They must destroy the 1st Amendment to restrict the 2nd Amendment.
Missouri_Mule
February 20, 2026
3rd Circuit Upholds NJ Ban on 3D Gun Files
He is not wrong. It seems to me they need to rachet them both down essentially simultaneously. They protect each other.
At the same time, many anti-gun stalwarts were falling all over themselves to advance arguments that, in any other circumstance, would remain alien. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, submitted waspishly that “the Trump administration does not believe in the 2nd Amendment. Good to know.” Anti-gun rights groups joined the fray. The Giffords campaign argued that Pretti was “a lawful gun owner who was protesting in his community” and “had the right to be there,” and the Brady campaign asserted that he was “a law-abiding gun owner with a concealed carry permit.” At what point, one must ask, did they all turn into Wayne LaPierre?
…
one has to laugh. At present, Gavin Newsom is literally attempting to repeal the Second Amendment, and, in 2023, he signed a bill in California that barred guns from being carried in “sensitive places,” including at protests. (Minnesota has considered a similar law, and, in 2024, the state filed an amicus brief arguing that there is no Second Amendment right to carry guns at “events involving political speech, like political rallies and protests,” because they are “often targets of violence.”) The Giffords campaign wishes to ban the type of firearm that Pretti was carrying on the grounds that it represents “a threat to society” and is “designed to kill large numbers of people quickly,” and it holds the official view that “guns at protests” are not protected by the Constitution because carrying them “chills the exercise of our fundamental freedoms.” The Brady campaign agrees with this, proposing that Americans “do not need a loaded gun to peacefully protest” and should not be allowed to carry one.
The Editors, Nation Review
January 27, 2026
Alex Pretti Shooting: Second Amendment Supporters, Gun Control Advocates Switch Roles | National Review
It appears as if the Republicans started it with saying stupid stuff about Petti committed a crime by protesting ICE activity while carrying a firearm. I have to wonder if it was a coordinated effort to demonstrate the Democrats will take the opposite side of whatever the Republicans says.
After a few seconds of thought, no. I do not think they are smart or coordinated enough to pull that off. I think it is more likely they started it off by vomiting out the first thing that came to mind when it was discovered Petti was carrying a gun when he was killed. “Democrat with a gun? I’m opposed to Democrats. I am on the side of law and order he must have done something illegal…”
I think the Republicans were doing what they usually accusing Democrats of doing. Taking the opposite side of their political opponents no matter how stupid it is to do so.
Politicians have crap for brains.
The link between saturation media coverage of mass murder, spree killing, jihadi attacks and copycat crimes is well established. It must stop.
News-media organizations that persist in literally glorifying these villains beyond any reasonable news value are complicit in encouraging further crime. They know it.
That fact has been established by the medical and law-enforcement communities. Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, along with a growing list of national co-sponsors is encouraging the journalism industry to cease and desist from repeatedly flashing the names and faces of mass murderers’ and jihadis’ in their reports.
Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership
JPFO’s “Don’t Inspire Evil” Initiative
2016 (probably, see also here)
It has been almost 10 years and still the media persists in continuing this dangerous activity. They should bear as much or more responsibility for mass shootings than all the gun owners in the entire country combined. If they think they can justify the Second Amendment being infringed because of mass shootings, then there is more than enough justification to infringe upon their First Amendment rights.
It is not that I think their rights really should be infringed. It is that proposing they be fined and/or jailed for exercising their First Amendment rights would, rightly, generate a great howling of protest. Then, claims of hypocrisy could be thrown at them.
While there’s certainly always a place for civil disobedience, I think “just don’t comply” and boating accident jokes are not a real solution to the expansion of authoritarian gun control laws.
Hard truth: They don’t care if you don’t comply. Either you’ll get caught breaking the law and charged, or, your defiance will be driven underground and unseen, and they will win the culture in the meantime. Your grandkids will find your gun stash after you die and turn it in.
By making more and more stuff illegal or more expensive, they also choke off any new converts (this is also why the antigun groups are obsessed with pressuring YouTube and others to censor).
You can’t just ignore them, because they will not ignore you.
Kostas Moros @MorosKostas
Posted on X, February 10, 2026
There is a lot of truth to that.
Also note that they aren’t going to play to your strengths. They are not going to “go door to door”. They will increase costs through licenses, delays, taxes, lawsuits, zoning, debanking, fines, inspections, fingerprinting, background checks, “sensitive places”, “red flag laws”, “child endangerment”, “safe storage” requirements, semi-auto bans, magazine capacity limits, caliber restrictions, self-manufacturing bans, ammo quantity purchasing limits, age limits, etc.
We need to fight with our strengths. Take new people to range. Donate money to gun groups that win in the courts (I donate thousands each year to the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition). Leave comments on anti-gun media articles.
Most importantly, be a good public representative of gun ownership.
As a gun guy for a loooong time, I have bad news for 3D printing guys—the word “gun” is often enough for people to give up their rights out of fear.
People will gladly bend over & let the state have their way with them if it will help with the made up “Gun Problem”.
Guns are the Goldstein Big Brother uses to fuel enough Two Minutes Hate so that people will gladly turn their eyes away from abuses like this because they have been brainwashed into thinking somehow this will keep them safe.
It won’t. And it WILL be used against more than printed guns. It’s a form of control and they will use their fairly successful campaign of making guns out to be the boogeyman to allow them to control more & more of your life.
This is why I’ve fought gun control. It’s MUCH more than just the guns, always has been. But too many people are scared shitless of loud noises & Hollywood portrayals that they honestly fear them enough to allow whatever draconian laws are presented and then call you names & try to have your life ruined if you oppose them.
Robb Allen @ItsRobbAllen
Posted on X, February 9, 2026
This is regarding the restrictions certain politicians are putting on the 3D printers. These restrictions include printer firmware recognizing gun parts and refusing to print them and the printer “calling home” to report restricted items being made.
This is a First Amendment issue as well as a Second Amendment issue.
During one of his training videos, Carita claimed his group has a “strong focus on bringing gun owners into policy discussions.”
However, Carita did not respond to phone calls, texts or emails sent via his website, so there’s at least one gun owner he doesn’t want to bring into any policy discussion. Also, his website’s “contact us” and “media inquiries” buttons have both been disconnected.
Lee Williams
February 4, 2026
Anti-gun Group 97Percent is Back, Now Led by Anti-gun Ex-Cop – TheGunMag – The Official Gun Magazine of the Second Amendment FoundationTheGunMag – The Official Gun Magazine of the Second Amendment Foundation
Typical. They cannot help themselves. Lying and deception are inherent parts of their culture.
Hawaii is not addressing an unprecedented societal concern posed by permitholders. Data show the opposite: carry-license revocations are exceedingly rare—typically between 0.01% and 0.32% annually—and often unrelated to criminal conduct. Texas conviction statistics show that permitholders are nearly seven times less likely to be convicted of a crime than the general population. Colorado’s arrest-based revocation system shows that permitholders are more than eight times less likely to be arrested. Independent research, from RAND to the Chicago Tribune, and even data collected by the Violence Policy Center, confirm that permitholders offend at far lower rates than ordinary citizens. Concealed carry permitholders are exceptionally law-abiding, and Hawaii’s treatment of them as predatory actors has no empirical or historical foundation.
Kopel, Greenlee, Mocsary, and Goldstein
NRA amicus brief–Wolford v. Lopez
This is nothing new. Essentially everyone, even anti-gun people, knows the basics of this. The only reasons they continue to harass gun owners with laws against possessing gun for defensive use must be something other than fear of gun owners committing criminal acts.
In my mind the best explanations for this unconstitutional and immoral behavior are:
Of course, various anti-gun people can have more than one reason to pursue their evil goals. There is no need to pick just one reason. embrace the power of and. Then, prepare and respond appropriately.
The ATF shouldn’t exist. But since it does, grab the popcorn and watch the confirmation hearing for its next would-be director.
Gun Owners of America
February 4, 2026
The ATF shouldn’t exist. But since it… – Gun Owners of America | Facebook
During the confirmation hearing on February 7, the “would-be director” said this:
We’re not here trying to burden unnecessarily the American citizen, who has the complete right to exercise their Second Amendment right to bear arms, and we will not be doing that in the future if I am so confirmed.
He is mouthing words which are better than the actions of the director during the Biden administration, but unless he is dismantling the firearms portion of the ATF the agency is always going to be an illegal “burden” (infringement) of the Second Amendment. 4473s and background checks were not part of the history and tradition of firearms regulation at the time of our country’s founding.
Still, we should take one step at a time and celebrate our victories. Having a better director than the last one is a step in the right direction and worthy of mild celebration. Always remember, Laugh, and the World Laughs with You. If nothing else keep in mind that if Robert Cekada is confirmed as director, the anti-gunners will be saddened and demoralized.
Bitcoin goes off with the electricity. I still have bullets and beans.
MTHead
February 5, 2026
Comment to Loss of Faith
And if the greenback value goes to zero you will still have tinder for starting a bonfire.
The people who scream the loudest about government tyranny have nothing to say. The same people who fantasize about standing up to federal overreach have vanished at the precise moment federal power killed a citizen exercising a constitutional right.
This is the tell.
We have seen this movement erupt before. When Kyle Rittenhouse crossed state lines with an AR-15 and killed two people, he was transformed into a cause. He was fundraised for, defended relentlessly, and held up as proof that armed citizens are the last line of order in a chaotic world. The weapon was the point, and the violence was excused. The narrative was protected at all costs.
But when a man lawfully carrying a firearm is tackled, disarmed, and shot anyway, there is no mobilization from the same crowd. The difference is not the gun. It is who the gun is allowed to protect.
Because the gun-rights movement has never actually been about freedom. It is about hierarchy and about who gets to feel powerful and in charge. It is about whose fear counts, and whose death does not.
Dead children are acceptable collateral. Dead immigrants are invisible. Dead Black and brown men are routine. And now, apparently, dead armed citizens are still not enough to stir outrage unless they fit the right political story.
Cassie McClure
January 31, 2026
Thoughts and prayers for the Second Amendment
The tell is that McClure left out the part where Alex Petti, who is never named in the article, committed a crime and was in the process of being arrested when he was disarmed and erroneously shot during the scuffle. A criminal getting shot by law enforcement during an arrest is much different than Rittenhouse who successfully defended himself against multiple criminals’ intent on killing or seriously injuring him.
The two situations are not analogous. It has nothing to do with the political affiliation, skin color, or immigration status. It has to do with whether the people involved were law-abiding or not.
The only thing clear in the article is McClure does not have a good grasp of reality and/or is being deliberately deceptive.
It is my intention to assure the residents of Livingston that we are still a Second Amendment sanctuary county, and we will be paying close attention to the bills that will be coming out of Richmond. I will do my absolute best to help protect those citizens and our constitutional values here in Spotsylvania.
Jacob Lane
Livingston District Supervisor (Virginia)
January 30, 2026
Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors message to the state: ‘We are still a Second Amendment sanctuary county’ – Fredericksburg Free Press
With the flurry of gun control laws being enacted in Virginia this is at least a little bit of good news. I don’t think the whole “Second Amendment sanctuary” thing has ever been tested in the legal arena. But at least it is “a spit in their face”.
Several niche, left-leaning gun advocacy groups said that since the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, they can hardly keep up with the surging demand for firearms training.
Harmeet Kaur
February 1, 2026
Leftist and liberal gun groups are seeing a rush of new members
Surely, everyone can see this will result in making it easier to eliminate the infringements on our 2nd Amendment rights. Some people will be concerned of increased odds for violent civil war. What they probably don’t realize is that once someone becomes a gun owner there is increased rate of those people leaving the political left.
I see this as a minor increase in risk with tremendous potential for good.
A few Trump Admin officials said some very dumb anti-2A things over the weekend. They got criticism and walked back those statements today. On the actual substantive policy and law, the Admin has generally been very good on the issue, although we do strongly disagree with them on some things.
Democrats, for their part, said some very pro-2A things over the weekend in support of Alex Pretti. But by Monday, they were already back to banning the gun and magazines he carried.
I’d love nothing more for Democrats to truly support the 2A and make the issue less partisan. But that just isn’t the reality. Trump may say things like “take the guns first.” Democrats actually do it.
Kostas Moros @MorosKostas
Posted on X, January 26, 2026
Barb and I briefly discussed this last night…
As I told Barb, “I don’t believe politicians have actual principles. They will say and do whatever they think is good for them politically.”
So, you have to either make your desires politically rewarding enough for them to obey the law or abandon all hope of them behaving in a constitutional manner. The judges at the SCOTUS level are better and where I place most of my hope of getting the gun issue straightened out. Hence, I donate money to the Second Amendment groups which appear to be most effective in the courts.
My remaining hope is in creating new gun owners and increasing the enthusiasm of existing owners. Hence, my taking new shooters to the range and Boomershoot.
Is the Hobbesian fear truly rooted in reality? If not, what happens to politics when we allow fear, not cooperation, to become foundational to our framework? Robert Nozick asked these same questions in Anarchy, State, and Utopia. These lucidly written pages extend these arguments even further—with some surprising conclusions.
Aeon J. Skoble—professor of philosophy, bestselling author, and acclaimed political theorist—makes a powerful case that the state as we understand it today is not only morally unjustifiable, but also, thankfully, unnecessary. It has only the power we mistakenly grant it. What if we didn’t?
Packed with urgent lessons, original insights, and unparalleled philosophical rigor, this book is essential reading for anyone who dares imagine a freer world.
Independent Institute
January 26, 2026
Deleting the State: Requiem for an Illusion – eBook, Paperback
I am extremely skeptical. I am of the strong opinion that governments are a necessary evil to protect the rights of the individual. Yes, when they go rogue they can be the greatest infringer of rights. But on the whole, with a well armed populus, they can be a net benefit to humanity.
That said, if the book were available in audible form, I would purchase it just to see what the author has to say.
In every clip I’ve seen of Noem today, she’s saying something she can’t know or that is a lie. She also undercuts 2A to say carrying ammo is a problem on its face. I know it’s too much to expect people to be responsible, but this is opposite of a grown-up doing the job.
Mary Katherine Ham @mkhammer
Posted on X, January 24, 2026
It is way beyond having hope of most people to be responsible. Things are more chaotic than I think I have ever seen them. Emotions are running very high. Most people cannot even determine what is reality. Part of the problem is the media lies, selective reporting, and deliberate distortion. Part of it is that many people don’t even believe in the existence of an objective reality. And part of it is that reality is a really tough problem. We are left with people blinded by emotion, without knowledge of how to determine a reality they don’t even believe exists, with deliberate lies as the basis to make decisions on how to interact with the rest of the world.
The dollar is worth less than 1/5000th of an ounce of gold and will buy less than 1/100th of an ounce of silver. The nation debt is nearly $40 trillion.
I just want my underground bunker in Idaho to be finished and stocked before things go really sour.
With the conservative majority’s Second Amendment test requiring states to justify gun measures with historical analogues, Hawaii and other states have turned to the Black Codes to justify gun control efforts.
At Tuesday’s arguments, Justice Neil Gorsuch and other conservative justices appeared reluctant to credit them given their racist origins.
Hawaii points to anti-poaching laws enacted near the nation’s founding and gun restrictions Louisiana passed in 1865 as part of its Black Codes.
“They wanted to disarm the Black population in order to help the Klan terrorize them and law enforcement officers in that period in that region. They wanted to put them at the mercy of racist law enforcement officers,” Justice Samuel Alito said.
“So is it not the height of irony,” he asked Katyal, “to cite a law that was enacted for exactly the purpose of preventing someone from exercising the Second Amendment right, to cite this as an example of what the Second Amendments protects.”
Katyal said he agreed parts of the Black Codes did exactly that.
Zach Schonfeld
January 20, 2026
Conservative justices reluctant to credit Black Codes in Hawaii gun law case
One has to be in awe of people capable of such mind warping ability that they use a racist and unconstitutional law as supporting the assertion their law is constitutional. Did they think appealing to racist laws would make it more a palatable to the conservative justices? If so, it backfired, but it did appeal to one of the justices:
“So I guess I really don’t understand your response to Justice Gorsuch on the Black Codes,” Jackson, a Biden appointee, told Harris. “I mean, I thought the Black Codes were being offered here under the Bruen test to determine the constitutionality of this regulation. And it’s because we have a test that asks us to look at the history and tradition.”
“The fact that the Black Codes were, at some later point, determined themselves to be unconstitutional doesn’t seem to me to be relevant to the assessment that Bruin is asking us to make.
I have given up trying to make sense of this argument. I have far more important things to do. I need to clip my fingernails.
The matter is simple. Hawaii passed a law that, in practice, prohibits the state’s concealed carry permit holders from exercising their right to armed self-defense in virtually any location outside of their homes. Hawaii knows well that this law violates both the spirit and letter of Bruen v. New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, the Supreme Court’s 2022 landmark case on public carry. It just does not care.
Now, the state should brace itself for a more-than-deserved judicial head-bopping.
Amy Swearer
January 23, 2026
SCOTUS likely to head-bop Hawaii over gun rights
All the reports I have heard say the oral arguments went well for the good guys.
In addition to getting their head bopped I think some other corrective measures are warranted. I would like to suggest all of the following applied as near as concurrently as is practical to each of the politicians who participated in this injustice:
If they still continue to misbehavior they should be prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to prison.
The meme that the Left uses words as spells to produce useful outcomes has the most explanatory power.
They don’t care about meanings, they just want those outcomes.
Brotherhood @DiggingInTheDi1
Posted on X, January 21, 2026
I can believe that.
* From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs – Wikipedia
** The Progressive Left’s Glossary Of Terms, 2024 Edition – Scattered Shots
You’re just relegating the Second Amendment to second-class status. I don’t see how you can get away with that.
Samuel Alito
January 20, 2026
Gun rights attorney reminds Sonia Sotomayor Hawaii part of United States
And, ultimately, I do not think they will get away with it. I think SCOTUS will rule in favor of the 2nd Amendment being a first-class right. I think Hawaii will comply with the letter of the ruling. And I think Hawaii will keep trying find more ways to get around SCOTUS decisions until they start getting prosecuted and convicted.
