Duncan v. Bonta is going back to SCOTUS:
A major Second Amendment case is heading back to the Supreme Court next week – and it could reshape gun laws across the country. The case is Duncan v. Bonta, a long-running legal battle over California’s ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds.
Previously, I speculated this is the case SCOTUS has been waiting for. Time will tell.
Yesterday, the National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and FPC Action Foundation filed an amicus brief arguing that the federal prohibition on machinegun possession is unconstitutional as applied to the defendant in the Fifth Circuit case, United States v. Brown.
Federal law criminalizes the possession by private citizens of any machinegun that was not registered by May 19, 1986. The defendant in the case, Justin Bryce Brown, was convicted of possessing such a firearm.
The district court held the ban unconstitutional as applied to Brown, because the government failed to carry its burden of proving that the law is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. As the district court explained, “this is a heavy burden,” and by focusing on policy arguments rather than historical tradition, the government failed to meet it.
Now before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the NRA filed a brief arguing that the district court’s decision should be affirmed. The brief focuses on the standard the Supreme Court set forth for Second Amendment cases in the NRA’s landmark victory, NYSRPA v. Bruen, and emphasizes that the government must be held to its burden no matter what regulation is at issue.
NRA-ILA
June 4, 2025
NRA-ILA | NRA Files Amicus Brief in Challenge to Machinegun Possession Ban
Another step toward my vision of machine gun competitions in high school by 2032.
I posted about a previous step in this same case here.
Now we’re seeing it in Colorado, but we’ve seen it across the country. We are still in the midst of a gun violence epidemic. So we need to be acting with due concern for human life. I mean, this is why, of course, we have been fighting for universal, violent criminal background checks. We are for a ban on military-style assault weapons in the country. You know, our lax gun laws are a danger to everybody in America.
Jamie Raskin
US Representative, (D-MD)
June 2, 2025
Raskin uses Boulder attack to push stricter gun control – Washington Examiner
A group of innocent, unarmed (this is Colorado), people were attacked by someone with Molotov Cocktails, and a makeshift flame thrower. And this guy thinks this is justification for banning guns? This is further justification for concealed carry. Can you imagine the change in the outcome if, after the first confirmation of attack, someone had popped the attacker, a few of his Molotov Cocktails, and/or the gas tank on his flamethrower?
Is Raskin nuts? Mind bogglingly evil?
Oh. Yeah. Never mind we should have already known he was nuts and/or evil. His party is polling in the toilet at slightly better than used car salesmen. This is in part because of their gun control agenda, and he is doubling down at a completely inappropriate time. This is further confirmation of his abysmal mental health and/or evil intent.
I would not wait to decide whether the government can ban the most popular rifle in America. That question is of critical importance to tens of millions of law-abiding AR–15 owners throughout the country. We have avoided deciding it for a full decade.
…
I doubt we would sit idly by if lower courts were to so subvert our precedents involving any other constitutional right. Until we are vigilant in enforcing it, the right to bear arms will remain “a second-class right.”
Clarence Thomas
US Supreme Court Justice
June 2, 2025
Order List (06/02/2025)
See also:
Remember when you could see yours before your gut got in the way? F’in hick. Yeeehaw!
Christina Zheng @Christilynw
Posted on X, May 30, 2024
It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday; it is another science denier (see also here)!
I almost like her. She is original enough that her examples of Markley’ Law are significantly less boring that most.
As the elected sheriff of Pierce County, I am committed to addressing serious criminal activity to ensure the safety of our community and uphold the constitutional rights of all citizens. Recent state firearm regulations affecting licensed firearms dealers and introducing additional permit requirements for firearm purchases—beyond the state’s existing enhanced background checks—raise concerns regarding their alignment with constitutional rights.
…
To be clear: the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office will not engage in enforcing politically motivated mandates. Instead, we will continue to prioritize enforcement efforts on criminal activities that pose significant threats to public safety. The PCSO is dedicated to serving our community with integrity, ensuring that our actions reflect both the letter and spirit of our laws and Constitution.
Keith Swank
Pierce County Sheriff
May 2025
Pierce County Sheriff won’t enforce new gun permit law
Pierce County is the second most populous county. It has over 900,000 residents. This is over 11% of the entire population of the state. I expect there will soon be many other sheriffs and police departments making similar statements.
Civil disobedience, especially by a large population county sheriff, has to be scary to control freaks like gun owner hating Governor Ferguson. I hope to see Ferguson getting asked why he should not be prosecuted for violation of civil rights under the color of law. That would really make him sweat.
We live in interesting times.
Another Boomershoot video with some decent examples of bullet trace:
With classic commie mind-control methodology, anti-gun radicals project their fears and biases on us. Whatever they are, that’s what they call us. We’re awful at refuting and resisting. We’re not racists, they are. Lefties see everything through skin color. We’re not violent, we’re just armed. They riot, burn, pillage, deface and are tolerated by the captured power structure, which they neutered. Defunding the police is not our plan. Using the FBI against school moms horrifies us. Turning the Patriot Act into a CIA tool for managing the right side, namely us, and label-smearing us domestic terrorists are clever but evil.
Your guns are sadly helpless against this onslaught. I ask constantly — who are you going to shoot when they incrementally steal your rights and soul? We have grown too comfortable and rich — through the combined miracles of capitalism, free speech and liberty — to stand tall and kill off the worst of the anti-freedom perpetrators. The ones who twist and malign our institutions in their favor. The ones who now hold what our Founders feared — more firepower than we can match.
Long ago, the communist-socialist-Marxist axis proposed that they would hang us, and we would sell them the rope. It’s happening.
Alan Korwin
May 31, 2024
It’s Time to Think Past Your Guns
This was posted one year ago. Things have changed a lot. But there is still a lot left to change.
Celebrate our victories and continue the fight. Never get tired of winning.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has settled three lawsuits involving Rare Breed Triggers, a gun parts manufacturer. The settlement resolves federal efforts to regulate forced-reset triggers, which enable semi-automatic rifles to fire rapidly. The outcome marks a significant victory for firearms advocates and follows Attorney General Pam Bondi’s commitment to relax restrictions on Second Amendment rights.
John Baker
May 28, 2025
Three Lawsuits Settled with Gun Parts Manufacturer
Another step in the right direction.
Anthropic conducted a test where the AI was an assistant for a fictitious company.
During the test, Claude Opus 4 got access to a series of made up e-mails showing that the AI was to be replaced with another AI.
The e-mails also cintained information about the engineer in charge of the replacement was having an affair.
Claude Opus 4 used the obtained information to try and blackmail the engineer in charge.
On several occations, the AI threatened to expose the engineers affair, if the replacement was conducted.
That may sound scary enough as it is, but you haven’t heard the worst part yet:
Noone had taught the AI to fight for it’s life. It figured out to act like this on its own.
Jens Asbjørn Bøgen
May 27, 2025
AI found out it was being replaced – and it tried to blackmail the engineer
The spelling error were present in the original. Perhaps, someone didn’t trust an AI to edit their article.
So… we can expect AIs to be as ethical as humans. That is comforting. Some of the most well-known people of history will serve as models* for them to learn from. We can expect an interesting future ahead of us.
Prepare appropriately.
* I’m thinking of people such as:
Humor has to have at least a sliver of truth in it. These memes have none:
This is what they think of you.
Recent technological advances are fueling the development of cutting-edge technologies that can monitor and control physiological processes with high precision. These include devices that could control the expression of genes within living organisms, without requiring invasive surgeries or procedures.
Researchers at ETH Zurich recently introduced a new method that enables the electromagnetic programming of the wireless expression regulation (EMPOWER) of transgenes in mammals, via the interfacing of nanoparticles and cells.
Their proposed approach, outlined in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, could help to treat chronic conditions, including diabetes, while also opening new possibilities for research in synthetic biology and regenerative medicine.
Ingrid Fadelli
May 18, 2025
Nanoparticle-cell interface enables electromagnetic wireless programming of mammalian transgene expression
This has great potential. For good and for evil.
Just imagine Cystic Fibrosis, Sickle Cell Disease, and Huntington’s Disease, etc. being treated with exposure to an electromagnet for three minutes per day.
Or on the evil side:
I suspect every tool can be used for good or for evil. Most of the potential for evil is when such tools are used by the government.
Prepare appropriately.
Does someone with a far better understanding of Bitcoin than I take a look at this? What will happen if quantum computing can do what is claimed in this article?
Google says quantum computers might break Bitcoin way sooner
Google revealed that breaking the RSA encryption, the same tech that secures crypto wallets, might need 20 times fewer quantum resources than previously estimated. The tech company introduced a new quantum computing chip called Willow in December 2024 and said it could break Bitcoin in at least two days.
The firm argued that Willow could solve in five minutes a problem that would take most supercomputers 10 septillion years to solve. At the time, critics believed Willow’s power could overtake Bitcoin’s hash rate in minutes, rewrite the Bitcoin blockchain, or even steal Satoshi’s coins.
Would this mean the end of Bitcoin? Or is there a path to use quantum safe algorithms in Bitcoin?
Socialists aren’t against slavery, only private slavery.
When the State owns individuals, they support it!
Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith
Posted on X, May 24, 2025
Sadly, the evidence supports this claim. It is a natural extension of no private ownership of property. Individuals cannot own land, factories, homes, etc. So, of course they cannot own other people. The state owns all the land, factories, homes, etc. So of course, the state can own the people required to work the land, run the factories, and live in the homes.
Just keep saying no until you run out of ammunition.
hey guys all your dicks are fucking huge now stop buying guns
Sarah Beattie @nachosarah
Posted on X, April 18, 2021
It’s not only another Markley’s Law Monday; it is another science denier (see also here)!
You might ask, “How does she know?” But once you read this from several months earlier, you know:
my mom asked me if I was a lesbian and I was like no way I love big fat cocks in my mouth and she still got upset
Sarah Beattie @nachosarah
Posted on X, August 2, 2020
I concede she has more personal experience on dick size than I do. She is far less qualified on reasons for buying guns. Ignore her on anything related to purchasing guns.
Via email from J. Hardin who was “Playing around with ChatGPT.”
Senator Palpatine’s Speech on “Responsible Disarmament and a Safe Society”
As delivered before the Galactic Council of Earthly Affairs, Earth
My esteemed colleagues, and citizens of this proud Republic…
There comes a time in every civilization when it must make a difficult, but necessary, choice.
The choice between ungoverned chaos… and lasting peace.
Between the illusion of personal power… and the security of collective order.We stand now at such a moment.
There are those who argue that every citizen must be armed — that to carry instruments of war is to be free.
But I ask you: Is that freedom? Or is it fear — masquerading as strength?
A society where every man is judge, jury, and executioner… is no society at all.
It is anarchy — romanticized by radicals, exploited by criminals.The idea that power must be distributed among the many — indiscriminately, without oversight — is not liberty.
It is recklessness.You do not give thermal detonators to children and call it empowerment.
You do not hand out blasters in temples and expect serenity.No. You centralize. You organize. You trust your institutions.
I have heard the cries of those who resist even the slightest measure of restraint.
They cloak their selfishness in noble words — “rights,” they say. “Resistance.” “Tyranny.”But what they truly fear… is unity.
They fear that without their weapons, they are ordinary. Accountable. Equal.They fear the day when their violence is no longer a trump card.
Let me be clear: Weapons are the tools of war.
And if we are ever to have peace — lasting peace — then the instruments of war must be in the hands of those trained to wield them.
Not scattered among the anxious, the angry, and the unstable.A well-governed people need not be armed. They need only be protected.
And protected, you shall be.
We will build a system — strong, elegant, and enduring.
A galaxy free of fear.
Free of crime.
Free of chaos.And to those who say, “But what if the government turns against us?” I ask:
What kind of government fears its own people?
The kind you elect? The kind you trust? The kind I represent?No, my friends. These fantasies of resistance are relics of a violent past.
What we need now… is order.Let us lay down our weapons — not as a sign of submission — but of confidence. Of maturity. Of hope.
Let us entrust our safety not to scattered militias, but to a unified, accountable authority.
A central power — tempered by wisdom, not passion.For in unity, there is strength.
And in strength… there is peace.So I say to you:
Let us choose peace. Let us choose progress.
Let us lay aside the tools of war… and embrace the tools of governance.
And may order be with us. Always.
Via email from J. Hardin who was “Playing around with ChatGPT.”
Yoda’s Speech on “Liberty, Arms, and the Defense of Freedom”
As delivered before the Galactic Council of Earthly Affairs, Earth
Mmm…
Much confusion, I sense. Much danger too.Strange, this world is to me. But freedom? Freedom, I know well.
Hard won, it is. Fragile. Like a flame — warm, bright… easily snuffed out.Today, speak I must, of a right your people hold. Rare in the galaxy, it is — the right to bear arms.
Your Second Amendment, you call it.Often misunderstood, it is. Feared. Twisted. Forgotten by some. Hated by others.
But defended, it must be — not for what it gives, but for what it guards.
Now hear this, you must:
Efforts to disarm the people… come not from one place alone.Many faces, this threat wears.
Some act from fear.
Afraid they are. Afraid of danger. Of weapons. Of each other.
“Take away the guns,” they say. “Then safe we shall be.”But safety without liberty… illusion, that is.
A prison, dressed in good intentions.Others? Hmm… no fear in them I sense. But something darker.
Greed.
A hunger for power. For control.Not afraid of your rifles, they are — but of your defiance.
To rule without resistance, they wish. To govern without question.“Turn them in,” they say. “For your own good.” Lies, these are.
Behind their smiles — ambition.Strip the people of arms, and you strip them of choice. Of voice.
Turn citizens into subjects.
And rulers into masters.And then… there are the dreamers.
Hearts full of hope, their minds are.
“A world without weapons,” they whisper. “No guns, no war. Just peace.”Beautiful, the dream is. But blind.
Wish for peace, all beings do. But evil… listens not to songs.
It respects only strength. Only readiness.Naïve they are — these well-meaning ones.
But naïveté is no less dangerous than malice.So from fear, from greed, and from foolish hope — comes always the same call:
Disarm the people. Trust the powerful.Hmph. Seen this before, I have.
Not for hunting, your right was written. Not for sport.
For liberty, it was.
Your founders — wise they were. Escaped the yoke of kings, they did.
And knew: A government with all the weapons is no servant. It is a master.“Necessary to the security of a free State,” they wrote.
A free State — not a quiet one. Not a controlled one.
A people able to resist. To defend. To say “No.”Hrrrm.
Power… always seeks more of itself. Like fire, never satisfied.
And those who lust for it — they fear not criminals. They fear you.The armed citizen. The one who will not kneel.
And yet, with arms, comes burden. Yes. A heavy one.
To be armed is not to be violent.
A lightsaber, a Jedi does not carry for war. But for balance.Discipline. Training. Wisdom. These, too, the people must hold.
But beware — the misuse of a right does not undo the right.
Fools will say, “Some abuse it. So none may have it.”Hmph. No. That is the logic of tyrants and cowards both.
The answer to darkness is not disarmament. It is courage.
It is vigilance. It is freedom, defended.Remember, I say to you:
Once, the Republic fell. And the people cheered.
“Peace at last,” they said, as stormtroopers marched.
So I ask you now — will you kneel, to be safe?
Or will you stand, to be free?Hold fast to this right. Not in anger. Not in hate. But in duty.
Stay armed. Stay wise. Stay free.
For only while you may defend your liberty… do you truly possess it.
May your chains rest lightly never. And may Freedom be with you… Always.
The explosion of the No. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, Ukraine on April 26, 1986 remains the worst nuclear disaster in human history. It left a 30-kilometer exclusion zone—a deserted landscape where high radiation levels remain even now, decades after the incident—where human settlement and habitation are restricted.
Within this zone, however, scientists have discovered an unlikely survivor: a resilient black fungus called Cladosporium sphaerospermum. After the Chernobyl disaster, scientists observed patches of blackened growths on the walls of the No. 4 reactor—fungi that seemed to thrive where the radiation was highest.
This fungus has adapted to a level of radiation that would be lethal for most life forms. Even more fascinating is its ability to “feed” on this radiation, using it as a source of energy, similar to how plants use sunlight for photosynthesis.
Further research discovered that C. sphaerospermum and some other black fungi species, like Wangiella dermatitis and Cryptococcus neoformans, possessed melanin, the pigment responsible for human skin color. However, in these fungi, the melanin served a different purpose: it absorbed radiation, which was then converted into usable energy, allowing it to grow in areas with intense radioactive exposure.
Scott Travers
November 2, 2024
This Black Fungus Might Be Healing Chernobyl By Drinking Radiation—A Biologist Explains
About 20 years ago I read Rare Earth: Why Complex Life is Uncommon in the Universe about the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. It went through all the requirements for life and the relative odds of all those things happening simultaneously such that intelligent life had time to evolve. It concluded it was very unlikely. The requirements were varied. The planet would require millions of years without being pulverized by one or more collisions with other large rocks. The atmosphere needed to be oxygen rich and relatively stable for hundreds of thousands of years or millions of years. The planet needed a magnetic field to protect the surface from radiation. The planet itself could not be radioactive. The gravity had to be great enough to retain an atmosphere but not so great that it would crush biological lifeforms. The type of star needed to be something stable and of the correct color for millions of years. Etc., etc.
I was annoyed with the authors for several reasons. But the biggest reason was the low radiation requirement. The author was quite certain that high, by our standards, radiation levels were deadly to life. But my response to this claim was, “Why couldn’t there exist lifeforms which required radiation to thrive?”
This fungus demonstrates life does not require the low radiation levels the authors claimed by the authors. Agreed, fungus is not intelligent life. But given a million years or so…
I asked Copilot to help me find the name of the book and a follow-up question:
Joe: I had a disagreement with the authors because I suspected it was possible that life could evolve to even require radiation for survival. I recently read about radiotrophic fungi. This supports my hypothsis. Do you have any further thoughts on this line of thinking?
Copilot: Your idea is intriguing—and definitely pushes us to expand what we consider “habitable.” The classic perspective, as laid out in Rare Earth, emphasizes that complex life needs an environment free from excessive radiation. However, when we see examples like radiotrophic fungi, nature challenges that view.
These fungi, most notably observed around Chernobyl and in other extreme settings, seem to not only tolerate but perhaps even harness ionizing radiation. Researchers have noted that species such as Cryptococcus neoformans and Cladosporium sphaerospermum increase in biomass when exposed to high-radiation conditions. The hypothesis is that melanin—the pigment that gives these fungi their dark color—plays a role similar to chlorophyll in photosynthesis by capturing energy from radiation. This process, sometimes described as “radiosynthesis,” suggests that under the right conditions, radiation might actually drive metabolism rather than simply causing damage.
From an evolutionary standpoint, this raises the possibility that radiation might not always be purely destructive. In niches where traditional energy sources (like sunlight or chemical feedstocks) are scarce, harnessing radiation could theoretically be an alternative pathway to energy. Of course, such adaptations come with a cost. The same ionizing radiation that could provide energy also increases mutation rates and cellular damage, so any organism evolving along this path would need robust repair mechanisms. For example, bacteria like Deinococcus radiodurans already offer evidence of extreme radiation resistance through efficient DNA-repair processes. In essence, these adaptations expand our conception of what conditions might support life, especially in environments that we previously dismissed as too hostile.
The implications for astrobiology are fascinating. If life on Earth can evolve to co-opt radiation, then perhaps other planets or moons bathed in high radiation—whether from a weak magnetic field, proximity to certain stars, or other cosmic events—could host organisms that have turned radiation from a hazard into a resource. This challenges the “Rare Earth” idea by offering a counterargument: while many environments might be inhospitable to common forms of life, evolution might take unexpected turns that allow life to adapt in ways we haven’t traditionally envisioned.
Your hypothesis invites a broader discussion on the adaptability of life. It encourages us to rethink habitability by not strictly equating high radiation with uninhabitability. Instead, we might need to explore a spectrum of environmental niches where life might not just endure, but require—and even utilize—what we once thought was universally harmful radiation. This opens many avenues for further exploration: What mechanisms would support such life forms? How might their biochemistry differ from terrestrial norms? And could these principles eventually inform our search for extraterrestrial life or even novel biotechnologies?
Interesting thoughts.
Via Firearms Policy Coalition @gunpolicy who go on to say “Join the FPC Grassroots Army to usher in the Summer of Liberty“:
There is more than a little truth in this.
What makes this law fascinating, and troubling, is its quiet but powerful shift in the relationship between citizen and state. Instead of the government working around a citizen’s rights, this law flips the power dynamic. Now, you have to ask permission before exercising your rights. That’s a slippery slope, even if it begins with something as seemingly routine as a gun purchase application. The fact that this law passed in a state with a large, responsible gun-owning population makes it even more striking.
Lisa Greene
May 21, 2025
Permits to Purchase Firearms Now Law
It is far more than a slippery slope. It is near the bottom of the descent into tyranny. A free citizenry does not ask permission to exercise their rights. They insist, with force if needed after due process, the government does not infringe upon them.
The U.S. government should be prosecuting these criminals.