Archive for the 'Gun Control' Category

By now you’ve seen the tyrannical declarations of the New Mexico governor.  Here they are in all of their sordid detail.  She doesn’t think oaths mean anything at all.

The Governor of New Mexico has just declared the 1st & 2nd Amendment “does not exist” due to an “emergency.”

Under this legal theory *all* of our “rights” are essentially eliminated.

Watch the most evil & tyrannical 60 seconds you’ve ever heard from a politician: pic.twitter.com/xLpMSTbyi2

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 9, 2023

I wonder if her husband, Manuel Cordova, thinks the same way about oaths?  Anyway, this declaration has drawn a firestorm of reaction.  I told my family that it wouldn’t last through the week.  In fact, it didn’t last that long.  There are already protests, and promises to disobey the unconstitutional edict, and even more importantly, her own enforcers aren’t on her side.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, who once served as a Democratic party leader and was appointed by Lujan Grisham, on Saturday joined Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Police Chief Harold Medina saying they wouldn’t enforce the order.

“As an officer of the court, I cannot and will not enforce something that is clearly unconstitutional,” said Bregman, the top prosecutor in the Albuquerque area. “This office will continue to focus on criminals of any age that use guns in the commission of a crime.”

Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said he was uneasy about how gun owners might respond.

Yeah, he should be.  Next up, on Monday morning the federal courts will face at least two emergency cases from briefs filed over the weekend.  One is friend of this blog Stephen Stamboulieh working for GOA.  Here is the brief.  The second has been filed by the National Association of Gun Rights.

Perhaps the district attorney knows about this and doesn’t want to be responsible for bankrupting New Mexico.  The governor has given every gun owner in Albuquerque a way to make quick money if this is true.

Finally, Fenix ammunition posted a warning to the Governor.  There are consequences to her actions.

The beacons have been lit.@GovMLG – we are going to flood your state with ordnance.

We’re offering free shipping on ammunition to your entire state until you resign, or until you’re impeached.

The choice is yours. pic.twitter.com/UE2wW8oJFN

— Feni Ammunition (@FenixAmmunition) September 9, 2023

For those who don’t grok the big picture, this has all been done under a “health” order.  The controllers got a taste of unlimited power under the Covid regime, and they liked it.  They are addicted to the power and want more.  This is a trial balloon, and the Governor must be disobeyed, stopped, and held accountable.

Other than actual firearms confiscations, this is a recapitulation of what happened in New Orleans during Katrina.  In this case, the stakes aren’t quite as high – there is no going about armed.  But if she could effect confiscation, she would.

On that subject, I sent out an email thread earlier today where I said this.

This is a very big deal.  She isn’t some loose cannon.  They’re probing for weaknesses.
This is similar to the firearms confiscations in New Orleans during Katrina.  I never got full resolution on exactly what happened with Katrina and there are open issues for me on that.

I exchanged email with Gen. Honore and he pointed the finger of blame at the Mayor of NO rather than himself or the NG (who accompanied the thugs who went door-to-door).  He tried to distance himself from it all and said he wasn’t involved.

I met two guys at a gun show in Charlotte who I think were involved as contractors going door-to-door. They were jerks.  The general’s finger pointing makes a bit of sense to me given Posse Comitatus.

I submitted a FOIA on whether the NG troops were armed and under arming orders, and if so, who issued the orders.  Whenever troops are armed, (1) range time and qualifications must be conducted, (2) arming orders must be issues, and finally, (3) the lawyers (JAGS) have to write and train the troops on RUF/ROE (rules for the use of force, rules of engagement – in this case, I suspect RUF rather than ROE).

I never got an answer to the FOIA.  I exchanged email with the state two more times.  The first time someone seemed to take it seriously and told me he would follow up. The second time, he ignored me.  It was never completed.  A number of years old now, it hangs out there as an incomplete FOIA.

Did Gov. Bobby Jendel have his AG issue arming orders?  Did the troops have ammo in their mags?  Did the JAGS write RUF?  Who conducted the confiscations?  Was it all at the hands of a rogue city major of NO?  Was General Honore involved? After all, he is a known gun controller.

Inquiring minds want to know.

This is just a recapitulation of firearm confiscations in NO, but under a different pretext. In this case, no one can go about armed.

The bottom line is that there will be massive disobedience, her enforcers won’t enforce her edict, if they do she be responsible for giving gun owners a get-rich-quick scheme on behalf of the government of New Mexico, she will be in court on Monday, and her state is going to be flooded with ordnance.  She is in way, way, way over her head.  She shouldn’t have listened to the current administration when they decided to launch the trial balloon in her state.

I wonder if she thought about “unintended consequences?”

UPDATE #1:

From Legal Insurrection, four lawsuits filed so far.

Hey Ted, conceal and open carry are state laws that I have jurisdiction over. If you’re really interested in helping curb gun violence, I’d welcome you to join our next police academy class. https://t.co/Odf9fNbO2W https://t.co/17ca1dYpLc

— Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (@GovMLG) September 10, 2023

Imagine someone thinking that because she’s the governor, she can suspend state laws regardless of the House and Senate. That’s the “republic” we live in.

Apparently, the target of the raid is a pastor who had an FFL. The BATFE coerced him into surrendering his license. All licenses are just borrowed liberties that the issuer has no right to sell, but that’s another story. Oklahoma state Rep. Justin Humphrey (R-Lane) is about to learn what many Americans fear but won’t come to grips with. The oligarchy runs the permanent bureaucracy; state and federal legislatures have no real power anymore.

Since he surrendered his license, the ATF now has access to his 4473s. Expect more raids both of buyers and sellers.

According to a press release, Humphrey said he was contacted by Fincher after a dozen ATF SWAT team members bearing “automatic weapons” raided Fincher’s home, handcuffed him on his porch in front of his 13-year-old son and coerced him into relinquishing his Federal Firearm License.

“If this report is true, and I have every reason to believe it is, then it would appear the ATF’s actions constitute a gross misuse and abuse of their federal police powers,” Humphrey said in the press release.

Fincher’s ordeal was chronicled in a story published in July. The 52-year-old is a high school teacher, a Baptist pastor and a parttime gun dealer.

“Mr. Fincher is a distinguished figure in our community, serving both as pastor and schoolteacher in the small community of Clayton, Oklahoma. He is known as a respected member of the community, and I have every reason to believe his account. If proven true, the actions of the ATF agents could be seen as a severe misuse and abuse of their federal law enforcement authority,” Humphrey wrote in the letter to the AG, Governor and Sheriff. “Mr. Fincher claimed that the intent of the raid was evidently to coerce him into terminating his license. He said agents pressured him to declare that he was willingly signing the three prepared termination papers. He explained that he felt coerced due to the armed agents and the threatening environment. He likened the agents’ actions to extortion rather than a proper law enforcement search. One agent reportedly warned, ‘Tell your firearms buddies we are coming after them.’ If true, this statement appears to be an unlawful threat by the agent.”

Humphrey, who chairs Oklahoma’s Criminal Justice and Corrections Committee, believes the ATF violated Fincher’s Second and Fourth Amendment rights.

This is classic tyranny; find the most upstanding man you can and humiliate him to intimidate the populous. BATFE agents swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. Figure that out.

Lee Williams writing at Ammoland.

The story was written by one of the Trace’s senior fabulists, Jennifer Mascia, who is “currently the lead writer of the Ask The Trace series and tracks news developments on the gun beat.” Mascia has also led the Trace’s hilarious we’re journalists, not activists, propaganda campaign on social media.

Mascia claims her story was a response to a reader’s question: “Many gun owners claim to buy assault-style rifles for defense. So how many documented cases are out there where someone actually defended themselves with an assault-style rifle?”

You can read the rest at Ammoland.  Jennifer is trying to assist the controllers in changing the subject from “in common use for legal purposes” to actually having used a weapon for self defense.  First of all, she doesn’t know anything about that regardless of what she claims.  No one can go to news reports and find every instance they need for a comprehensive study.  For example, use of the weapon might have been to flash the rifle muzzle at home invaders only for the invaders to run.  With that said, I think I could come up with quite a few instances myself, but that’s not really the point of this, and we’ll get to more later on this subject when you listen to Professor Mark Smith below.

Let’s turn our attention to Jennifer for a moment.  I’ve had an exchange with Jennifer before.  Let’s review, shall we?

I had a rather protracted conversation with someone who writes under the nom de guerre Tommy Gnosis.  Not that I care that deeply, but something sounded strange about the comments, like they had no particular bearing, were inconsistent, or feinted support for individual rights but didn’t do a good job of hiding the fact that it was all just a distraction.

So I did a little bit of research.  Tommy Gnosis is someone named Jennifer Mascia, who has her own web site.  In fact, she was one of the authors of the now defunct “The Gun Report” for the New York Times.  Recall that report?  That awful, hideous, dreary rundown of shootings every day?  As if all we have to do is remove those awful guns from society and sin goes away because evil is located in things rather than the heart of man (a noted neo-Platonic and stoic view).

Anyway, I did an IP trace and found that the address was owned by Bloomberg.  It makes sense, since I also found out that she works for Bloomberg via Everytown For Gun Safety.  Her Disqus account is active, and features snark, misdirects, sarcasm, insults, and most of all, prose designed to demoralize and demonstrate the complete impotence of whatever group she is berating at the moment.  The prose is designed to cause depression and dejection.

Here is the lesson.  Bloomberg is paying her to visit web sites – particularly gun rights web sites – and spread discontent and dejection.

The exchange continues.

Hi Herschel,

I am not paid to comment here, or anywhere, nor have I ever been. There is no “tactic.” I have never worked for a political organization or a nonprofit, only media companies, and before that, restaurants. No one at Everytown knows I comment here. I actually don’t work with the advocacy arm of Everytown. The news site will be staffed with journalists, not lobbyists. We have zero to do with elections or phone banks. We won’t be working with Everytown staffers.

Her Disqus account was by “Tommy Gnosis.”  I outed her and she posted as “Guest.”  She responded that she isn’t paid to comment anywhere.  There is no “tactic.”  She claimed no relationship at all to Bloomberg.  Now we find out that her use of an IP address that pointed back to Bloomberg was no coincidence.  She is indeed trafficking in propaganda, and she is in the employ of Bloomberg.  Let’s continue with Codrea’s second article on Bloomberg’s next move.

“Tommy Gnosis is someone named Jennifer Mascia,” Herschel Smith at The Captain’s Journal posted in March. He was describing someone who, under cover of anonymity, “visits web sites — particularly gun rights web sites — and spreads discontent and dejection.”

That’s consistent with the “elaborate subterfuge” technique for “infiltrating and disrupting alternative media online” used by those with an agenda. Per Canadian research, such “Internet trolls aren’t just mean — they’re sadists and psychopaths.”

That would also seem consistent with the control-all megalomaniac who hired her, in a company-he-keeps kind of way. Mascia is one of two paid flacks “attached prominently to the Everytown news project,” an experiment in virtual Astroturf that billionaire Michael Bloomberg will be rolling out this summer.

David then goes on to explore her past as daughter of a mob hit man.

What drives Mascia is anybody’s guess, but chances are her father having been an underworld killer with multiple hits under his belt had an influence. That probably comes as a surprise to many gun rights advocates, unaware that Al Jazeera told its readers “America’s best hope for tracking gun deaths is a mob enforcer’s daughter,” and Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action gushed on social media that her story was “Amazing.”

[ … ]

As for pushing Jennifer around, I’ve made clear that if you want to come in this back yard and run with the big dogs, you’d better be prepared for some rough business.  And as for Jennifer herself, you weren’t entirely honest with us, were you?

David Codrea’s First Article

David Codrea’s Second Article

Well there you have it.  She’s bought and paid for by Michael Bloomberg.  She came in under a nom de guerre to spread hate and discontent.  I outed her.  Even then she denied it because she’s a liar.

So why is she trying to assist the controllers in this one specific issue?  Listen carefully to Mark Smith below.  They want the supreme court to change the test in Bruen and Heller from “in common use for lawful purposes” to something else, and they have chosen the Rahimi case for all of their hate towards gun owners.  They see this as their golden opportunity.

I’ve told you what I think.  I think the women on the court, including Barrett and Roberts, side with the controllers and end of changing the rules back to something the DOJ and ATF likes much better.  I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.  There was no particularly compelling reason for them to have taken this case to begin with.

One commenter to the video below remarks, “As I recall, when the DOJ bought AR-15s a few years back, the Request for Purchase form listed them as “personal defense weapons.” Can’t have it both ways.”  I’ll add to this.  If the AR-15 is so bad for use in defense situations, tell me why the U.S. government agencies have so many rifles – some noted as “assault rifles” – in their inventory as personal defense weapons?

Tennessee Republicans ended the legislature’s special session for gun control today. No Red Flag law was passed. Of course, a communist from Memphis assaulted Speaker Sexton, which is plainly on film. The media refuses to say who “started it” because they are also communists. The assault took place after the gavel. The Republicans will probably end up apologizing for the communists’ assault; that’s what they do: capitulate and whimper.

The result of the session is they reallocated one-time money to the state’s “mental health” bureaucracy. And they made gun safes tax-free. We’ll see how Governor Lee fares going forward. This certainly weakens his political power considerably. All of this is pulled from news sources and probably half wrong. No news sources were linked here; it’s all so very tiresome what they do. I doubt we’ll follow up at TCJ.

Hats off to the Republicans for standing their ground. The communists will be back; they never rest.

This smells like an NRA bait and switch, offering a carrot to a select few, while the real purpose is general gun control. The Tennessee special session of the legislature for gun control is now being held. It was called by Governor Bill Lee because he’s probably being paid off. It’s always about the money with politicians. Of course, mad cat ladies against guns have taken a break from drinking box wine to be there, along with “covenant moms” weeping on cue for the cameras. Throw in the added effect of staged ejections by the self-proclaimed pious (probably paid) demonstrators, and it’s all so very tiresome. Suffrage is ruinous.

Both GOP-sponsored bills that advanced in the House Civil Justice Subcommittee would open the door to people other than law enforcement officers having guns in schools.

One measure would let a teacher or school staff member carry a concealed handgun after completing 40 hours of certified training in school policing at their own expense, as well as passing a mental health evaluation and FBI background check.

It would be up to the local district whether to let employees carry firearms under the legislation sponsored by Rep. Ryan Williams of Cookeville and Sen. Paul Bailey of Sparta.

But the school’s parents and students would not have to be notified under this legislation, which runs counter to the GOP’s emphasis on parental rights and notification in other areas of education, such as curriculum and library materials.

A second bill would allow a person with an enhanced permit, which requires eight hours of training, to carry a handgun openly or concealed in any K-12 public school building, campus, or bus. The proposal also would apply to law enforcement officers and military personnel, whether on duty, off duty, or retired.

The bill, sponsored by Bailey in the Senate and Rep. Chris Todd of Jackson, is opposed by Lee’s administration, which budgeted an extra $140 million this spring to place a full-time, armed officer in every public school in the state, beginning this school year.

Todd countered that many schools still don’t have SROs because of a shortage of law enforcement officers. And he noted that private schools already can set policies so that some employees carry handguns.

Several citizens spoke against any measures that would place additional burdens on teachers.

Sarah Shoop Neumann, a parent at The Covenant School, said she believes the tragedy would have been worse if teachers had focused on anything but keeping students safe in their classrooms as the shooter walked the hallways.

Fighting back tears, she recounted conversations with Covenant teachers who described how their hands shook while they worked to keep their students quiet, hidden, and secure.

“They are heroes,” she said. “They enacted every protocol in place perfectly, and they could not have done those things if they were also meant to be armed and go out and attack the shooter.”

[…]

Currently, special session business is scheduled through Thursday, although leaders could extend it several more days.

Also Tuesday, three bills to create so-called extreme risk protection orders failed in the same House subcommittee where members of the public were kicked out. Those bills, sponsored by Democratic Rep. Bob Freeman of Nashville, would allow courts to order temporary removal of firearms from people at risk of hurting themselves or others.

I don’t trust any of this. Never trust a politician with life, rights, liberties, or money. I won’t believe this is over until the lights are off and doors locked, and then I, along with millions of other Tennesseans, will hate Governor Lee forever for even thinking of calling this special session. I never trusted him from the time he told me that police would have to be consulted about the feasibility of Constitutional Carry, as though the king’s armed guard grants rights. Many prominent people are saying this special session stunt has finished his career. All he had to do was nothing.

Authorities said the 28-year-old shooter at the Covenant School was seeing a doctor for an “emotional disorder” and had legally obtained multiple weapons.

Sodomites don’t have an emotional disorder; they have a devil!

It looks like a police version of the FBI Q-target test. You can read the introductory thoughts here. Below is what the link indicates is the New Jersey CCW Qualification course. It’s undoubtedly discriminatory against folks with disabilities, especially those at the most risk of requiring self-defense with a firearm, such as the elderly, infirm, and young women. We’re not against continued intermediate and even advanced handgun tactics training, but all licensing to buy back your God-ordained duties is wickedness.

Vintage training

New Jersey’s new CCW qualification standards have been criticized for being too high, too rigid and too much like a police qualification course. The critics are right. This is nothing but a decades-old police qualification course revamped and repackaged for civilians. It does not reflect current best practices, far from it. The tactics and techniques it requires applicants to master were state-of-the-art in the 1990s.

Unrealistic score

New Jersey requires a 50-round qualification course, which uses an “FBI-type Q-target,” which looks like an oversized milk bottle. To pass, students must somehow achieve a score of 80% or 40 rounds within the border of the Q-target.

25-yards

Applicants must fire four rounds kneeling and three rounds standing at a 25-yard target. This precludes most new shooters from using popular concealed-carry firearms, such as smaller and easier to conceal 9mms, .380s or short-barrel revolvers. Sure, there are some who can make consistent hits at 25-yards with any handgun, regardless of its size. However, many new shooters have difficulty hitting beyond 15 yards.

Twenty-five yards is an unrealistic test for civilian concealed carry. While there are certainly a few incredible exceptions, most deadly-force encounters involving civilians occur much closer, usually within spitting distance.

Open-carry holster

This qualification course is designed to use an open-carry holster, worn either outside or inside the waistband. However, only law enforcement officers can openly carry handguns in New Jersey. Civilians must carry their defensive firearms concealed. Therefore, why test them on their ability to draw and fire from an open-carry holster? Most ranges won’t even allow drawing from the holster, so where can civilians train this technique other than dry firing at home?

Kneeling

In a gunfight, once your knees touch the ground you’re stationary, and stationary targets don’t survive very long.

Shooting from the kneeling position is an old-school law enforcement tactic, not unlike shooting a handgun from the prone position. Testing a civilian’s ability to shoot from the kneeling position is lunacy.

Like drawing from the holster, most private ranges don’t allow their customers to practice from the kneeling position. One range I know that did quickly abandoned the practice after a customer positioned their target too close and put five rounds into the ceiling.

Additionally, there are many shooters who cannot kneel because they suffer mobility issues or use a wheelchair. Are they to be denied their Second Amendment rights because of their disability?

Forcing applicants to kneel violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires “state and local governments including their criminal justice agencies to comply with the ADA.”

New Jersey’s AG and its state police should be ashamed of their “ableist” misdeeds.

Point shoulder

“On command, from a secured holster position, draw and fire 3 rounds in 5 seconds from a point-shoulder position,” the training document states.

Those words haven’t been spoken at an American gun range for quite some time, yet New Jersey still plans to require its concealed-carry applicants to shoot from the point-shoulder position.

The point-shoulder or Weaver stance was developed by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Jack Weaver in the 1950s. It fell out of favor among law enforcement tactical trainers decades ago, because by blading their body toward the threat it exposed the officer’s side, which was not protected by body armor.

While the point-shoulder position has remained popular with some competitive shooters, nowadays, most instructors teach a modified isosceles shooting position, which was first developed by Tier One trainers. It’s more natural and not as awkward as the point-shoulder because it makes it easier to absorb recoil and track moving targets.

Offhand

New Jersey requires concealed-carry applicants to draw using their strong hand, transfer their weapon to their support/weak hand and then fire three rounds in two seconds at a 5-yard target.

Offhand shooting requires constant practice because it is not a natural skill. While it is a prerequisite for police and military shooters, it has no place in a qualification test for civilians – other than to prevent them from achieving a passing grade.

Besides, has there ever been a documented defensive shooting where a civilian was forced to transition their handgun to their off hand?

Govovnor, and traitor to freemen, Bill Lee, officially called his special legislative session on the 8th of August 2023 in an effort to usurp your God-ordained duties. The session is scheduled to start on the 21st.

Mental health major theme of Lee’s legislative package

Lee pledged to specifically support mental health reforms, a mental health coverage waiver and promoting safe storage of firearms, though he is blocking any legislation that would implement penalties related to safe storage laws.

“As our nation faces evolving public safety threats, Tennessee remains vigilant and is taking continued action to protect communities while preserving the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens,” Lee said in a statement.

“In the months leading up to the public safety special session, we have listened to Tennesseans and worked with members of the General Assembly to identify thoughtful, practical measures to strengthen public safety across our state, including steps to support law enforcement, address mental health, prevent violent crime and stop human trafficking. I thank the General Assembly for its continued partnership and look forward to achieving meaningful results for Tennesseans.”

Lee’s administrative package includes:

• Codifying his executive order dealing with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and background checks. The proposal requires reporting of accurate, complete and timely records from court clerks to the TBI within 72-hours and requires electronic submissions of dispositions and expungements to the TBI.
• A TennCare mental health coverage waiver to allow federal matching funds for Medicaid to cover mental health and substance abuse services;
• Budget initiatives prioritizing hiring and retaining mental health professionals in the state;
• Eliminating certain practice requirements for psychiatric nurse training to expand access to mental health treatment;
• Greenlighting DNA collection at the time of arrest for felony crimes;
• Directing TBI to report on the state of human trafficking in Tennessee;
• Eliminating taxes on firearm safes and other safe storage initiatives.

“The Governor has requested and informed the General Assembly of the call for special session on Aug. 21,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, said in a joint statement with House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, and House GOP Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby. “We look forward to the opportunity to strengthen public safety and mental health resources without infringing on the rights of law-abiding Tennesseans.”

Congratulations Trump.  Amy Coney Barrett votes with the communists.  Yet another failure.  You could have chosen Judge Don Willett instead.  This is on you.

As you likely know, Justice Alito has given the federal government until Tuesday, or in other words, extended the stay on Judge’s Reed O’Conner’s vacatur of the new ATF rule to serialize incomplete lower receivers.  Of course, we don’t know where this is all headed.  The SCOTUS could remand this for decision consistent with Bruen, or sustain the vacatur for parties involved, or they have other options.  Since this emergency appeal by the DOJ has been accepted by the SCOTUS, doing nothing is now not possible.  They will do something, but we’ll have to wait until Tuesday to find out (or perhaps Wednesday).

Below, professor Mark Smith does a service by reviewing the history of firearms serialization in both the U.K and America.  There is basically no history of serialization in America, and certainly no history of requiring firearms to be serialized at the time of our founding.  In other words, there is no analogue law to which the DOJ and ATF can turn.  It isn’t enough to say that firearms loaned to the militia by the government were serialized.  That was for a different purpose, i.e., tracking government property.  The ATF rule pertains to privately owned firearms.

Watch all of Mark Smith’s presentation.  But before you get to that, remember that the founders toted long guns to school with them in order to hunt on the way to and from classes.  Those were either purchased from a smith (with no serialization) or self-made (of course, with no serialization).  The founders would have opposed such schema.

In 1 Samuel 13:19f, we read this.

Now no blacksmith could be found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears.” So all Israel went down to the Philistines, each to sharpen his plowshare, his mattock, his axe, and his hoe. The charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares, the mattocks, the forks, and the axes, and to fix the cattle goads.

This is considered by commentators to be a great evil.  Matthew Henry comments, “See how politic the Philistines were when they had power; they not only prevented the people of Israel from making weapons of war, but obliged them to depend upon their enemies, even for instruments of husbandry. How impolitic Saul was, who did not, in the beginning of his reign, set himself to redress this. Want of true sense always accompanies want of grace. Sins which appear to us very little, have dangerous consequences. Miserable is a guilty, defenceless nation; much more those who are destitute of the whole armour of God.”  In Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, we read this.  “Now there was no smith found throughout … Israel—The country was in the lowest state of depression and degradation. The Philistines, after the great victory over the sons of Eli, had become the virtual masters of the land. Their policy in disarming the natives has been often followed in the East. For repairing any serious damage to their agricultural implements, they had to apply to the neighboring forts.”  John Gill remarks “this they did to prevent their having arms, and the use of them, that they might not rebel against them, and fight with them, and overcome them; it was a piece of policy to keep them subject to them.”

Subjection of others is always the goal.  As I’ve observed before, the desire to control others is the signal pathology of the wicked.  Men who would become the almighty desire to steal the power and authority of the most high God to themselves, and the result is always tyranny.  Those rulers are always fake, a ghost of righteousness, a phantom, unreal, a vapor in the wind.  There is nothing righteous about tyrannical rulers, but the history of tyranny is dark.  In the twentieth century, some 212,000,000 souls were lost at the hands of tyrannical governments across the globe.

The firearms serialization schema is sinful, and points to deeper problems of the soul among those who call for such control over other men.  Control over other men never leads to righteous results.

Never compromise with this wickedness.  Oppose it at every turn.  Take names and hold grudges.

Prior: The American Tradition of Self Made Arms