Archive for the 'Gun Control' Category

We’ve discussed this before, but here is an example case that should send chills up the spine of every veteran in America.

I’m not here asking for legal advice, just soliciting unqualified experience, anecdotes, and opinions regarding my situation. I’m a longtime gun owner and special operations veteran. A week ago, a friend committed suicide. In my pre-scheduled VA therapy appointment (I’ve been working through some things I saw in Afghanistan) I was candid with the VA therapist about how much this bummed me out, but repeatedly reiterated that I am not a danger to myself or others, and vehemently indicated that I am not suicidal.

This blue-haired, effete social work grad immediately called the police on me and initiated a 36 hour emergency psych hold. Three overweight city cops arrived at my home with their weapons drawn, in a more aggressive posture than I have held when speaking to armed and irritated Afghan villagers holding AKMs.

I complied politely and rode to the hospital, where I convinced the doctors not to involuntarily commit me for 14 days, which is what the VA provider asked them to do. That said, they explained that an “involuntary thirty six hour hold” had been initiated just to get me there. I’m still trying to figure out if this qualifies in relation to the involuntary commitment question on Form 4473.

I do not intend to receive/purchase another firearm before hiring a lawyer who is qualified on firearms law in my state, but recently separated from the military and can’t afford a lawyer right now. In the short term, does anyone have a general idea what this might mean for my gun rights? Again, I am not going to purchase another firearm before talking to a lawyer, but won’t be able to afford it for a while. Just looking for similar experiences and opinions.

Thanks, and as much as I hate to say it, be careful what you say to VA social workers. If you need help, definitely get it, but you can’t trust them to actually listen to what you’re saying.

I’m not an attorney, and this gentleman needs a good attorney.  With that said, I have a few observations.

First, the VA is FedGov.  Do not trust FedGov employees.

Second, find a good pastor who you can trust instead if you need to discuss things.

Third, this gentleman should safely put away his firearms in a location (only he knows where) until this blows over.

Fourth, do not trust “mental health” professionals.  Much of what they do is akin to witchcraft, sorcery and palm reading.

David Codrea.

“Lives lost to suicide are not as important as the public’s right to purchase firearms promptly, said Charles Heller, co-founder and spokesman for the Arizona Citizens Defense League,” the Arizona Daily Star cited Sunday in a report attempting to tie a university student suicide in with “same-day gun sales.”

That sounds pretty callous, doesn’t it? You’d think a seasoned advocate like Heller, a longtime radio host and AzCDL’s media coordinator, would be sensitive to that and more skilled at making his point without alienating people with such overt indifference to human tragedy.

That is if Heller actually said it. He actually didn’t.

“[Arizona Daily Star reporter Carol Ann Alaimo] made up a quote from me out of whole cloth,” Heller unequivocally declares at Liberty Watch Radio. “That quote is a lie.”

And he has the audio to prove it.

I have three main points to make here.

First, this is why Andrew Torba of Gab refers to folks like this as the legacy media.  They are no longer, and should not be referred to as, main stream media.  There is no honor left among them.

Second, I suspect that it doesn’t matter anyway.  They are preaching to their side.  Our side no longer cares what they say.  America is now too polarized for this to affect the enlightened.  Choices have been made, sides have been chosen, and in many ways we are speaking past each other.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t try to win the war of ideas, and winning requires engagement.  There will certainly be the occasional confused soul who gets blown about by the wind, and we may be able to persuade them to think rightly, but in my opinion the best medicine is to say the truth, tactfully but without apology, and let the chips fall.

Speaking of that, let me state without equivocation that the fact that someone may purchase a firearm and commit suicide with it is absolutely no justification whatsoever to infringe upon my right to purchase firearms or ammunition, be that infringement a waiting period, another background check, or whatever.

The issue with the wording the author chose to pin on him is that it is a formal logical fallacy, i.e., affirming a disjunct.

1. A is true or B is true.
2. B is true.
3. Therefore, A is not true.

It isn’t either-or.  It’s both-and.  Lives are important.  My right to purchase firearms is important.  My right to purchase firearms has nothing to do with the fact that a life is important.  I deny that infringing upon my rights will have any appreciable affect on lives lost due to suicide, and doing so certainly won’t have any affect on my life, as I do not intend to commit suicide.  That’s a sin.

Moreover, this isn’t how society is run.  The fact that someone may use a vehicle to drive drunk and kill themselves is no justification to infringe on my purchase of a vehicle.  The fact that someone may purchase food that is bad for them is no justification for forcing me to wait to purchase food or go to classes given by the government on what I should eat.

The tactful way to deal with this is to say that suicide is regrettable and sad, and God does not condone it.  And that observation has nothing whatsoever to do with my ownership of firearms or the speed with which I can purchase one.  And you can’t prove there is a connection.  Finally, even applying a rule like that to firearms ownership is more than society does for the rest of life, whether drugs, vehicles, food, or anything else.

It’s a terrible country that would do something like that to its warriors.  First of all they deploy them with tighter and stricter ROE than employed by American LEOs, and then when they get home from doing the country’s bidding, they ban them from owning firearms.

And by the way, the justification for this is total horse shit.  Deployed soldiers and Marines have to have someone in charge of and responsible for fiduciary matters for them.  This is just how it works.

This is the ultimate betrayal by your country.  But on the bright side, while the country might not recognize your right to self defense, God never betrays you, and He is the source of your rights and duties, not the state.

Here is his article on the subject.

News from Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf (D-Pa.) vetoed two gun bills that would repeal laws intended to control the carrying of guns and prevent public officials from shutting down firearms sales during emergency proclamations.

The bills, which recently passed the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania State Senate, intended to limit Wolf’s powers during the COVID-19 pandemic and moving forward, AP News reported. Wolf, a Democrat who supports broader gun control measures, has previously vetoed more than six such bills.

“The current disaster declarations in place are meant to help the administration fight the public health crises at hand and have no impact on citizens and their firearm rights,” Wolf’s office said in a statement on Nov. 19.

The Senate confirmed both bills by identical 29-20 votes on Nov. 18, and both received approval from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives earlier this year. According to AP News, all but one Republican voted in favor of the bills, and all but one Democrat voted against them.

While the first bill would repeal a provision that states “no person shall carry a firearm upon the public streets or upon any public property,” those who have a concealed-carry license would be exempt. Lawmakers say the law has gone largely unenforced, AP News reported.

Rep. Matthew Dowling (R.-Fayette), the bill’s sponsor, however, believes the law could limit people from openly carrying a firearm which is not generally banned in the state, AP News reported.

The second bill would block both the governor and local public officials from suspending or limiting the sale of firearms during a disaster emergency, AP News reported. To help respond to a disaster, governors can invoke a disaster emergency to bypass state regulations.

This is targeted towards open carry, a subject near and dear to my heart as readers know.

Under God, a man has no right to tell me or anyone else in what manner property may be carried on my person.  Under God, a man has no right to tell me or anyone else in what manner buying and selling may be done, or when it may be done.

The desire to control others is the signal pathology of the wicked.

News from Ohio.

The appellate judges upheld a Hamilton County trial court’s 2019 ruling against the ban, reasoning the bump-stocks — i.e. trigger activators — are essential to the function of at least some guns and therefore cannot be regulated without violating the U.S. and Ohio constitutions.

Congratulations to Buckeye Firearms Foundation and Ohioans for Concealed Carry.  We can all be thankful for small victories.

WaPo.

NOGALES, Mexico — North of the border, the .50-caliber sniper rifle is the stuff of YouTube celebrity, shown blasting through engine blocks and concrete walls. Deployed with U.S. troops to foreign wars, it is among the most destructive weapons legally available in the United States.

But every week, those rifles are trafficked across the border to Mexico, where increasingly militarized drug cartels now command arsenals that rival the weaponry of the country’s security forces. In many cases, criminals outgun police.

[ … ]

“It’s irresponsible that in the United States this type of weapon is sold to anyone with minimum requirements and without any follow-up after the purchase,” said Fabián Medina, chief of staff to Mexico’s foreign minister. “What we know in Mexico is that it reaches the hands of criminal organizations, and that with these powerful weapons, they’ve shot down marine helicopters and deprived many people of their lives.”

“Follow-up after the purchase.”  Get what’s happening here?  Plans for the future?  And take note.  It isn’t the corrupt Mexican government that’s to blame, it isn’t the lack of community force protection due to gun control, but rather, U.S. “trafficking.”

But frustration on the Mexican side has grown. A decade after “Operation Fast and Furious,” in which U.S. agents allowed thousands of firearms to flow south in a botched attempt to track them, and despite $3 billion in U.S. aid to Mexico to fight narco-traffickers, the two countries have not curbed the flow of weapons.

Oh I see.  Another one of these “botched operations.”  The truth is more sordid, intentional weapons trafficking from the Obama/Biden administration via Holder, with an FFL being forced to cooperate, and then prosecution of that FFL to destroy his life.  All for the purpose of trying to tie the U.S. to weapons in Mexico and thus push for more gun control.  You mean that botched operation?

“Imagine if criminals were regularly shooting at American police with .50-cals,” Grillo said. “That would surely cause an uproar and people would look at how people are often able to buy these weapons as easily as if they are buying a pistol.”

So pistols are the problem.  No, wait.  AR-15s are the problem.  No, wait.  Bolt action Barrett .50s are the problem.

So this is how it’s going to be for the next four years.  Talking points handed to the CIA’s blog, WaPo, they go to print with the next scare story, and then suddenly the Fast and Furious operation is back in gear.  Or if not, soccer moms are terrified and demand more gun control.

The boogey man carries a Barrett, don’t you know.

Breitbart.

Breitbart News reported Ossoff’s proposed ban on the sale of semiautomatic rifles, citing his campaign website, where he says, “I support a ban on the sale of semi-automatic rifles (“assault weapons”) and high-capacity magazines to the general public.”

During an MSNBC interview Ossoff expounded on his views, citing his support for a license requirement in instances where a semiautomatic firearm–rifle or handgun–is already privately owned. He said, “For semiautomatic weapons, whether they are rifles or handguns, we need strict licensing requirements.”

What on earth happened to the state of Georgia anyway?

The runoff elections in Georgia (it’s a stupid rule anyway) will make the difference in whether fraudster election Biden’s team makes life exponentially more difficult for firearms owners.

Did the hopeful administration of His Fraudulency Joe Biden collude with the ATF to stir the waters with pistol braces?

November 10th, 2020, during an ATF conference call, Acting Director Regina Lombardo told those in attendance that the anti-gun Biden transition team has reached out to the ATF to get the agency’s “top priorities”.

AmmoLand News’ anonymous source said Lombardo told those on the call that her priorities would be pistol braces and 80% lower receivers.

The Department of Justice told the ATF’s industry side not to move on pistol braces until the agency could be worked out regulations (sic). SB Tactical and other companies have been working with the federal government to clarify the rules surrounding braces. Currently, the rules are very subjective, which means it depends on the reviewer that gets assigned the review to determine if a brace is legal. There is no set standard.

Instead, the rogue ATF’s law enforcement side sent letters to multiple companies stating that their pistol brace firearms were short-barreled rifles (SBRs). Q LLC, which makes the Honey Badger AR pistol, went public with the cease and desist letter that the ATF sent to the company. Because of pressure from the Trump administration and the general public, the agency walked back their demands and gave Q a 60-day reprieve.

[ … ]

Through an executive order, he created Schedule F. The order allows the President to move government workers into the new category to more easily fire them. Trump could send a message by using Schedule F to remove the rogue ATF leadership.

It sure looks that way from where I sit.  And it causes things to make a lot better sense.  Something like pistol braces and SBRs wouldn’t have even been on Trump’s radar screen.

Via SurvivalBlog, eventually via Notes From The Bunker.

Ammoland.

Gun Owners of America recently filed a lawsuit against the ATF, after the agency blocked Alabama firearms dealers from allowing buyers to use their concealed handgun permits in place of going through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Federal law says that state concealed handgun permits (CHP) that meet or exceed the requirement of section 922(t)(3) of Title 18 can be used by dealers instead of requiring background checks. Alabama’s concealed firearms permit statute meets the federal requirements because sheriffs are supposed to run applicants through NICS before issuing a permit.

The ATF discovered that some sheriffs in Alabama were not using NICS. Some of these sheriffs were running applicants through The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and other federal databases, but not NICS. Yet NCIC is the same database that NICS pulls its information from before returning with a denial or approval. The ATF decided to revoke dealers’ ability to use CHPs because of a few sheriffs’ actions.

[ … ]

… as ATF records show, multiple ATF employees decided it was worth the litigation risk because of “public safety.

Oh it has nothing at all to do with “public safety” and they know it.  That’s a smoke screen.

But it does go to show just how much the ATF is feeling its oats.