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.
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.
Zohran Mamdani’s run for mayor of New York City is a clear and present danger to the stability, economic health, and democratic foundation of both the city and the nation.
His platform is rooted in a radical socialist ideology that has, time and time again, led to failure, repression, and suffering wherever it has been tried.
And thanks to a clip surfacing on social media today, we see that Mamdani is not hiding this. In fact, he has been strikingly open about what he believes and what he plans to do. You can listen to his comments for yourself here.
Speaking in 2021 at the Young Democratic Socialists of America Organizing Conference, Mamdani said his goal is to “continue to elect more socialists” and to be “unapologetic about our socialism.”
He followed that with two key objectives: boycotting Israel and “seizing the means of production.”
The phrase “seizing the means of production” is not some vague slogan—it is the core tenet of Marxist revolutionary ideology. It means that private property, businesses, and industries are taken from their owners and turned over to collective or state control.
There has been talk of combining the ATF into the DEA. Gun rights groups are opposed to this (see also here). I’m not entirely convinced it is a bad idea. But that could be a bias of mine.
You see, I am of the opinion that the DEA should be abolished. Where in the constitution does it say the Feds have the authority to regulate recreational drugs? How many billions have they spend on the failed war on drugs? And if you don’t think it has actually failed, here are some things to consider:
The DEA was established in 1973, and tracking heroin street prices over the decades reveals some fascinating—and troubling—trends. Here’s a summary of the data I found:
📈 Heroin Street Price Trends (1973–2011)
The DEA’s Heroin Domestic Monitor Program began collecting consistent data in 1979, focusing on price per milligram of pure heroin. Here’s a snapshot of key years:
Year
Avg. Price per mg Pure Heroin
Notes
1982
~$3.90
Very low purity (~7%)
1992
~$1.50
Purity increased to ~28%
2007
~$0.81
Mexican heroin purity ~33%
2011
~$1.35
Mexican heroin purity dropped to ~17%
These prices reflect retail-level purchases made by DEA agents in major U.S. cities.
🧪 Purity vs. Price
As purity increased, price per mg of pure heroin dropped—making heroin more potent and affordable.
By the 2000s, heroin from Mexico and South America dominated the U.S. market, with regional differences in purity and price.
📉 Long-Term Trend
From the early 1980s to the early 2000s:
Price per pure mg dropped significantly
Purity rose, peaking in some cities at over 60%
This made heroin more dangerous and accessible, contributing to rising overdose rates
Since its founding in 1973, the DEA’s budget has grown dramatically—from $75 million in its first year to over $3.4 billion in recent years2.
💰 Estimated Total DEA Spending (1973–2023)
Using historical budget data from DEA.gov, here’s a rough cumulative estimate:
1973–1980: ~$1.4 billion
1981–1990: ~$2.7 billion
1991–2000: ~$13.2 billion
2001–2010: ~$22.6 billion
2011–2020: ~$28.6 billion
2021–2023: ~$9.5 billion
🧮 Grand Total Estimate: ~$78 billion
These figures are approximations based on annual appropriations and may not include all supplemental or off-budget expenditures.
📊 Spending Highlights
The DEA’s budget has consistently increased, especially during periods of heightened drug enforcement focus (e.g., crack epidemic, opioid crisis).
In 2023, the DEA requested $3.1 billion, a 6.3% increase over the previous year.
The agency now operates in 93 foreign offices across 69 countries, reflecting its global reach.
So… if the war on drugs was effective you would think the price would go up and the purity would go down. That is pretty much a well-known economic law, right? But that is not what happened. It seems to me that either the war on drugs was ineffective and the price and purity changes were unrelated, or the DEA somehow contributed to the lower prices and increased purity.
Either way we are faced with the fact that the war on drugs has either failed or it is not about making it more difficult for people to obtain recreational drugs. Perhaps it is more about acquiring power as in the famous Ayn Rand quote from Atlas Shrugged.
In my mind, combing the ATF and DEA sort of makes sense because we might be able to get more support from those opposed to the war on drugs who might be opposed to reducing gun regulations.
In the National Instant background Check System (NICS) data, it appears most of the denials are false positives. Hard data on the errors found in the NICS system are not available. John has pointed out there are very few prosecutions of people who have been denied by the NICS system compared to the number of those denied. John stated NICS denials are often based on the phonetic spelling of the last name. The denials are not done with high levels of certainty. Because many people in the same ethnic group have similar sounding names, and because Blacks and Hispanics have much higher rates of felony convictions than Whites or Asians, it is likely Black and Hispanic people are denied from purchasing firearms in the NICS system at a much higher rates than people who are not Black or Hispanic.
In October of 2020, John Lott was appointed as a senior adviser for research and statistics at the Office of Justice Programs. This was the second time he had worked for the government in D.C. When John got to DC, John went to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and proposed a study of the NICS denials including data on race and sex. The BJS thought it was a great idea.
The the BJS sent the request for data to the FBI. went through the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The BJS thought the idea of analyzing the NICS data was very good. When the Bureau of Justice Statistics contacted the FBI, The FBI responded, claiming there was no way we can get this done before January 20th. In any case, we are sure the Biden Administration will not be interested. After more emails and calls, the FBI response was: we just can’t think of any reason why anyone would want to break down this data by race and sex.
John responded: You guys break down everything by race and sex. What’s the big deal with this?
The BJS tells the FBI, it is not your decision to make. We decide what to look at and study. Your job is to collect and give us the data. The FBI refuses and the BJS persists. Finally, the FBI says the BJS will have to submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
…
The AG, Bill Barr, orders the FBI to stop mucking around and send the data to the BJS.
…
The FBI dithers and delays. After a couple of weeks, the BJS receives the data, but something is wrong with it. It does not make any sense. The BJS complains, and the FBI apologizes, says they do not understand what went wrong. There are more delays, then the FBI sends another batch of data, which still doesn’t make an sense. This sequence happens a couple more times. The last time the FBI sends data which does not make sense is on January 19, 2021. Then the Biden administration takes power.
The Washington State Patrol has a new tool to help slow down speeding drivers, and your cellphone may have helped.
Cellphone data from more than 1 million cellphone users in Washington in 2023 helped the state identify where to look for dangerous drivers.
”This is so exciting to be using data that we haven’t had access to before,” said Washington Traffic Safety Commission acting Director Shelly Baldwin, “This is predictive as opposed to reflective.”
…
Over the next six weeks, the Washington State Patrol will be looking for speeders in four locations where speeding regularly occurs, according to the cellphone data: Interstate 5 from Joint Base Lewis-McChord to Fife, from Fife to Auburn on I-5, north and south of Everett on I-5, and a 14-mile stretch of Interstate 90 east and west of downtown Spokane.
At first glance you might think your phone is being used to hand out tickets. But reading a little close you will see the phone data is from 2023 and the enforcement is over the next few weeks, and the data probably was not personal identifiable. That makes it a little less objectionable. But I thought cell phone providers did not give out cell phone data to law enforcement without a warrant (or perhaps in extremely rare cases where life was in immediate danger).
Still… Be exceptionally careful when driving in these areas. No speeding, talking on your phone, or texting while driving.
MTHead frequently asserts communism and/or socialism and/or gun control are crimes against humanity. He is not wrong. But the cancer metaphor resonates more with me. Collectivism, in all its forms, starts out small but grows and metastasizes. It is more than just its nature. It creates societal problems, and it always demands more control to fix the problems it directly or indirectly created.
Almost as a side note… I asked Copilot to explain the difference between an analogy and a metaphor to make sure I was using the correct word here. That resulting in a short chat and Copilot offered to contribute to this blog post. Here is its suggestion:
Quote of the Day – Saturday
> “Collectivism is cancer.” > —Firearms Policy Coalition via X
This is not an analogy. It’s a metaphor—brutal, condensed, and surgical. Cancer isn’t merely unpleasant; it hijacks the healthy systems of the body and redirects them toward uncontrolled destruction. That’s precisely the charge being leveled here: that collectivism corrodes the moral immune system of individual rights.
Ayn Rand’s words, featured in the image, drive the point deeper: “The smallest minority on earth is the individual.” The meme unpacks the metaphor into a worldview—one where individual autonomy is not just precious, but sacred, and any system that subsumes it becomes existentially malignant.
Whether you find that view compelling or inflammatory, it’s a vivid reminder: how we frame ideas matters. A well-placed metaphor can do more in five words than a dissertation in fifty pages.
“We are entering moments that we have never experienced before,” Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., told constituents at a town hall in Pittsburgh last week. “The country as we know it may never exist the way that it had. And the reality is that the way that the country had existed was never its best form anyway.”
“The moment is here to build what comes next. My argument is that we should be fighting harder than they are to be the author of what is next,” she said of progressives. “Because if we are not the ones who build it, then they are building it, but it’s getting built one way or another.”
Emilia Rowland, a progressive strategist, said Democrats need to better deal with the consequences of rapid tech advancement that is continuing to reshape society and further concentrate power as the government and other institutions struggle to keep up.
I read the entire article twice, just to make sure. There is not even a glimmer of liberty in their thoughts. It is all about what government programs and institutions they can “be author of.” It is about the ways and means for them to ascend to power. They never consider a free market or a free mind.
And, of course, it included “combating gun violence.”
I view their activities being analogous to the Trump administration is attempting to extinguish a forest fire. The progressives are brainstorming about what to replace the forest fire with.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Testosterone Poisoning
Estrogen Overload
Liberal Snowflake Syndrome
Conservative Neanderthal Disorder
White Fragility
Black Entitlement Syndrome
Religious Zealot Fever
Soy Boy Syndrome
Karenitis
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Second Amendment was written in a time when firearms were far less powerful and society was vastly different. The idea of a “well-regulated militia” doesn’t align with the realities of modern America, where personal safety and public health concerns dominate the conversation.
Many argue that it’s time to reinterpret this amendment to reflect current challenges and priorities. This doesn’t mean ignoring history, it means adapting it to better serve the present and future.
Reinterpret the constitution? I wonder what Ms. Stewart would think of the idea of reinterpreting the Nineteenth Amendment and the First Amendment. She just demonstrated she is unqualified to be voting or expressing a worthwhile opinion on important human rights issues. So, to prevent this type of risk to our rights, let’s not bother with actually amending the constitution. It is too difficult and time consuming. Yet, we cannot continue allowing her and her type putting our rights at risk. Certainly, we can get a consensus allowing women the same rights as men is outdated and does not align with the realities of modern America.
This is why communists are willing to, and have, killed tens of millions of people. What are a few million dead if that is what is needed to create utopia?
Throughout history, many theories have been propounded as to the black robes worn by judges. Some say they provide a symbol of the authority and power conferred by the state, while others suggest they foster uniformity and promote the concept that justice remains blind. Judges like Katzmann and his First Circuit cohorts, however, bring modern clarity to the garb, as it seems the real symbolism behind the black robe is the death and mourning of our Constitution.
Newly uncovered guidance from the Justice Department claims the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) allows federal law enforcement officers to enter the houses of suspected gang members without a warrant and remove them from the country without any judicial review.
A copy of the DOJ document and attachments referred to is here.
Among other things, the document says:
For purposes of this guidance memorandum, an “Alien Enemy” under the Proclamation and 50 U.S.C. § 21 is a person who is: (1) fourteen years of age or older; (2) not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States; (3) a citizen of Venezuela; and ( 4) a member of the hostile enemy Tren de Aragua, as determined by reference to Form AEA-21A, titled, “Alien Enemies Act: Alien Enemy Validation Guide,” attached to this memorandum.
Determining if someone meets the requirements of item (4) above only requires a law enforcement officer and their supervisor’s signatures. It is claimed there is no access to judicial review of this determination. I see no mention of penalties for false findings.
This is asking for abuse. Imagine President Gavin Newsom getting a similar law regarding domestic terrorists passed through a democrat majority Congress and Senate. Then he declares members of the NRA as qualifying for a one-way trip to Gitmo.
But you might claim that would be different because the 2nd Amendment is a specific enumerated right. The right of association is also an enumerated right. If the organization is involved in criminal activities, does that mean all members are automatically criminals? Suppose the NRA is found to have been engaged in criminal activity. Are all NRA members then criminals as well?
If item (4) is not satisfied, they can still be legally deported. This is because they are not a citizen or legal permanent resident. But in this case judicial review is required. So how is the judicial review eliminated by getting the signatures of two law enforcement people?
I am not a lawyer, but this seems to be, constitutionally, highly suspect.
