David Kopel.

Today U.S. District Judge Raymond P. Moore issued a temporary restraining order against the ban on so-called “assault weapons” recently enacted by the town of Superior, Colorado, in Boulder County. The case is Rocky Mountain Gun Owners v. Superior.

Lead attorney for the plaintiffs was Barry Arrington, one of Colorado’s top lawyers on education law, and now the victor in a major Second Amendment case. Arrington previously served in the Colorado House of Representatives, and as a trustee of the Independence Institute, where I work.

Judge Moore formerly was a corporate lawyer (Davis, Graham and Stubbs, Denver), and then head Federal Public Defender for Colo. and Wyoming. He was appointed to the bench by President Obama in 2013, and confirmed unanimously.

Like several other towns in Boulder County, Superior recently outlawed semiautomatic centerfire rifles that have at least one supposedly bad characteristic, such as an adjustable stock; various semiautomatic shotguns; various semiautomatic handguns; and magazines with a capacity of over 10 rounds.

It was obvious that such arms are “commonly used by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes,” which is the Supreme Court’s rule from District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) for which arms are protected by the Second Amendment. First, the Colorado Attorney General and plaintiffs in an earlier case challenging the state of Colorado’s ban on magazines over 15 rounds had so stipulated. Colorado Outfitters Ass’n v. Hickenlooper, 24 F. Supp. 3d 1050, 1068 (D. Colo. 2014), vacated in part on other grounds and remanded, 823 F.3d 537 (10th Cir. 2016). (I represented 55 Colorado Sheriff plaintiffs in the case, which ended up with the 10th Circuit declaring that neither the Sheriffs nor the many other individual and organizational plaintiffs had standing.) Commonality was also found in the undisputed facts set forth in Fourth Circuit Judge Traxler’s dissenting opinion in Kolbe v. Hogan, 849 F.3d 114, 153-55 (4th Cir. 2017). The opinions of many other Circuit Courts provide additional, irrefutable proof of commonality; the banned firearms number in the millions, at least, and the banned magazines comprise over half of all magazines.

Pursuant to the Supreme Court’s recent decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, courts are supposed to decide Second Amendment cases on text, history, and tradition. Judge may not decide based on their own opinions about good policy, nor should they defer to legislative policy judgements. The policy  balancing was already conducted by the American people when they adopted the Second Amendment.

[ … ]

The Colorado plaintiffs also challenged Superior’s ban on open carry of handguns. Judge Moore denied the TRO motion against the open carry ban. As he accurately stated, Bruen affirms the right to bear arms, but also allows governments to decide whether the mode of carry shall be open or concealed. Since 2003 in Colorado, concealed carry permits have been available to adults with safety training who pass a fingerprint-based background check. A system that bans open carry while allowing concealed carry does not violate the Second Amendment.

At least one aspect of the ruling was correct.  All the judge can do is follow Bruen, and that decision allowed for bans on mode of carry as long as some mode of carry was allowed.

Of course, I disagree with that part of it as you know.

Via WRSA, The New Reich is not what we were told it would be. The “NeoNazi” far right threat we’re constantly warned about has all been projection, as the Left is well known for that Modis Operandi; they are the New Reich.

These symbols and rituals are more than just the window dressing of the New Normal Reich. They are how our new “reality” is being created and maintained. The masses are like actors being forced to emotionally invest in the “reality” of an absurdist stage play. The more they repeat the performance, the more convincing the fictional “reality” becomes, regardless of how patently absurd it is … and it is becoming more and more absurd.

Yes, it’s a religion. It is built on the vapor of faith in a thing that can only produce misery. The bosses of the New Reich know how destructive their plans will be; you are the virus.

And these are just a few recent examples. I don’t think I need to provide an exhaustive list. At this point, you are either well aware and capable of facing what’s happening, or you’re not, in which case you are telling yourself whatever you need to tell yourself in order to pretend that what is happening isn’t happening.

The New Reich is not LARPing. Being in a disarmed country, those folks have got to be kicking themselves.

This article at Task & Purpose provides some interesting information, as well as this one at Guns & Ammo.

Outdoor Life.

It’s a hiker’s nightmare: you’re on a remote trail with no cell service when your ankle rolls and breaks. You have no way to contact anyone for help, and no real hope that someone will happen to hike along and find you. As a bonus, you’re surrounded by bear scat.

That’s the position one hiker found herself in during a hike with her husband through Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. They were seven miles away from the trailhead—too far for the injured woman to hike out. So her husband made the tough call to leave his injured wife behind.

When he made it back to the trailhead, he made contact with authorities. As there were no local search and rescue organizations for this remote corner of the state, Two Bear Air Rescue attempted to send a helicopter to her location, near the Swift Dam along a fork of Birch Creek. But strong winds prevented the rescuers from landing near the injured hiker, and the copter was instead forced to drop off rescuers a mile and a half away.

When they hiked to the injured woman’s location, rescuers noticed bear scat all around her.

“There was grizzly bear poop everywhere,” they told the Idaho Statesman. After tending to the hiker’s injuries—her leg was broken in two places above the ankle—the rescuers then carried her piggyback to the landing site, arriving just as the sun was setting.

While the SAR team was able to get to the injured hiker before a grizzly encounter, rescuers don’t want hikers to take any chances, and they posted this reminder on their Facebook page: “When deep in the backcountry, bring a satellite communication device to save valuable time and enable the group to stay together.”

I’ve carried a satellite texting device with me in the deep backcountry before.  We found that it took between an hour and several hours to land with the recipient of the message, so there’s a delay from device to satellite to cell service to phone.  But even that would have been better than nothing.

That’s a decision I wouldn’t have made, even without communications gear.  I would have made her as comfortable as possible, prepared for the night by finding a protected and covered place to sleep, collected wood for a fire, and worked on a stretcher to drag her out myself.

Leaving her alone would simply not have been an option.

The assault weapons ban hearing is going about as well as you would imagine. Booker asks what the difference is between a semi auto rifle and semi auto handgun. When he gets an answer he doesn't like, he immediately pivots to Dr. Fuddlore pic.twitter.com/3OooAkZYDg

— Bad Weapon Takes (@BadWeaponTakes) July 20, 2022

By 500 yards the velocity of a 5.56mm round is about 1400 FPS out of a 20″ barrel (less out of 14.5″ or 16″).  The notion that a 55 grain bullet travelling at 1400 FPS could penetrate ballistic plating is so ludicrous that it’s laughable.  That’s similar to the muzzle velocity of a 22 LR.

The 5.56mm is great for CQB, but its strong suit doesn’t happen to be ballistic plate penetration at 500 yards.

The woman clearly doesn’t know anything about firearms or ballistics.  That’s clearly a gaggle of clowns twirling balls and riding unicycles in circles.  It’s just a freak show and circus.

Via WiscoDave.

Source.

Early on July 6, 2021, Leah Lokan awoke to a 417-pound grizzly bear a few feet from her tent, so close that she heard when the bear “huffed” at her head.

“Bear! Bear!” Lokan yelled, prompting Joe and Kim Cole — two other cyclists camping in the small town of Ovando as they trekked across Montana — to spring from their nearby tent, armed with bear spray and clamoring as much as possible, according to a 26-page report addressed by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee’s executive body earlier this month.

The bear fled.

After scaring it off, Lokan, a 65-year-old visiting from Chico, Calif., moved food out of her tent to a nearby building. She armed herself with a can of bear spray. She declined an offer to stay in a hotel for the night. Then, she and the Coles returned to their respective tents.

Lokan’s extra precautionary measures weren’t enough. The bear returned about an hour after the first encounter and mauled her to death.

A year later, wildlife officials said the bear that killed her had developed a “predatory instinct.” Although they couldn’t determine exactly how such an instinct evolved, food and toiletries inside and near Lokan’s tent, as well as the lingering smell of cooked food from July Fourth picnic celebrations, likely played a role.

“While foraging under the cover of darkness in Ovando, perhaps due to a simple movement made by the sleeping victim, or a certain sound made by the victim, the bear reacted,” the committee’s board of review wrote in their Jan. 4 report, which was discussed earlier this month during the executive body’s summer meeting. The 11-member review board included officials from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and the U.S. Forest Service.

The bolded section highlights three bad decisions.  She should never have had food in her tent to begin with.  Next, bear spray isn’t enough.  Third, a hotel rather than a tent near city establishments would have been a better choice.

Getting rid of food is essential.  Protection is necessary.  A large bore handgun would have been the right medicine.

Romans 8

“16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” – Romans 8:16-17

The Holy Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit. This is a stumbling block, a significant hurdle for American Christians. They have allowed the carnal mind, which cannot be subject (Romans 8:7), to rule them, making their spirit of no effect in the Kingdom of God. If you are a blood-bought, redeemed son in Christ, and joint heir together with Him, then your spirit should agree with the Almighty.

Romans 8 is one of those cherry-picking chapters where people load up on the blessings and see none of the duty. There’s the discussion of pre-destination sometimes misused by all sides. There’s verse 15 in which the New Religion cries Abba Father but are paralyzed by fear, glued to the news cycle, readily adapting to the decrees of antichrist governments against that which is holy. And there’s verse 37, we are conquerors through Christ, but conquerors of what, they cannot say other than worldly carnal musings.

Likewise, Christians, if that’s what they are, love 1 John 4:19, but without boldness living in fear, what of verse 18 before it and verse 17? Who among us, having the early century martyrs as our example, stood boldly when the world was told to cower in fear over flu? There is no fear in the love of God, and if our spirit bears witness with the Holy Spirit, we do not walk contrary to God but abide in power and love without fear. And verses 38 and 39 in Romans 8 are often cited by those living in comfort and ease, untested, never serving, denying Christ in deed, having gushing words about God, and not a drop of the service wherewith we are called to bear fruit. And verse 36, are they who won’t live for the King ready to die for Him?

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” – Romans 8:35

Fear of not fitting in, fear of not being liked, fear of appearing to be different; these are nothing. Massive problems loomed during the first century, and today American Christians are being tested at the hand of God’s supreme and sovereign power; do they know it? This is not a prophetic statement; it’s Scripture. If you are Christ’s, He will never stop loving you, but you can exit the love of God coming under chastisement instead for failure to follow Him in tribulation. The American Church failed massively, and with so few exceptions, it must be called a complete failure for the past three years. And given that Roe has been overturned, where are the large Church organizations galvanizing in each state?

When they teach verse 35, they apply it personally to Paul and his situation without instructing the brethren on how to prepare for these things. Do they consider these afflictions possible today? American Christians must realize that our spirit is to bear witness together with the Holy Spirit.

No man knows the degree of pain and suffering while we await His return. These things need to be settled in your mind now. They must be discussed with family, among the trusted and faithful brethren at Church, purposing in your heart to prepare. All things that proceed out of a man come from the heart. The body is weak, and the mind makes war on the Spirit; if you prepare only in your mind and with stuff, you can talk the talk, but it’s in your spirit where God will find you, and unless your heart agrees with God, you will falter, perhaps even denying Christ. If your soul is not right with God, you will fail the coming temporal, carnal, and earthly tests. Every true and faithful Christian is tested, regardless of a current global or national situation. Without the purpose of heart, no physical preparation can sustain a man; the Holy Spirit of God leading the believer is where iron is sharpened against a day of judgment.

“13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” – Romans 8:13-15

There are levels of application to be made in verse 13. First and foremost, without salvation from death and hell by the forgiveness of sin in Christ Jesus, being dammed already, your eternal death awaits. And in the spirit of the believer, living after the desires of your body, you will have no heart for the trials that appear to be lining up. Without a true purpose in the love of Christ, the Christian cannot function within the Kingdom of God, reverting to the kings of this world and our present time and pursuits of vanity, forgetting the hope of Christ that lives in us (Romans 8:24-25).

No man can lose his eternal salvation, but to be clear as a bell with any who read this, if you only have a form of godliness, mere religion, a hearer of the word and self-deceived about your eternal soul’s condition, you will die. Life eternal is to those that are His, not by sacraments, not by earthly priests, nor denominations, not by works of righteousness that we have done, but by Christ.

Because verse 14 shows the only way, our spirit must agree with the Spirit of Holy God, “For as many as are led.” Who is your master, your king, what spirit do you fear? What spirit is in you; those that are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God, and none other! The spirit of bondage to any other is not of God, for we are bound in the Spirit of God, Christ the heir of all things, we being a joint heir with Him, there is no spirit of fear, no spirit of bondage, but as many that have the Spirit of God, they have a Father which art in Heaven.

“25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. 26 Many seek the ruler’s favour; but every man’s judgment cometh from the LORD.” – Proverbs 29:25-26

And if bound in the Spirit of God, our spirit bearing witness to the same, you are loosed from a heart of fear and bondage toward the kings and tyrants of this world. The closing in of tribulation, distress, persecutions, famine, nakedness, peril, or sword from this world cannot hold you if you are bound to Christ by the Spirit of God in you. There is no fear in the love of God; now we, led by the Spirit, the sons of God being conformed to the image of God’s own Son, mortifying the deeds of the flesh, rejecting any and every spirit of bondage, receiving the adoption from the same Spirit, with Christ, heirs of Heaven, we cry, Abba, Father!

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” – Romans 8:26

The Kingdom of God is built for tribulations. Don’t breeze past that sentence. The Kingdom of God is designed for the hardcore, ugly days of evil upon the land, afflictions, and sufferings all around. The believer can compromise away his rights in the Kingdom if led by the spirit of fear; that’s the only way you can lose. We, those born again of the Spirit of God, have a Kingdom with a multi-failsafe power in our heart’s needs. But not only that, the Kingdom of God is built to withstand time. God didn’t create a pretty good Kingdom struggling to get by for those that dwell in Him. It’s constructed to withstand anything, for it’s the forerunner of God’s eternal Kingdom, His Son coming again to take full possession; it shall not pass, nor shall the believer. But so too, here now, the Kingdom of God has no equal. It can’t be torn down; it can’t lose a war; it can’t be destroyed; none shall overthrow it.

The Holy Spirit of God in us helps with our infirmities. Well, sure, often misapplied to verse 26, but a Bible truth nonetheless, He is our comforter, but the infirmity spoken of in verse 26 is our lack to pray as we ought. God knows what you have need of; what God wants is you, all of you, your very spirit. Pray, pray past the desires of your body, the needs of your flesh, pray until you can think of nothing to pray; knowing not what you ought, heart naked, alone with the Almighty, soul bared open, every fear and care evaporated, left where you ought; alone only in the fear of God. That’s where your spirit comes into bond with the Spirit of God, making intercession on our behalf, for what could you say to God? There’s nothing left to say, He is God, you are the clay, but dust, life a vapor; He gave you your conscience spirit, breathed it into being, the might and glory and majesty of Power at the throne that spoke the worlds into being, and you come unto that which is Holy. The scariest prayer you’ll ever make has a life-changing effect to follow; Lord, I’ll do whatever you want. Now you agree with God our King, ruler of Heaven and earth.

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” – Romans 8:34

Outside of the will of God, that is where we lose and the only place we can—justified by God, who can make any accusation of merit against His soldiers? It’s Jesus Christ that died on the cross, tortured to death for your sins. But the Kingdom of God, being made to withstand even death itself, Christ rose from the grave again on the third day proving the Scriptures true. The power of the Creator of life eternal is absolute and confirms the earnest of the promise beforehand that the Holy Spirit of God would dwell within us. It’s Christ that died for His inheritance, those that are His. Yea rather, that is risen again from the tomb and ever liveth to make intercession by faith; seated at the right hand of God, Christ continues to make mediation. The accuser of the brethren is defeated; Christ the daysman makes our case in the power of the resurrection unto eternal life. The Kingdom of God by the Holy Spirit in you has redundant intercessors and continual advocates with the Almighty; although God will remind you that it’s He who works through you, though you falter, you cannot fail in the will of the Father.

What place have the kings of this world with us? If you believe these things, if so be that we suffer whatever they may bring, we suffer it with Him. What is that to a child of the LORD most high, knowing that we may also be glorified together with Christ Jesus.

We have not the spirit of fear but of the power of God, and His love, and soundness of mind. At the moment of faith, you received all this, but be sure, it’s those that are led by the Spirit, whithersoever He listeth, that see the Kingdom of God, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.

It’s why the would-be rulers of this world hate Christ and fear the Kingdom of God. If, as at times in church history, we had no fear of the tribulations, carrying on as though the petty powers of hell have no control, then brothers and sisters, fearless by the Spirit of God in us, what kingdom of men can stand; for we have a King that cannot fail and a kingdom that cannot be ended if you do not wane in the calling of Christ to remain in the will of God; walking after the Spirit.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” – Romans 8:1

The ATF wants to perform an audit in the show-me state.  From reader Wes, the Missouri AG told the ATF to stay away from Missouri.  This is a good letter, but misses one important aspect.  More on that in a moment.

Here’s an update from Sheriff Bryan Whitney.

“As the sheriff of Scotland County, I want all my citizens to know that I will not allow, cooperate or release any CCW information to the FBI, ‘even at the threat of a federal arrest,’” Republican Scotland County Sheriff Bryan Whitney wrote to residents of his community on Monday.

“Point Blank, ‘I will go down with the ship if need be,’” the letter, which was reviewed by Fox News Digital on Tuesday, said.

Whitney said he was prompted to send the letter to his community in northeastern Missouri after he was alerted to the FBI audit set to be carried out in 24 counties in Missouri next month. It’s unclear which counties will be included in the audit.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt also demanded that the FBI “cease their attempts to illegally obtain information from local sheriffs on Missourians who have concealed carry permits,” and sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray on the matter last week.

“The FBI has absolutely no business poking around in the private information of those who have obtained a concealed carry permit in Missouri,” Schmitt said, according to a press release. “The Second Amendment rights of Missourians will absolutely not be infringed on my watch. I will use the full power of my Office to stop the FBI, which has become relentlessly politicized and has virtually no credibility, from illegally prying around in the personal information of Missouri gun owners.”

Schmitt outlined to Wray that under Missouri law it is illegal to share the confidential list with the federal government. The law was passed after “it became known that the Obama Administration wanted to know which Missourians had firearms, supposedly to establish who was entitled to federal benefits.”

No, no, no, no, no, and a thousand times no.  NO!

Don’t go “down with the ship.”  Do your job and keep the ship from sinking to begin with.

Send your deputies to arrest agents of the FedGov as soon as they cross the county line and throw them in prison.  Only release them at the county line, sending them packing on their way back to whatever rock they crawled out from under.

Do the right thing, Sheriff.  Protect the citizens of your county.  This is what the AG should have said.  They will be arrested if they try to do this.

I cannot locate any email address for the Sheriff or I would send this to him for encouragement to do the right thing.

Source.

“He engaged the gunman from quite a distance with a handgun and was very proficient in that, very tactically sound,” Ison said of Dicken. “And as he moved to close in on the suspect, he was also motioning for people to exit behind him.”

Dicken fired 10 rounds from his handgun, according to the chief, and that as he fired, the gunman “attempted to retreat back into the restroom and failed, and fell to the ground after being shot.”

Concerned for his backstop, long distance shooting, ten rounds discharged quickly, and people saved.  To be more specific, Eli Dicken shot a Glock 9mm from 40 yards away, discharging ten rounds within 15 seconds, and landing 8 out of 10 rounds.

We should all be so good with our handguns.  Not many of us will ever carry a long gun around in public.  It pays to practice with your carry gun.

He should have said “I do not allow law enforcement on my property without a warrant.  I’m calling 911 now about your trespassing, and if you return, you must have a warrant.

This is just an idiotic fishing expedition.  That cop who’s with the ATF agents should be ashamed of himself.