Category Archives: Politics

Biden Administration is Trying to Block Private Firearm Sales

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Via Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras and Rep. Jim Jordan @Jim_Jordan.

The House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary is asking the ATF about their plans to make it legally dangerous to engage in private sales of firearms:

To advance the Committee’s oversight of ATF and to better understand ATF’s basis for
issuing the proposed rule, we request that you provide the following information:

  1. Please explain When ATF first began to conceive of the need to regulate the lawful private sale of firearms through an agency notice.
  2. Please identify the offices and individuals within ATF that conceived, drafted, reviewed, and approved the September S, 2023, notice in the Federal Register entitled, “Definition of “Engaged in the Business” as a Dealer in Firearms.”
  3. Please provide all communications between the Executive Office of the President and ATF regarding the September 8, 2023, notice.
  4. Please explain whether the Justice Department reviewed and approved ATF’s September 8, 2023, notice, including the entities involved in the review and the timing of the review.
  5. Please explain whether the Office of Management and Budget reviewed and approved ATF’s September 8, 2023, notice, including the entities involved in the review and the timing of the review;
  6. Please explain how ATF plans on enforcing the final rule that will come from the September 8, 2023, notice;
  7. Please produce all documents and communications in your possession between ATF and any organizations ATF consulted, collaborated, and discussed the September 8, 2023, notice with.

We ask that you provide this information as soon as possible but no later than 5 p.m.
on March 14, 2024.

When the ATF ignores them I hope they have the will to slap the ATF silly, then cut their budget by a third or half.

Prosecution would be preferred, but, at most, this will be the gathering of evidence for the trials.

Original document:

HouseQuestionsATF0HouseQuestionsATF1HouseQuestionsATF2

Wokeism is an Exceedingly Difficult Drug to Kick

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Quote of the Day

Anheuser-Busch seems to have learned nothing. It looks as if wokeism is an exceedingly difficult drug to kick. But Anheuser-Busch is also Exhibit A of why it’s so dangerous to get hooked.

Robert Spencer
June 22, 2023
This Must Be a Joke, Right? Anheuser-Busch Just Won the Most Undeserved Award Ever

This is old, but it still brings a smile to my face.

Judge Benitez Schools California on 2nd Amendment

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Quote of the Day

The state court mistakenly did not regard the pistol or the billy to be the sorts of arms protected by the Second Amendment. Instead, only weapons of war were covered by the Constitution, according to Workman. As to other kinds of arms, Workman incorrectly observed,

in regard to the kind of arms referred to in the [Second] amendment, it must be held to refer to the weapons of warfare to be used by the militia, such as swords, guns, rifles, and muskets,—arms to be used in defending the State and civil liberty,—and not to pistols, bowie-knife, brass knuckles, billies, and such other weapons . . . .

(Emphasis added.). In short, Workman held that weapons of war are protected by the Second Amendment but found weapons like the billy are not weapons of war, and therefore are not protected.

Workman was wrong in concluding the Second Amendment does not cover arms like the pistol and the billy.

…

The Second Amendment protects a citizen’s right to defend one’s self with dangerous and lethal firearms. But not everybody wants to carry a firearm for self defense. Some prefer less-lethal weapons. A billy is a less-lethal weapon that may be used for self-defense. It is a simple weapon that most anybody between the ages of eight and eighty can fashion from a wooden stick, or a clothes pole, or a dowel rod. One can easily imagine countless citizens carrying these weapons on daily walks and hikes to defend themselves against attacks by humans or animals. To give full life to the core right of self-defense, every law-abiding responsible individual citizen has a constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms like the billy for lawful purposes.

Hon. Roger T. Benitez
Senior United States District Judge
February 23, 2024
Russell Fouts et al, v. Rob Bonta

2nd Amendment rulings by Judge Benitez are always a pleasure to read.

I especially like the above parts. California should not have tried to defend this law. They ended up bringing up rulings to the attention of the courts and 2nd Amendment lawyers that it was commonly understood that the 2nd Amendment protects weapons of war, and California is so far out of touch with reality that they banned possession of sticks which any eight year old could have picked up while walking through a park.

The unsaid part here is that if weapons of war are protected then these would be tyrants have to find mantra other than, “REMOVE WEAPONS OF WAR FROM OUR STREETS”.

Obvious and Correct

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Quote of the Day

For long time my own take is that if a person is too dangerous to have arms, they are too dangerous to be out running around free. Obviously those who wish to curtail or eliminate our right to arms think otherwise. As a society we simply MUST convict and lock away or do away with violent felons. Society’s tolerance of violent criminals is dumbfounding.

Carl from Chicago
July 12, 2023
Comment to Of Arms and the Law: Supreme Court case: US v. Rahimi

I’ve been saying that first sentence since at least the late 1990’s. Can anyone honestly demonstrate that it is wrong in some way?

It just seems so obvious and correct. Why doesn’t it catch on? What am I missing? Other than, of course, those in power don’t really want the violent crime problem solved.

Whose Life Will Get Hard?

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Quote of the Day

Life is now hard for everyone, not only the stupid. We aren’t in Kansas or the 1980’s anymore. The people who did this to America and the American people have names and addresses. Many of the people they have screwed over are the ones with the 300 million guns they want to confiscate. At some point, those guns will need to be used. Then we’ll see whose life gets hard.

Jim Quinn
February 18, 2024
HARD DECISIONS USED TO LEAD TO AN EASY LIFE – The Burning Platform

The total number of guns in private hands in the USA is more than that. Some say 393 million, other say 466 million. And several years ago I recall reading estimates of 600 million. But let’s go with his number of 300 million.

How many jackbooted thugs and tyrants will be neutralized during the confiscation of, say, 10 guns? What if it were only one per ten guns? They will run out of diehard communist SOBs before they make a dent in the total number of guns. And a lot fewer of those useful idiots won’t be participating in the reconstruction of our country. And those who contributed to the hard times yet made it through will likely continue to pay a price their entire lives for their poor decision making.

More Good News From California Courts

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Judge blocks California from suing makers of ‘abnormally dangerous’ guns (msn.com)

I welcome these outrageous laws which are clearly unconstitutional on multiple levels. What I don’t think they understand is that by creating relatively easy wins for us we create a wedge on a slippery slope.

In addition it makes it all the more obvious to the general population that these people do not have the best interests of society in mind. They are mean spirited and likely evil people.

They will make their prosecution more likely to occur and more likely to result in conviction.

Statewide Rent Control Being Considered in Washington

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Five things to know about WA proposal to limit rent hikes | The Seattle Times

Isn’t rent control one of the most studied economic experiments? And hasn’t it been shown to be, over the long term, a disaster for everyone involved?

This is the deliberate destruction of Washington state.

I want my underground bunker in Idaho.

History Rhymes

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Quote of the Day

I’ll never forget the @FBI calling me into their office in Seattle in 2020.

They were looking for footage of a suspect I had taken during one of the many riots.

That’s when I asked them about Antifa.

The FBI agent told me Antifa was NOT a cause of concern, nor were they a terror group.

That’s when I lost all respect for the agency and refused to take any further calls.

I watched Antifa assault police, press, and innocent bystanders, as well as burn Seattle and Portland to the ground for nine months.

All without repercussions.

Imagine if a conservative did this?

Katie Daviscourt @KatieDaviscourt
Posted on X February 18, 2024

I’m reminded of stories in Gulag Archipelago. The police ignored and even encouraged criminal activity against the opponents of communism. History may not repeat but it does rhyme.

Prepare appropriately.

A Difference Without a Difference

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Quote of the Day

That’s where we seem to fall down as a society. Not that we take constitutional rights away from people, but rather that we be more careful about who it is that we allow to exercise those rights in our society.

Frank Figliuzzi
February 18, 2024
Figliuzzi: More Caution Needed on Who’s Allowed to Exercise 2nd Amendment

How about we be more careful about who is allowed to exercise their 1st Amendment rights? We are not going to take Figliuzzi’s constitutional right away, we just aren’t going to allow him to exercise his right to say stupid crap like this in our society.

Of Course, Because it Doesn’t Match the Narrative

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I remember when this came out but I did not hear the backstory.

Harvard professor says ‘all hell broke loose’ when his study found no racial bias in police shootings (msn.com)

The study found that police were more than twice as likely to manhandle, beat or use some other kind of nonfatal force against blacks and Hispanics than against people of other races. However, the data also determined that officers were 23.8 percent less likely to shoot at blacks and 8.5 percent less likely to shoot at Hispanics than they were to shoot at whites.

When Fryer claimed the data showed “no racial differences in officer-involved shootings,” he said, “all hell broke loose,” and his life was upended.

…

The world-renowned economist knew from comments by faculty that he was likely to garner backlash. Fryer admitted that he anticipated the results of the study would be different and would confirm suspicions of racial bias against minorities. When the results found no racial bias, Fryer hired eight new assistants and redid the study. The data came back the same.

After the report was published, Fryer lived under police protection for over a month. He had a seven-day-old daughter at the time and went shopping for diapers.

When there is such as strong emotional reaction there is a high probability the skewed belief is emotional rather than factual and/or logically based.

I know a former FBI agent who left the FBI after hesitating to shoot a black teenager. He had every reason to shoot him, but hesitated because of his skin color. He and his partner ended up not getting hurt and the black teenager surrendered rather than take deadly action. But it really shook the FBI agent. He left the FBI and law enforcement.

Annual Gun Registration

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Quote of the Day

SB 1160 will give the state better data and help us understand how many firearms are in private hands and who owns them.

Anthony J. Portantino
California State Senator (D – Burbank)
February 14, 2024
Portantino Introduces Bill Requiring Annual Registration of Firearms (msn.com)

The story of the Belgium Corporal was a warning, not a how-to manual.

Also, as is fairly well know, people who are legally ineligible to own a gun cannot be prosecuted for failure to register their guns. This is because it would be a violation of their 5th Amendment rights against self incrimination.

These politicians are pulling out all the stops to infringe on our specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms. I do not think I have ever seen this fast of pace of antigun laws. I cannot believe they are under any delusion of the laws being proposed, passed, and affirmed are actually constitutional. Yet, the do it anyway:

I hope they enjoy their trials. All the alternatives will be very ugly.

We Would Be Unstoppable

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Quote of the Day

According to Ballotpedia data from last year, of the 31 states that allow voters to publicly indicate their political party affiliation, roughly 48 million were Democrats and 36 million were Republicans. The rest were independents, unaffiliated or members of another political party. By comparison, there are an estimated 133 million gun owners in the country, or roughly 40% of the population – a massive number that dwarfs all party affiliations combined – according to the Pew Research Center.

If gun owners ever voted as one homogeneous bloc, we would be unstoppable. Unfortunately, we all know there are gun owners and then there are folks who own a gun. It’s like the difference between someone with an old Fender in their closet and Angus Young.

Lee Williams
How Will You Support The Second Amendment Today? Tomorrow? (jpfo.org)
May 23, 2023
I have nothing to add.

Anti-gun Gibberish

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Quote of the Day

Let’s inhibit criminal behavior a little bit by assigning the code to gun and ammunition stores so that when someone has bad intent when buying a weapon, there’s an alert in place that stops that from happening,

Hudson Munoz
Executive director of Guns Down America
February 10, 2024
Proposed bill would establish a new code to categorize firearm sales

This is the ravings of a lunatic. I cannot even imagine a delusion in which this sentence is internally consistent.

Yet, these people are winning legislative battles. What does that tell you about the politicians who pass the laws like what this lunatic is praising? It tells us they are evil and people like Munoz are their useful idiots.

Useful Idiots!!! | ONE OF THE BASIC CONDITIONS FOR THE VICTORY OF SOCIALISM... THE DISARMING OF THE BOURGEOISIE. VLADIMIR ILYICH LENIN 1919 | image tagged in useful idiots | made w/ Imgflip meme maker

How Do You Turn States Into Territories?

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Quote of the Day

What’s the process by which we can turn states into territories again?

Kostas Moros @MorosKostas
Posted on X February 7, 2024

Read the entire thread for a fisking of The Hawaii Supreme Court in State of Hawai’i, v. Christopher L. Wilson.

I would like to suggest taking it even further and turning them back into their own nation again. Then applying sanctions for their human rights violations.

California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York could use some tough love as well. Or, we could just prosecute the criminals.

I’ve been reading various takes on this wild ruling and almost all have been aghast at the brazen defiance of SCOTUS and invocation of Aloha spirit to justify their decision.

Almost all. There is one article, A State Supreme Court Just Issued Another Devastating Rebuke of the U.S. Supreme Court,  which claims:

It’s an amazing case because the Hawaii Constitution has a provision that is the same as the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It literally uses the exact same words as the Second Amendment. And Justice Eddins said: Even though the provisions are the same, we will not interpret them the same way, because we think the U.S. Supreme Court clearly got it wrong in Heller when it said the Second Amendment creates an individual right to bear arms.

…

I feel like these state judges are in conversation with each other about developing an alternate vision of the law that can thrive in state judiciaries. As SCOTUS moves in the wrong direction, they’re showing us what the right direction might be, and giving us a little hope for the future.

I find it very telling this court and these opinion writers believe they have a better take on the meaning of the 2nd Amendment than SCOTUS, when all nine justices agreed that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual right. They are lying, profoundly ignorant, and/or delusional.

Financial Big Brother is Watching You

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Quote of the Day

The Committee and Select Subcommittee have obtained documents showing that FinCEN distributed slides, prepared by a financial institution, explaining how other financial institutions can use MCC codes to detect customers whose transactions may reflect “potential active shooters, [and] who may include dangerous International Terrorists / Domestic Terrorists / Homegrown Violent Extremists (‘Lone Wolves’).” For example, the slides instruct financial institutions to query for transactions using certain MCC codes such as “3484: Small Arms,” “5091: Sporting and Recreational Goods and Supplies,” and the keywords “Cabela’s,” and “Dick’s Sporting Goods,” among several others. Despite these transactions having no apparent criminal nexus—and, in fact, relate to Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights— FinCEN seems to have adopted a characterization of these Americans as potential threat actors. This kind of pervasive financial surveillance, carried out in coordination with and at the request of federal law enforcement, into Americans’ private transactions is alarming and raises serious doubts about FinCEN’s respect for fundamental civil liberties.

Jim Jordan
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary and the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government
January 17, 2024
Letter to Noah Bishoff, former Director of the Office of Stakeholder Integration and Engagement in the Strategic Operations Division of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

Via email from John S.

See also Financial Big Brother is Watching You – by Matt Taibbi (racket.news).

We live in interesting times. Prepare appropriately.

Not Enough Common Assumptions

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Quote of the Day

After several years of watching Biden destroy America, I asked my smart Democrat friend if he had changed his views since 2016.

He advised me to read the New York Times to get real news and stop falling for all the Republican hoaxes.

You can’t even talk to Democrats these days. Not enough common assumptions to even get started.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Posted on X February 4, 2024

I’m not sure “common assumptions” is the best phrase here. I’m not sure there is even enough common vocabulary. For example, what does “gender”, “democracy”, and “racism” mean to the major political divisions?

And above that are phrases such as “civil rights”, “gun law reform”, and “fair share”.

And there are common phrases used by one group where the one side says the referenced thing does not even exist such as “illegal alien” (there is no such thing as an illegal person), “assault weapon” (made up phrase to scare people), and “gun show loophole” (the law doesn’t change whether at a gun show or not).

I just want to crawl into my underground bunker in Idaho and wait until the hostilities are resolved.

The Timidity is Now Long Gone

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Quote of the Day

But that timidity is now long gone — a turnaround attributable to increasing Democratic electoral dominance in Colorado and growing gun reform activism that’s been fueled by a local backdrop of mass shootings as well as grimly routine gun violence and suicides. A new cadre of Democratic lawmakers have embraced firearms policy in a big way. They’ve been spurred on by an expanding voter base that, rather than punishing them, has shown up to the Capitol to demand they do more.

Nick Coltrain and Seth Klamann
February 4, 2024
Gun control was once ‘electoral kryptonite.’ Now Colorado Democrats are emboldened — and prepared to act

I see this as an opportunity. The further they go the easier it will be to get the courts to agree it violates the 2nd Amendment. Then getting another ruling that builds on the first is easier, and so on. It is a slippery slope that leads to their “doom.”

And be sure to keep your lists and evidence files up to date. They will come in handy when the trials start.

If it Has Never Happened, Will it Ever Happen?

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Quote of the Day

There is currently much debate about the health of financial markets. Can prices remain detached from the fundamentals long enough for the economic/earnings recession to catch up with prices?

Maybe. It has just never happened.

Lance Roberts
January 30, 2024
“Theory Of Reflexivity” And Does It Matter? – RIA (realinvestmentadvice.com)

Prepare appropriately.

A Tidal Wave of Gun Law Reform

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Quote of the Day

One of the greatest, perhaps the most dangerous, foes that we face in the gun violence prevention movement is hopelessness. It’s a feeling that nothing can make this problem better.

Chip Brownlee
January 16, 2024
Could International Pressure Ultimately Strengthen U.S. Gun Laws?

This is an indicator that the anti-civil rights crowd is on the verge of total collapse. We just need to get a few federal appeals courts slapped down by SCOTUS and I think there will be a tidal wave of reform.

See also New anti-gun group hopes foreign lawsuits will increase domestic ‘gun control’ (jpfo.org).

Personally Go Door to Door

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Quote of the Day

It’s about time we go door to door and personally take away everyone’s firearms, if they don’t comply then they will be sent to prison.

Johnathan @theprism89
Posted on X April 7, 2023

He seems to be a fan of going door to door to violate specific enumerate rights:

We need to start arresting every Trump supporter on a door to door basis, enough is enough.

One has to wonder where he will be in the stack and how many houses he will be visiting.

Don’t ever let someone get away with telling you no one wants to take your guns.