This week let’s cover some important 2A news from the Ninth Circuit court and news about abolishing the ATF. Let’s start first with a tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter) by none other than well-known Dana Loesch on abolishing the ATF:
“It’s not extreme. This whole damn department should be abolished.”
The White House @WhiteHouse Sep 24 “Extreme House Republicans want to take 70 ATF agents off the beat as a condition of keeping the government open.”
Sounds like a great start, but not an extreme position to me. Another powerful opinion piece by Jeff Charles titled Abolishing the ATF; Why It Makes More Sense Than Ever Before can be found over at RedState.com. It is behind a paywall, but I highly recommend it. Biden Administration official Andrew Bates is trying to link the fentanyl crisis to the GOP, as illustrated by the recent exchange between him and NBC News accusing the GOP of assisting the cartels by opposing the ATF;
“MAGA Republican extremism in Congress is a growing threat to the fight against violent crime and fentanyl trafficking. President Biden is working hard to prevent the flow of firearms into the hands of drug cartels, as part of a comprehensive strategy to block the flow of fentanyl into the United States. But hardcore MAGA members of Congress are doing everything they can to thwart these efforts.”
If that were true, Biden and his minions would be supporting Border Patrol and DEA agents, not highlighting what is essentially a support agency, to secure the US-Mexican border. Most Iowans see projection and flat-out lies for what they are.
California Courts’ News This Week
We have all heard for years that the average number of shots fired in a Defensive Gun Use (DGU) is 2.2 rounds. Well, Federal Judge Roger Benitez in California completely took apart the 2.2 rounds per DGU canard that turns out to be a made-up number, completely anecdotal data. The fact is that the number of shots fired was unknown 69% of the time according the the very study the State Of California statistician used when defending Duncan v. Bonta in the US District Court for the Southern District of California. That case is the one in which Judge Benitez struck down California’s greater than ten-round magazine ban. As Michael George said about Lean Six Sigma, “In God we trust, everyone else brings data”. Intentionally misrepresenting data, brings us crappy policy, as Professor John Lott pointed out recently in his article about the FBI underreporting the number of active shooters by a factor of six that are stopped by civilians.
And to follow up on the Duncan V. Bonta saga unfolding in California to close up this week’s message: Attorney Mark Smith over at The Four Boxes Diner reporting that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals thumbed its nose at the US Supreme Court on 2A issues.
“Ninth Circuit Judges VanDyke and Bumatay lambasted their Ninth Circuit colleagues last week for their decision in Duncan v. Bonta. Likely fearing a pro-2A outcome, the anti-gun en banc panel reached out in an unheard of manner to remove the case out from the normal legal process. Mark Smith Four Boxes Diner provides a geeky breakdown of what happened.”
You should watch Mark’s withering analyses over at his “The Four Boxes Diner” YouTube site. Here is his first, and his second regarding how the process is being manipulated to obtain what the liberals on that court are trying to accomplish.
Lots of examples of why each one of us needs to be Ready at All Times and never forget that those gun control dangerous quacks are still playing a long game, but then so are we at IFC. Help us by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Is Vice President Harris being set up to fail again, as she heads up the new Office of Gun Violence Prevention? Or is this the one case where she has an adequately intelligent staff to do actual harm to America’s right to defend themselves as enshrined by our Federal Constitution’s Second Amendment and Iowa’s 49th Amendment?
Depending on who you ask, she will either muck it up completely like she has everything else she touches, or possibly the goons from Everytown and other Organizations will finally have the funding and power they need to impose on the rest of America the mess they are making in New York and other “blue” states. I tend to think she might appear to get something done for the gun controllers, but it will not turn out the way they expect. I think there are two main reasons why.
First, with the large number of minorities and women who are new gun owners as a result of the overreaching by the nanny state during Covid, I see this as a ‘bridge too far’ in the current political climate to expect all those gun owners to just lay down their arms like the Governor of New Mexico recently advocated.
Just the Facts, Ma’am
The second is the logistical nightmare that prohibition would bring. Back in 2018, I wrote an article for ClashDaily.com about the problem that searching the United States for millions of firearms would present. Here is part of that article:
… Let’s ask them about the logistics of finding and seizing the over 500 million firearms in America.
There are 199,672,842 acres of land in just the lower 48 states. Let’s do the math: 199,672,842 acres Divided by a maximum of 250,000 trained searchers (it will take time to screen, hire and train them).
That would be 798.691 acres per searcher (45,560 square feet per acre), if they worked alone at least three days per acre = 19,168.59 hours based on eight hours per day of work (union contracts after all!)
At normal full time employment rates of 2000 work hours per year, it would take 9.58 years to search just the lower 48 States for guns, assuming the entire search force would actually survive the process, unlike back in 1776 when American’s just shot the British troops who showed up to take their arms and ammunition…
Leftists must think that math does not apply to them, or perhaps it’s a problem only those schooled in common core math can solve. We can all hope that the recent rejection by a Federal District Judge of the California magazine capacity limit as unconstitutional is another example why VP Harris will eventually fail. The law is on the Rights of the People’s side.
Regardless this is another example of why each one of us needs to be Ready at All Times and never forget that those gun control dangerous quacks are still playing a long game, but then so are we at IFC. Help us by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
In this week’s President’s Message, I’ll provide a brief legal news update. First, we will start with some international news. A while back I wrote about Brazil and its experience that when the good guys are armed, murder rates drop.
This week it’s Trinidad and Tobago farmers who are asking that they be allowed to acquire firearms to defend themselves from rampant crime and cattle theft. From the Trinidad Daily Express:
“Farmers throughout the country should be granted firearm user’s [licenses] (FULs) to protect their farms from praedial larceny, according to Couva North Member of Parliament Ravi Ratiram, who called on Commissioner of Police Erla Christopher to issue licensed firearms to those affected.
Speaking at yesterday’s United National Congress (UNC) press conference, Ratiram said the country should equip farmers with the necessary tools to protect their livelihoods and safeguard produce and livestock.
… “I call upon Commissioner Erla Christopher to issue licensed firearms to registered farmers through firearm user’s [licenses] (FULs), granting them the power to safeguard their produce and livestock. This is not a plea, it’s a resounding demand for action, for change, and for justice…Commissioner Erla Christopher, the choice is yours—stand with our farmers or sit back and watch them fall victim to the criminal elements. The choice is clear, and the solution lies in your hand,” he said.
… “I spoke to one farmer who lost approximately nine head of cattle on his farm. We are talking about nearly $100,000. Farmers and fishermen have been asking for this type of relief where the Government cannot protect them, they are prepared to protect their families, their livelihoods, and properties…this is why we have issued these calls. This is something that came about in consulting with our farmers,” he said.”
Go figure…
Meanwhile, in California…
Out of the Ninth Circuit (yes, President Trump’s judicial appointments are making a difference out West) California’s law prohibiting the marketing of firearms and shooting sports to minors has been struck down for now on First Amendment grounds. Judge Kenneth Lee, writing the majority opinion stated:
“While California has a substantial interest in reducing gun violence and unlawful use of firearms by minors, its law does not “directly” and “materially” further either goal. California cannot straitjacket the First Amendment by, on the one hand, allowing minors to possess and use firearms and then, on the other hand, banning truthful advertisements about that lawful use of firearms. There is no evidence in the record that a minor in California has ever unlawfully bought a gun, let alone because of an ad. Nor has the state produced any evidence that truthful ads about lawful uses of guns—like an ad about hunting rifles in Junior Sports Magazines’ Junior Shooters—encourage illegal or violent gun use among minors. Simply put, California cannot lean on gossamers of speculation to weave an evidence-free narrative that its law curbing the First Amendment “significantly” decreases unlawful gun use among minors. The First Amendment demands more than good intentions and wishful thinking to warrant the government’s muzzling of speech.
California’s law is also more extensive than necessary, as it sweeps in truthful ads about lawful use of firearms for adults and minors alike. For instance, an advertisement directed at adults featuring a camouflage skin on a firearm might be illegal because minors may be attracted to it.”
This law’s overly broad reach to make lawmakers feel good about doing something, even if it is ineffective or unprovable, does not pass any First Amendment test whatsoever. Maybe if the Ninth Circuit keeps up this kind of behavior, it will lose its nickname “Ninth Circus”.
Moving On…
Then, in the continuing saga out of New Mexico: As you know, Governor Grisham imposed an unconstitutional Executive Order banning the open or concealed carrying of firearms for thirty days in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. It was quickly slapped down in Federal Court. An excellent analysis can be read by our friends at BearingArms.com and of course, she’s now trying to guilt the rest of us for not agreeing with her and trying to repackage it to only include parks and playgrounds. If nothing else, Gov. Grisham has displayed true contempt for both the Federal Constitution and New Mexico’s. “Karen’s” like her should never be allowed in elected office.
Lastly, in my recent Ready at All Times President’s Message I wrote about the growing ChiCom threat not just to Taiwan but also to the United States. One has to wonder why Chinese companies are smuggling suppressors and Glock Full Auto Switches into the USA packaged as toys. Well, if I were planning Mumbai-style attacks and sabotage in the US, I’d be smuggling those item’s here for the thousands of military-age Chinese males that Biden is allowing to walk across the US-Mexican border unimpeded, to provide them with the tools they need to attack Americans and our infrastructure.
If you read through the 9-11 Commission Report, a recurring theme was that our intelligence agencies did not connect the dots before the attacks. Hopefully, any post ChiCom attack on Taiwan and the USA will not cite the same errors in the future. But under apparently-compromised Joe Biden, I doubt it.
Those gun control dangerous quacks are playing a long game but so are we at IFC. Help us by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. preached and practiced peaceful noncompliance to discriminatory laws against Blacks decades ago. Mahatma Gandhi used it in India against the repressive regime in power at that time. It is one of two avenues to counterattack the ridiculous, and by her own admission, illegal “emergency” order handed down last Friday night by the wannabe tyrant New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham disarming Albuquerque residents for the next thirty days.
Her excuse to take such action you ask? It’s a public health emergency, and she thinks that it overrides both the New Mexico State and US Constitutions. Albuquerque, an incredibly dangerous city, has seen slightly falling murder rates these last two years, but the recent killing of an eleven-year-old child in a road rage incident is her excuse to declare such a “health emergency”.
We all know several groups have already begun litigation to halt this action. How best do we practice peaceful noncompliance in this case? There is already help from local law enforcement leadership at the City and County Sheriff levels stating they will not have their officers and deputies enforce this illegal order. Grisham has stated that her State Police will be the ones who enforce the “civil” order. That leads me to this interesting tweet by Libertarian Presidential Candidate Chase Oliver:
“Some have asked me what is the best course of action to oppose the unconstitutional actions of Governor Lujan in New Mexico. I encourage peaceful noncompliance. If you are arrested for exercising your right to bear arms, sue the state. You will have legal support from the community. Take the case all the way to SCOTUS [if] you must. I imagine this is a pretty easy case for courts to rule against the governor. Even she admits that what she’s doing would get struck down by a legal challenge. Peaceful noncompliance and legal challenges will end this and secure rights in the future.”
Why Take This Illegal Action?
Grisham is term-limited out, cannot be recalled, and is unlikely to be impeached by the Democrat-controlled New Mexico State Legislature. So why would she take this illegal action? My guess is this is a coordinated action for two reasons:
The first is that the Left has, for years, attempted to frame gun control as a public health emergency issue granting public health bureaucrats broad powers to eliminate Second Amendment freedoms. It doesn’t take much search effort to find multiple statements by Dr. Fauci that his power to limit Americans’ Constitutional rights should trump your freedoms. A legal win in the Federal Court on this issue would open the door for more executive actions of this nature.
The second is to raise her national profile going into the 2024 election cycle. She either wants the Vice President slot or a major cabinet position in the next Democratic administration. Once again, proving that Leftists are always looking to fail up.
The good news is that they cannot arrest everyone, and the few who are arrested will be able to make legal mincemeat of the officers and governors who have illegally arrested them.
This is also another example of why each one of us needs to be Ready at All Times and never forget that those gun control dangerous quacks are playing a long game but so are we at IFC. Help us by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
So what rifle is that in the IFC logo you ask? I’ve been asked that question several times through the years, again just recently, but I’ll tell you that I did not have anything to do with our logo. The shotgun is pretty obvious, along with the Glock pistol. But unless you’re a student of Col. Jeff Cooper, you might not recognize the rifle. Those asking the question were not.
It’s a Steyr Scout, similar to one I took on my first hunt to Africa. I wrote about this gun, and Col. Cooper’s Scout Rifle concept back in 2018 for ClashDaily.com.
Here is an expert of that article;
“If You Absolutely, Positively Must Have ‘Just One Rifle’ for Personal Protection …
So every good American should already own at least one AR15, also known as the Modern Sporting Rifle, or MSR. But did you know there’s another rifle you should own?
The Scout Rifle “In The Books” ~
Retired Marine Colonel Jeff Cooper, arguably the Father of the Modern Technique of the Pistol, who passed away several years ago, not only wrote and taught extensively about handguns, but he also spent a significant amount of time studying what would make a good all-around rifle for a lone rifleman, or as he termed, “The Scout”. That rifle, in his mind, was best personified by what Col. Cooper called: The Scout Rifle. One of my favorite quotes of Col. Cooper was:
“Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen.”
Very few people could explain the true historical significance of the rifle, or how to employ it, as well as Col. Cooper did. Recently, another well-known gun writer by the name of Richard Mann wrote an excellent book about Col. Cooper’s Scout Rifle concept. I highly suggest you buy a copy of Mr. Mann’s book THE SCOUT RIFLE STUDY.
To best sum up Mr. Mann’s book and why the Scout Rifle is such a great tool, I’ll quote him here:
So, I’ll leave the discussion with this. Imagine that tomorrow you must go on a very long walk, to an unknown destination, and you can take one rifle with you. Sometime before that walk is over – possibly more than once – it’s a guarantee you’ll very much need to shoot something with that rifle. You’ll not know when, you’ll not know what you’ll have to shoot. You’ll not know the distance or conditions of the shot. But you will know anything less than a kill zone hit with substantial power, will not be good for you…
From 41,000 feet in the air, I have my rifle picked out and already in my gun safe; it will be my Blaser R93 Tracker in 308 Winchester. Read Richard Mann’s book and decide what rifle you need. My guess is that you will find his and Col. Cooper’s advice is very informative, and you may very well buy yourself a Scout Rifle.”
One of the things I had to let go of when I became President of IFC was writing that weekly column for ClashDaily.com. The column was about current events and I loved writing it.
A rifle should be part of your Be Ready at All Times plan, be it a Scout, General Purpose rifle, or a modern sporting rifle. Never forget that those gun control dangerous quacks are playing a long game but so are we at IFC. Help us by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Sign up now for our e-mail alert list to stay plugged into what's going on with your 2A rights here in Iowa.
IFC will never sell, rent or share your personal information, including your e-mail address, with any third parties for any purposes without your express permission. IFC may share your personal information for the purpose of delivering our e-mail to you or as required by law.
Recent Comments