Archive for the 'Second Amendment' Category

It proceeds apace.  This can be seen in recent movements towards gun control, or away from it.

Consider first the case of Utah.

Friday, February 12^th, Utah Governor Spencer Cox signed HB 60 into law … House Bill 60, sponsored by Representative Walt Brooks (R-75), allows a law-abiding adult to carry a concealed firearm in the State of Utah, without first needing to obtain government permission. This ensures that citizens have their right to self-defense without government red tape or delays. Additionally, this legislation maintains the existing Concealed Firearm Permit (CFP) system, so citizens who still wish to obtain a permit may do so.

Next up, consider the cases of Wyoming and Missouri.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (Feb. 4, 2021) – A bill introduced in the Wyoming Senate would take on federal gun control; past, present and future. Passage into law would represent a major step toward ending federal acts that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms within the state.

A coalition of 19 Republicans and a Libertarian introduced Senate Bill 81 (SF81) on Feb. 3. Titled the “Second Amendment Preservation Act,” the legislation would ban any person, including any public officer or employee of the state and its political subdivisions, from enforcing any past, present or future federal “acts, laws, executive orders, administrative orders, court orders, rules, and regulations that infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.

SF81 is similar to a bill moving forward in Missouri.

The bill includes a detailed definition of actions that qualify as “infringement,” including but not limited to:

• taxes and fees on firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition not common to all other goods and services that would have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;
• registration and tracking schemes applied to firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition that would have a chilling effect;
• any act forbidding the possession, ownership, or use or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition by law-abiding citizens;
• any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition from law-abiding citizens.

As we’ve noted before, the state must be serious about it, serious enough to dispatch local and state law enforcement to arrest federal agents enforcing federal laws, with provision in the code to prosecute them.

There is also a permitless carry bill before the legislature in Tennessee.  Finally, South Carolina is considering open carry again.  It should be shameful to South Carolinians that the last holdout state on the last vote on dissolution of relations with Britain in the continental congress, their very own state, is also one of the final few states who disallows open carry.

If they’re able to hold the communists in Charleston, Columbia and Greenville in check, they may have a chance.  It’s died in committee before many times, and at least this time it’s getting a hearing.  We’ll see just how serious South Carolina is about driving a stake in the ground and saying, “Here I make my stand.”

Contrast that now with Rhode Island.

In our last email we referenced upcoming bills we knew were coming since some legislators had given us a heads-up. After their release we can confirm they are worse than anyone could have imagined and are, at this point, the most restrictive proposals in the country.

What’s so egregious about these bills? Just a single bill, their so-called high capacity magazine ban, would ban almost every single firearm on the market in addition to the ones you already own. Any magazine with a “removeable floorplate and the ability to be extended” will be illegal. This encompasses all semiautomatic handguns, rifles and some manually operated firearms. No purchasing, transferring nor grandfathering. It would require less effort to list the firearms you CAN own rather than the restrictions themselves.

Additional bills call for the removal of shall-issue gun permitting, a ban on most semi auto rifles and full medical release forms when purchasing a firearm.

And in California they can’t let a session go by without more anti-gun bills.  These are only a few of the examples we could cite.

These actions aren’t by accident, of course.  State and local governments know exactly what’s coming, and the resistance can be organized or chaotic, with bite, or without any, meaningful or meaningless.

Polarization is occurring, the pace has quickened, and the stakes for the future of liberty are very high.  It will all happen on the state and local level.  But make no mistake about it, sides are organizing and preparing the field.

Dean Weingarten has a discussion up at Ammoland of South Carolina open carry, something we’ve pushed for years as regular readers know.

There are only five states which currently ban the open carry of handguns in most public areas, most of the time. They are: Illinois, New York, California, Florida, and South Carolina. New Jersey and Hawaii ban open carry in practice, but legally, anyone with a permit can open carry. It is just extremely difficult to obtain a permit.

South Carolina is moving toward restoring the right to openly carry handguns in public with House Bill 3094, labeled “Open Carry with Training”.

They’ve been moving for years, only to get torpedoed by the controllers who appear to control the controllers in South Carolina.

I’ve sent blast emails to every legislator in South Carolina before, but it has limited utility compared to communications a South Carolina resident would send.

To my readers in South Carolina: you’re on top of this, aren’t you?  You’re involved, aren’t you? Unless you’re involved, don’t complain when your state looks just like New York.

I can complain when I drive into South Carolina because my rights are not honored, but I don’t live there and they won’t listen to me.  They’ll listen to you, maybe, if you speak forcefully enough.

So you can’t complain.

Prior: South Carolina Open Carry Tag

News from South Carolina.

Some South Carolina Republican lawmakers are trying to get the decidedly conservative state to join 44 others that allow people to carry guns without concealing them.

South Carolina is one of only five states without so-called open carry, joining atypical partners such as California, Florida, Illinois and New York.

A House panel voted 3-1 along party lines to advance a bill Wednesday that would allow people who already have concealed-weapons permits to carry their guns without hiding them under a coat or other clothing.

The proposal has a long way to go before becoming law. But like another bill proposed each session that would ban almost all abortions, the open-carry bill got a boost when Republicans gained five seats in the General Assembly in the 2020 elections.

Before voting Wednesday, the subcommittee listened to the public speak for about two hours, both in person and virtually. Some speakers said the proposal would make them feel safer protecting their family, while doctors said they feared more gun violence and domestic killings in a state that is often among the worst in the country.

Doctors.  Experts in public policy, or so someone thinks.  Yea, that blood running in the streets thing hasn’t materialized anywhere open carry is legal, and they know it.

Some gun owners said the concealed-weapons law is just fine as it is. But Charleston’s police chief asked lawmakers to focus instead on laws ensuring that violent criminals serve more time in prison.

Chief Luther Reynolds, testifying by video, told lawmakers open carry is a bad idea given the recent increase in protests over racial injustice, which often involve angry people pitted against each other in close quarters.

“Adding the open carry of firearms raises tension,” Reynolds said. “It makes it even harder for law enforcement officers to determine who has and who has not been committing a crime.”

Both local and state law enforcement officials have been a significant force in preventing the bill from passing in previous years.

About a half-dozen of the 28 people who testified Wednesday were in favor of the bill.

Mark Roote said he carried his gun openly in Pennsylvania, which doesn’t require a permit, before moving to South Carolina. He said as a disabled veteran, a gun helps him defend himself and his family even if he can no longer physically fight.

“Having a pistol concealed on my hip requires extra motion,” Roote said.

I certainly wouldn’t deny a disabled veteran the right to choose what best suits his self defense needs, but the real issue is whether it is right and just to dictate to a man how he carries his weapons.  The answer is no, whether he’s a disabled veteran or simply doesn’t like IWB carry.

At least one speaker Wednesday said the proposal doesn’t go far enough. Tommy Dimsdale, who identified himself as belonging to a group of tens of thousands of gun owners in the state called Palmetto Gun Rights, said South Carolina needs to join about 16 other states that allow legal gun owners to carry their weapons any way they wish, without a permit.

“We’re disappointed that lawmakers think this bill adequately addresses the concern of gun owners,” Dimsdale said.

None of the lawmakers spoke about the bill before voting Wednesday. In the past, some African American legislators have suggested the measure might pose a danger to Black gun owners, who they said could be mistaken for criminals by police or other armed civilians.

“My reality is I am Black, and because of the color of my skin, I am feared by some of those same gun owners who have no idea I could be a good guy with a gun,” speaker Butch Kennedy said. “Open carry to me means open season on the hundreds of thousands of people who look like me.”

Good for Tommy.  He pressed the issue to constitutional carry.  As for the dude who is black being afraid of open carry, the answer is simple.  Then don’t open carry.  Lot’s of people don’t like it, just like lots of people don’t like concealed carry.

Much of this group sounds like a bunch of New Yorkers.  I suspect most of the naysayers came from law enforcement, gun control advocate groups, Greenville, Columbia and Charleston.

Maybe New York could annex those three cities and spare South Carolina the trouble of coddling their emotions.

News from Tennessee.

Is anyone surprised that those who risk financial loss (instructors for state-required classes) are opposed to this bill?

SanctuaryCounties.com.

Be it enacted by the Newton County Missouri Commission as follows: All federal acts, laws, orders, rules, and regulations passed by the Federal Government and specifically any Presidential Administration whether past, present, or future, which infringe on the people’s right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 23 of the Missouri Constitution shall be invalid in the county, shall not be recognized by this county, and specifically rejected by this county, and shall be considered null and void and of no effect in this county.

(1) Such federal acts, laws, orders, rules, and regulations include but are not limited to:

(a) Any tax levy, fee, or stamp imposed on firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition not common to all other goods and services which could have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;

(b) Any registering or tracking of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition which could have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;

(c) Any registering or tracking of the owners of firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition which could have a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;

(d) Any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories, or ammunition from law-abiding citizens;

(e) And finally, any act whether past, present, or future passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by the Federal Government and specifically any Presidential Administration which infringes on the people’s right to keep and bear arms in Newton County Missouri shall be considered null and void in the county, and not recognized by this county. Current House bills include but are not limited to: H.R. 30, H.R. 38, H.R. 121, H.R. 137, and H.R. 167 those bills if past are null and void, and not recognized by Newton County Missouri, any past, present, or future bill passed by the United States Congress will be null and void, and not recognized by Newton County Missouri;

(2) Newton County Missouri declares that it must be the duty of the courts and law enforcement agencies to protect the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms and that no person, including a public officer or county employee of this county or any political subdivision of this county, can have authority to enforce or attempt to enforce any federal laws, orders, or rules infringing on the right to keep and bear arms;

(3) Newton County Missouri declares that any person while acting as an official, agent, employee, or deputy of the United States Government who enforces or attempts to enforce any of the infringements identified in this ordinance or gives material aid and support to the efforts of others who enforce or attempt to enforce any of the infringements identified in this ordinance may be permanently ineligible to be hired as a law enforcement officer or to supervise law enforcement officers in the county or exceeds the authority of the Newton County Missouri Commission;

(a) There will be an exception made for Newton County Missouri local deputies and sheriffs, they shall and will not be held liable to this ordinance when assisting any and all federal agents in the arrests of suspected criminals;

(4) Any and all federal agents trying to enforce the regulations listed in Section (1) shall be subject to arrest by the Newton County Missouri Sheriff’s Department;

(a) The Newton County Missouri Sheriffs Department shall be given the full authority to make an arrest of any and all federal agents that violate state laws and enforce the regulations listed in Section (1);

(5) This ordinance will be known and cited as the “Second Amendment Preservation Act of Newton County Missouri”.

Regular readers know that I’ve long said that a prohibition on the participation of local law enforcement in confiscatory policies isn’t enough.  For it to be effective, any resolution MUST ensure that any agent of the federal government attempting to do the same be subject to immediate arrest.

West Virginia civil rights attorney.

Breaking news just this afternoon: the Walker case has been accepted for oral argument by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, tentatively set for March 8 through March 12, 2021. This is the case with the video showing my client, Michael Walker, walking down the side of a public roadway in Putnam County, West Virginia, on his way coyote hunting. The video is at the link.

This is good news, being that we’re the ones appealing. Most appeals are decided with a written order and no oral argument. The ones with a good likelihood of success, or which are important issues of law, are generally set for oral argument.

I’ve been following this case for a while now, and the Fourth Circuit had better be consistent with their ruling in U.S. v. Nathaniel Black.  If they don’t, then they’re siding with a black man and leaving the white man at the mercy of tyrannical LEOs.

Yea, in Black, “Officer Strayer stated that although it is legal in North Carolina for a person to openly carry a firearm, in his years in the Eastway Division, he had never seen anyone do it.”

Well, officer Strayer is an idiot, poorly trained in the law, and lacks the temperament to be a LEO.  I live in N.C.  I see open carry all the time.  I do open carry.  I’ve seen kids open carry in uptown Charlotte before, walked right by them, nodded at them.  Strayer needs to get out more.

By the way, Mr. Walker was under absolutely no legal or moral obligation to provide the LEO with ID.  None.  He was under absolutely no legal or moral obligation to supply an answer for where he was going or what he was doing, or even why he was carrying a long gun.  None.

The only failure in this case was (a) the LEO who stopped him, and (b) the dispatcher who failed to fisk the caller to find out exactly what crime was being alleged.  They missed a great educational opportunity to teach the public the West Virginia law.

If they can’t do even that, then what good are they?  Why do they draw a paycheck?

Via David Codrea, this from Sonny Perdue.

With our rights at risk at the ballot box, Georgians must keep Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the Senate.

The left is out to make every lawful gun owner a radical when the opposite is true. We are normal Americans who enjoy the outdoors and want to protect our families. We saw this summer what happens when the left doesn’t get what they want, they resort to ransacking their neighborhoods and taking what isn’t theirs. Small business owners and property owners were the victims. We can’t let that happen again. They have the constitutional right to protect what is theirs.

And as an avid sportsman, I cannot imagine a Georgia where we cannot enjoy that outdoor bounty we are blessed with in this state. With the direction the radical Democrats are heading, if they win the Senate, who knows what kind of new restrictions our state’s sportsmen could be in store for. Georgia will start looking like California and it will take you months to get a gun if you’re lucky. The way it starts is with burdensome regulations on legal purchases and then it is slippery slope to outright bans like they tried in the past. Whether you’re more of a winged animal hunter or you enjoy sitting in a deer stand, spend some time thinking about what it would be for that right to be curtailed.

As any free market supporter knows, bans don’t do anything but hurt the people they are trying to protect. The Peach State has long been a place where legal, responsible gun owners have felt that their right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment was protected. Coupled with the fact that our state is unrivaled in its enthusiasm to help out the businesses that call Georgia home, it is no surprise that the firearms industry has given back to Georgians in terms of employment, tax dollars, and direct economic impact. This will all be erased if Perdue and Loeffler aren’t in the Senate.

The firearms community has been a staple for our economy for decades. Georgia is home to six major firearms manufacturers and thousands of small family-owned businesses.

Yea Sonny, one of those companies is Daniel Defense, and they sell guns that would be used to defy tyrants.  They can be used to hunt, but they can be used for other necessary things too.

What if, using your defense of sportsmen, someone argues to shut down Daniel Defense because their main staple isn’t seen out in the field hunting turkeys?

You’re going to have to do better than this, you see.  The second amendment isn’t at all about hunting.

Via reddit/firearms.

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.

American Rifleman.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) released the 2020 edition of its Firearm Production Report to members this month, and among its findings is the fact that civilian interest and ownership of modern sporting rifles continues to skyrocket. Since 1990, according to the study, an estimated 19.8 million have been manufactured and put into circulation.

Forty-eight percent of all firearms produced in the United States or imported in 2018 were modern sporting rifles. Despite the manufacturing focus, inventories remained low across the nation, and this year’s firearm sales pace has left many retailers without models to sell.

There are approximately 79.2 million rifle magazines capable of holding 30 or more rounds in circulation—nearly all of them modern sporting rifle versions. The potentially lifesaving advantage of not having to reload during a criminal encounter isn’t overlooked by pistol owners, either. Roughly 71.2 million handgun magazines capable of holding more than 10 cartridges are owned by enthusiasts today.

Lots of luck trying to confiscate all of those guns.  That’s an impossible task.

However, there’s something that bears repeating, and it’s a point of second amendment logic brought up by David Codrea a couple of days ago.

And as few “gunpundits” seem to see, no matter how long you give them, “in common use” is not about popularity. It is about “every terrible implement of the soldier,” that is, “ordinary military equipment” capable of enabling citizens to prevail in “common defense” battles.  Were it otherwise, withholding new technology from We the People would be all tyrants would need to keep it forever out of “common use.”

Make sure to ponder the point he’s making, and focus on the last sentence of his paragraph.  If “common use” had to do with popularity contests, then the whole edifice of the second amendment collapses.

A tyrannical government could (illegally) keep them from being produced for or distributed to the public, and then claim in court (or the court of public opinion) that although our standing army has such weaponry, since they are not in common use among the public (from which the militia comes), the second amendment doesn’t apply to those weapons.

This becomes a “de facto” argument (which is a formal logical fallacy) by themselves nefariously ensuring the preconditions for waiving and cessation of the right.

Never forget what the founders really intended, regardless of the machinations of the lawyers – and ignore the dense gun bloggers who fail to point these things out.