The administrative state loses again! This time in the case of Marin Audubon Society, et al v. FAA, theD.C. District Court of Appeals struck down the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), a toothless cabal inside the Presidential Executive Office. The CEQ has exceeded its authority for decades by publishing its guidance in the Federal Register implying its guidance has the force of law. From the decision by a three-judge panel:
“As the parties argue the case, it centers on whether the Agencies complied with regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality, an entity within the Executive Office of the President. We will not address these arguments. The CEQ regulations, which purport to govern how all federal agencies must comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, are ultra vires.”
Ultra Vires means “beyond the scope of its authority.
This undoes fifty years of bureaucratic law. Coupled with the end of the Chevron Deference, this gives the incoming Trump Administration tremendous power to shrink the size and scope of the administrative state. This means that three-letter agencies will have to fight their battles in the Federal Courts, not with their own unaccountable-to-the-voters administrative law judge.
Couple these steps with the future Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that’s going to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whose quotes are highlighted by Clarice Feldman over at The American Thinker:
“Vivek Ramaswamy, co-nominee for the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made clear the chainsaw they intend to take to the bureaucratic state:
“Here’s a key point about our mission at DOGE: eliminating bureaucratic regulations isn’t a mere policy preference. It’s a legal *mandate* from the U.S. Supreme Court:
— West Virginia v. EPA (2022) held that agencies cannot decide major questions of economic or political significance without “clear congressional authorization.” This applies to *thousands* of rules that never passed Congress.
— In Loper Bright v. Raimondo (2024), the Court ended Chevron Deference, which means agencies can’t foist their own interpretations of the law onto the American people. Over 18,000 federal cases cited the Chevron doctrine, often to uphold regulations, many of which are now null & void.
— In SEC v. Jarkesy (2024), SCOTUS restricted the use of “administrative law judges” by agencies. The same agency that wrote the rules shouldn’t be able to prosecute citizens in “courts” that it controls.
— In Corner Post v. Board of Governors (2024), the Court held that new businesses can challenge old regulations, greatly expanding the statute of limitations & opening many more rules up for scrutiny. So we shouldn’t just look at rules passed in the last 4 years, but over the past 4 decades (or more).”
When Obama bragged in 2009 as the new POTUS, that “elections have consequences”, he had no idea how that statement would come back to bite him. It’s incredible that just fifteen years later the out-of-control federal government (courtesy of Obama, and his minions Biden and Harris), would become the reason Donald J. Trump would be twice handed the Presidency by the American people.
Between taking away the authority of the three-letter agencies, and then defunding them, Americans will again live freely. As freedom-loving gun owners, we can hope that the ATF shrinks down to size, if not eliminated entirely.
There’s a new boss in town, and he’s not the same as the old boss. Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by renewing or joining IFC today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Dave Funk Member, Board of Directors Iowa Firearms Coalition #2A4IA
The 2A Wrap-Up this week has lots of stuff to cover. Before we delve into it though, a quick note on the Southeast Iowa Congressional District. As I mentioned last week, it was a nail-biter. However, Dr. Miller-Meeks wrapped up the win with about an 800-vote margin. You might remember that two years ago, just six votes won the district! Never let anyone tell you your vote does not matter.
IOWA HOUSE AND SENATE WRAP UP
The Republicans have super majorities in both the House and Senate. Unfortunately, the Democrats still have no openly 2A-supporting members.
DES MOINES REGISTER POLL LEAK INVESTIGATION
You may have heard that the Iowa Poll tried to throw the election to Harris in surrounding states. They did this by fudging its previously highly-regarded Iowa Poll. The poll overstated Harris’ support in Iowa by at least thirteen points, according to the tally on election day. Now Gannet, the owner of the Register, is investigating how the poll was leaked to the Illinois Governor in advance of its official publication. How much farther can the Register fall into obscurity?
FLORIDA AND ILLINOIS IN THE NEWS
First off, Floridians passed a state constitutional amendment by 67%, to enshrine the right to hunt and fish. Iowa needs to follow suit on this issue. Look at the margin: it was 2:1, and just like the Freedom Amendment here in Iowa, it garnered bipartisan support.
And in Illinois, U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn handed down a 168-page rebuke of the state’s latest gun and magazine ban as unconstitutional. Bruen strikes again!
LEFTISTS ARE MELTING DOWN OVER THE POLITICAL REALIGNMENT
Say what you will, but clearly the people who make America work have handed the leftists in America a massive condemnation. The important thing is that now the old hands in Washington DC realize they have been given a mandate to get back to a smaller, less intrusive federal government just as the Framers designed. It’s our job to stay after them to follow through on this mandate.
Election Results 2024 — Well, we have the preliminary election results in Iowa. Here’s what we know at the time of this writing. It appears to be a total repudiation of the coastal elites and administrative state by the people who make America work.
POTUS:
President Trump will return to office in January. In Iowa, he captured 56% of the vote. Nationally he will not just win the popular vote but it looks like he has captured 312 electoral votes to loser Harris’s 226. This is the political comeback of all times. Not to mention that hopefully, it will end the talk of getting rid of the Electoral College by those who want to rig our elections in their favor.
US HOUSE CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICTS
Well, I thought I’d be writing about each district individually. But the Iowa Republican incumbents all won reelection. They were comfortable wins, just like last time, except for Dr. Miller-Meeks, in Iowa’s 1st District. That one was a nail-biter, and still has not been called. But that’s to be expected in the Southeast part of Iowa.
NATIONAL CONTROL OF THE US HOUSE AND SENATE
It looks like the Republicans will maintain control of the US House of Representatives and have won back control of the US Senate.
I’ll follow up on this analysis in the future with the shakeout in the Iowa House and Senate.
The good news is that this election season is over. The bad news, as Iowans, is that the start of the 2028 Iowa Caucuses push will begin in early January at the very latest. But let’s enjoy the regular TV & radio ads that the rest of the country gets for the next three years until early next year.
VOTE! Today’s the day that matters. That’s this week’s 2A Wrap-Up message. Even if you’re not registered to vote, in Iowa you can do same-day registration. If you need to find your polling place you can do so here.
From an old essay by David Codrea, a gun rights activist and journalist at The War on Guns:
“...Has humanity truly demonstrated a benevolence and maturity that distinguishes our era from those that preceded us? In a culture that breeds gang warfare, rampant violence, city-crippling riots, and national murders measured in the tens of thousands, how can anyone credibly claim that the need for individual defense is a relic of the past?
Where in history is any civilization guaranteed stasis? Has not despotism and mass destruction plagued every civilization that preceded ours? Is it not, in fact, still commonplace throughout the globe? By what suspension of reality, by what denial of the observable and the probable, by what art, device, or magic are we sheltered few immune from catastrophe? Are we certain, from our brief and privileged vantage point, that such things will ever remain headline curiosities? Is it not just plain stupid to proclaim that our familiar way of life will forever be the norm, when everything that has gone before us shows we are, instead, the extremely lucky beneficiaries of a rare and fortunate convergence of circumstances; and one, by the way, that has only been preserved under force of arms?...”
Those dangerous quacks want you disarmed. Don’t let them win.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrats claim they are the party of freedom. In Harris’ interview on Club Shay Shay on Monday, she argued that people need to vote for her to preserve the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments, that Trump “wants to terminate the Constitution”.
Yet, on the First Amendment, Harris previously called for government “oversight or regulation” of social media to stop what she calls misinformation. In 2022, her vice-presidential nominee, Gov. Tim Walz, claimed: “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech.”
On gun ownership, Harris went so far as claiming: “I am in favor of the Second Amendment, Idon’t believe that we should be taking anyone’s guns away.”
Reassuring, but Harris’ emphatic past support for gun control is consistent and legion. Let’s look at her record. She claimed during her 2020 presidential campaign, “I support a mandatory buyback program.”When pressed about Joe Biden’s claim at the time that she couldn’t ban assault weapons with an executive order, Harris enthusiastically responded, “Hey, Joe, rather than saying ‘No, we can’t,’ let’s say ‘Yes, we can.’”
But this is nothing new. Harris has strongly advocated for gun control for years. As San Francisco’s District Attorney, she declared, “Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn’t mean that we’re not going to walk into that home and check to see if you’re being responsible.” She even supports warrantless searches, raising concerns she also doesn’t want to be bothered by the Fourth Amendment.
In a 2008 amicus brief, Harris argued that a complete ban on all handguns is constitutional. She even said there is no individual right to self-defense.
The Biden-Harris administration has been the most anti-self defense administration to date, shutting down thousands of gun dealers by mid-2022 due to minor paperwork errors. They renewedObama’s Operation Choke Point to cut off financial resources for gun manufacturers and dealers; the companies that remained had to grapple with increased costs. The Biden-Harris administration has also established a national gun registry.
If Kamala Harris becomes president, she will push for even more restrictions. The new Office of Gun Violence Prevention is “overseen” by Harris, which coordinates the administration’s gun control initiatives. The office oversaw a recently released U.S. Surgeon General report that fails to mention a single benefit of gun ownership.
The OGVP was instrumental in implementing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, introducing complex rules that classify many gun owners as firearms dealers. If you sell a gun to a friend once and discuss selling a second one to anyone, you must first become a licensed dealer. If you sell one gun and keep a record of the transaction, you are also required to first become licensed.
Many BCSA rules are vague, giving the government discretion to arbitrarily label individuals as dealers.
Under Harris’ leadership, the OGVP pushed for lawsuits against gun makers and sellers whenever criminals use their guns. She also pushed to ban semi-automatic “assault” weapons, and require background checks on all private gun transfers.
U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan and Thomas Massie found that Bank of America provided the FBI with credit card data for firearms purchases without even requiring a warrant or probable cause.
With a national gun registry in place, officials can now easily identify legal gun owners. Harris’ past threats to confiscate guns become much more likely to succeed.
Gun control has already taken center stage in Harris’ campaign. Harris made gun control a key topic in her first event in Wisconsin and again at a gathering of the American Federation of Teachers.
It isn’t just that Democrats want to regulate every part of our lives, but the real threat to the First, Second, and Fourth Amendments to the Bill of Rights are at risk from Harris. Those freedoms are endangered if she wins.
John R. Lott Jr. is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. He served as senior adviser for research and statistics in the Office of Justice Programs and the Office of Legal Policy at the Justice Department.
Dr. Lott is, like Thomas Sowell, a national treasure.
Those dangerous quacks want you disarmed,don’t let them win.
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that’s going to be led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whose quotes are highlighted by Clarice Feldman over at The American Thinker:
massive condemnation. The important thing is that now the old hands in Washington DC realize they have been given a mandate to get back to a smaller, less intrusive federal government just as the Framers designed. It’s our job to stay after them to follow through on this mandate.
Those dangerous quacks want you disarmed. 
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