t respond to a request for comment.

AUTHOR

PHILIP LENCZYCKI

Investigative reporter.

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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.

Discover Card To Start Tracking Gun Purchases

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In our column The Globalists’ Economic War Against Humanity—Environmental, Social and Governance [ESG] Scores we wrote,

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. recently spoke to the nation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the items Biden did not discuss is his active support of the “great reset” which is the globalists’ war against humanity.

A key component of that war against the common man is to eliminate capitalism and replace it with a new “stakeholder” doctrine for businesses globally and in the U.S. This model is based upon the need to attain environmental, social and governance scores that fully supplant capitalism and replace it with a one world governance based on big government, i.e. Socialist, Communist, ideals.

ESG scoring’s goal is to fundamentally transform the role of every company from a shareholder focus (capitalism) to a single stakeholder decree (the government).

Ammoland Inc. has reported how ESG has now become the weapon of choice to track gun purchases.   Ammoland Inc. in an article by  titled Discover Card To Start Tracking Gun Purchases reported,

Discover Financial Services will start tracking gun purchases at retailers nationwide this coming April.

Discover is the fourth largest credit card provider after American Express, Visa, and Mastercard and is the first provider to publicly state that it will start tracking gun purchases. The credit card company claims it will begin monitoring gun purchases to help law enforcement agencies investigate gun-related crimes. The announcement comes five months after the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) approved a dedicated merchant code for gun stores.

Credit card companies have been under pressure from Democratic members of Congress to track gun purchases better. These members claim that assigning a different code to firearms sales will somehow help police solve crimes involving guns. They also claim that the data can and should be used for research into firearms-related crimes.

Although the codes will not show what exact guns the patron purchased from a federal firearms licensee (FFL), many in the Second Amendment community worry that these codes can be used to block the lawful purchase of firearms. Others fear that credit card companies will use the data to raise the transaction rates of gun stores, making it more cost prohibited to buy a firearm. Also, many others worry the data recovered will be used to create an anti-gun narrative by cherry-picking data.

These fears might not be unfounded. During the Obama administration, the Justice Department launched “Operation Chokepoint.” The operation designated gun stores as a risk for money laundering even though most, if not all, customers must fill out an ATF Form 4473 and complete a federal background check when buying an item from a gun shop.

Republican members of Congress worry that the data will violate the privacy rights of Americans who purchase lawful goods. Discover was quick to claim to Reuters that those fears were unfounded.

“We remain focused on continuing to protect and support lawful purchases on our network while protecting the privacy of cardholders,” Discover said in its statement to Reuters.

According to Discover, other credit card companies also plan to implement the new codes in April. The company refused to identify which other card companies would start using the “5723 – Gun and ammunition shops” codes. Master Card, Visa, and American Express are mum on the issue and have not responded to media inquiries.

ISO, which is based in Europe, said the merchant codes would be available to card companies by the end of this month. Although available for credit card companies use, they are not required to use the codes. Each company is free to choose whether to adopt the codes or not.

Discover only has 2% of the credit card market in the United States, but the U.S. credit card market is so large that the company processes $191.2 million worth of transactions each year. Gun owners can significantly dent Discover’s market cap by canceling or simply not using their Discover cards. Boycotts have been a successful tool of the left for many years. Using the same methods as the left, gun owners can send a strong message to these companies that Americans do not want their gun purchases tracked.

Discover did not respond to AmmoLand’s request for comment

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Ammoland Inc. article is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

House Speaker Paul Renner: ‘No More Government Permission Slips’ with Florida’s Constitutional Carry

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“Florida was the pioneer in the modern carry movement in America and this historic legislation continues our proud tradition.” — House Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast). 

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Jan. 30, 2023) — Today, House Speaker Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast) unveiled House Bill 543 to ensure that Floridians can exercise their Second Amendment rights without government interference. HB 543 will eliminate the need for a concealed weapons license (CWL) in the state of Florida. Constitutional carry allows Floridians who are currently qualified to obtain and maintain a CWL to carry a concealed handgun or weapon without a license.

“Floridians shouldn’t need a government permission slip to exercise their constitutional rights,” said Speaker Renner. “House Bill 543 will ensure Florida will remain a beacon of freedom. Florida was the pioneer in the modern carry movement in America and this historic legislation continues our proud tradition.”

“Through their service at home and abroad, Speaker Renner and Senator Collins have sacrificed to protect our constitutional rights,” said Senate President Kathleen Passidomo (R-Naples). “I stand with these brave warriors, with our law enforcement leaders, and with law-abiding Floridians across this state who should not have to ask the government for permission to protect themselves.”

Bill sponsor and Chair of the Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, Representative Chuck Brannan (R-Macclenny) added, “As a retired chief investigator with the Baker County Sheriff’s office, former Deputy U.S. Marshal, and gun owner, I filed this bill because I believe all Floridians have the right to bear arms to protect themselves, their families, and their property without any government interference.”

“As we stand here today, we have brave men and women in the farthest corners of the world safeguarding our freedom. As a retired U.S. Army Green Beret, I’ve been blessed to serve shoulder to shoulder with many of them. I believe we have an obligation here in Florida to respect their sacrifice by protecting our God-given and Constitutional rights here at home,” said Senator Jay Collins (R-Tampa). “I’m honored that President Passidomo has entrusted me with running this critical legislation in the Senate. I am also proud to stand with my fellow military veteran Speaker Renner, along with a 30-year law enforcement veteran, Representative Brannan, and with so many sheriffs from across our great state to make it clear that here in Florida under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the government will not get in the way of law-abiding Americans who want to defend themselves and their families. I am looking forward to passing this vital legislation to codify our rights as U.S. citizens to keep and bear arms.”

“Our Constitution protects gun ownership rights and the ability to carry a firearm,” said Hernando County Sheriff and Florida Sheriffs Association President Al Nienhuis. “Violent career criminals are not applying for a state permit to carry a gun. Removing the permitting process will assist our law-abiding citizens with the protections they need to defend themselves and their families from those criminals who intend to do them harm. The Florida Sheriffs Association supports constitutional permitless carry, and we look forward to working with Governor DeSantis and the Legislature on this issue.”

A person carrying concealed without a license will still be required to obey existing laws prohibiting carrying in such places as schools, athletic events, and correctional facilities. The bill does not affect laws relating to the purchase of a firearm and will not allow anyone prohibited from possessing a firearm to carry concealed.

For more information and to follow the progress of HB 543, visit www.myfloridahouse.gov.

©Dr. Rich Swier. All rights reserved.

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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

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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

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