Category Archives: Gun Rights

Riots are justified

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There are people claiming the riots are justified:

Apparently if you can’t get the change you want via peaceful means then riots and massive destruction of property, injuries, and death are part of the acceptable solution space.

If you happen to have someone make such a claim to you please ask them the nature and extent of the violence they would recommend for gun owners such that we can eliminate the oppressive laws we struggle with every day.

Quote of the day—Grady Judd

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I would tell them, if you value your life, they probably shouldn’t do that in Polk County. Because the people of Polk County like guns, they have guns, I encourage them to own guns, and they’re going to be in their homes tonight with their guns loaded, and if you try to break into their homes to steal, to set fires, I’m highly recommending they blow you back out of the house with their guns. So, leave the community alone.

Grady Judd
Polk County Florida Sheriff
June 1, 2020
Peaceful protesters gather in Polk County; curfew in effect at 8 p.m.
[We live in interesting times.—Joe]

Communists being communists

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From here:

Individual Sign On: Support the Call to
Defund the Seattle Police Department

By signing on to this document, you are endorsing the following statement:

Police reform efforts—from Minneapolis to Seattle—have failed. To stop police violence, the police must be reduced in size, in budget, and in scope. The police have never served as an adequate response to social problems. They are rooted in violence against Black people. In order to protect Black lives, this moment calls for investing and expanding our safety and well-being beyond policing. To that end, we demand:

1- Seattle’s Mayor and City Council must immediately defund Seattle Police Department (SPD). The city faces a $300 million budget shortfall due to COVID-19. Seattle City Council should propose and vote for a 50% cut from the $363 million already budgeted for SPD.

2- Seattle’s Mayor and City Council must protect and expand investments to make our communities safe, prioritizing community-led health and safety strategies. Full access to affordable housing, community-based anti-violence programs, trauma services and treatment, universal childcare, and free public transit are just a few of the non-police solutions to social problems.

3- The Seattle City Attorney must not prosecute protesters, including those arrested violating curfew, and those living in encampments. Protesters took to the streets to call for the end of the murders of Black people by police, and SPD unnecessarily escalated tensions and violence.

Our schools, workplaces, and government offices frequently collaborate with police. The police are an occupying force in Black communities. Their brutality towards Black people is condoned and accepted as business as usual. We urge all local governmental and non-governmental entities to cut ties with the SPD. When they put on their badges, police officers cease to be members of the working class. In fact their primary role is to surveil, control, and silence all forms of dissent to support the continuity of a racist, harmful, murderous status quo.

#BlackLivesMatter #DefundSPD #DisarmSPD #DismantleSPD #DecriminalizeSeattle #CareNotCages #FreeThePeople #FreeThemAllWA #DecriminalizeSeattle #CharleenaLyles #ShawnFuhr #TommyLe #CheTaylor #JTWilliams #IsaiahObet #JesseSarey #JusticeForStoney #SayTheirNames

—
*These demands are prepared by COVID-19 Mutual Aid Seattle, a network of organizations and individuals who came together in response to COVID-19 to demand an abolitionist, anti-racist public health response to the COVID-19 crisis.

You can reach us at covid19mutualaidsea@gmail.com. You can follow us on Instagram at @covid19mutualaid, on Facebook at @covid19mutualaid, and on Twitter at @covid_mutualaid. Thank you for supporting this important effort.

Want to sign on behalf of an organization? Sign here: tinyurl.com/defundSPDorg

The police are some of the biggest supporters of the right to keep and bear arms. The communists can’t have those types around. And besides they get in the way of direct, individual, “redistribution” of wealth by the masses.
It’s good to have clarity.

Quote of the day—Christine T.

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This was the last question I ever wanted to ask or thought I would be asking, but are there any places to buy a gun for protection?

I know absolutely nothing. But I’m a quick learner and will spend the time needed to learn. I can replace everything but my babies and I will go to no expense to protect them.

Christine T.
June 2, 2020
From a Private Facebook Group for Bellevue Washington
[She’s getting decent advice from numerous people—including Barb.

When the looters and riots are in route Washington state has a waiting period measured in days for gun ownership.

We live in interesting times.—Joe]

It’s good to have clarity

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More clarity from the other side:

Seattle usually doesn’t sustain protests this long. Don’t collaborate with the cops. Don’t snitch. Yes, even the people you think aren’t protesting right. Defund SPD. Abolish the police.

AbolishThePolice

Via sacrebleu14 / SA Hinchcliffe @sacrebleu141.

Very telling

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Via SAF, BIDEN, STAFF FUEL GUN SALES BY SUPPORTING RELEASE WITHOUT BAIL, emphasis added:

The Second Amendment Foundation today said the support Democrat Joe Biden’s staff is showing to violent protesters in Minneapolis by donating to a bail fund is an “outrage,” and it demonstrates why alarmed Americans are buying more guns to protect their homes and businesses.

“After all the violence we’ve seen in major cities, Biden’s position is simply outrageous,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “No wonder gun sales surged 80 percent in May over the same month last year. People watch their cities burn, while Biden and his staffers think those responsible should be allowed to walk. That’s a bad formula for public safety, but apparently Biden and his crew don’t get it.”

A group called the Minnesota Freedom Fund reportedly received contributions from 13 Biden staffers. The Freedom Fund reportedly opposes the practice of making people arrested pay cash bail to avoid “pre-trial imprisonment,” according to Reuters.

But a Biden campaign spokesman told Reuters the former vice-president opposes the institution of cash bail altogether, calling it a “modern day debtors prison.” He doesn’t think these anarchists should pay bail at all.

“So,” Gottlieb observed, “while Biden opposes guns for honest people, he’s all for turning dangerous rioters loose on personal recognizance, maybe so they can go somewhere else and wreak havoc.

“We wholly support the First Amendment as much as we advocate for and defend the Second,” he continued. “Peaceful, non-violent protest is as much a part of the American fabric as the right to keep and bear arms, but last weekend’s violence completely overshadowed such efforts.

“What we saw over the weekend were numerous incidents of violent vandalism, arson, theft and even criminal assault and murder committed by people who have their own agenda that has nothing to do with the tragedy in Minneapolis,” Gottlieb stated. “Biden and his staff obviously can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys.”

Too close to home

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Barb and I live in Bellevue. Several miles and the other side of a large lake (Lake Washington) from Seattle. Mob violence is almost common in Seattle and has been for at least 20 years.

We’ve never seen or heard of riots and looting in Bellevue. That changed yesterday:

Bellevue declared a civil emergency throughout the Eastside city and imposed a curfew Sunday evening for downtown in response to protests that began in the afternoon and turned violent after groups broke into the city’s high-end malls and started stealing items.

The crowds and looting prompted Mayor Lynne Robinson to request assistance from the National Guard for the first time in at least 30 years, and a warning from Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett that anyone caught not adhering to the curfew would “go to jail.”

The protests over police misconduct, triggered by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, have seized larger metro cities, including Seattle, but surprised Bellevue, which, as a city of about 148,000 residents, traditionally sees fewer instances of street activism. Gov. Jay Inslee activated the National Guard in response to the request, with up to 200 unarmed troops to assist the city’s officers.

…

“They became a force, a force of destruction,” Mylett said at a news conference Sunday evening. “They were not there to protest the death of George Floyd, the tragedy of George Floyd. They were there to destroy.”

Several people broke into Bellevue Square and stole items from the mall’s stores, according to the police department. Neighboring businesses had windows smashed. Outside a New Balance store, empty red shoeboxes were strewn on the ground.

The Police Department called more than 200 law enforcement officials, including all its officers, along with police from the Kirkland and Redmond and Washington State Patrol troopers.

Yesterday I also received information there is another protest planned at a different Bellevue location. It is almost within rock throwing distance from the company where I work.

This is way too close to home.

I’m preparing in case they move out into the suburbs.

Quote of the day—Nicolo Machiavelli

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For among other evils which being unarmed brings you, it causes you to be despised, and this is one of those ignominies against which a prince ought to guard himself, as is shown later on. Because there is nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed; and it is not reasonable that he who is armed should yield obedience willingly to him who is unarmed, or that the unarmed man should be secure among armed servants. Because, there being in the one disdain and in the other suspicion, it is not possible for them to work well together.

Nicolo Machiavelli
1513
The Prince, CHAPTER XIV
[Before choosing this as QOTD I had a nagging feeling I had already post it. I searched for the fragment “nothing proportionate between the armed and the unarmed” and found nothing. I schedule it for May 21. I still had the nagging feeling and searched for ‘Machiavelli’. I found a shorter version I had posted on May 23, 9 years ago. I changed the posting date for this version to match the anniversary of the previous.

Machiavelli correctly points out that it is not reasonable that the people can be secure if we are unarmed and our public servants are armed. They already despise us. You know what will happen if we ever become unarmed.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jonathan Lowy

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There’s no question that there are a number of justices who are itching to take another gun case soon, and to almost certainly push for a vast expansion of the Second Amendment in a way that has never been countenanced in American history or law before.

Jonathan Lowy
May 17, 2020
Supreme Court eyes more gun cases as conservatives signal eagerness to expand 2nd Amendment protections
[“Never been countenanced in American history or law before”? Well, not in our reality.

Lowy either hasn’t read, or is holding back information from (lying), The Origin of the Second Amendment: A Documentary History of the Bill of Rights in Commentaries on Liberty, Free Government and an Armed Populace, 1787-1792. This book was quoted six times in the Heller decision. So, it’s either willful ignorance or a deliberate lie.

Also recommended reading for Mr. Lowy is The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms. But I expect Lowy would rather not be confronted with the truth.

Update: As Toastrider suggests it is noteworthy that Lowy is chief counsel for the Brady Victim Disarmament Coalition. They are well known for their lies. It’s part of their culture.—Joe]

Gun Rights Activism Summits

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Via email from SAF:

Your special invitation.
The Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms are pleased to host a series of FREE grassroots training sessions run by Glen Caroline. Glen has joined SAF and CCRKBA as their Director of External Affairs.  Most recently, he worked for NRA for 29 years, primarily as NRA’s Managing Director of Grassroots Programs & Campaign Field Operations.
The Gun Rights Activism Summits will all be hosted on Zoom.

The first summit is titled “Grassroots Activism in the COVID Environment” and will discuss steps you can take now to enhance your defense of the Second Amendment in our current times.

There will be three recurring training sessions.  The content will be the same, but we want to give our members the flexibility to choose the one that best fits their individual schedules.  The sessions are FREE and will last roughly one hour. 
You must pre-register.

Register Now

Tuesday
7PM EST
May 26th

Register now!

Wednesday
7PM CST
May 27th

Register now!

Thursday
7PM PST
May 28th

Register now!

Quote of the day—Clayton Cramer

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The ability to create something like full-automatic fire using a bump stock and a semi-automatic rifle means that all semi-automatic makers have to worry that some enterprising plaintiff’s attorney might try to create a new theory of liability that could create liability for lawfully producing a constitutionally-protected product. Would you make and sell semi-automatic rifles, even a .22, with this threat hanging over you? If production of a legally compliant semi-automatic AR-15 can create liability, what about your Ruger 10/22? If this type of manipulation of judicial system can prevail, is any semi-automatic firearm safe?

Clayton Cramer
May 11, 2020
A New Lawsuit Shows Some are After All of Your Semi-Automatic Rifles
[Good point.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Gabriella Hoffman

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Criminals will use whatever tool is at their disposal—be it a 3-D printed AR-15, handgun, or knife—to inflict pain onto their victims. Unfortunately for gun controllers, none of their beloved laws or bills have deterred criminals from committing ghastly acts. In fact, they have invited more crime.

It’s time for our opponents finally to get serious about tackling criminal misuse of firearms, not scapegoat 3D printed firearms.

Gabriella Hoffman
May 15, 2020
The Truth About 3-D Printed Guns and Criminal Gun Usage
[If it were about crime the anti-gun people might be persuaded by the truth. But the truth about guns and crime is irrelevant to the motivation of most anti-gun politicians. Power flows from the barrel of a gun and they want that power removed from the hands of those who might oppose their accumulation of power.—Joe]

Quote of the day—OliveBucket

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3D printing is the end of gun control. The so-called progressives are acting like there’s a debate about it. The debate is over. The guns are downloadable. The files are in the public domain. You cannot take them back. You can adjust your politics to this reality. You will not ask me to adjust mine.

OliveBucket
May 15, 2020
Comment to WHAT ARE GHOST GUNS? SENATE DEMS INTRODUCE BILL REGULATING UNTRACEABLE 3D-PRINTED WEAPONS
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Tribune Content Agency

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The decline occurred despite a spike in gun sales that month.

The number of mass shooting incidents, killings and firearm injuries all dropped as states and cities took aggressive measures to contain the virus.

Tribune Content Agency
May 10, 2020
Mass shootings in US plunge during pandemic closures
[It was only six weeks earlier the anti-gun rights groups were “concerned” about the spike in gun sales:

Gun control advocates are concerned about a large number of new owners lacking the usual access to training on how to store and handle their weapon properly.

In fact, they wanted gun stores and ranges completely closed during this pandemic*.

So, once again, their “concerns” and/or predictions have been found to be not only false, but 180 degrees out of phase with reality. One could claim they are delusional. But, the truth is, they just lie all the time. It’s part of their culture.—Joe]

* Actually for all time, but they don’t usually admit to that.

Quote of the day—thatgunguyfl

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80% lowers/receivers, etc.., are NOT FIREARMS. That’s the whole point. Chunks of Unfinished metal are worthless until someone turns them into a finished product. Where does this stupidity end? If I possess a ton of scrap aluminum or steel, should I have to register it as a car and forced to purchase insurance? The ignorance of some of you only help the lying media fool the American public.

thatgunguyfl
May 12, 2020
Posted on Reddit in response to ATF or Congress should act to declare ‘ghost guns’ firearms requiring background checks
[The people who advocate for the making “ghost guns” illegal, or “declaring them firearms” must not be aware of the existence of “shop class” in high school. And as such they are doing the equivalent of expecting someone who fails to observe the laws regarding violent crime to dutifully obey them in regards to engaging in an activity which harms no one.

And when you see this you wonder how they made it to the directorship of a government agency without knowing laws are not supposed to be made by government bureaucrats:

Thomas Brandon, the former acting director of the ATF who retired last spring, said he recommended to his bosses at the Department of Justice that they reclassify certain ghost gun kits as firearms because of the ease in putting them together.

I suppose I just need to remind myself, and others, of what Henry Kissinger said.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Nylah Burton

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I believe that for many Black people, especially those living in predominantly white areas, firearms might prove necessary. And not just for defense, but for food sustainability, which will become more important as the climate crisis worsens. In fact, home birth, natural medicine, farming, hunting, and fishing, are all skills I believe Black people should turn to as we prepare for the seismic shift that political upheaval and environmental collapse may bring.

America is a gun country, and it’ll destroy itself before it lays down its arms. With the storm that’s already here and with the storms that have yet to come, the idea of my people laying down ours first terrifies me.

Nylah Burton
May 12, 2020
As A Black Woman In This Country, I Feel I Need To Bear Arms
[I tend to disagree with many of her assertions and the process by which she arrives at her conclusions. I am, however, quite content with the conclusions reached.

I would like to encourage her and others to proceed with the proposed independent mindset and skillsets. I expect this will result in many of their beliefs being revised. I’m good with that.—Joe]

We live in interesting times

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This could get interesting:

Mexico’s foreign minister on Monday posted a video online detailing a diplomatic note to the U.S. embassy requesting answers about a gun-running sting under the Obama presidency, keeping a spotlight on the controversial issue.

In the video, Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard cited former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder as saying Mexican authorities knew about the 2009-2011 scheme known as ‘Fast and Furious.’

…

The current Mexican government has zeroed in on the program to highlight possible corruption under previous Mexican administrations amid a debate over how much they knew about the U.S. operation.

If the current administration has access to such records it could be useful in the prosecutions of corrupt politicians on both sides of the border.

Dear FBI, We urge you to disobey the law

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A bunch of U.S. Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the FBI and ATF :

We write to urge you to take appropriate steps to promote public safety and responsible firearm ownership in the wake of surging gun sales across the country.1 According to recent news reports, gun shops and ammunition dealers have experienced a massive uptick in purchases, particularly from first-time buyers experiencing coronavirus-related anxiety. We are concerned that this surge is overwhelming the National Instant Criminal Background System (NICS), and that federal firearms licensees (FFLs) need new guidance to effectively handle it.

…

We fear that a drastic increase in gun sales in response to the coronavirus pandemic could overwhelm NICS and allow prohibited individuals to obtain firearms through “default proceeds.”

…

Under current regulations, all incomplete background check records must be deleted from NICS within 90 days. Because the pandemic and recovery may last longer than 90 days, the FBI should issue an emergency directive to maintain all background-check information related to transactions with an “open” status for 90 days beyond the current state of emergency as the president proclaimed under the National Emergencies Act.

They are urging a government agency to ignore the law.

It’s nice of them to make it clear they believe the law does not apply to them. This should make a conviction easier.