Travis White of FRAC on IFC Warrior Wednesday EP78.
Michael Ware of IFC interviews, Travis White of FRAC (Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition). FRAC’s sole mission is to aggressively advocate for and defend firearms, ammunition, and accessories manufacturers and importers from government overreach. This includes holding the government accountable for arbitrary and capricious policies and rulings and ensuring that the government’s regulation of the industry is conducted in an open and transparent manner.
FRAC will be the leading advocate of firearms manufacturers, importers, and their customers before federal regulatory agencies. fracaction.org
The attempted assassination of President Trump a few days ago has caused me to push back this week’s planned blog. In light of this event, I want to raise a few points for you to consider.
The Actual Event
We have all seen the attack from multiple angles of newsreels, cell phone cameras, and interviews. What shocked me personally is that the Trump campaign has been asking to increase the size of his protective detail. That request has been repeatedly denied, along with the denial of any protective services to RFK Jr’s Campaign. Actions speak louder than words. I believe Biden wants his opponents un-protected.
In fact, some Secret Services resources were diverted to Jill Biden’s event. Consequently, Trump’s event was apparently covered by many supplemental agents from different field offices (not Trump’s regular detail). Additionally, his detail had only two SS counter snipers. While this was in accord with agency protocol for a former President, it did not take into account his current status. President Trump was only two days away from again being the nominee of the Republican Party. Trump is not just a former President. He is the only President in modern history to have run for President again, while being the focus of multiple controversies and prosecutions, which would likely make him even more of a target.
As a close friend and Retired US Secret Service Agent friend pointed out to me in an email the evening after the attack:
“If I had been the USSS Director, I’d have made the Trump Detail the same size as PPD or even larger. I’ve not been impressed with [USSS Director] Cheatle. She is just too tight with Biden and Obama, and pushing DEI. Also, recall when Ronald Reagan was shot and how Jerry pushed him into the car, and it rolled within a couple of seconds. The four or five gals around Trump’s car couldn’t decide what to do, and it showed.”
This is a massive failure on the part of the USSS to ensure the safety of a protectee. Yet Hunter Biden has a full detail?
USSS Rules of Engagement
This is similar to the ridiculous Rules of Engagement (ROE) under President Obama when I was in Afghanistan in 2016. We had to be fired upon by known terrorists before we could engage them. Furthermore, theAmerican force was only to equal what we were being fired upon with. Using any weapon larger than a Hellfire missile essentially had to be approved by the White House.
Regarding the President’s USSS detail: under the current ROEs if a suspected sniper is spotted, response teams are sent to check him out. Meanwhile, the Counter Sniper (CS) teams keep him under surveillance through their rifle scopes. In this situation, the CS team did not shoot him in the head until after he had opened fire on President Trump. Clearly, the ROEs need to be changed. If someone shows up aiming a weapon at the President within the range of a CS team, no order should be required for the response team to take action. The CS people should have a green light to take the attacker(s) out, on the spot.
Think of it this way: you’re minding your own business when someone aims a weapon at you. In the United States, that’s sufficient justification to shoot them immediately. You don’t have to wait until you are fired upon, stabbed, or beaten to death with a baseball bat.
Why did the USSS CS Team not engage the shooter immediately, or at least have President Trump moved to safety while the response team investigated?
Operations like the one that the unsuccessful assassin undertook on July 13th require planning: pre-attack scouting, knowing the timing of the event, and luck. They rarely happen in a vacuum. Who helped this shooter? We need to find out — that is, if the FBI can break away from monitoring school board meetings for a few days.
Shocking / Unsurprised?
Professor Johnathan Turley expressed in a July 14, 2024 article on his website how we are surprisingly unsurprised by this attempt.
The assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump left a nation stunned. But the most shocking aspect was that it was not nearly as surprising as it should have been. For months, politicians, the press, and pundits have escalated reckless rhetoric in this campaign on both sides. That includes claims that Trump was set to kill democracy, unleash “death squads” and make homosexuals and reporters “disappear”.
It’s an interesting article and you should read it in its entirety. I vehemently disagree with the good Professor’s belief that those on the left do not want actual violence. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we know in this dangerous world, words have meaning. When someone says they want you dead, you had better believe them. ANTIFA is the militant arm of the current Democratic Party — just like the Ku Klux Klan was for more than a century, before and throughout the 1960s. Our DOJ has not done anything of significance to rein in ANTIFA and its financial supporters in the Blue States. Even Biden said on July 8th, 2024, “We’re done talking about the debate, it’s time to put Trump in a bullseye.”
PRAY FOR AMERICA
As I said in my KCCI-TV interview aired on Sunday, and mentioned at the end of their story, “PRAY FOR AMERICA”.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by donating to IFC-PAC today. Those small recurring monthly donations of $10, $25, or $100 do make a huge difference in our ability to get the message of freedom out there.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Yes, folks, Chevron Deference is dead! What does that mean? Simply put, it means the Supreme Court told Congress to get back to work. They must stop pawning off their power to unelected Executive Branch bureaucratic agencies. These bureaucrats have become lawmakers that control the entire legal process in “administrative courts”.
Last year I wrote this to explain Chevron Deference:
“About forty years ago the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) created what is now known as the Chevron Deference. As the Brookings Institute explains, this allows the courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretation of ambiguous federal statutes. Possibly the greatest legacy of the current SCOTUS may be one of annihilating the administrative state, by ending the doctrine of Chevron Deference.”
There are lots of very complex explanations out there right now, regarding the impact of striking down Chevron Deference in the Loper Bright Enterprises SCOTUS decision just handed down. Most of these explanations are written by lawyers – and for lawyers. Let me break it all down for you, with the help of The Second Amendment Foundation’s Bill Sack from a piece in AmmoLand;
“Chevron was overturned formally based on the Administrative Procedures Act, which sets out the procedures that federal agencies must follow as well as instructions for the courts to review actions by those agencies. The Supreme Court decided that this deference was unlawful. The Supreme Court said federal courts should start from scratch, rather than showing deference to the alphabet agencies.”
The High Court removed their thumb from the scale.
That last statement is mine. We have seen abuses by federal agencies of the rulemaking process, including by the beloved BATFE. Recent reinterpretations of rules regarding pistol braces, the frame & receiver rule, and the bump stock ban have been, and arebeing, struck down. This is occurring at various levels of Federal Courts (up to and including SCOTUS), using the Administrative Procedures Act.
Why This Matters
This decision is a major blow to the 100 years of federal overreach that started in the 1920’s. It will take time to fully reverse the consolidation of power in Washington D.C.We all need to pressure our State Legislatures to press the Federal Government back into its only lawful role under the Enumerated Powers Clause in the US Constitution. I’ll give you the short version: Congress only has the authority to do about eighteen things, despite its overstepping its bounds for over 100 years under the guise of “modern views”. That view is that “our betters” in government know what’s best for us.
I am running the world.
Nothing better illustrates that attitude than when Joe Biden made that statement in his ABC Interview on July 5th. I don’t care if it’s Michael Bloomberg, Barack Obama, or George Soros and their minions, we as Americans get to live with the consequences of our own decisions. We should not suffer the consequences of others’ decisions that we have had no say in. After all, how many of “our betters” ever pay a price for their bad decisions?
Joe Biden can barely walk across a stage. He is not running the world.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by donating to IFC-PAC today. Those small recurring monthly donations of $10, $25, or $100 do make a huge difference in our ability to get the message of freedom out there.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
248 years ago our Declaration of Independence was signed. Will America make it to 250 years? I believe so, but like those men and women who threw off King George, every American needs to stand ready to defend our great nation.
Never forget it was armed civilians who defeated the most powerful army in the world at the time, demanding freedom. These were men who understood the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, had studied world history, and understood that all men were born to be free — not oppressed by a dictator in a far-away land. Today that dictator is our own over-reaching Federal Government and the executive branch of our government. They have spent the last 100 years consolidating power in Washington D.C.
Fortunately we have started to turn that ship around. But it won’t be easy! This July 4th, when you’re watching the fireworks, remember what they really stand for.
To help get you in the spirit of independence, watch this short four-minute history channel video. Refresh your memory about what is at stake.
Please stay Ready at All Times, and help us defend all of Iowa’s rights by joining or renewing your IFC membership here today.
Shoot Straight, Speak The Truth, and Never Surrender Our Liberties.
Thank you Brownells, indeed! Second Amendment supporters should be thankful that Brownells is such a champion of 2A issues. We had the opportunity to again experience this first-hand last Saturday, when a team from IFC attended GunCon at Brownells. This is the third year Brownells has hosted media influencers from around the country to hold live-streamed panel discussions on various 2A topics, showcase a variety of quality guns and gear available on site from many different vendors, and provide a forum for both national gun rights organizations and Iowa’s own Iowa Firearms Coalition, to meet with people.
[Photos and comments about GunCon were contributed by all IFC team members.]
The Panelists & Sessions
Typical of Brownells and The Gun Collective, the event was a huge success and very well attended. Doors opened at 10 a.m. Our team arrived at 8 a.m. to set up, and there were already lines of people waiting outside the entry doors. Audience members were able to ask questions of the panelists, and those tuned into the live stream could also submit questions to be answered. Check out this link, and scroll down to see a list of featured panelists and the vendors at GunCon. Our own IFC volunteer Lobbyist, Richard Rogers (pictured in the red shirt, above) participated in panel discussions. Richard has a vast knowledge of the history of 2A legislative and case law developments, both nationally and in Iowa, and we were proud to have him represent IFC.
IFC TRUSTED PARTNERS
In addition to Brownells, two other IFC Trusted Partners were at the event also. Trusted Partners add value for our members by offering discounted prices on goods or services, when purchasing them with a discount code through IFC’s website. In fact, you can more than pay for your annual membership fee by purchasing discounted goods through our Trusted Partners — buying quality goods that you would have purchased anyway. Vice President and volunteer, Billy Wilson, made sure to thank our partners, on behalf of our members.
Old Friends
But it was not all serious discussion! Stephen Willeford, representing Gun Owners of America (GOA), had some fun with their photo board and props. GOA was in the booth next to ours. Other 2A rights organizations represented were FRAC and the Second Amendment Foundation. Stephen (pictured on the right in this photo) is best known as “The Barefoot Defender” in the Sutherland Springs church shooting in Texas a few years ago. IFC invited Mr. Willeford to speak to our members at the 2A Lobby Day a couple of years ago, and again at the IFC-PAC Supper that evening. The events of that day had a profound effect on Mr. Willeford and his impactful story is raw still.
Speaking of 2A Lobby Day–our Lobby Day event in 2025 will be held on February 18th, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. at the Iowa Capitol, as always. The keynote speaker is Iowa native, Jeff Struecker, known from Black Hawk Down. You won’t want to miss this event. We’ll let you know when tickets go on sale.
Takeaways
Talking with the IFC team after the event, the things that most impressed us were:
There were people from everywhere! We talked with folks from Denver, from Florida, from Nebraska, Missouri, and certainly from Illinois! (Kansas State Rifle Association had their big annual meeting on the same day as GunCon this year, so we didn’t run into many from Kansas this year.) Eric Hansen, our Events Coordinator, said that the folks from Illinois all told him the same thing: they are looking at options for moving across the river. Illinois gun laws are driving them to greener pastures – like Iowa!
People were willing to drive six to ten hours to attend the event. It is important to them and the event offers something for everyone. The benefit of learning from the various panelists firsthand was a big draw for attendees.
There were all kinds of people at the event. People of all ages and backgrounds; people with varying degrees of firearms experience and different interests. Although still a predominantly male crowd, there were many women in attendance and they were not just companions along for the ride! The involvement of women with guns was a frequent topic mentioned by the panelists.
The folks who stopped by our booth — and there were MANY! — were very appreciative of the work done by IFC since its inception. The degree of interaction with them, the length of discussions, and the concerns they have about protecting gun rights, were impressive.
What Next?
All in all, it was a great day! Getting to interact with hundreds of people from all walks of life, with common concerns and interests, was rejuvenating! As you can see, we are growing our presence and outreach, and we could really use your talent. We are an All-Volunteer organization. Volunteer and discover all the fun you are missing! The folks at IFC are great to work with and very helpful.
Also, if you are not yet a member of IFC, or if your shooting friends are not members, what are you waiting for? One of the appalling statistics I heard from the 2A Rights panel was that over 126,000 Iowa gun owners are NOT registered to vote! And, looking at gun owners nationally, over 9 million gun owners are not registered to vote. That does not bode well in terms of protecting our interests.
Our Second Amendment rights are under serious attack. For heaven’s sake: JOIN IFC & VOTE!
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showcase a variety of quality guns and gear available on site from many different vendors, and provide a forum for both national gun rights organizations and Iowa’s own Iowa Firearms Coalition, to meet with people.
Vice President and volunteer, Billy Wilson, made sure to thank our partners, on behalf of our members.
But it was not all serious discussion! Stephen Willeford, representing Gun Owners of America (GOA), had some fun with their photo board and props. GOA was in the booth next to ours. Other 2A rights organizations represented were FRAC and the Second Amendment Foundation. Stephen (pictured on the right in this photo) is best known as “The Barefoot Defender” in the Sutherland Springs church shooting in Texas a few years ago. IFC invited Mr. Willeford to speak to our members at the 2A Lobby Day a couple of years ago, and again at the IFC-PAC Supper that evening. The events of that day had a profound effect on Mr. Willeford and his impactful story is raw still.
All in all, it was a great day! Getting to interact with hundreds of people from all walks of life, with common concerns and interests, was rejuvenating! As you can see, we are growing our presence and outreach, and we could really use your talent. We are an All-Volunteer organization. Volunteer and discover all the fun you are missing! The folks at IFC are great to work with and very helpful.
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