I have pinned this post to the top of my blog. It is to remind people of what many of our opponents want. Alison Aires wants a tyrannical government. They want summary execution for private possession of firearms.
This is why we have a Bill of Rights. This is why I created Boomershoot.
Not mentioned are the rebar with road flares attached to ignite the gasoline, but you seen them in the video.
This is the Fireball Target for the beginning of the Long-Range event:
More explosives, more gasoline, more thump, and more fiery delightfulness:
Virginia has recently been featured in a lot of headlines about gun control, for all the wrong reasons. A number of them have mentioned a federal gun control bill pending in the U.S. Senate, sponsored by Tim Kaine (D) and Mark Warner (D) of Virginia. Dubbed “The Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act of 2026,” it tries to portray Virginia as a gun control leader whose policies could serve as a model for the rest of the nation. But, like most firearm prohibition branding, this framing is not only untrue, it is the opposite the truth. Virginia, in reality, is the victim of a national gun control agenda, not the progenitor of one.
The latest slate of gun controls laws unleashed on Virginia by its Democrat-controlled legislature and governor are not some thoughtful or tailored set of policies that organically arose from Virginia’s unique public safety picture or the particular dynamics of its crime. Instead, it is grab bag of generic policies pushed by national gun control groups, approved by their billionaire donors, and modeled on a globalist paradigm arising in nations that have no constitutional rights to arms. Virginia is simply an opportunist expansion market for these concepts, not their origin point.
…
This Virginia Plan is the California Plan, which is the Everytown Plan, which is the Bloomberg Plan, which is the Australia Plan. It has nothing to do with the citizens of Virginia or with the Old Dominion’s culture and values. What an ignominious fall from grace for a state that produced some of the most important and influential of America’s Founding Fathers. In evaluating this fall, it is important to recognize that the core elements are being driven, not by ordinary Virginians, but by globally orientated billionaires, national public interest groups, and a Democratic National Committee that would love to see Richmond morph into the San Francisco of the East Coast.
Beware the rhetorical shift and media narrative to flip the script and make an established national policy package appear more locally grounded and politically palatable, even though its underlying structure has remained unchanged for years.
Further beware that your state may be next. If it can happen in the cradle of American Constitutionalism and the home of NRA’s Headquarters, no gun owning American should believe it could never come home to him or her.
NRA-ILA
April 28, 2026
NRA-ILA | Federal Bill Passes Off National Firearm Prohibition Agenda As “Virginia Model”
Lies and deception. It is an essential part of their culture.
I had overlooked the fact NRA headquarters is in Virginia as I watched those gun control bills breeze through the legislature. I believe that was the last of the major Gun Rights organizations to have their headquarters in a free state:
Did I miss any?
It must really suck to be such a strong advocate for gun owner rights that you work for such an organization and then suffer the daily infringement of your rights. The politicians inflicting this on innocent people should go to prison.
The only good things I can see about this is that it should motivate the people who work for these organizations and make it somewhat easier to find plaintiffs and file lawsuits.
I don’t think people understand just how much of an existential crisis Democrats are in. If they don’t gain control of the House, Senate, Presidency, pack the Supreme Court, re-mandate racial gerrymandering, and give illegals mass amnesty by 2032, they will all but die as a nationally competitive political party.
With the VRA being overturned we will net at least 15 seats and the census will give us like a dozen more, as well as forcing democrats to redraw their seats being bolstered by illegals, making them more republican. This will make the house all but impossible to win for Dems.
Then the senate will become increasingly hard for them to win as states like Nevada keep shifting red and republicans slowly keep picking better candidates.
And the nail in the coffin? The census will make it all but impossible for dems to win the presidency unless they win the popular vote by at least 6 points.
We’re witnessing the last gasps of the satanic ideology known as leftism. We will win.
Modern McCarthyist @SensibleFascist
Posted on X May 8, 2026
I think the trend is generally good for most civil and economic liberties. But I am very skeptical of the stated scope. This is especially true if a lot of people actually believe this. Overconfidence can get you killed.
Reminder…
Any political party trying to make it impossible to detect voter fraud is sending a clear message — they can’t win on their ideas alone.
Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius
Posted on X, May 8, 2026
This was in response to:
Reminder…
Any political party trying to make it harder to vote is sending a clear message — they can’t win on their ideas alone.
Robert Reich @RBReich
Posted on X, May 8, 2026
There can be some truth in both statements. As is nearly always the case there are tradeoffs involved.
In our current situation it is clear to me that a particular political party cares more about making it difficult to detect fraud than it does about it presenting good ideas.
There are terrorist organization and terrorist organizations. One has structure, hierarchy, provides weapons and plans (9/11 Hijackers, Hamas) Occasionally, someone will act individually according to their principles but have no formal connection with them.
The other speaks and fervently prays to whatever depraved gods they serve that someone with no formal connection will take up arms and do the evil deed for they are too cowardly to do it themselves.
Democrats are the latter.
Michael
May 8, 2026
Comment to Instapundit » Blog Archive » CERTAINLY HEADING THAT WAY AND ALMOST THERE: No Longer a Political Party.
This view has some merit.
Prepare appropriately.
The lawsuit continues recurring conflicts between local authority and Trump administration advocacy for gun rights that has played out in other cities and states.
A similar Justice Department lawsuit is pending against the District of Columbia over its restrictions on certain kinds of automatic firearms. The restrictions require registering many AR-15 and AK-47 style guns.
The District of Columbia has been joined by civil rights groups such as the Brady: United Against Gun Violence and the Giffords Law Center in asking a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit.
Tom Ramstack
May 6, 2026
Justice Dept. Sues Denver and Colorado to Block Restrictions on Gun Ownership | The Well News | Pragmatic, Governance, Fiscally Responsible, News & Analysis
Emphasis added.
“Civil rights groups“??? I am amazed at their willingness to adapt such an Orwellian mindset. I didn’t expect that until much later in their march to totalitarian socialism. My presumption is their delusions have expanded even further outside of reality.
At least they are making it exceeding clear that the book Nineteen Eighty-Four is an example of their utopia instead of a dystopian novel.
Prepare and respond appropriately.
Times are good and possibly getting even better for those who value guns, gun rights and the Second Amendment.
The changes brought by President Donald Trump are simply stunning. In just one year we went from an ATF that targeted individual gun owners for imaginary crimes to one that’s focused on arresting real bad guys with illegal guns.
Constitutional Carry, known by the other side as permitless carry, is growing. Today, 29 states allow law-abiding adults to carry firearms without a state permit, and the number is expected to grow.
So, it’s understandable that those who want to restrict and subvert the Second Amendment are getting desperate. In fact, they’re willing to try almost anything to restrict access to firearms while President Trump is in office. It’s as if they never even heard of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
Enter the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
These egg-headed goons want to roll back the clock to the late 1980s. Their just-released “Public Carry Permitting: Model Policy Guide” is pretty much what some states offered decades ago. It’s laughable—a trip back in time. Nowadays, it’s likely too restrictive for even the bluest of blue states.
Of course, the Center begins their report with lies—absolute deception—about guns, gun owners and gun rights.
Lee Williams
May 5, 2026
Fearing Expanding Gun Rights, Anti-Gun Group Creates Absurd Concealed-Carry Policy – TheGunMag
The media is not supporting the anti-gun groups like they have in the past. Hence, we see John Hopkins, Everytown, etc. as doing their usual thing and it appears to out of touch when they don’t have major media support.
Even the DOJ lawsuits against existing law do not yield a “Blood in the streets!” response. CNN is essentially just reporting the facts”. The same tone is seen with the New York Times and Washington Post articles on the same lawsuits. I would expect them to frame it as the fascist Hitler forcing freedom on innocent people or some such nonsense.
I don’t know what to make of this. Grok has this to say:
The constitutional framing of the Second Amendment as protecting an individual civil right is now unavoidable in serious legal reporting—Heller/Bruen made it binding precedent, and the current DOJ is enforcing it. This doesn’t mean these outlets have become pro-gun or neutral overall; their opinion sections and long-term editorial stance still favor stricter controls, and they highlight gun-control group perspectives in other contexts (e.g., mass shootings or state wins). But in straight-news coverage of these DOJ suits, the tone is more balanced and less advocacy-heavy than it was 15–20 years ago. Your pro-gun-rights feeds make the contrast sharper because they celebrate every development as a win while noting the relative downplaying in MSM.
If you’re seeing mostly silence or isolation of the old advocacy groups, it’s because the national legal story has moved on to court battles where the rights framework now has the upper hand federally. The groups are still fighting hard—just more at the state level and in response mode right now.
I would like to think they are becoming more accepting of gun ownership as a civil right. But they may just be grumbling to themselves about how times have changed or biding their time for a more favorable atmosphere to spread their lies.
You’ve probably getting quite used to my voice. Sir, I’m calling this evening because what I want you to do is I want you to take a firearm. I want you to put it in your hand. I want you to walk into the Oval Office. I want you to put that firearm to the President’s head, and I want you to pull the trigger and I want you to kill him. I am petitioning you, Senator for redress of grievances. My redress of grievances is that this president is awful . . . He’s a liar among all liars. He’s a great deceiver. He’s the antichrist. I want you to walk into the Oval Office with a gun in your hand. I want you to put it to his temple, and I want you to pull the trigger. That is what I want you to do as my agent. That’s what I want you to do as my elected official. That’s what I am petitioning you to do with my free speech. I want you to kill the President. I want you to assassinate the President. That’s what I want you to do.
Raymond Chandler
April 29, 2026
‘Kill the President’: Feds say Pennsylvania man left chilling voicemails threatening Trump
The following posts on X are from April 26, three days earlier, in reference to the assassination on April 25th at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. It is apparent that the political right can predict the nature of the political left’s intent and actions quite well. I do not see a similar prediction ability of the political left. I certainly have my biases so if any leftist reading this would like to make similar predictions of the intent and actions of the political right, please make them in the comments and we can evaluate the accuracy in the coming weeks.
One side of the political spectrum keeps trying to kill the other side.
One side celebrates murdering babies, selling their body parts, and chopping off kids genitals.
One side continuously releases violent repeat criminals that are preying on our women and children, while lying and saying that they support women.
One side wants dudes to compete against our girls in sports, and force our girls to change with them in the locker room.
One side willingly invites criminals and miscreants from the third world to live among us with impunity, even going as far as to protest when sex offenders are shipped back home.
One side gleefully riots and burns down cities when they don’t get their way.
This isn’t hyperbole. The Democratic Party is a party of depravity.
Via Addam L 🇺🇸 @AddamLeveille:
While it makes a decent meme, the definition of a political party and a terrorist organization overlap. An organization can be both. Hence, I think it would be more accurate to say:
More than just a political party.
Democrats are also a terrorist organization.
But to be fair, while Democrats have had a terrorist element for at least 160 years (the formation of the KKK was December 25, 1865). In addition to the KKK, the assassination of President Lincoln, the riots of the 1960s, and the Black Lives Matter riots were all Democrat aligned, too. But this probably doesn’t reach the threshold of a terrorist organization. The Democrat party does not officially take credit for the criminal actions. To the best of my knowledge, they have never funded assassination attempts or officially (speech by individual leaders are not official party directives) advocated criminal acts to affect political outcomes. Individual members and some party leaders engage it rhetoric which encourages violent criminal action, but I think the organization, as a whole, falls just short of qualifying as a terrorist organization.
In March of 2026, Everytown, the activist organization created with the help of considerable funds by Multi – billionaire Michael Bloomberg, place a website online called EveryShot. EveryShot is an artificial intelligence tool using ChatGPT-40 mini to search for and list, according to Everytown, a collection of incidents in the 50 U.S. states where there was a shooting involving a firearm or gun or if a gun or firearm was brandished. Specifically excluded a BB guns, pellet guns, toy guns or events which are fictional. A filter is used to exclude duplicates. The tool often shows multiple sources for a single event. The tool can flag events when there is uncertainty or discrepancies the flag brings the attention of a human for review. The tool updates the database twice a week.
In the Terms of Use, Everytown states the results can be “incomplete, inaccurate, offensive, or otherwise unpredictable”. In this correspondent’s use of the tool, such a description is correct.
Dean Weingarten
May 4, 2026
GUN WATCH: Everytown’s Everyshot AI tool: Use Extreme Caution. Many Limitations and Inaccuracies
From reading the test results of Weingarten it appears he is being extremely generous to Everytown’s creation. I cannot imagine something this broken used for anything other than entertainment purposes.
You have to wonder what they expect this to be useful for. As everyone should know, you do not judge constitutional rights on the basis of how a right can be misused. The right to remain silent when questioned does not get judged on how frequently criminals avoid successful prosecution. The right of free speech does not get judged on often people say untrue things on the Internet. And the right to keep and bear arms should not be judged on how many times a firearm is used to further a crime.
But that is not how the anti-gun people work. Hence, I suspect they are still trying to influence people to do a means-end scrutiny. But in Bruen SCOTUS explicitly said constitutional rights are not subject to judicial cost‑benefit analysis. The anti-gun people are trying to fight with a weapon that was made obsolete four years ago. They are using clubs while facing an opponent using bows and arrows. I further suspect people are trying to retain their paycheck from Bloomberg and are desperate to show their worth. AI is all the rage, and this is what they came up with.
They should get a real job that produces a product more than a handful of people want to spend money on.
If you are interested, see the tool (pun intended) here: EveryShot | Everytown Research & Policy.
This was published in on X less than 30 minutes after the fireball went up.
I really like it here. I waited all year for this.
Reina Taheri
May 3, 2026
This was at Boomershoot yesterday. And it was after she went to the hospital for a Boomershoot injury on Saturday. A hot shell casing from an AR-15 went down her boot and she was unable to get it out before getting a second-degree burn. That was the worst injury we have had in many years.
This was Reina’s second Boomershoot. Here is a video of her from last year:
I took pictures of Reina with her personal fireball from this year. But my camera was in daughter Kim’s car. Here she is at the shooting line:
The best pictures I have of the event on my phone are the ones below.
Each cloud of “smoke” is a different explosion. We had about 500 targets for the Sunday shooters.
This following is Team Fireball. I did the basic design and a lot of the work. But the people below all contributed to the success.
This is a close up of our most reactive target (23 gallons of gasoline over 30.8 pounds of Fireball Boomerite with road flares for added “visibility” on the rebar in the background:
We have sometimes said, “Boomershoot runs on rubberbands.” We came close to using 1,000 rubber bands this year. In the picture above you can see them holding the flares to the rebar, holding the jugs of gasoline together, and holding the Boomerite boxes in place.
Here is a frame-by-frame sequence of the opening fireball (video by Tim S.):
I think the dust forming in the field furrows from the shockwave is really cool!
There was a little more, but you get the idea.
Just kidding. You don’t have any idea of what the real thing is like. No video or pictures can do it justice. The heat is intense. The ground shakes. You feel a large thump in your chest. The crowd cheers and claps. The Boomershoot opening fireball is incredible.
The weather was fantastic. The target production went ahead of schedule. The personal fireballs (Reina and her dad each had one) successfully detonated and ignited. The Boomers went boom with almost no duds. There were still a few targets left at the end of the day. I consider it a good thing when the shooters run out of ammo before they run out of boomers.
Other than the one minor injury, everything went really well. I can not recall a better Boomershoot.
I think the claims that millionaires are going to leave our state are, like, super overblown. And if — the ones that leave, like, bye.
Katie Wilson
Seattle Mayor
May 1, 2026
That comment and laugh, combined with the applause and cheers from the crowd is going to increase the number of wealthy people leaving the state by a significant margin. Barb and I are far short of a million dollar/year income, and it pisses me off.
It is also interesting that she goes on to say that Seattle has the ability to create an even more “progressive tax” than Washington state and King County. And that it’s not good for the Seattle business environment to have a higher cost of doing business that neighboring Bellevue (where we live) and she encourages Bellevue to increase taxes to match Seattle. She appears oblivious Bellevue is a much nicer town than Seattle. Here is a comparison by Copilot:
Crime Rates
Bellevue consistently reports much lower crime than Seattle across all major categories.
- Violent Crime: Seattle 32.3 vs. Bellevue 9.6 (index; lower is safer).
- Property Crime: Seattle 76.9 vs. Bellevue 45.6.
- Crime Index (Numbeo): Bellevue 28.31 vs. Seattle 55.36.
- Safety Walking at Night: Bellevue “High” (65.91) vs. Seattle “Low” (38.44).
Takeaway: Bellevue’s crime levels are less than half of Seattle’s in most categories, making it one of the safest cities in the region.
School Quality
Bellevue is widely regarded as having one of the best public school systems in Washington, while Seattle’s school quality varies heavily by neighborhood.
- Bellevue School District is ranked #1 in Washington.
- Seattle’s school quality is variable, with strong pockets but inconsistent performance across the city.
Takeaway: If school quality is a priority, Bellevue is the clear winner.
Other Quality‑of‑Life Measures
Cost of Living & Housing
- Bellevue is 10–20% more expensive for rent and has a median home price around $1.3M–$1.6M, compared to Seattle’s $850K–$900K.
- Bellevue homes tend to be newer, with larger lots and more modern construction. Seattle offers more historic homes and diverse neighborhoods.
Stability & Growth
- Bellevue’s housing market is more stable and predictable, with stronger appreciation since COVID.
- Seattle’s market shows higher volatility but strong recovery cycles.
And queried about companies which have left Seattle for Bellevue:
multiple major companies have been shifting workers and office space from Seattle to Bellevue, driven by concerns about safety, taxes, and business climate, while Bellevue’s cleaner environment, stronger schools, and rapid office development have made it increasingly attractive.
Why Businesses Are Moving: Key Drivers
1. Safety, Cleanliness, and Worker Experience
A recurring theme in reporting is that downtown Seattle’s rising crime and disorder have pushed companies to look east.
- The Wall Street Journal highlighted that companies are choosing Bellevue because of its cleaner streets, lower crime, and better schools.
- Executives explicitly cite safety as a deciding factor: “Clean and safe is everything and Seattle is not that.”
This aligns with the broader trend of companies wanting environments where employees feel secure returning to the office.
2. Tax and Regulatory Environment
Seattle’s business climate has become more contentious:
- Amazon began shifting thousands of jobs to Bellevue after Seattle attempted a $275-per-employee head tax in 2018.
- Analysts describe Seattle’s environment as “hostile to business”, citing high taxation, B&O tax burdens, and new service taxes.
Bellevue, by contrast, is perceived as more predictable and business‑friendly.
3. Office Space and Development Boom
Bellevue has been aggressively building modern office space:
- Since 2021, Bellevue added ~3.9M sq. ft. of office space vs. Seattle’s ~2.6M sq. ft.
- Vacancy in Seattle’s top-tier office space is near 34.6%, signaling a struggling downtown.
- Bellevue’s office rents have surpassed Seattle’s ($64/sq ft vs. $51), showing companies are willing to pay more for the Bellevue environment.
This is a strong market signal: demand is shifting east.
Which Companies Are Moving or Expanding in Bellevue?
Amazon
- Grew from “almost nothing” to 14,000 employees in Bellevue, with plans for 25,000.
- Shift accelerated after political clashes with Seattle’s City Council.
Snowflake
- Moved 700+ employees into a new 326,000 sq. ft. Bellevue office instead of relocating to downtown Seattle.
TikTok, OpenAI, Robinhood
- All have taken significant Bellevue office space in recent years.
Other Tech Firms
- Multiple reports describe a broader “tech exodus” from Seattle to Bellevue, driven by quality‑of‑life and business‑climate concerns.
Summary Table: Business Environment Comparison
Factor Bellevue Seattle Crime & Safety Lower crime; cleaner streets Higher crime; downtown safety concerns Business Climate Predictable, business‑friendly Higher taxes; regulatory friction Office Development Rapid growth; modern buildings Slower growth; high vacancy Corporate Migration Amazon, TikTok, OpenAI expanding Losing square footage and headcount Schools & Talent Appeal Highly rated schools attract families More variable school quality Bottom Line
Bellevue has become the preferred hub for Big Tech expansion, while Seattle faces headwinds from safety issues, taxation, and downtown decline. Companies aren’t abandoning Seattle entirely, but the center of gravity has clearly shifted east.
Her solution to retain business is for Bellevue to become more like Seattle rather than Seattle to become more like the successful Bellevue. Since Wilson is an admitted socialist, this should not be a surprise. To socialists, near equality of poverty and misery is more desirable than a range of prosperity and happiness.
Just as I predicted yesterday…. MSM will falsely claim the Secretary of the Navy was fired because of Battleships.
And the NYTimes is actually worse than I thought. Let me explain….
The mainstream media will make this about the ships because the defense “experts” never want more hulls. They want money flowing into consulting fees, AI “solutions,” and think tank white papers. Steel produces nothing for the Beltway class. A flight deck you can launch F-35s off of does not generate PowerPoints.
But the NYTimes is running an even more sinister play.
Throughout the Biden administration, and later during DOGE’s audit work, I translated every major spending bill into a unit every American can actually visualize: one nuclear aircraft carrier.
Nuclear supercarrier cost: $15 billion.
Biden’s BEAD rural broadband program, which connected zero homes to the internet: $42.5 billion, or roughly three carriers.
Pete Buttigieg’s infrastructure package: $1.1 trillion, or seventy three carriers.
Total DOGE savings to date: $215 billion, or fourteen carriers.
Known Somali-linked fraud in Minnesota, per federal prosecutors: $18 billion, or one carrier plus an Arleigh Burke destroyer.
Why do I keep doing this?
Because for the past two decades the NYTimes has run the same story on loop: the military is the reason for America’s skyrocketing national debt.
That is a psyop. It conditions Americans to believe that steel and sailors, not social programs and grift, are what is bankrupting the country.
Human beings are not wired to understand $15 billion. The mind goes blank at that scale. But every American, left or right, understands the sheer weight and menace of a nuclear aircraft carrier. It is the most visible, most photogenic instrument of state power on earth.
John Ʌ Konrad V @johnkonrad
Posted on X, April 24, 2026
As мαтту 🇺🇸 @OtherMatty said, in response to this post:
This post is worth at least 2 carriers.
SCOTUS decision in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers v. NJ is huge. Despite the iconic SCOTUS decision in NAACP v. Alabama, and the more recent decision in Americans for Prosperity Fdn v. Bonta, many lower courts have continued to insist that compelled disclosure of one’s affiliations is not a harm that can even support a challenge to the government’s actions.
Yesterday the Supreme Court firmly rejected that approach:
“Demands for private donor information … ‘chill’ protected 1st Amendment associational rights even when those demands contemplate disclosure only to government officials and not ‘the general public. …“An injury in fact does not arise only when a defendant causes a tangible harm to a plaintiff, like a physical injury or monetary loss. It can also arise when a defendant burdens a plaintiff ’s constitutional rights. And our cases have long recognized that demands for a charity’s private member or donor information have just that effect.”
This is a huge win for privacy and freedom, a huge blow to those who seek to “cancel” individuals or intimidate them from participating in public debate with threats of government retaliation, direct or indirect.
Brad Smith @CommishSmith
Posted on X, April 30, 2026
This is great news. For years the anti-gun people wanted the NRA membership list. This should at least slow them down. Of course, pro-gun people cannot get the anti-gun organization lists either. But then, that is only a few thousand people compared to the millions of people who belong to the CCRKBA, FPC, GOA, NRA, SAF, etc. And the anti-gun people are becoming less and less relevant.
As Mark Smith at The Four Boxes Diner says, “The trend is our friend.”
Listen, having covered too many of these shootings, you know, and a wide array of circumstances, schools and others, one thing we know is that there’ll be a lot of discussion afterwards about security measures, rhetoric perhaps as well. There won’t be any substantive discussion of access to weapons, right? There just won’t because it’s — I mean, we’ve been down this path so many times, right? That’s just a part of the discussion you don’t go to.
Jim Sciutto
April 26, 2026
CNN.com – Transcripts
Archer had the best response to this sort of claim I have ever seen:
I’m always amused (in an ironic sense) after every high-profile mass shooting, when the Left comes out of the woodwork and says, “We need to have a national conversation on guns!”
Bruh, where have you been? We’ve all been HAVING a “national conversation on guns” since 1934. I joined it personally about two decades ago, give or take. It has never ended.
And we’ve invited the Left to engage. We’ve reached out. We’ve offered to discuss and find common ground. And we’ve been ignored at every stretch … until they can use a high-profile murder scene to claim that we obstinately refuse to discuss the issue.
They don’t just lie about guns, or gun owners, or the facts. They go so far as to lie about “the conversation” itself, as if we’ve all been refusing to have a conversation, when the reality is we’ve been having a conversation and invited them, but they refused to join.
When they can’t even be honest about the conversation they say they want to have, why should we trust them on anything else?
Why can’t they be honest? Because their culture is based on lies.
An honest argument for Prohibition would — at the VERY least — acknowledge the social good that privately-owned firearms provides, and then attempt to justify prohibiting them anyway. A FULLY honest argument would also acknowledge the potential second-order effects of banning guns, such as increased crime against citizens rendered defenseless by the ban. But that would be an uphill battle, so Prohibitionists choose instead to “lie by omission,” frame their arguments exclusively around the social negatives of crime and violence, and never mention that guns can also be defensive or how often defensive gun use happens.
Anti-gun people lie — a LOT — because they have to. If they were honest about their intentions or the real-world effects of their proposed laws/policies, they’d never succeed.
Archer
April 28, 2026
Comment to Brian Stelter Goes off Half-Cocked
It has been a part of their culture for decades and perhaps a century or more.
In an analysis, CNN’s Brian Stelter insinuated that nobody will consider tougher gun laws to prevent such an incident. He should have looked at the facts before going off half-cocked.
The suspect in this case is known to have purchased the shotgun and a handgun used in the attack from two different California gun stores. He had to pass two California background checks and endure two separate waiting periods. It is widely known California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and the suspect was able to complete his legal purchases. Just what more does Stelter think could be done?
Alan Gottlieb
CCRKBA Chairman
April 27, 2026
CCRKBA RIPS CNN COMMENTATOR’S CALL FOR GUN CONTROL AFTER ATTACK – CCRKBA
Obviously, the gun control we have does not work to prevent crime. Hence, we need ban guns completely just like we do with hard core recreational drugs. Then we won’t have to worry about getting shot while eating dinner at a fancy hotel. Duh!
</sarcasm>
I always found it curious that politicians thought it necessary to pass a constitutional amendment to allow them to ban alcoholic drinks and create an income tax, but no constitutional change was required to ban arms. Grok gave me reasonable answer to that. I still think it is bogus, but I have a better understanding of how it happened.
This is the most volatile, complex and dangerous threat environment I’ve experienced in the 42 plus years that I’ve been involved in law enforcement and Homeland Security.
We’re an angry, polarized nation. We have a growing number of people, particularly young males, who believe that violence is the only way to express their sense of grievance or their opposition to the current political conditions in this country. They are inspired and increasingly informed by content that they consume online. That’s placed there by terrorist groups, foreign intelligence services and others, specifically for the purposes of inspiring and inciting violence.
And increasingly, we’re seeing them turn to artificial intelligence to help them develop attack plans that allow them even an unsophisticated attacker, to engage in a violent attack. So the threat environment is significantly dangerous.
John Cohen
Former Acting DHS Undersecretary for Intelligence
April 26, 2026
‘This Week’ Transcript 4-26-26: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche – ABC News
And which political party is leading in the initiation of violence? The same as it has been for the last 100+ years in all countries. The political left. The communist revolutions in Eastern Europe and Asia, the national socialist workers party of Germany, the U.S. Democrats from the KKK, to the violent riots and bombings of the 1960s and early 1970s, the BLM, ANTIFA, and the most recent shootings of Republican political leaders, Charlie Kirk, and the multiple assassination attempts on Trump. Yes, there have been a few Democrats murdered who could be blamed on a Republican, but the Democrats are racking up points on the score board so fast that even if the Republicans and Libertarians were combined, they are not even in the game.
Why are liberals so violent? It is in their nature.
Just imagine what they would do if their political opponents were unarmed. If they come for your guns, just keep saying, “NO“ until you run out of ammo.
Via email from Chris M. we have an example of how difficult complete privacy is:
Surveillance Via Smart Toothbrush – Schneier on Security
a marital affair was discovered because the cheater was recorded using his smart toothbrush at home when he was supposed to be at work.
Paul worked with a client who became suspicious of her husband after noticing unusual times he’d brush his teeth. She had installed a smart electric toothbrush app to help encourage their kids to brush properly but the app also tracked every session for the whole family.
“Over time, the client noticed their partner’s brushing history was being logged at odd times, times when they were supposedly at work,” Paul explained. At first, it didn’t seem like much, brushing late in the morning on Fridays didn’t raise immediate red flags.
“And in that time he had started an affair with a work colleague and used to have her over the family home on a Friday when the wife and kids were out of the house,” he added.
I no longer work in the Cyber Threat Intelligence group at work, but when I was on the team our analysists would sometimes track down bad guys over the course of months of collecting “breadcrumbs”. The bad guys would post things that in of themselves were essentially useless. But cumulatively they added up to positive identification and location of perpetrators who had defraud the company and/or our customers of millions and some cases of tens of millions of dollars.
One example I participated in was as follows. The analysts noticed large numbers of nearly identical messages would be posted on multiple Telegraph channels by a criminal claiming ability to defraud our company and his willingness, for a price, to teach others how to do the same thing. I wrote a program that would find all the users names associated with publishing these nearly identical messages. It turned out that occasionally the same message would be posted by two different users names within a few seconds of each other in different channels. One user would post the message in one or two channels. The other user would post it in 20 channels. The one channel posting username would “drop off the radar” at the same time as the new username posting in 20 channels appeared. It was, almost for certain, the same person changing their username over time.
Hence, we could track the same person over a year or more even though he changed his username every few weeks. This allowed us to find a lot more breadcrumbs to narrow the search.
These perps would drop social hints such they were at a party, but they had to leave soon because it was 2:00 AM. By comparing the stated time to the UTC timestamp in the channel, we could determine the time zone they are in. They would post a picture holding something in their hand proving they had defrauded the company. Now we know their skin color and perhaps the color of their watch. When searching social media posts for information about the party we could use the skin and watch color to tie the fraudster username to a social media account. If the electronic object they posted had a clock on it and it is outside, from the shadows we can get an approximation of the latitude they were at. If they would post the social handle of their girlfriend, now we have more breadcrumbs to collect. The girlfriend would post a picture of a scenic site. Now we can do reverse images searches to find that landscape or better yet, a famous building. Now we have their residence or vacation location within a few dozen miles. Or that identical picture would show up in a social media account. Bingo!
The smallest things add up.
People have concerns about electronics in their homes and vehicles spying on them. Yes, this is a concern. These things can be firehoses of information and the smallest things add up.
But keep in mind that it is possible to create an Internet of Things (IoT) enabled house without leaking information to everyone. It is more work than using Amazon’s Alexia or Google Nest, and you probably have to be a geek of some sort to push through some of the issues. * But you can completely isolate a “Smart Home” from the Internet and still use it for monitoring and controlling your home. You would have to be home to access the data or change the programming, but you can do some amazing things. Or you can pay a few dollars a month and access it via https (encrypted) connections from anywhere you have Internet service.
Because I am away from my underground bunker most of the time, at least for now, I chose to pay a few dollars to access it remotely.
I have hundreds of sensors in my underground bunker. Walking through you probably would only see dozen or so at most. But that thermometer also has a humidity sensor in it. That makes twice as many sensors as you first thought and the measurements they report give you more information than you might guess. I could tell what room a contractor was working in because the humidity and temperature would rise if they spent more than a few minutes in a room. When a contractor would paint, then the humidity would go way up. I set up leak alarms (the alert would be on my phone, not in the room) based on high humidity and once the painting done by the contractor set off the leak detection logic.
For people who can’t imagine why they would want their house instrumented, I know two homes that were severely damaged due to leaks. One summer home was completely destroyed because it sat for months with the basement overflowing with water. Brother Doug’s home had the tubing to the toilet rust out and spew water for several hours in an upstairs bathroom. That destroyed drywall on the main floor and basement and flooring on the upstairs floor and main floor. A few years later a second flood was caused by squirrels nesting in the drain leading water from around the basement. A heavy rainstorm put about two inches of water in the basement and even though Brother Doug was in the house he did not notice for over a day because he did not go into the basement. With leak sensors and/or high humidity alarms he and his wife would have saved thousands of dollars and many hours of time.
I use temperature sensors to optimize the use of a geothermal heat pump, the buffer tank, the hybrid water heater, and secondary electrical resistance heating in my underground bunker. With remote access, the outside door light can automatically be turned on when you are driving home in the dark and get within 100 yards of the door. That probably isn’t that much interest to city dwellers, but when there are no streetlights, a little extra light getting into the house can be quite welcome. Motion sensors and door opening sensors can be used to detect someone moving around in your home when you are not there and send an alert to your phone.
If you don’t mind being spied on by your appliances** you could get alerts if you left a refrigerator or freezer door open. You can get an alert the drier has completed its job, and you should get your clothes out before they wrinkle, and you get notified with it is time for the water filter in youf refrigerator to be changed. You don’t remember if you turned off the oven and you are a block away from your house on the way to work? The app for your oven can tell you whether you need to return home or continue to work without worrying about it. You can open the garage door remotely and watch on a webcam as FedEx delivers a large package. And/or you could get an alert if someone else opened the door when you did not expect it.
Barb is pretty vehement about not wanting her house to spy on her. But after Brother Doug’s second house flood, she put something like ten leak sensors in various places around her house.
Depending on which leak sensor gets wet, my underground bunker computer will do more than just fire an alert. If appropriate, it will turn off the water supply, the water heater, and the water conditioner.
Operated by five-year batteries, leak sensors can be discretely placed in out of the way places and provide peace of mind without significant information being leaked. There is a remaining battery life sensor and a binary “wet”/”dry” sensor. Even if they were hacked or the manufacturer collected usage data, what do you care about that information being obtained by others?
The underground bunker is more fire resistant than most homes. But I can remotely turn on outdoor sprinklers to protect the backup generator, electrical meter, well, bunker doors, and windows. Short of deliberate human acts, the bunker exterior complex should be fireproof.
Yes, the smallest details can add up to useful knowledge for an adversary if someone is willing to spend the time. But a lot of life is about tradeoffs. For me, I was able to get good enough privacy and significantly improved quality of life and improved remote security of my underground bunker by creating a “Smart Home.” Your mileage will vary.
* Check out Home Assistant if you are interested in going down this path.
** GE appliances require you to connect them to the Internet and use their app to utilize the “smart features”, other appliances may vary.
