David Codrea:

“Did the State Department issue the Justice Department a license or a written waiver in order to allow for the transfer of thousands of weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border?”

[ … ]

If an answer was provided to those questions, it is not reflected in the 100 page June 29 response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against State by attorney Stephen Stamboulieh representing Kent Terry, the brother of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, and me.

Read the whole thing.  Yea, it’s very difficult to get any government agency to respond to embarrassing FOIAs.  I’ve still never gotten an answer to my FOIA on who issued arming orders to the National Guard or other troops involved in Hurricane Katrina gun confiscations, and I’ve asked multiple times.

Ignoring FOIA requests is part and parcel of .gov, whether local, state or federal.  The law may as well not exist as far as I’m concerned.

When the sheepdog turns on the sheep and couples up with the wolves, who will protect the sheep?  What happens when the sheepdog goes corrupt and ignores the safety of the flock when they’re merely doing the bidding of the wicked shepherd?

TTAG, from a cop:

Not all police are bad, mind you. Some truly fight hard and are on our side. But you, the People of the Gun, need to understand why Miami Beach happened.

Just like the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the gay rights movement of the 1990s and 2000s, gunowners need to continually fight for their rights. Sometimes the end result will be what we saw in Miami Beach.

The fight, however, is the same: opposing oppressive authoritarians restricting the civil liberties and rights of honest, law-abiding Americans. We can’t hide in the shadows. We need to be open, loud, and stand strong in the face of this kind of intimidation.

Read the whole thing.  There’s a lot there.  Rather than fisk this entire article, I think it would be better to turn it over to readers to do that.

However, I’ll make one observation.  Lumping us in with other alleged civil rights groups like gay rights is insulting.  The right to keep and bear arms is a right granted by God and merely recognized in the constitution.  Other such rights may or may not exist and you can make your case for or against them.

But we’re not just a group of malcontents bent on recognition.  God has decreed and ordained that we should be victorious because what we do is based not on marches and protests, but entirely on the immutable Holy Writ.

Bill Foster:

The National Association Of Evangelicals seems a lot like a front group. How widely known is it that Focus on the Family’s CitizenLink/Family Policy Alliance political arm gets money form the Koch brother’s Freedom Partners? All this started once Focus on the Family’s board pushed out James Dobson. They got soft on sodomy and went all in on unlimited immigration, illegal and otherwise. In the case of Focus on the Family it seems to be all about the money. Remember, Satan is the great deceiver. Too many Christians today are being deceived by these Judas organizations and their leadership. Sadly it is the failings of the Christian Church in America that has opened the door for the fall of this once Christian country.

No.  I didn’t know that about Focus on the Family and James Dobson.  How sad.  It has become far too easy for “Christians” to compromise their faith, and when they do that, they aren’t really Christians at all.  They’re just imposters, and should be excommunicated and shunned as such.

TFB: This guy is saying he has built a rifle that is pulling .4 MOA at 600 yards, or in other words, he is repeatedly pulling 2.4″ spreads with the .224 Valkyrie at 600 yards.  I know that the cartridge already has a reputation for being long range and accurate, but I don’t know if I believe this.

Ammoland: Big bore air rifles now legal for deer hunting in Arkansas.  From what I understand, the muzzle velocity is around 800 FPS for these types of rifles.  I don’t know if I believe this ensures an ethical kill.  I think I’d stick to a higher muzzle velocity.  Or in other words, a real firearm.

Proliferation of rifles a danger to residents and officers:

The chief said the initial investigation by the department’s Criminal Investigations Division shows Davis was shot multiple times in the back with a high-powered rifle. They were able to find the suspected shooting scene on Pettus Street, where multiple rifle casings were recovered.

Collier said they also found several 9 mm rounds near the scene. A 9 mm semi-automatic pistol was located beneath the victim’s body. The only suspect information is that two black males wearing dark clothing were seen running from the scene north on Pettus Street.

“At this point, we believe there was an exchange of gunfire,” Collier said. “However, it appears the victim fired his pistol at the suspects as he was fleeing.”

… the proliferation of rifles in Selma by criminals as the weapon of choice is both a community problem and an officer safety problem.”

So let me get this straight.  The proliferation of rifles is the problem, not the criminal?  And the victim was shot multiple times in the back with a “high powered rifle,” but still managed to get off several 9mm rounds at his attackers?

I don’t know if I believe this account.

Bloomberg Editors:

When law-enforcement agents seek information on guns found at crime scenes, they call the firearms tracing center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Agents at the tracing center, in West Virginia, then try to establish a chain of custody based on the gun’s serial number, manufacturer, distributor and retailer.

The agents pursue this task in the most inefficient, wasteful and time-consuming manner imaginable, manually searching records — about 800 million of them — because federal law purportedly prevents the center from organizing them into a searchable digital database.

This absurd prohibition needs to be lifted.

Well, in order to prevent this kind of inefficiency, I suggest dismantling the agency altogether as it serves no constitutional purpose and has no legitimacy.

If this isn’t acceptable, then I would suggest an alternative.  Every employee must be required to walk or ride a horse to work every day, and home again, and the time left in his work day can be spent fulfilling requests from law enforcement.  No, on second thought, no horses.  Walking will reduce the probability I have to fund their medical care with my tax dollars.

NAE:

Dear Mr. President:

As evangelical leaders representing tens of thousands of local churches, campus communities, and ministries we are concerned that the new “zero tolerance” policy at the U.S.-Mexico border, recently announced by Attorney General Sessions and being implemented by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, has had the effect of separating vulnerable children from their parents. As head of the Executive Branch of the federal government, we are writing to ask you to resolve this situation of families being separated that you have rightly described as “horrible.”

As evangelical Christians guided by the Bible, one of our core convictions is that God has established the family as the fundamental building block of society. The state should separate families only in the rarest of instances. While illegal entry to the United States can be a misdemeanor criminal violation, past administrations have exercised discretion in determining when to charge individuals with this offense, taking into account the wellbeing of children who may also be involved.

A “zero tolerance” policy removes that discretion—with the effect of removing even small children from their parents. The traumatic effects of this separation on these young children, which could be devastating and long-lasting, are of utmost concern.

U.S. law currently allows individuals with a credible fear of persecution to request asylum whether the individual enters with a valid visa, requests asylum at a port of entry, or is apprehended seeking to enter without a visa. Not every individual arriving will merit asylum protection, but we would ask that families be kept together while ensuring each individual asylum seeker is afforded due process according to our laws.

We are also concerned that there are fewer legal possibilities for those with a well-founded fear of persecution to be considered for refugee status without needing to make it to the U.S. border. The U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program has allowed many fleeing persecution in Central America and elsewhere to register as refugees abroad and be thoroughly vetted before coming lawfully to the U.S. However, with significantly fewer refugees being admitted in recent years, there are fewer options for those fleeing persecution. Those facing legitimate threats to their lives often feel they have no choice but to leave their countries and seek asylum elsewhere.

We respectfully ask you to work with Attorney General Sessions and Secretary Nielsen to reverse this “zero tolerance” policy and instead urge law enforcement entities to exercise discretion to protect the unity of families.

This is what happens when spiritual “leaders” no longer believe in the applicability of God’s law to individuals.  The state becomes responsible for everything, including administering grace rather than justice.  No mention is made of the fact that illegals are law-breakers.

And this is what happens when the church “leaders” no longer believe in the power of the Holy Scriptures to effect world-wide change.  It becomes anemic and powerless.  Thus church “leaders” begin to meddle in the affairs of state and turn globalist rather than focus on the preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

Say, you don’t suppose all of this will have any effect on second amendment rights, do you?

Calvin Coolidge:

No one can examine this record and escape the conclusion that in the great outline of its principles the Declaration was the result of the religious teachings of the preceding period. The profound philosophy which Jonathan Edwards applied to theology, the popular preaching of George Whitefield, had aroused the thought and stirred the people of the Colonies in preparation for this great event. No doubt the speculations which had been going on in England, and especially on the Continent, lent their influence to the general sentiment of the times. Of course, the world is always influenced by all the experience and all the thought of the past. But when we come to a contemplation of the immediate conception of the principles of human relationship which went into the Declaration of Independence we are not required to extend our search beyond our own shores. They are found in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy who were earnestly undertaking to instruct their congregations in the great mystery of how to live. They preached equality because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. They justified freedom by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit.

Jonathan Edwards is rightly called the greatest philosopher America ever produced, and Whitefield perhaps the greatest preacher – both Calvinists.

The roots of the American revolution go to continental Calvinism and the doctrine of covenant, just as we have discussed before.

We haven’t had a president like Coolidge since him, and we’re likely never to have another one.

Happy independence day.

Enjoy it with family and friends.  And remember.  King George was just a man.  There have been many other such men throughout history, are many such now, and will be many in the future, who would “erect a multitude of New Offices,” and send “hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.”

All usurpation of God’s authority and governance over mankind is wickedness.  Always and forever.

UTT:

The right to keep and bear arms exists with or without a U.S. Constitution and with or without a United States of America.  The right exists in nature and is, therefore, a right that exists for all humans.  If the right to defend and protect oneself exists, then we have the right to bear the tools to do so.

The Second Amendment does not GIVE us the right to bear arms, it PROTECTS it.

Marxists and Jihadis know the inalienable rights to self-defense and free expression are bedrocks of free Western societies, and that is why they attack it with such fervor.

Using the Islamic Law of Slander under the mask of “Islamophobia” jihadis have persuaded many Western leaders to shut down all expression which offends muslims.

This is, as the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood calls it, Civilization Jihad by OUR hands.

Now, Islamic leaders (aka “Jihadis”) are working with the help of their Marxist friends to disarm free people while arming themselves.

Case in point:  the jihadi Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is forcing Britons to surrender  even kitchen knives using the lie that he seeks to “protect” the community.  Meanwhile, stabbings in London continue to skyrocket because they are being perpetrated by muslims who are not surrendering their weapons, not even their kitchen knives.

Here in the United States, sources inside the muslim community tell UTT Muslim Brotherhood mosques and organizations are encouraging muslims to purchase firearms and join the NRA, while at the same time the jihadis’ Marxist collaborators are pushing to disarm Americans.

Using their seditious Marxists allies in the media, every domestic left-wing and jihadi attack – including those in Alexandria (VA), Las Vegas (NV) or Orlando (FL) – is used to demonize weapons and create momentum for anti-gun legislation, instead of highlighting the Marxists and jihadis actually doing the killing.

We’ve known this for quite some time, but John reminds us.  ISIS, for example, were gun controllers.

Any one of its members who breach this promise will have their hands cut off.

“No drugs, no alcohol and no cigarettes allowed,” it added.

No public gathering other than those organised by ISIS will be allowed at any stage. No guns will be allowed outside of its ranks.

With all due respect to John, I don’t like the expression that “The right exists in nature.”  Nature promises absolutely nothing to you, any more than it promises that the Wildebeest won’t perish by being eaten by Crocodiles as it crosses the rivers.  Nature doesn’t recognize rights.

Only God grants rights and responsibilities, and only God can take them away.  The state doesn’t exist to protect you or your family except from foreign invasion (a duty at which it has failed, and miserably so).  God has given that solemn duty to you.

It’s not surprising that Islamists are coupling with the NRA, as the NRA exists as the largest and most successful gun control organization in the world.  We have the Hughes amendment, the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the NFA because of the NRA.  Now we have the bump stock ban (a pretext for banning semiautomatic firearms in the future), and also at some point in the future we may have universal background checks.

You have enemies on all sides.  Some of them pretend to be your friends.  Only a doltish fool would disarm under such circumstances.

Insty:

LATE-STAGE SOCIALISM: Further Protests as Venezuela Begins Running Out of Water.

“Locals have been protesting since 3 am due to lack of water on the Charallave-Ocumare highway, and are now requesting the presence of the media,” wrote onlooker Rocely Romero in Twitter.

The last major water shortage in Venezuela was in February 2016, when authorities announced a weekend “maintenance” session designed to maintain sufficient water levels during a period of drought. An estimated three million in Caracas consequently went without water, where the average temperature at that time of year is 68F.

The lack of clean water is the latest in a string mass shortages experienced in Venezuela under the rule of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.

That the world’s most oil-rich nation has to import crude oil, and that a semi-tropical country can run out of water, should tell you everything you need to know about socialism.

To the statists, they own even the water you drink.  And no, that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know about socialism.

There are many more things to understand, but the most salient is this.

Until now, anyone with a gun permit could buy arms from a private company.

Under the new law, only the army, police and certain groups like security companies will be able to buy arms from the state-owned weapons manufacturer and importer.

In 2012.  But socialist militants get guns.  Crime is out of control, whether by mere people looking for the next morsel, or government thugs attempting to tamp down on the violence.

Again, gun confiscations and gun controls preceded everything else.  It is the framework in which statism is born and people are killed.

The common thread that runs through all of it is a rejection of the Almighty and replacement of His authority with wickedness.

David Codrea:

“(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law. . . [and] (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”

In other words, the law is what the UN or any of its despotic member regimes say it is–as is your “law-abiding” status. And, of course, there is no declaration that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Only God can take away what only God gives.  Rights are determined by the Almighty and no one else.  There is also this amusing article by Ted Bromund, The Ten Dumbest Things I Heard About Guns at The United Nations.

It’s tempting to dismiss them outright, but that’s a mistake.  No blue helmet is going to confiscate my weapons, but the U.N. is a problem to the extent that their views are used in America to foist gun controls, and that can happen in a myriad of ways.

But always remember: Only God can take away what only God gives.