by Dave Funk | Nov 14, 2023
SHUTTING DOWN THE ATF – AT LEAST IN THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
Well it looks like shutting down the ATF is happening, at least in the Fifth Circuit. Over the last several months we have seen the Judges in the Fifth Circuit taking the ATF to the woodshed. Over at Bearing Arms, author Cam Edwards is calling it the Fifth Circuit v. ATF these days. The judges in the Fifth Circuit are calling out the ATF’s recent proposed rule that “…flouts clear statutory text and exceeds the legislatively-imposed limits on agency authority in the name of public policy” in their unanimous agreement on the Frame & Receiver rule. Add to that the the Fifth Circuit’s imposition of a nationwide injunction against the Stabilizing Brace rule, and the shutting down of the Bump Stock rule, clearly the Fifth Circuit has gone to war against the overreaching ATF. The Bearing Arms article cited above by Cam Edwards includes the following observation:
“How do we know when an agency has exceeded its statutory authority? Simple: the plain language of the statute tells us so. Therefore, “[w]e start, as we always do, with the text.” … Here, we read the words of the GCA “in their context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory scheme.” Only where the statutory text shows that ATF has “clear congressional authorization” to enact a regulation can such a regulation withstand judicial scrutiny. As explained below, we hold that ATF lacked congressional authorization to promulgate the two challenged portions of the Final Rule.
The GCA includes as a “firearm” the “frame or receiver” of a weapon. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3)(C). The GCA itself does not define the term “frame or receiver.” The Final Rule, however, newly defines the term “frame or receiver” to include “a partially complete, disassembled, or nonfunctional frame or receiver, including a frame or receiver parts kit, that is designed to or may readily be completed, assembled, restored, or otherwise converted to function as a frame or receiver.”
Because Congress did not define “frame or receiver” in the GCA, the ordinary meaning of the words control. Both a “frame” and a “receiver” had set, well-known definitions at the time of the enactment of the GCA in 1968. In 1971, Webster’s Dictionary defined a “frame” as “the basic unit of a handgun which serves as a mounting for the barrel and operating parts of the arm” and a “receiver” as “the metal frame in which the action of a firearm is fitted and which the breech end of the barrel is attached.” ration of the definition before the Final Rule’s proposed change—defined “frame or receiver” as “[t]hat part of a firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock, and firing mechanism, and which is usually threaded at its forward position to receive the barrel.” As is apparent from a comparison of the dictionary definitions and the regulatory definition, ATF’s previous understanding of “frame or receiver” closely tracked the public’s common understanding of such terms at the time of enactment.”
Clarity vs. Ambiguity
One of the long-standing bulwarks of freedom is clear, concise, and easily understood laws; the dangerous quack anti-gunners among us don’t want that. They want ambiguous laws that are open to reinterpretation at their whim so they can prosecute their political opponents anytime they want. Think of the times you have heard them describing our Constitution as a “living document” as opposed to “set in stone”.
Despite the Biden Administration’s attempts to stop everyday Americans from having the means to defend themselves, please be Ready at All Times. The future of freedom in the world depends on every one of us.
I look forward to meeting each and every one of you at IFC 2A Day the morning of January 18, 2024, and hopefully you can join us for the IFC PAC Dinner that Evening.
Help us educate Iowan’s on the facts by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Dave Funk
President, IFC
by Dave Funk | Nov 7, 2023
Biden To Israel: Do Not Arm Your Citizens
President Biden just told Israel to not arm their citizens, or else! Amazingly–after the October 7th attacks in Israel, when Israel is implementing a de facto Second Amendment by distributing rifles to its citizens. It was just about eighty weeks ago when the Ukrainians did the same thing after the Russians invaded their country.
As reported by Olivia Murry over at the American Thinker;
“On Saturday, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had been pictured handing out rifles to the nation’s citizens and “community security squads” located throughout the kibbutzim—the episode created a “diplomatic incident” which manifested a threat from Joe Biden and his abettors to end “arms shipments” to the country. From the article:
The U.S. administration told Israel that it would not supply the country with arms if they are used to arm civilians, and if they are to be distributed at political events. The administration also threatened to halt an order of some 20,000 rifles purchased by the National Security Ministry from American suppliers.
The U.S. announcement shocked Israel’s defense establishment. In light of a considerable rifle shortage, resolving the crisis involved both political and judicial officials.”
Please go read Olivia Murry’s piece that is hyperlinked above. She spells things out in context far better than I can summarize here.
Founding Fathers Placed Deliberate
Limitations on Government
James Madison explained in Federalist Paper #46 the necessity of the government not having a monopoly on power. As I said a few weeks ago, of all the things that the Founders wrote about in the first ten amendments to our Bill of Rights, the second most important thing after being safe in your religious beliefs, thoughts, and speech was that every person should have a gun!
After years of seeing photos of young Israelis walking around with rifles or submachine guns hanging from their bodies, we Americans assumed that most of the population was armed. That turns out not to be the case at all. One thing dictators and globalists all fear is an armed population. Israel paid a price in lives because their citizens are mostly disarmed.
Clearly, a majority of our friends in Israel now see the need for an armed population that is Ready at All Times, and not just a few military members or the police.
I look forward to meeting each and every one of you at IFC 2A Day the morning of January 18, 2024, and hopefully you can join us for the IFC PAC Dinner that Evening.
Help us educate Iowan’s on the facts by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Dave Funk
President, IFC
by Dave Funk | Oct 24, 2023
DEFUND THE ATF? Where Does Your Presidential Wannabe Stand, Iowa?
DEFUND THE ATF? Where does your presidential wannabe stand on this Iowa? With the obvious total failure of gun control costing thousands of lives in Israel just days ago, every Iowa Republican caucus-goer needs to know exactly where the POTUS candidates stand on this question.
We all have friends who are Federal Agents. Most of them understand the roles and Constitutional duties of their offices. Many of them have also quietly spoken to me about the necessity to clean the houses of the politicians in their agencies and getting back to core missions.
Freedom is about more than just “keeping the program funded”. It’s an important part of why the Founders wrote the Enumerated Powers Clause of the US Constitution. Of the five powers granted Congress, none of them included gun control in any form.
This is not just a DC Swamp vs the rest of America question. This is about the next step in ensuring that Americans continue to have the ability to defend not just themselves, but our communities, and with the open border invasion being allowed by President Biden’s Administration, our country.
America’s Founding Fathers clearly understood the necessity of the government not having a monopoly on power. Of all the things that they wrote about in the first ten amendments to our Bill of Rights, the second most important thing after being safe in your beliefs, thoughts, and speech was that every person should have a gun!
Clearly, a majority of our friends in Israel now see the need for an armed population that is Ready at All Times, and not just a few military members or the police.
Help us educate Iowan’s on the facts by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Dave Funk
President, IFC
by Dave Funk | Oct 17, 2023
Dangerous Quacks — The Next Generation Is With Us!
President’s Message:
Dangerous Quacks — The Next Generation is with us, and I’m not talking about another Star Trek series. On October 12, 2023, Kennedy Lein, a fourth-year undergraduate student with a double major in Journalism and Cinematic Arts at the University of Iowa, penned an opinion piece on Rural Gun Violence in The Daily Iowan. Her other contributions to that publication include pieces on wind energy and food insecurity for college students.
Getting to the gist of her piece that opens with this statement:
“Gun violence, especially in rural areas, has been an overlooked issue for many years.
According to NBC News, two decades of data shows that gun violence is worse in rural areas than big cities.
This issue is largely overlooked by the public and lawmakers alike.
As stated in a study in a study from the American Medical Association, “high rates of gun homicide in urban centers have been the sole focus of many policymakers and used as justification to loosen gun laws, when in fact gun violence is an issue in counties of all sizes.”
As I read through the article, I noticed that the author cited nothing but anti-gun studies and publications as her basis for her conclusions. What’s more, she lumped into what she calls “Gun Violence” accidental shootings and suicides committed with firearms. What amazes me is that the author used such limited data to come to her conclusions. It takes but one murder in a town of 100 people in a four-year period to skew the data to make it look like a town in rural America is more dangerous than Chicago on a per 1,000,000 people comparison.
She closes with this statement:
“Politicians and citizens have the power to change the narrative about gun violence. The facts are there, and this will only get worse if nothing is done.
Rural areas need to have stricter gun laws, but most importantly, there needs to be light shed on the gun violence crisis that is happening in rural America. Before we lose any more innocent lives to gun violence, let’s put an end to it.”
Apparently not just the majority of Iowa voters firmly rejected her arguments, when they passed with 65.17% of the vote, the Freedom Amendment last November, but my guess is that a majority of our friends in Israel clearly see the need for an armed population that is Ready at All Times.
Ms. Lein is representative of the next generation of anti-gun dangerous quacks. Help us educate Iowans on the facts by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Dave Funk
President, IFC
by Dave Funk | Oct 3, 2023
Abolishing the ATF is Starting to Go Mainstream
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:
Dana Loesch reacting to a White House post, on X 10:20 AM · Sep 25, 2023
“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.
Dave Funk
President, IFC
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