If you ever wonder how Germany got to the point it did look at Australia. Insane authoritarianism, rising identitarianism, and apologists terrified of the state pretending to offer some opposition but defending camps for the ‘unclean’
Tim Pool @Timcast
Tweeted on September 4, 2021
[Via daughter Jaime:
See also here.—Joe]
The Third Circuit panel found that not only did the township offer no evidence that its zoning rules are targeted to achieve a public safety benefit without imposing undue restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms, but that it neglected to explain why it chose to implement these specific restrictions, and why they did so only in the part of the township that was zoned for “sportsmen’s clubs.” Two other areas of town where “shooting ranges” are allowed to operate don’t have these same types of restrictions in place, but the township can’t explain why center-fire rifle firing should be banned at a sportsmen’s club and not at a shooting range.
Now the case goes back down to the district court for a third time, and hopefully this time around the judge makes the correct decision and finds that the township violated the rights of the gun range owner by arbitrarily imposing these zoning restrictions without being able to offer up any substantive reason for doing so.
Cam Edwards
August 17, 2021
Second Amendment In Gun Range Case
There have been over 400,000,000 guns sold in the U.S. since November 1998.
You want to be a protective spouse, a concerned parent, a good citizen, a patriotic American? Save your family and your community from danger by getting rid of your weapons, and especially your handguns. Don’t wait for the law. Do it yourself; do it now. Do it because you just bought your first home, do it because you just got married, do it because you just had the baby you cherish more than anything in this world. The gun you trust against your fears is itself the thing you should fear. The gun is a lie.
As more Americans recognize the lie, they may notice a powerful new possibility. Once emancipated from the false myth of the home-protecting gun, they will find it easier to write laws and adopt policies to stop the criminals and zealots who carry guns into the streets. Win enough elections, and the federal courts will retreat from their sudden gun advocacy—and return to their historic deference to state regulation of firearms.
David Frum
September 1, 2021
How to Persuade Americans to Give Up Their Guns
[Frum needs to review the 2nd Amendment and the Heller decision.
Then he needs to read some books on the risk of not owning firearms and the ethics of restricting firearms ownership. I would like to suggest:
Then, if he is still in the persuasive mood, I’d be glad to introduce him to the power of the word “No.” backed up by 100 million determined gun owners with their own means of persuasion.—Joe]
Data shows that visible guns makes people more aggressive, so it’s a logical next step to believe that open carry makes it more likely that disagreements will turn into violent conflicts.
Shannon Watts
Founder of Moms Demand Action
September 1, 2021
TEXANS CAN NOW OPENLY CARRY GUNS IN PUBLIC WITHOUT A PERMIT OR TRAINING. POLICE SAY THE NEW LAW MAKES IT HARDER TO DO THEIR JOBS
[Interesting. I wonder what invisible guns make people do.
Watts knows open carry does not make it more likely that disagreements will turn violent. She is planting the idea in a effort to persuade the public it is acceptable to infringe upon the specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms. And, of course, she completely ignores the existence of the 2nd Amendment.
I would also bet that any data she has indicating “visible guns makes people more aggressive” is the result of cherry picking the data and probably presuming causality and ignoring other factors which account for any change in perceived aggressiveness.
One of the repeated lessons of history is that when Potemkin politics become standard operating procedure in a nation, no matter how powerful and stable that nation might look, it can come apart with astonishing speed once somebody provides the good hard shove just discussed. The sudden implosion of the Kingdom of France in 1789 and the equally abrupt collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 are two of the most famous examples, but there have been many others. In every case, what happened was that a government that had stopped solving its nation’s problems, and settled for trying to manage appearances instead, discovered the hard way that governments really do derive their power from the consent of the governed—and that this consent can be withdrawn very suddenly indeed.
John Michael Greer
August 18, 2021
Potemkin Nation
[Via email from a reader after reading yesterday’s post.
Prepare appropriately.—Joe]
It’s certainly a bold ask, as the groups attached to this letter are blatantly requesting that Democrats not only have a monopoly on gun legislation, but to adopt a hardline position of legislating away at gun rights while also urging the public to relinquish said rights through persuasion via the bully pulpit.
Gregory Hoyt
August 29, 2021
Here it comes: Gun control groups pressure Biden to create firearm control office to bypass Senate
[Bold? Perhaps. Especially with President Biden is completely overwhelmed by other issues. But if gets even a little publicity and traction in leftist media it will move the Overton Window in the wrong direction.
Do your part to combat the continuing battle for mindshare.
The Biden administration, deliberately or not, appears to be destroying the United States of America. Some of the individual states with low debt and a strong mindset of liberty appear to be the best hope for the future. Perhaps it is time to let the U.S. collapse.—Joe]
Generally, the word gun, for those who are worried about research in this area, is followed by the word control, and that’s not what I want to do here. I’m not here about gun control. I’m here about preventing gun violence and gun death.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky
Director of the Centers for Disease Control
August 27, 2021
CDC Director wants the agency to take on firearm violence for the first time in decades: ‘I’m not here about gun control’
[Wow! That was impressive. On her first venture into the 2nd Amendment arena she tripped and fell flat on her face into a tar pit and is unlikely to ever get the stain off her reputation.
She completely, unambiguously, showed her evil hand with the phrase, “preventing gun violence and gun death.” If she had substituted “criminal” for “gun” in the phrase I would have given her a C+ and offered her some suggestions for remedial Constitutional law. But she didn’t. She completely failed.
Apparently she doesn’t understand (and/or is engaged in deliberately deception) there is such a thing as necessary violence and death. And frequently a gun is the most effective way to delivery that necessary violence. There are people that need to be shot, quickly and repeatedly, until they stop their violent attack on innocent people. In this article there is not even a hint that she is willing to acknowledge this.
Next there is the issue of prevention. You can only legally prevent gun violence and death by means similar that of the exercise of the 1st Amendment can be restricted. The government cannot legally prevent the falsely yelling of, “Fire!” in a crowded theater by gagging the theater patrons upon entry into the theater. They can only threaten people with prosecution for harming innocent people after the harmful act.
I suspect her further activity in this arena will put her at risk for future prosecution under 18 USC 242.—Joe]
A majority of Americans may currently favor more restrictive laws regarding firearms, but that majority looks likely to shrink in the years to come, making policy changes less likely as the years go by. That’s just as well, since passage of such laws would leave the powers-that-be looking thoroughly ineffective given that the people who would actually be touched by them have demonstrated their unwillingness to submit to such policies.
J.D. Tuccille
August 25, 2021
Don’t Be Surprised if Gun Owners Don’t Comply With Gun Control Laws
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
55% of Reps & 44% of Dems said the other party is “not just worse for politics—they are downright evil.”
34% of Reps & 27% of Dems said the other party “lack the traits to be considered fully human—they behave like animals.”
Nathan Kalmoe (@NathanKalmoe)
Tweeted on October 1, 2019
[This was nearly two years ago. I’m certain things have gotten worse since then.
I have to wonder how much of the current political conflict is the result of external agitation by our adversaries such as Russia and China. US Civil War II would certainly be to their advantage in many ways.
Regardless, fasten your seat belts because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Or, as I more frequently say, prepare appropriately.—Joe]
I believe in a multi-racial, progressive society where whites, blacks, and Koreans can all work together to stand on rooftops and shoot communists.
Dogs don’t have thumbs @MorlockP
Tweeted on August 23, 2021
Deleted by Twitter sometime between August 24, 10:22 AM PDT and August 25 7:01 PM PDT.
[That was an unexpected plot twist in the last couple of words.—Joe]
The indictment alleged Reid lied to a Seattle federal grand jury about statements purportedly made to her by an individual identified in court papers as “Suspect #1” — a man federal agents say bragged to Reid about being involved in Wales’ death.
According to court documents and law enforcement sources, Suspect #1 is an acquaintance of the individual believed to have killed Wales on contract, and Suspect #1 is believed to have acted as a lookout while the job was done.
During her appearance before the grand jury on Feb. 28, 2018, Reid claimed the government lawyers laid a “perjury trap” — tricking her into telling a lie — so they could indict her, with the goal of pressuring her to give more information about Suspect #1 and others. Her attorney, Nance, has said it was a dry well and that Reid had no firsthand knowledge of the crime or those involved in it.
Wales, a white-collar prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle, was shot to death in the basement of his Queen Anne Hill home on Oct. 11, 2001.
Mike Carter
Seattle Times Reporter
August 23, 2021
Woman accused of lying in unsolved Thomas Wales slaying case pleads guilty to misdemeanor
[I sort of marvel at the effort put into this case. As near as I can tell the FBI has been working on this full time for just short of 20 years. At this point it appears they are willing to violate the rights of innocent people in order to give indicators they are making progress. They brought in “special” prosecutors with questionable (at best) ethical standards (from the quoted article):
Earlier this month, Robart reprimanded and chastised the special prosecutors out of Washington, D.C., brought in to handle the case, for “carelessness” by failing to turn over evidence to the defense.
The apparently innocent person in this case, Reid, was ensnared in the “perjury trap” and then threatened with a lengthy prison sentence:
Reid was indicted on charges of lying to a grand jury and obstruction of justice. A conviction could have sent her to prison for up to five years.
She traded a guilty plea for:
U.S. District Judge James Robart sentenced Shawna Reid to time served — a total of nine days in custody since she was indicted in 2019 — with no additional supervised release, plus a $25 fine.
Can you imagine the FBI having a team work full time for 20 years to solve the murder of an ordinary citizen and withholding evidence from the defense to acquire a conviction? I can’t. This must mean the “King’s Men” are considered very special.—Joe]
The American appetite for social media censorship is apparently increasing: 48 percent of survey respondents now want the government to restrict misinformation, compared with just 39 percent in 2018.
…
That figure—48 percent—is significant. It means, that just about half of all people want the government to violate the First Amendment, which protects the free speech rights of private actors, including tech companies.
Robby Soave
August 20, 2021
48% of Americans Want the Government To Restrict Misinformation on Social Media
[I find it very telling that Democrats had a 25% jump in desire for government infringement upon the specific enumerated right to free speech.—Joe]
Lawyers for the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and the state of Missouri will be in a Cole County courtroom Thursday afternoon for a motion hearing over a new state law that hasn’t gone into full effect yet, but one which the Department of Justice says is already having a chilling impact on law enforcement.
At issue is House Bill 85, dubbed as the Second Amendment Preservation Act.
Gregg Palermo and Heidi Schmidt
August 18, 2021
Feds say Missouri Second Amendment law already having chilling impact
[There is a chilling effect on law enforcement infringing upon the rights of the specific enumerated right of the people to keep and bear arms? Excellent! That was the point of the law. Good to know it is working as intended.
I am looking forward to the prosecutions and convictions.—Joe]
The big reveal in Afghanistan is that what happened there can happen here, quickly. Those goat-herders just showed us how to defeat an Empire abroad. Now it’s time to defeat the empire within.
Tom Luongo
August 16, 2021
What If Afghanistan is More Than Just a Failed War?
[I suspect the rot is very deep and collapse could be much closer than what 99% of the people realize.—Joe]
These gang members didn’t have too hard a time getting around New Jersey’s gun laws. More than that, though, your typical gang member isn’t known for being some kind of master criminal.
In other words, if they can get guns, anyone can get guns.
…
When it comes to gun control, the only ones really slowed down by the law are good, decent, law-abiding citizens who are trying to walk the straight and narrow path. The criminals, on the other hand, will find a way around it without much challenge. Most probably won’t even realize a new law was passed.
Tom Knighton
August 12, 2021
Gang Members Don’t Seem Bothered By New Jersey Gun Laws
[It’s easier to believe this is all according to plan rather than the politicians are that stupid and/or ignorant after so many decades of no evidence that gun control makes the general population safer.
I am nearly convinced it’s about creating a safe work environment for the politicians and their comrades, the criminals. This is well-known. Read The Gulag Archipelago. The USSR regarded thieves as allies in the building of communism because they were the enemy of property owners. Why should our modern day socialists behave any differently?—Joe]
It is worth noting that even previously ardent supporters of restricting the right to keep and bear arms don’t want to talk those ideas on the campaign trail in Cleveland this year. Instead, they’re talking about building up the city’s police force, focusing on violent actors, and at least in one case, encouraging residents to obtain a concealed carry license so that they don’t have to fear for their lives when they step outside their door. This is a step in the right direction, and a sign that at least some Democrats feel comfortable putting some distance between themselves and the gun control lobby that’s still eager to court their support.
Cam Edwards
August 16, 2021
Change: Cleveland Democrats Downplay Gun Control As Solution To Violent Crime
[Yes, it’s worth noting. I might have some trust in their change of direction after they advocate for and repeal many of the restrictions on our specific enumerated right to keep and bear arms.
Until then I’ll continue to advocate for their prosecution.—Joe]
Congress is going to pass wild spending package after wild spending package, and the Fed is just going to continue to pump billions upon billions of fresh dollars into the financial system.
This is the greatest financial bubble in the history of the world, and it will be fascinating to watch how long it can last before it finally implodes.
Michael Snyder
August 11, 2021
I Feel Like I Am Living In Crazytown
[For certain values of “fascinating”.
Prepare appropriately.—Joe]
We woke libruls don’t need no fancy book learning.
Ted Cruz @tedcruz
Tweeted on August 11, 2021
[This is in regard to this:
This sounds like the “logic’ used for a lot of the push for more people to get college degrees and why it should be free in the last few decades., “People with college degrees earn more money and have better lives. Everyone should get college degrees.”
It, perhaps deliberately, confuses cause and effect. People with certain college degrees had the aptitude to understand and apply the course material required for high paying jobs in certain fields. It wasn’t just a generic college degree that resulted in high paying jobs. The English, psychology, music, art appreciation, etc. degrees did not correlate with high paying jobs like the medical, legal, engineering, finance, and business degrees. But the political sounds bites led you to believe it was the degree and not the person able to acquire the degree that made the difference between the degreed and non-degreed.
It appears the failed (for certain definitions of “failed”, one can make the case it was deliberate deception which worked exactly as planned) college degrees for everyone project is now being implemented at the high school level.
And so now, it is clear we need to add Oregon to the list of states circling the toilet drain. The Antifa/BLM stuff in Portland is just the most visible symptom.
I recently met a group of people who could be described as Oregon refugees. They left Oregon because of the stupid and/or evil politics and took up residence in Idaho. Idaho is the fastest growing state in the union. The people I was talking to are living in travel trailers and mobile homes as they try to get their own homes built. They work in the construction industry and help fill the gap in construction workers. They own and/or rent heavy equipment and are skilled operators. I wish them well and welcome them to Idaho.—Joe]
Humanity needs to become a bigger priority in this state. This means that stricter gun control is necessary. Our government should listen to its people and make them feel safe, rather than allowing a law as dangerous as permitless carry.
Sumera Siddiqi
Liberal studies freshman at University of Houston
August 9, 2021
Permitless carry infringes on the right to safety
[Is it truth or is it a caricature? Sometimes it is so hard to tell.—Joe]
