He Almost Said My Name

Wow! Cool project:

When asking for help, he did everything but say my name.

Via Ry.

A Great Day for Freedom

Quote of the Day

Today is a great day for freedom and the American people. The dismissal of this appeal should be the final nail in the coffin of this unconstitutional Biden ATF assault on gun owners. As we explained in the case filings, braced pistols are not ‘short-barreled rifles.’ But either way, they are unquestionably arms protected under the Second Amendment. We are thrilled to have secured this important win for liberty and excited to take on even more unconstitutional laws so you can exercise your rights when, where, and how you choose.

Brandon Combs
FPC President
August 6, 2025
Justice Department hands over big win to gun owners

It is not huge, but it is another brick in the wall. Each time a case is concluded our team learns a little more. The arguments are tuned to match the precedents of the previous wins. The reluctant judges are herded into corners by the previous decisions on less important cases. They have fewer and fewer options to rule in favor of the dark side. We are winning but it is still a long hard grind to something approximating a total victory.

Knife Crime

Quote of the Day

When I was Director of Public Prosecutions, I saw first-hand how knife crime devastates families.

My Plan for Change is turning the tide:

Knife robberies down in the hardest-hit areas.

Over 1,000 weapons taken off our streets in July.

And from today, ninja swords are banned.

Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer
Prime Minister of England
Posted on X, August 1, 2025

In his alternate reality he can say this without a hint of sarcasm, irony, or concern that he is inflicting a severe blow to basic human rights.

This could have been the path we went down. And if we don’t keep up the pressure, it still could be our path.

Difficulty with Coherence

Quote of the Day

The US is an awful place to compare anything too. They have a ridiculously high murder rate for a developed country and most of it is gun related.

And the whole constitutional thing is ridiculous. Their president is a pedophile who has broken countless constitutional laws. If it actually came to a showdown with between the army and gun owning civilians, the civilians would be massively under powered

UnicornForeverK
August 4, 2025
CMV: The UK would not benefit from more relaxed gun control laws like the US : r/changemyview

It appears to me that UnicornForeverK chose their name well. They have only a tenuous connection to reality. The lack of a solid connection to reality shows in their struggle with creating a coherent line of thought.

I could have spent way more time that it was worth to fisk this, but with a little coaxing Copilot did a decent job:


🧨 Debunking a Lazy Narrative: Guns, Murder, and the Myth of Military Supremacy

Let’s break this down and inject some reality.

🔪 “The US is an awful place to compare anything too. They have a ridiculously high murder rate for a developed country and most of it is gun related.”

Yes, the U.S. has a higher murder rate than most wealthy nations—but it’s not “ridiculously high” in a global context. According to 2023 data:

CountryTotal Murder Rate (per 100k)
Jamaica49.3
Ecuador45.7
Haiti41.1
Honduras31.4
Mexico24.9
United States5.76
Canada1.98
UK1.15
Germany0.91
Japan0.23
Singapore0.07

Source: World Population Review

The U.S. ranks high among developed nations, but far below many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. And yes, most U.S. homicides involve firearms—about 4.42 per 100k—but that’s not the same as saying “most murders are gun-related” globally.

📜 “And the whole constitutional thing is ridiculous.”

This is a vague dismissal of a foundational legal framework. The U.S. Constitution has shaped democratic governance worldwide. Criticizing specific interpretations is fair game—but calling the entire system “ridiculous” is like calling the wheel a bad idea because you don’t like traffic laws.

🧑‍⚖️ “Their president is a pedophile who has broken countless constitutional laws.”

There is no credible evidence to support the pedophile claim. It’s defamatory and baseless.

As for constitutional violations, presidents from both parties have faced legal challenges. Examples include:

  • Obama: ACA implementation delays, recess appointments
  • Trump: Birthright citizenship EO, inspector general firings, funding freezes5

But “countless” is hyperbole. Most alleged violations are contested in courts and resolved through judicial review—not proven breaches.

🪖 “If it actually came to a showdown between the army and gun owning civilians, the civilians would be massively under powered.”

This is the most interesting—and historically naïve—claim.

🇦🇫 Afghanistan Case Study

The Taliban, with ~85,000 fighters, outlasted the U.S. and NATO over two decades. They used small arms, guerrilla tactics, and local knowledge—not tanks or drones—to win through attrition and ambiguity7.

🇺🇸 Now extrapolate to 100 million armed U.S. civilians:

  • Wealth & Education: Civilians have vastly more resources, technical literacy, and access to logistics.
  • Veteran Expertise: Millions of former service members with tactical training.
  • Infrastructure Access: Civilians live inside the systems the military depends on—power grids, telecom, transportation.
  • Cyber Potential: Insider threats could exploit vulnerabilities in command networks, spoof IFF systems, or jam communications10.
  • Friend vs. Foe Chaos: Identifying adversaries becomes a nightmare when they wear no uniform and share cultural ties.

Suppressing such a population wouldn’t be a military operation—it would be a civil war. And history shows that civil wars are rarely won by the side with the biggest guns. They’re won—or lost—by legitimacy, endurance, and the ability to navigate chaos.

🧠 Final Thought

This quote isn’t just wrong—it’s dangerously simplistic. It ignores history, misrepresents facts, and underestimates the complexity of power, resistance, and governance. If we’re going to have serious conversations about violence, politics, and the Constitution, we need to start with facts—not slogans.

1 Murder Rate by Country 2025
2 Gun Deaths by Country 2025
3 Top 10 Constitutional Violations By Clinton, Obama, Biden – U.S. Constitution.net
4 Which Us President: Most Constitutional Law Breakers? | LawShun
5 The President and Constitutional Violations: Will the Federal Courts Contain the President’s Power Grabs? – Center for American Progress
6 How big is the Talibanʼs military? | [August Updated]
7 Afghanistan and the Danger of Small Arms Transfers | Cato Institute
8 Military Power Is Insufficient: Learning from Failure in Afghanistan
9 Friend or Foe Identification Systems: Securing the Skies, Seas, and Cyberspace
10 Identification friend or foe – Wikipedia
11 Decoding Identification Friend or Foe Technology – MilitarySphere.com

Wheat Harvest

This is Brother Doug harvesting the wheat on my property yesterday.

Naive and Power Socialists

Quote of the Day

I distinguish between naive socialists and power socialists.

Naive socialists have economically illiterate compassion.

Power socialists want to use envy and the compassion of naive socialists to gain political power to smash their enemies and control everyone.

Apatheia Ⓥ 🇺🇸 @DanKellyFreedom
Posted on X, July 16, 2025

Sadly, this account no longer exists. Perhaps it was a bot or something.

Regardless, the distinctions and descriptions resonate with me. And it is a little more polite than the more common, “useful idiots”. This comes in handy when you are discussing politics with your mother-in-law or others with the potential to disrupt domestic harmony.

Probably Fake but Accurate

Quote of the Day

Name three things that the government does cheaper and better than private individuals and organizations. It would be no trick at all to name dozens of things that the government does worse and at higher costs.

Attributed to Thomas Sowell
Posted on X, August2, 2025

I strongly suspect this is not an actual quote of Sowell. It certainly fits the essence of Sowell’s work, but you will be hard pressed to find something that comes close to a direct quote.

Teaming up Against the NFA

Quote of the Day

Today, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), American Suppressor Association (ASA), National Rifle Association (NRA), Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), Prime Protection STL Tactical Boutique, and two members of the organizations filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). The case, Brown v. ATF, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

Second Amendment Foundation
August 1, 2025
SAF, OTHER LEADING SECOND AMENDMENT GROUPS FILE LAWSUIT CHALLENGING CONSTITUTIONALITY OF NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT – Second Amendment Foundation

See also similar releases from other groups:

It is nice to see these groups teaming up to fight the common enemy.

This could be an extremely important case.

Now THAT is Action Shooting

Very impressive.

Via Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.

Banning Sharp Objects

Quote of the Day

Debt and crime ridden Labor controlled Victoria has borrowed another 13 million dollars to roll out “machete bins”

Yep. They honestly believe an African wondering down the street with a machete down his duds will see these bins and think, Oh fuck man, I better put my machete in the amnesty bin.

Make me laugh, you pack of total fuckwits. What the hell is wrong with lefties. They must have shit for brains.

Rob Smith @Ausbobsmit
Posted on X, July 31, 2025

Via Chuck Petras.

There is nothing to disagree with there.

This is Australia, so they already have almost all the guns and when that did get the desired results they decided to go after sharp objects.

Just keep saying, “No!” until the blade won’t cut.


The Mask Has Been Off for Decades

Quote of the Day

The mask finally comes off. And we told you, they knew it. We knew it. Everybody knew it. However, they finally decided to say the quiet part out loud as the journey from Democrat to socialist communistic gun grabber is complete. In light of the tragedy that happened in New York 2 days ago, they’ve just jumped the shark on anything because they’ve got to defend their precious gun laws. And what’s the solution, my friends? It’s obvious. Take all the guns from anybody. Anything that can used on a battlefield. Oh, we’ve got all of it. where Democrats and socialists have become one in the biblical sense.

Braden Langley
July 30, 2025
BREAKING NOW: Dems Up Their Gun Control To EVERY SINGLE TYPE OF GUN… The Quiet Part Out Loud…

For all intents and purposes the mask has been off for a long time. D.C. passed their handgun ban in 1976. In 1982 Chicago implemented their functional ban on handguns. San Francisco and other cities followed.

To be fair, for many years the bad guys let people believe long guns were okay. That changed in 1994 with the “assault weapon” ban. They were successful with that line of attack for many years, and to a certain extent they still are. And they don’t say much about handgun bans these days. But it is only because they have an easier time with the evil black rifles.

And now, as should be no surprise, as described in the video, some of them are open about attacking essentially all guns.

The bottom line is they have been telling us for decades what they will do if they can. We should believe them. And most importantly, we should prepare and respond appropriately.

Quirky Gun Laws

Via Copilot:

🔍 Quirky Gun Laws Across the U.S.

  • BB Guns Treated Like Real Firearms (New Jersey) In New Jersey, BB guns are regulated as strictly as actual firearms. You need a Firearms ID card to own one, a permit to carry it, and another permit to transport it in your car. Some models are even banned outright.
  • Microstamping Mandates (California & New York) These states require new handguns to imprint microscopic identifiers on spent casings. Sounds futuristic, but criminals can easily game the system by planting spent brass from other guns at crime scenes.
  • Hollow Point Bullet Restrictions (New Jersey) Hollow points are banned except in very specific circumstances—like at home or on the way to a shooting range. Even possessing one loose round outside those conditions can land you in legal trouble.
  • Shooting Range Bans (Chicago & Blairstown, NJ) Some cities have banned commercial shooting ranges, making it difficult for residents to practice firearm safety and proficiency—especially in urban areas with no private land.
  • Ammunition Licensing (Washington D.C.) You can’t possess ammo unless you’re licensed for a firearm of that specific caliber. One man was convicted for having muzzleloader bullets in his home after a SWAT raid.
  • Tube-Fed .22s as “Assault Weapons” (New Jersey) Certain older .22 rifles like the Marlin Model 60 are considered assault weapons if they hold more than 15 rounds. Unless registered before 1991, they’re illegal to possess—even though they’re common plinking rifles.

These laws often reflect attempts to address public safety concerns, but they sometimes veer into the realm of the absurd.

I was doing some research for tomorrow’s QOTD and part of one of Copilot’s responses was:

It’s always a pleasure digging through the details with you—sharp eyes like yours keep things honest. Let me know if you want to dig into other historical quirks or gun law oddities. There’s no shortage of them!

I responded with, “Sure, share a few quirks and oddities with me!” And the above was its response.

There is very little I didn’t already know, but having it put succinctly and formatted nicely in just a few seconds made it much more accessible.

I like living in the future.

Support for Being in a Quiet Space

Quote of the Day

Choosing Friday night with a novel over a crowded bar doesn’t automatically grant you mystical powers—but it does correlate with a powerful psychological profile

Far from being a red flag, a taste for alone‑time can be a green light for cognitive, emotional, and social flourishing. Next time someone teases you for “ghosting” the group chat, remember: the quiet path may be fueling qualities that loud rooms rarely nurture.

So schedule that solo café date, silence the notifications, and savor the sound of your own thoughts. Psychology suggests you’re not escaping life—you’re mastering it.

Lachlan Brown
July 28, 2025
Psychology says preferring solitude over constant socializing is a subtle sign of these 7 unique traits – VegOut

Solo café date? How about a sleeping bag under the trees a half mile from the nearest person?

Give me quiet, almost alone (I really like being with Barb) time and I am much happier than being in public. An underground bunker in Idaho would be nice.

Not Wrong

Via Michael Fabricant @Mike_Fabricant:

I’m certain this is not literally true. But I don’t think is entirely wrong either.

We were headed down that path, but we have reversed course to a certain extent. It will be interesting to see how much our path diverges from the U.K. path in the next few years. And most importantly, is our recent reversal temporary or permanent?

Unable to Monetize Fact Finding

Quote of the Day

News is expensive to produce

As new commentary channels emerge the “fact basis” for the commentary becomes an afterthought

Newsrooms (not just MSM) begin laying off staff as they can’t monetize fact finding

The pool of information to comment on is drying up

Tim Pool @Timcast
Posted on X, July 29, 2025

That is an interesting observation. I had not thought of that before. That does help explain some things.

I am reminded of “yellow journalism.” Very profitable. Factual deficient.

Oh, the Thought!

Quote of the Day

Leave it to gun control groups to suggest that half of the law-abiding population of the United States shouldn’t be considered for gun ownership. And it’s the half of the population that owning a firearm for self-defense benefits the most in time of need.

Sure, in the past, women were not the segment of the population that immediately popped in to mind as being firearm owners. But now in 2025, shouldn’t that be different? Women already have the same rights as men – including the right to keep and bear arms. Firearms are a part of the American culture, enjoyed by everyone of any color, race and nationality. And over the past five years, industry data has shown women are the fastest-growing demographic of gun buyer. It makes sense that firearm industry businesses would pay attention to their customers and cater to their needs.

But that’s not how many gun control activists and gun control groups see it and they are now aghast that lawful firearm manufacturers would cater their advertising and marketing efforts to appeal to women.

Oh, the thought!

Paige Pearson
July 22, 2025
Gun Control Groups Can’t Stomach Women Gun Owners • NSSF

If even half as many women as men start voting pro-gun, the anti-gun people will be seriously in trouble in upcoming elections. Violent crime against women will decrease. Fewer women will regard victimhood as a virtue.

Oh, the thought, indeed!

Half-Truths, Straw Man Arguments, and Lies, No Data

Quote of the Day

Some people feel more secure just knowing a gun is within reach. But having a weapon nearby doesn’t guarantee protection – in fact, it often increases the chances of injury or death. Research shows that homes with guns have higher rates of accidental shootings and suicides. Even trained gun owners can make split-second mistakes in high-stress situations.

Brody McCormick
July 2025
17 Gun Myths People Still Believe – Even Though They’re Completely Wrong

Do you know anyone who claims, “having a weapon nearby guarantees protection?” The “17 Gun Myths” are filled with crap like this. It is anti-gun ownership clickbait.

I find simple minded half-truths, straw man arguments, and lies to be extremely irritating. I don’t think they are this stupid. I think they are deliberately crafting a narrative to influence people into accepting their lies.

Public Policy Major Does Not Understand Specific Enumerated Rights

Quote of the Day

In 2019, a gunman shot and killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach municipal building. His semiautomatic weapon was fitted with a silencer, making the gunshots sound, to one survivor, “like a nail gun.”

If the shots had been louder — if the people inside had been given even 30 more seconds of warning — lives could have perhaps been saved. But muffled sounds from the silencer created confusion and, ultimately, death. 

Silencers are dangerous. Now, they’re more accessible than ever. 

Sally Young
Senior at Dartmouth College studying English and Public Policy
July 26, 2025
Opinion: Silence kills: Now is the time to speak up against deadly gun silencers

It is very telling that Ms. Young can only cite one instance of a suppressor being used in a crime. Even though there are millions of them in the possession of U.S. citizens suppressors are almost never used it a crime. Even more telling is that even though she is studying “public policy” it apparently does not occur to her that specific enumerated rights are not evaluated on the basis of how they are abused. They are protected and the people who abuse them are punished.

After reading a little bit about what a “public policy” major is, I see the problem. Public policy majors are taught to see the world through the lens of what government can do to improve society. I cannot say for certain, but it looks to me like a “public policy” of limited government powers is not in their playbook. The solution to all problems is always more government control. In other words, socialism and tyranny.

No, thank you. Ms. Young, you may not have my guns or suppressors. Your move Ms. Young. Please choose wisely.

California Background Check for Ammo Sales is Unconstitutional

Quote of the Day

A federal appeals court this week struck down California’s landmark law requiring background checks and in-person transactions for ammunition purchases, the latest in a string of judicial wins that have gun rights advocates celebrating.

… the opinion by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals follows closely on a separate panel’s ruling against a California law aimed at regulating the marketing of firearms to minors earlier this month, and on a federal court ruling Wednesday allowing gun rights advocates to continue a lawsuit against concealed carry rules in Los Angeles County.

“We’re on a roll,” said Southern California attorney and gun rights advocate Chuck Michel, who was involved in all three cases.

In its 2-1 ruling against the ammunition background checks, the appellate panel said Thursday that by limiting purchases, California’s law effectively limited the rights of gun owners to have functioning firearms.

Sharon Bernstein
July 25, 2025
California cannot require background checks to buy ammunition, US appeals court rules

From the same article, “The state has two weeks to request a review by the full Court of Appeals.”

This ruling also rids Californians of the ban on buying ammo out of state, either in person or mail order.

Read more here:

A Great Day for Freedom

Quote of the Day

Today is a great day for freedom and the American people. The dismissal of this appeal should be the final nail in the coffin of this unconstitutional Biden ATF assault on gun owners. As we explained in the case filings, braced pistols are not ‘short-barreled rifles’. But either way, they are unquestionably arms protected under the Second Amendment. We are thrilled to have secured this important win for liberty and excited to take on even more unconstitutional laws so you can exercise your rights when, where, and how you choose.

Brandon Combs
Firearms Policy Coalition President
July 17, 2025
FPC WIN: Order Vacating Biden “Pistol Brace” Rule Stands, Government Dismisses Appeal – Firearms Policy Coalition

See also: DOJ Delivers Final Blow to Biden-Era Gun Regulation.

A year ago, I could not have imagined seeing this sort of thing happen. I sometimes think I must be dreaming about how well things are going in the fight for the rights of gun owners. We lived the nightmare for so many decades it is nice to have things turn our way.

The really big thorns in our paws are now:

  • Restrictions on semi-automatic rifles.
  • Restrictions on standard capacity magazines.
  • Permitting of all types.
  • Waiting periods.

I think these are all relatively easy wins if we can just get them before SCOTUS.