How Do You Turn States Into Territories?

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What’s the process by which we can turn states into territories again?

Kostas Moros @MorosKostas
Posted on X February 7, 2024

Read the entire thread for a fisking of The Hawaii Supreme Court in State of Hawai’i, v. Christopher L. Wilson.

I would like to suggest taking it even further and turning them back into their own nation again. Then applying sanctions for their human rights violations.

California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York could use some tough love as well. Or, we could just prosecute the criminals.

I’ve been reading various takes on this wild ruling and almost all have been aghast at the brazen defiance of SCOTUS and invocation of Aloha spirit to justify their decision.

Almost all. There is one article, A State Supreme Court Just Issued Another Devastating Rebuke of the U.S. Supreme Court,  which claims:

It’s an amazing case because the Hawaii Constitution has a provision that is the same as the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It literally uses the exact same words as the Second Amendment. And Justice Eddins said: Even though the provisions are the same, we will not interpret them the same way, because we think the U.S. Supreme Court clearly got it wrong in Heller when it said the Second Amendment creates an individual right to bear arms.

I feel like these state judges are in conversation with each other about developing an alternate vision of the law that can thrive in state judiciaries. As SCOTUS moves in the wrong direction, they’re showing us what the right direction might be, and giving us a little hope for the future.

I find it very telling this court and these opinion writers believe they have a better take on the meaning of the 2nd Amendment than SCOTUS, when all nine justices agreed that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right. They are lying, profoundly ignorant, and/or delusional.

You Can Imagine a Gun-Free World

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If I could wave a wand and make guns disappear, the brutal communist Chinese dictatorship would make new ones. And the Italians (Beretta), Brazilians (Taurus), Russians (AK-47), Austrians (Glock)—all armed nations would be in business making the iron river. Including basement tinkerers.

Wands are fiction but you can imagine a gun-free world—just think back to pre-gun times.

What you get is Genghis Kahn with rampaging hordes, Julius Caesar and Roman Legion crucifixions, Vlad the Impaler, universal serfdom and endless millions horribly murdered. A gun-filled world paradoxically turns out to be more civilized, with safer neighborhoods—even though evil people and government tyrants rampage constantly. Our guns help control them.

Alan Korwin
February 1, 2024
Page Nine: On Utopian Pacifism

ImagineAGunFreeWorld

The Gun is Civilization.

See also If there were no guns.

While there are undoubtedly many useful idiots and/or ignoramuses who have a utopian vision of a world without guns, I find a competing hypothesis more likely describes the top leaders of the anti-gun movement. They envision a world where the common person is unarmed physically and in spirit and they are the Genghis Kahn’s, Julius Caesar’s, and Vlad the Impaler’s of the future.

VladGenhis1

Prepare and respond appropriately.

Financial Big Brother is Watching You

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The Committee and Select Subcommittee have obtained documents showing that FinCEN distributed slides, prepared by a financial institution, explaining how other financial institutions can use MCC codes to detect customers whose transactions may reflect “potential active shooters, [and] who may include dangerous International Terrorists / Domestic Terrorists / Homegrown Violent Extremists (‘Lone Wolves’).” For example, the slides instruct financial institutions to query for transactions using certain MCC codes such as “3484: Small Arms,” “5091: Sporting and Recreational Goods and Supplies,” and the keywords “Cabela’s,” and “Dick’s Sporting Goods,” among several others. Despite these transactions having no apparent criminal nexus—and, in fact, relate to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights— FinCEN seems to have adopted a characterization of these Americans as potential threat actors. This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious doubts about FinCEN’s respect for fundamental civil liberties.

Jim Jordan
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government
January 17, 2024
Letter to Noah Bishoff, former Director of the Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

Via email from John S.

See also Financial Big Brother is Watching You – by Matt Taibbi (racket.news).

We live in interesting times. Prepare appropriately.

You Know they are Getting Desperate

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In Hawaiʻi, the Aloha Spirit inspires constitutional interpretation. See Sunoco, 153 Hawaiʻi at 363, 537 P.3d at 1210 (Eddins, J., concurring). When this court exercises “power on behalf of the people and in fulfillment of [our] responsibilities, obligations, and service to the people” we “may contemplate and reside with the life force and give consideration to the ‘Aloha Spirit.’” HRS § 5-7.5(b) (2009).

The spirit of Aloha clashes with a federally-mandated lifestyle that lets citizens walk around with deadly weapons during day-to-day activities.

The Supreme Court of the State of Hawai’i
February 7, 2024
State of Hawai’i, v. Christopher L. Wilson

You know they are getting desperate when they claim spirits told them SCOTUS is wrong.

See also what FPC has to say on this ruling. They also supplied this meme:

image

I give FPC thousands of dollars each year. Please consider making your own contribution.

Not Enough Common Assumptions

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After several years of watching Biden destroy America, I asked my smart Democrat friend if he had changed his views since 2016.

He advised me to read the New York Times to get real news and stop falling for all the Republican hoaxes.

You can’t even talk to Democrats these days. Not enough common assumptions to even get started.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Posted on X February 4, 2024

I’m not sure “common assumptions” is the best phrase here. I’m not sure there is even enough common vocabulary. For example, what does “gender”, “democracy”, and “racism” mean to the major political divisions?

And above that are phrases such as “civil rights”, “gun law reform”, and “fair share”.

And there are common phrases used by one group where the one side says the referenced thing does not even exist such as “illegal alien” (there is no such thing as an illegal person), “assault weapon” (made up phrase to scare people), and “gun show loophole” (the law doesn’t change whether at a gun show or not).

I just want to crawl into my underground bunker in Idaho and wait until the hostilities are resolved.

The Timidity is Now Long Gone

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But that timidity is now long gone — a turnaround attributable to increasing Democratic electoral dominance in Colorado and growing gun reform activism that’s been fueled by a local backdrop of mass shootings as well as grimly routine gun violence and suicides. A new cadre of Democratic lawmakers have embraced firearms policy in a big way. They’ve been spurred on by an expanding voter base that, rather than punishing them, has shown up to the Capitol to demand they do more.

Nick Coltrain and Seth Klamann
February 4, 2024
Gun control was once ‘electoral kryptonite.’ Now Colorado Democrats are emboldened — and prepared to act

I see this as an opportunity. The further they go the easier it will be to get the courts to agree it violates the 2nd Amendment. Then getting another ruling that builds on the first is easier, and so on. It is a slippery slope that leads to their “doom.”

And be sure to keep your lists and evidence files up to date. They will come in handy when the trials start.

What does he think a gun is used for?

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I don’t shoot guns cus I don’t have a little penis

stx444 (@DrStin69)
Posted on Friday, April 14, 2023

It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday, it is another science denier!

One has to wonder… What does he think guns are used for? These people have mental problems.

I suspect whatever his mental difficulties it wasn’t just guns that his twisted mind was getting screwed up about. His account is currently suspended:

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California Ammo Law Abusive and Unconstitutional

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In the first half of last year, 589,087 individuals traveled to an ammunition vendor to buy ammunition. They proved their citizenship and residency with identification documents and paid for a background check. The State’s computers rejected 58,087 or 11% of them. This is an average of 322 individuals rejected every day. How many of the 58,087 needed ammunition to defend themselves against an impending criminal threat and how many were simply preparing for a sporting event, we will never know. What is known is that in almost all cases, the 322 individuals that are rejected each day are being denied permission to freely exercise their Second Amendment right — a right which our Founders instructed shall not be infringed.

If any background check system satisfies Bruen’s footnote nine description of a scheme put to abusive ends, as opposed to the system originally approved by the voters, this may be it.

HON. ROGER T. BENITEZ
United States District Judge
January 30, 2024
KIM RHODE, et al., v. ROB BONTA

See also BREAKING! Huge Win In Rhode v. Bonta – CRPA.

Guess the percentage of prohibited persons convicted out of those 58,087 who were rejected. If you said anything more than 0.1% you are out of touch with reality. You should know this sort of thing because this is typical for government laws like this, such as Brady background checks done by the Feds. The actual numbers is ten times lower that that. It is 0.01%.

Special Agent Sidney Jones provided case dispositions for prohibited persons denied the purchase of ammunition between July 1, 2019 and January 31, 2020. During those seven months, 770 ammunition buyers were rejected as prohibited persons. At least sixteen of the 770 persons rejected were later determined to have been incorrectly identified as prohibited persons and should have been authorized to purchase ammunition. See Rhode, 445 F. Supp. 3d at 924. Agent Jones states that those 770 background check rejections prompted 51 investigations that resulted in firearms, magazines, or ammunition seizures. From those 51 investigations, 15 individuals were arrested. In the end, the government obtained four felony and two misdemeanor convictions.

Spoiler alert!

It is all good reading, but the happy ending is (emphasis added):

Therefore, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that:

Defendant Attorney General Rob Bonta, and his officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and those persons in active concert or participation with him, and those duly sworn state peace officers and federal law enforcement officers who gain knowledge of this injunction order or know of the existence of this injunction order, are enjoined from implementing or enforcing the ammunition sales background check provisions found in California Penal Code §§ 30352 and 30370(a) through (e), and the ammunition anti-importation provisions found in §§ 30312(a) and (b) and 30314(a), as well as the criminal enforcement of California Penal Code §§ 30312(d), 30314(c), and 30365(a).

A Tidal Wave of Gun Law Reform

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One of the greatest, perhaps the most dangerous, foes that we face in the gun violence prevention movement is hopelessness. It’s a feeling that nothing can make this problem better.

Chip Brownlee
January 16, 2024
Could International Pressure Ultimately Strengthen U.S. Gun Laws?

This is an indicator that the anti-civil rights crowd is on the verge of total collapse. We just need to get a few federal appeals courts slapped down by SCOTUS and I think there will be a tidal wave of reform.

See also New anti-gun group hopes foreign lawsuits will increase domestic ‘gun control’ (jpfo.org).

Personally Go Door to Door

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It’s about time we go door to door and personally take away everyone’s firearms, if they don’t comply then they will be sent to prison.

Johnathan @theprism89
Posted on X April 7, 2023

He seems to be a fan of going door to door to violate specific enumerate rights:

We need to start arresting every Trump supporter on a door to door basis, enough is enough.

One has to wonder where he will be in the stack and how many houses he will be visiting.

Don’t ever let someone get away with telling you no one wants to take your guns.

CDC Baffled by Firearm-Related Death Rate

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an organization that had fervently sought increased taxpayer funding for “gun violence research,” has recently published a report that brings forth significant implications. In an unexpected turn of events, the report points to a decrease in firearm-related homicides during the year 2022. This revelation holds particular significance considering that 2022 occurred during the zenith of a 50-month period in which the American public witnessed a substantial surge in firearm purchases, largely attributed to events such as the pandemic and the George Floyd Summer of Love.

The contradiction between this data and the prevalent belief that more firearms translate into a higher mortality rate is nothing short of perplexing.

GOPHER-NEWS
January 23, 2024
CDC Baffled by Firearm-Related Death Rate

To be fair, I don’t think the CDC is baffled by their own reports. To a great number of people facts are irrelevant to their beliefs. And nearly all the other anti-gun people have nearly zero interest in the current firearm-related death rate. They want guns banned BFYTW.

Like Watching a Racial Desegregation Case

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I just listened to the California “Assault Weapon” ban oral argument before the Ninth Circuit in Miller v. Bonta. I will do extremely detailed breakdown of the argument later. In short, 2A will NOT win with this panel.

The questions and comments from the two liberal judges Berzon and Nguyen were unimpressive. Judge Berzon called AR-15s “A-15s” (seriously).

Based on today’s argument and the efforts by the two liberal judges to avoid applying Heller/Bruen, I now understand what it was like watching a court argument in 1950s Alabama/Mississippi over racial desegregation where intellectually dishonest, results-oriented judges worked overtime to avoid the obvious, legally-compelled outcome based upon clear, binding US Supreme Court precedent.

Mark W. Smith/#2A Scholar @fourboxesdiner
Posted on X January 24, 2024

And, no surprise, it was the same political party deliberately infringing upon the rights of people in both instances. There is an reason they are called the evil party.

It is Dangerous For People to Believe They May Lawfully Possess a Firearm.

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It’s very dangerous for younger Americans to be indoctrinated with the viewpoint that the Second Amendment allows every American to lawfully possess a firearm.

Kris Brown,
President of Brady
January 20, 2024
The NRA wants your kid to love guns: programs promote 2nd Amendment absolutism to Kindergarteners on up

Delusions are often functional. Having this delusional belief allows Brown to pretend she is not a criminal. I hope she enjoys her trial.

The ATF is Crying to Dad

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In fifth grader:

We’ve kicked the ATF’s ass several times in the past 6 months and destroyed their Pistol Brace Rule.

Today, we are making our final written argument for throwing out the Rule with the District Court.

The ATF makes its final written argument on Feb 7.

Oh, yeah, and the ATF is also crying to Dad that Mom agreed and said no, even though Dad already said no.

Firearms Policy Coalition @gunpolicy
Posted on January 17, 2024

Nice! I don’t think I will ever have an interest in a Pistol Brace but the rule needs to be put down like a rabid skunk anyway. Thanks to the FPC for all their effort in this. It is nice to see my donations are helping get results.

Read the parent post to the one linked for the legalize version. The fifth grader one is easier for me to follow. And perhaps even the ATF could figure it out if they read it slowly and very carefully.

Doomsday Cult Puzzled that the Earth Still Exists

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The laws of thermodynamics dictate that a warmer atmosphere can hold more water vapor, but new research has found that atmospheric moisture has not increased as expected over arid and semi-arid regions of the world as the climate has warmed.

The findings are particularly puzzling because climate models have been predicting that the atmosphere will become more moist, even over dry regions. If the atmosphere is drier than anticipated, arid and semi-arid regions may be even more vulnerable to future wildfires and extreme heat than projected.

David Hosansky
January 17, 2024
Climate change isn’t producing expected increase in atmospheric moisture over dry regions: Study

After about the third paragraph I was laughing the rest of the way through the article.

There is no hint they would ever consider the possibility their climate heating models are flawed or that the mean global temperature is not increasing. It is like a doomsday cult predicting the end of the world on January 1, 2000 and when it doesn’t happen they don’t question the integrity of their prophet, but instead claim the destroyer gave them a second chance.

Read When Prophecy Fails: A Doomsday Cult on Alien Invasion for more insight on the behavior and psychology of these type of people. You might expect they would forsake their prophet when confronted with irrefutable evidence of the failure of the prophecies. But that is not what happens. Instead, most of the time, they will prophesize all the more vigorously.

I find the psychology absolutely fascinating.

And, of course, the same psychology exists within the gun grabber community.

Constitutional Protection of Rights Don’t End at Government Property Boundaries

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Would an indictment for failing to submit to a full body cavity search when showing up at the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for a learner’s permit pass Fourth Amendment muster? Or could the United States charge the adherent of a non-favored religion with trespass for entering government property without offending the Free Exercise or Establishment Clauses? I think not.

Kathryn Kimball Mizelle
United States District Judge
January 12, 2024
United States of America v. Emmanuel Ayala

This decision came out of Tampa Florida. I am not a lawyer but I believe this decision means you can now carry a gun at Post Offices in the 11th Circuit. Furthermore, it seems to imply a postal employee cannot be fired for carrying a gun to work either.

FYI, Mizelle is a Trump appointed judge.

Arms Used for Military Purposes Constitutionally Protected

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Oregon citizens have a right to self-defense against an imminent threat of harm, which is unduly burdened by Ballot Measure 114.

Three salient facts were agreed upon by the parties at trial: A) Ballot Measure 114 delays the purchase of firearms for a minimum of 3Odays; B) the permit-to-purchase program derives
its language source in the concealed handgun license statutes (ORS 166.291, et.al); and C) the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) refuses to conduct criminal
background checks. The court finds these agreed to facts are fatal to the constitutionality of the permit-to-purchase scheme.

Ballot Measure 114, Section 11 is facially unconstitutional by a finding of clear and convincing evidence as demonstrated above. The court’s legal and factual conclusion is that Ballot Measure 114 does not increase public safety but diminishes it while creating nearly a million presumed misdemeanants. A result that is not reasonable under Article l, § 27 as defined by Oregon Supreme Court pursuant Christian.

Robert S. Raschio
24th Judicial District (Grant/Harney)
Presiding Circuit Court Judge
November 21, 2023
Measure 114 blocked by Oregon circuit court judge

Good stuff. I found reading the entire thing rather interesting. I was especially taken by something pointed out in the history section. Paraphrasing, all firearms which were in existence at the time the Oregon constitution was ratified are obviously protected by the constitution. As this was in 1857 multi-shot technology, such as Colt revolvers, were in present and in use in Oregon at that time.

Also, previous Oregon State Supreme Court analysis developed from an historical analysis and

In the end, the court concluded that the ‘arms’ that the state constitution guarantees a right to possess consist of those that would have been used by nineteenth-century settlers for personal defense and military purposes.

Emphasis added.

Oregon needs not just machine gun, but grenade launcher and hand grenade sporting events in their high school sporting events. Such activity would be protected by the 2nd Amendment as shown by both the Miller decision and the Oregon State Constitution.

The Most Reckless and Careless Gun Policy in the State’s History

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The mayor stood, frowning and grim, flanked by uniformed police officers. Another horrific gun crime had occurred — and it was all the fault of the state legislators who had recently repealed the law requiring a permit to carry a concealed weapon, what proponents call “constitutional carry.”

“The Republican-led legislature in Columbus passed SB 215 and across this state from Cleveland to Columbus to Cincinnati, you see an uptick in shootings across our state. . . . It’s important that we hold them accountable for passing dangerous gun laws in our state,” the mayor said, his angry voice rising above the roar of nearby freeway traffic.

“The most reckless and . . . careless gun policy in the state’s history,” the mayor said.

“It’s creating an arms race where people don’t feel safe unless they have a gun. So guns beget more guns, which, unfortunately, makes us all unsafe,” the mayor said.

But which mayor? The first quote was from Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland. The second one is from Mayor Andrew Ginther of Columbus. The arms-race quote was from Aftab Pureval, mayor of Cincinnati, on National Public Radio.

Ohio’s three biggest cities — they all got in with the same message: It’s not our fault; it’s the new state law.

There was only one problem: It wasn’t true.

My office commissioned a study with Bowling Green State University to examine gun crime in Ohio’s eight largest cities the year before the law changed — June 13, 2022 — and the year afterward. The conclusion: Eliminating concealed-carry licenses had no impact on gun crimes, and in six of the eight cities, gun crimes actually declined.

Dave Yost
January 10, 2024
Ohio Just Disproved a Gun-Control Talking Point

Is anyone surprised?

The anti-gun people lie. It is in their culture. You should expect them to lie even when there is nothing to be gained from it. To them, lies are easier to tell than the truth.

Not only did the total violent crime decrease, but the crimes committed with guns decreased as well. Again, no big surprise there. An armed society is a polite society. And nothing makes a violent criminal more polite than multiple jacketed hollow points.

Anti-Gunners Crazy Beliefs

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Anti-gunners believe all kinds of crazy things which aren’t true. Those crazy beliefs do tend to have the common denominator of bolstering their sense of moral supremacy though.

gunsandrockets @GunsAndRockets1
Posted on X January 10, 2024

Part of their problem is they do not have a process for determining truth from falsity (Peterson Syndrome). They have a set of beliefs based on what they feel. If feelings do not match reality that does not matter. Their feelings, and therefore beliefs, remain intact.

A Message of ‘Repeal the 2nd Amendment’

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The Disarmament Regime is beginning to show signs of frustration as it shifts hard toward a message of ‘repeal the 2nd Amendment’. They know they cannot win within the existing framework. We must be more prepared than ever for what lies ahead.

Firearms Policy Coalition @gunpolicy
Posted on X February 17, 2023

On our current path, ultimately, we will win. But our opponents will try, and are trying, desperate measures.

Prepare appropriately.