I had earlier point out that the progressives weren't giving up without a fight. Their hard-fought victory over the military establishment and the consequent loss of it, even if partial, cuts deeply. They have so weakened the edifice that it is crumbling. The department cannot meet recruitment goals, needs warfighters for the national defense and cannot find them, wastes increasingly precious dollars on failed programs, and celebrates transgenders and LGBTQ. This crumbling of the edifice meets…… [read more]
END OF AN ERA: Wayne LaPierre announces resignation as NRA chief. Lots of people dislike him, and not without reason, but his era at NRA was also marked by the biggest victories of its history. The challenge for his successors will be to revitalize the organization, which is currently being upstaged by other oufits like the GOA or the SAF.
Victories. Let me see. Would that be support for the NFA, or support for the Hughes Amendment, or support for the GCA, or support for the bump stock ban, or support for red flag laws? Or support for any of the other gun control measures they liked? Or horrible pol grading scheme that utterly failed?
Wayne is gone. We, bye. Maybe your hundreds of thousands of dollars in suits and your little blonde you liked so much will keep you happy.
The NRA will have to do much, much, much better in the future if they expect to regain any resemblance of the authority they had before.
And for the record, ignore the SAF. They embraced smart gun technology.
If the NRA goes for anyone who doesn’t look like the folks we see at the GOA or FPC, then ignore them in the future just like you ignore them now.
UPDATE: In the comments at Instapundit, John Richardson gives wisdom.
“Even with his resignation, he still isn’t taking any responsibility for driving the NRA almost into the ground. He resigned for “health reasons” and not for the good of the organization. I have spoken with ex-NRA employees this afternoon as well as current and former directors. Virtually all think a house-cleaning is needed and I would agree.
Many on the board are hacks that owe their allegiance to Wayne and now are rudderless without him. They need to go. Even worse, Andrew Arulanandam, the PR flack who will be the interim CEO and EVP is not only Wayne’s handpicked successor, is an “acolyte” of Bill Brewer which assures the flow of money to his firm.”
Via email with David Codrea, he believes that there may be a quid pro quo. Wayne would resign if the NRA pays his legal defense. Maybe so. In this case any monies going to the NRA would go for Wayne’s legal expenses.
And until someone absolutely cleans house and does a full blown financial and ethical audit of the NRC organization, they can’t be trusted.
A federal judge is allowing a challenge to New York’s assault weapons ban to proceed after he denied a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Thursday.
Two people supported by gun rights advocacy groups sued New York officials in December 2022 over the state’s ban on assault weapons, saying the law was “infringing the right of law-abiding, peaceable citizens to keep and bear commonly possessed firearms for defense of self and family and for other lawful purposes.” U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas sided with the individuals bringing the lawsuit in a ruling released Thursday, denying state officials’ motion to dismiss the case.
Attorneys for New York officials filed a motion in the Southern District of New York to dismiss the complaint in May, arguing that the court does not have the jurisdiction to address the plaintiffs’ claims. The state officials’ legal team said the individuals “fail to establish that any injury-in-fact is traceable to the assault weapons ban” because they do not say they hold a license required to buy a semiautomatic rifle.
Karas dismissed the defendants’ arguments in the ruling.
“While there may be serious questions about Plaintiffs’ exemption argument, the Court need not address that question here because Plaintiffs adequately allege standing under Defendants’ interpretation of the statute,” Karas wrote.
“Put simply, Defendants have failed to explain how invalidating the Assault Weapons Ban would have no effect on the ability to obtain licenses for those same weapons,” Karas added later in the ruling.
These are the games that awful men like these lawyers play. The plaintiffs lack standing because they aren’t in prison for owning an AR-15 in New York. They need to buy an AR-15, and in order to do that they need a permit from us. But we aren’t granting permits to own or buy an AR-15. So there. Stuff it.
Fortunately this judge dismissed such gaming of the system.
The administration hates Americans (or at least, the ones who are currently Americans). The elitists in New York hates its people. The most recent school shooting has as its motive the same one as the Nashville shooting.
But they still claim it’s mental illness. How about this? It’s due to wickedness.
The moms in Nashville still want the elitists in Tennessee to infringe on the 2A. I was wondering if these moms, who are part of a school funded by the PCA, also attend or are members of that same PCA church. If so, I’d know who to blame for thinking that a piece of metal can cause the heart of man to be wicked. The pastor should have done a better job of teaching.
Wildlife officials are worried that an invasive lizard species causing problems in at least two neighboring states could now be taking root in South Carolina, with 100 reported sightings in less than four years.
The Argentine black and white tegu, already a problem in Florida and Georgia, has the “potential to be a big issue” if the reptile is able to establish itself in the region, Will Dillman, assistant chief of wildlife for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, told USA TODAY on Tuesday.
Easy. Turn hunters loose on them. Something else to shoot.
Just got done cleaning my rifle, put it back together, pull the charging handle, and bolt goes back… and I realize I forgot to install the buffer spring assembly. I can’t get the thing back apart. I assume it’s because the trigger is cocked? What do I do to get it apart to reinstall the buffer spring? How do I fix?
Slam it down muzzle first.
Preferably on carpet or something.
Don’t feel bad I do this about 30% of the time when building a new rifle.
Yep. That’s the fix, and it works perfectly. Nothing is hurt except my pride.
I quite accidentally stumbled across this video again, and I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than to commit to making gun carry commonplace among gentlemen of good character.
How much power does the government claim on private land?
“Unfettered,” according to a Commonwealth Court decision in a case pitting the Pennsylvania Game Commission against two private gun clubs.
On Sept. 29, a court ruled against two hunting clubs in their lawsuit accusing the Game Commission of private property rights violations. The Institute for Justice represents both clubs and will appeal.
In its ruling, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania noted the government’s absolute power to “roam private land without consent, warrants or probable cause.”
“Private land isn’t public property,” says institute attorney Josh Windham. “That might seem obvious. But all too many officials, at every level of government, disagree. They think they have a blank check to invade private property. We’ll see what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has to say about that.”
On Dec. 16, 2021, Pitch Pine and Punxsutawney hunting clubs sued the Game Commission after game wardens consistently entered club lands without permission or warrant, and secretly monitored club members, including photo collection via installation of a hidden game camera. The wardens’ behavior, the lawsuit asserted, was a direct violation of Pennsylvania’s state constitution, which explicitly protects “persons, houses, papers, and possessions.”
Most Americans assume law enforcement must obtain a warrant to enter or surveil private land, but for roughly a century, the Open Fields doctrine has allowed government officials, at state and federal levels, unqualified access to private land.
In its judgment Sept. 29, the Commonwealth Court detailed the alarming powers and “unfettered discretion” assumed by government via Open Fields:
“The facts of this case are not in dispute. The Hunting Clubs are member-owned hunting clubs that own thousands of acres of private land in Clearfield County. Members use the properties to hunt, vacation, and enjoy nature. To ensure their members’ privacy, the Hunting Clubs have posted their properties with no trespassing signs and have installed gates at all entrances to exclude nonmembers and intruders. However, the Entry Statutes empower game wardens with unfettered discretion to enter upon and roam private land without consent, warrants, or probable cause.”
People believe that DNR officers have more power than any other LEO, and DNR officers certainly act like it. Their claim is that since they are after perishable evidence, they need this access.
But that’s just too bad. Police who bust open doors looking for drugs are also after perishable evidence (the drugs could be flushed down a toilet). I have long held that police raids on homes are a violation of the fourth amendment and therefore unconstitutional. Any good man would believe the same thing.
The so-called “open fields” doctrine should be stricken from the books in every state where they exist. Furthermore, I generally don’t like the power granted by the state to game officers. Every man should obey the game laws. But every man won’t, just like crime will happen all day every day across America. Game laws are no different. Violation of game laws still falls within the purview of constitutional protections regardless of what agents of the state think.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ill. (WSIL) — The January 1st Deadline for Illinois gun owners to register their assault-style weapons is approaching.
This is for Illinoisans who already owned assault weapons before the Protect Illinois Communities Act was passed last January.
Jefferson County’s Sheriff Jeff Bullard says the law is more like a request until the Supreme Court determines if the law is constitutional.
“The fact that 90 sheriffs have declared that it’s unconstitutional, including myself being one of them, uh, and stating we won’t be enforcing it,” Bullard said.
Well that’s funny and nothing makes me happier in this sad affair than to see people refusing to comply.
However, the sheriff may be waiting a very long time. As I’ve said, I see the supreme court running from this issue.
It’s one thing to want to see a full decision tree with evidence gathered before making judgment. But as Professor Mark Smith has pointed out, the Heller decision was made completely without presentation of evidence. This decision should be easy and quick for the supreme court.
“Since semi-automatic firearms and standard capacity magazines are in common use, according to our decision in Heller they cannot be banned. The law is ruled unconstitutional.”
There. I did it for them. They don’t need 80 pages of prose to do this. They’re just scared.
This is a mildly interesting video, but I neither have heroes nor get involved in drama. The most interesting part to me was this comment.
Hop is spot on about where the RD’s come from. I do have one caveat about the claim about the PCBs however. I’ve worked in the industry as a consultant and the number one question I was getting from CEOs and CMOs was how to make sure they stay legal with “Made in USA” and “Assembled in USA” regulations and how much in fines they can expect to pay when they violate them. And almost everyone violates them.In many countries, including the United States, there are strict regulations governing these labels. To be labeled as “Made in USA,” a product generally must be “all or virtually all” made in the United States. This means that a significant portion of the product’s total manufacturing costs must be incurred in the US, and the final assembly or processing of the product must also occur in the U.S. This is regulated by the Federal Trade Commission.The supply chain for everything is global and massive. You’d be shocked if I told you how few things are “honest to God” made here (that actually satisfy FTC compliance). The number of US-located CNC machines, the cornerstone of modern manufacturing, is such a tiny percentage of World’s CNC fleet that I immediately distrust the “Made in USA” certification of origin of some small part (and large parts too). I’m also highly skeptical when manufacturers claim that their PCBs are made here. We’d need to have 20-25x more PCB manufacturing plants for the amount of PCBs that are claimed to be “Made in the USA”. Don’t believe me? Just call up some of the PCB manufactures and try to get some quotes and lead time. You’ll quickly realize that your product will be ready in 2 years time and it will cost 2-3x what your C-suite is asking for.Even the F-35 contractors got into hot water when it was found that most of the PCBs that were “Made in the US” were actually Made in China. Even today, most of the multi-layer, high-speed/high-frequency, PCBs for F-35 are Made in China. A fact that everyone sweeps under the rug now.
This is honestly a very sad thing. America lost its ability to do large steel construction long ago with the demise of that work in Pennsylvania, the ports in Virginia and a couple of places in Alabama. Thus, today we can no longer fabricate large sea-going vessels such as battleships or carriers. Even the reactor vessels for Catawba Nuclear Station were made in the Rotterdam shipyard.
Optical quality glass is obviously made now only in Germany and Japan.
I guess it’s the same for printed circuit boards. What a shame and a sham that we cannot make our own electronics. You can blame our rulers for that as they whored themselves after globalism. The whole thing is ridiculous and it’s not only a sad commentary on our competitiveness, but national security as well.
I thought after the Covid scam Ford intended to start up manufacturing of PCBs in America? I don’t know how that’s going.
(FOX40.COM) — A new California law that would restrict licensed gun holders from carrying their firearms in many public places will not go into full effect on Jan. 1 as scheduled, after a federal judge deemed it unconstitutional.
The law, Senate Bill 2, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom on Sept. 26 and included an array of gun control measures. On Dec. 20, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney issued an order to stop one of SB 2’s regulations, the ban on licensed gun carrying in a public place. According to SB 2, it would have been illegal in California for licensed gun carriers to have their firearms at bars, churches, parks, public events, stadiums, casinos, financial institutions, medical facilities, on public transportation, and other places.
“The Second Amendment preserves a fundamental constitutional right for law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” Carney said in his ruling. “Increasingly in modern times, with ‘the ubiquity of guns and our country’s high level of gun violence,’ ordinary law-abiding people feel a need to carry handguns in public to protect themselves and their families against violence.”
Carney mentioned that people who legally carry guns are “among the most responsible, reliable law-abiding citizens” and have been through a “vigorous vetting and training process” to carry a handgun. According to Carney, CCW permitholders are not the gun wielders legislators should fear.
“CCW permitholders are not responsible for any of the mass shootings or horrific gun violence that has occurred in California,” Carney said. “SB2 requires that law-abiding citizens open themselves up for slaughter at the hands of people flaunting the law and creates numerous areas ripe for mass murder by ensuring there is no one there to protect people.”
He added that some people who have a concealed weapons permit (CCW) live in high-crime neighborhoods where they reasonably fear being robbed, murdered, and raped. Carney said CCW holders should be able to carry a weapon to protect themselves in those situations.
“SB2 provisions unconstitutionally deprive this group of their constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense,” Carney said. “Therefore, those provisions must be preliminarily enjoined.”
Well, that’s part of the purpose of the second amendment, but not even nearly all of it, the major part having to do with tyranny. It’s the last part that scares the powerful, rich and famous.
But it’s nice to see the occasional win. But it will probably be stayed by the communists on the Ninth Circuit.
