Spare me the BS about constitutional rights.
David Cicilline
U.S. Representative (D-RI)
Democrats Don’t Care Whether Banning ‘Assault Weapons’ Is Constitutional
[The last 30 years of firearm legislation by the Democrats (and some Republicans) made it impossible to envision a mindset any different from this. But us knowing it to be true and one of them openly, unambiguously, saying it in public is something new.
I applaud Rep Cicilline open confession. I hope he enjoys his trial.—Joe]
Unlike with marriage or protesting (two other contexts where licensing of a right is permitted), the ruling class are likely to remain completely hostile to the idea of the peasantry being armed. For non-discretionary licensing to work, there needs to be broad consensus that it should be non-discretionary, and you’ll never have that with guns.
Sebastian
July 21, 2022
The New Resistance to the 2A
[While I agree with the first sentence I’m not convinced the second sentence is true. It would seem to me that liberal application of 18 USC 242 with harsh sentencing (the death penalty could be justified in some situations) would get us sufficiently close.—Joe]
It’s not just that the anti-gunners are losing. It’s that their cause is becoming irrelevant, obsolete.
David Hardy
July 28, 2022
Right to arms — in Taiwan
[I think a case can be made for his assertion even though I think this might be somewhat overstating the situation. They still have some fight in them. See, for example, the law New York state passed in response to the Bruen decision, the bill Biden just signed into law, and the bill just passed by the House.
Most of those laws will not pass constitutional muster but it will take a lot of time and money to get them thrown out.—Joe]
Concerns over the firearm industry’s marketing practices and accountability grew Thursday, prompting more proposed legislation, a day after chief executives of two leading gun manufacturers told Congress they bore no blame in the recent mass shootings.
House lawmakers introduced a measure that would direct the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the gun industry’s advertising and marketing practices. It is the latest attempt by federal legislators to hold gun companies responsible after the massacres in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas.
Melissa Chan
July 28, 2022
Concerns grow over gun industry’s accountability after CEOs tell Congress they bear no blame in mass shootings
[In related news Democrat lawmakers dismissed as “ridiculous” an amendment to include spoons and forks in the FTC investigation. This is despite spoons and forks being used in almost all obesity related deaths totalling 100s of times more deaths than “assault weapons”. This comes amid growing claims that people would be much safter if the general population did not have access to high capacity feeding devices instead of using chopsticks.—Joe]
We’ve seen the Supreme Court is no longer an instrument of justice.
Malcolm Nance
July 23, 2022
GOP Will ‘Defund Every Component of the U.S. Government’ If It Becomes Party in Power, Ex-MSNBC Analyst Warns
[He says this as if this were a bad thing.
The job of SCOTUS is the interpretation of the constitution, laws legally enacted, and make sure those laws are appropriately applied. Those laws may or may not have anything to do with his, mine, or anyone else’s vision of “justice”.—Joe]
The DC District Court is going to hate this. It has generally been very supportive of DC’s rights-infringements, but NYSRPA v. Bruen is very, very clear.
Well done, Mr. Heller.
Carl Bussjaeger
July 10, 2022
Dick Heller is Suing DC again
[It is a very slow process. But it is working. Give it a decade or so and perhaps then we can start prosecuting the criminals and speed things up.—Joe]
Republicans who claim to support the Second Amendment voted not only to continue punishing people for exercising the rights it guarantees but to increase the penalties they face. So did Democrats, despite their avowed concern about excessively severe sentences and racial disparities.
This is what bipartisan compromise means for members of Congress: I will compromise my principles if you compromise yours.
Jacob Sullum
July 20, 2022
A New Gun Law Reflects the Worst Instincts of Both Parties
[I gave up on the legislative process for removing restrictions on our rights years ago. Instead I donate thousands each year to organizations (SAF and FPC) which are getting things done in the courts.—Joe]
Via Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith:
It’s isn’t exactly new information. This was pretty clear, if not the 1960s, then, by the 1970’s. But in this case I give the meme maker a lot of slack for poetic license.
There is only one outcome: The Supreme Court affirming that there is no right to carry a firearm outside of your home this meaning that there is no right to self-defense outside your home.
In the one in a trillion chance they rule for us the scope will be so narrow it will be rendered worthless and meaningless.
Shawn
April 27, 2021
Comment to Quote of the day—Independent Firearms Owners Association
[This was in in regard to NYS Rifle and Pistol Association V. Superintendent of NYS Police (No. 20-843) which was decided 14 months later on June 23, 2022.
I was pretty sure things were going go conclusively in our favor. I was certain enough that I offered to make a small bet with him. This would have been the first I had made since the one with Caleb back in 2008.
If you wish to stand by the odds given I would like to make a small bet with you.
The offer was silently declined. I really don’t understand why. I was only going to bet a single penny.—Joe]
I disagree that something like Jan6th “shouldn’t happen again” in the United States.
It’s a feature, not a flaw.
Doesn’t mean the protestors were right. It does mean that if you send signals of fraud to the American public (real or not), the crowd is coming.
Every time.
Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Tweeted on July 19, 2022
[I can see that.—Joe]
Tweet on July 17, 2022 by The Redheaded libertarian @TRHLofficial:
The democrats run a doomsday cult and I’m gonna break it all down for you. Walk with me.
1. Authoritarian yet Charismatic leadership structure Obama repealed Smith-Mundt, made it legal to detain American citizens indefinitely, & banned protesting government sessions which paved the way for the controlled demolition of the economy. BUT LOOK AT HOW RELATABLE THEY ARE
2. Deception in recruiting. Go ahead and join up and then tell them you think there should be limits to abortion and sexually transitioning children. Tell them communists aren’t people. I’ll wait.
3. Use of thought-reform methods You know like struggle sessions for 6 year olds and diversity training for the military and nominating biological men with penises for women’s awards while forbidding the questioning of any of it.
4. Isolation (physical and/or psychological) Mask up. Stay home. Save lives.
5. Demand for absolute, unquestioning devotion and loyalty
Check these fundraising emails, jabbed 4 year olds and STAND WITH UKRAINE.
You must pay heavily and support the current thing to show loyalty to the party.
6. Sharp, unsurpassable distinction between “us” (good) and “them” (bad) They leave that to the media. DJT is the best example.
7. “Inside language” that only members fully understand Here is a list of their pronouns, the connection between CRT & Marxism, and a link to 33 pages of Critical Race Theory vocabulary. https://racialequitytools.org/glossary
8. Strict control over members’ daily routines While it’s a gentleman’s agreement that Democrats wear masks, love abortion, and drive electric cars, policies derived from The failed Green New Deal aim to control & limit people via taxes & regulations from mileage to consumption.
9. Scripture “[insert party platform] is a human right.” “Our democracy is at stake” “Diversity is our strength” “Post-Roe world” “Credible evidence” “Putin’s price hike” “No one needs and AR-15” “Meaningful gun reform” “Common sense gun reform” “Abortion is healthcare”
10. Group thought All Thought is lead by Hollywood, big Tech, Big Pharma, universities & politicians. You are allowed to dissent in approved topics, but not in others. If you disobey, and question the forbidden, they will have you kicked out of the public square indefinitely.
11. And of course, the Day of reckoning. This all needs to have a deeper meaning. Climate change is their second coming but the dates keep passing, so the leaders will create new dates until eventually, everyone puts on their Nikes and drinks the koolaid together.
The observation I found most telling was the last one. It is like a new example for the book When Prophecy Fails — A social and psychological study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world (emphasis added):
Suppose an individual believes something with his whole heart; suppose further that he has a commitment to this belief, that he has taken irrevocable actions because of it; finally, suppose that he is presented with evidence, unequivocal and undeniable evidence, that his belief is wrong: what will happen? The individual will frequently emerge, not only unshaken, but even more convinced of the truth of his beliefs than ever before. Indeed, he may even show a new fervor about convincing and converting other people to his view.
There is something wrong with these people.
Prepare and respond appropriately.
The endgame is not just to make Americans despise Thomas Jefferson, but to make the average American ashamed of being American. That’s what this has been about from first to last. If the complexities of human experience have to be obliterated in the process, with cartoonish one-dimensional heroes and villains put in their place, so be it. We cannot celebrate Jefferson for all that he did to lay the groundwork for the freest society the world has ever seen. We cannot see him as a remarkable but flawed human being who was exemplary in some ways but not in others.
What’s more, the reason why the Left hates him with such burning intensity is not that he was a slave owner. Leftists love Fidel Castro, who enslaved an entire nation. They love all manner of authoritarians, totalitarians, and mass murderers. They’ve never minded the eggs that have to be broken to make their socialist omelets.
No, the real reason why the Left hates Thomas Jefferson is for all the things for which he should rightly be celebrated: Because he fought against tyranny. Because he helped create a free republic.
Robert Spencer
July 10, 2022
Thomas Jefferson’s Home Has Been Taken Over by Leftist America-Haters
[I do not have a better hypothesis..—Joe]
Liberty without responsibility is decadence.
Responsibility without liberty is slavery.
Lack of liberty and responsibility is childishness.
Alice Smith @TheAliceSmith
Tweeted on June 26, 2022
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Via Matthew Bracken:
Because those weapons are available, and we have to stop allowing those weapons to be available to civilians living in communities of people who have a right to believe that they are not in a war zone.
Assault weapons were specifically and intentionally designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly. It is a weapon of war. If you’ve ever looked at, if I may be so blunt, an autopsy photograph to see what it does to the human body. And the fact that we can’t get Congress to renew – it’s not like we’re pulling something out of our hat. We’ve done it before as a nation – to renew the assault weapons ban, is outrageous.
You can support the Second Amendment. I support the Second Amendment, but we should agree we should not have weapons of war on the streets of America.
Kamala Harris
July 10, 2022
VP Harris calls for ‘assault weapons ban’ on guns ‘intentionally designed to kill’ people
[“Assault weapons” use account for smaller percentage of the murders than those committed using bare hands and feet.
I see the greater wounding potential as a feature. That makes it a good defensive weapon.
The Second Amendment is about the protecting peoples right to defending themselves from a tyrannical government. Harris either doesn’t understand the Second Amendment, or more likely, understands and realizes the Second Amendment is an impediment to her goals.
Don’t ever let anyone get away with telling you no one wants to take your guns. Harris and Biden are both advocates for enabling tyranny. Don’t let them get their way.—Joe]
As if you didn’t already have sufficient evidence with the current administration now there is a study confirming what everyone should already know:
A new study published today shows how natural selection effects are stronger in groups with lower income and less education, among younger parents, people not living with a partner, and people with more lifetime sexual partners.
Meanwhile, natural selection is pushing against genes associated with high educational attainment, high earnings, a low risk of ADHD or major depressive disorder, and a low risk of coronary artery disease.
Our future is an Idiocracy.
China is not America’s friend. There is a dangerous sentiment emerging in the U.S. that members of the “other” political party are the enemy. No, Americans are still the best allies for other Americans. If you blanched at the previous sentence, in my view, you have been targeted by propaganda from bad actors and/or manipulated by algorithms or cable news editors whose profit incentive pits us against one another.
The Chinese government aims to weaken the U.S. Its investment in kinetic power is massive (a third aircraft carrier took to sea last month), but it probably won’t match raw American might for decades. So the Chinese press on our soft tissue strategically and play the long game with tactics that offer a greater ROI: IP theft and propaganda. America is most like itself when we perceive an external threat as the real threat, and when we’re optimistic about the return we’ll realize from long-term investments at home: education, infrastructure, research and development. Pessimism is our kryptonite.
Scott Galloway
July 8, 2022
TikTok: Trojan Stallion
[Via email from John S.
Valid points. If you doubt their hostility to the people in this country spend some time talking to someone who grew up there.—Joe]
Why is this not considered unconstitutionally vague:
Gun makers and dealers in California will be required to block firearms sales to anyone they have “reasonable cause to believe is at substantial risk” of using a gun illegally or of harming themselves or others, under a new law that Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he had signed.
It’s a subjective requirement that goes farther than current background checks or prohibitions on selling guns to people prohibited from owning them.
The regulation is part of the new law creating a good conduct code for gun makers and dealers that also allows anyone who suffers harm from violations to sue.
…
The state’s firearm industry standard of conduct, starting in July 2023, will require those making, importing or selling guns to “take reasonable precautions” to make sure the weapons don’t fall into the wrong hands through sales or thefts.
That includes having “reasonable controls” to prevent sales to arms traffickers, straw buyers, those prohibited from owning guns, and anyone deemed to be at “substantial risk” of using the gun improperly.
Or is it deliberately written this way so as to cast a chilling effect upon the specific enumerated right and cause us to spend money challenging them in court?
And what about retailers being sued for discrimination for failure to sell on the basis of race and/or sex? Or the woman visibility upset because of her stalker being denied and later injured when unable to defend herself?
These characters really need to be prosecuted.
If they are going to kill they are going to kill me.
…
I don’t like bullies.
I’ve never run from bullies.
I never cry uncle. And I’m not going to cry uncle today.
Mic drop https://t.co/MkYPvqWKSU
— Art TakingBack (@ArtValley818_) July 9, 2022
Clarence Thomas
1991 Confirmation hearings
[Via a tweet from Chuck Petras @Chuck_Petras.—Joe]
Communists have frequently regarded criminals as an ally in their war against capitalists. I suspect this is why so many Democrat dominated areas have high crime rates. They are disinclined to prosecute their comrades.
They are now reaping the rewards of those decisions:
Starbucks to close 5 Seattle stores over safety concerns
Starbucks will close five Seattle stores and one in Everett with high rates of crime as part of a broad initiative to boost security at the cafes, the company announced Monday.
The closed stores include five in Seattle — stores in the Central Area, on Capitol Hill and in the Roosevelt neighborhood, as well as those at Union Station and Westlake Center, are slated to close — and one in Everett. In total, 17 U.S. stores will close July 31. The stores were chosen based on level of crime-related complaints each has seen, and whether attempts to lower crime rates were successful, a company spokesperson said.
