Category Archives: Constitution

Effingham County, Illinois, Declares Itself a Sanctuary — for Gun Owners!

Friday, 20 April 2018 05:37

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, April 19, 2018:

Joe Thoele, an Effingham County, Illinois board member, was tired of his state’s continued assault on the Second Amendment and decided to do something about it. On Monday he persuaded seven of the other eight board members to declare his county a “sanctuary” county, ordering county employees not to enforce any new infringements coming from Springfield, the state’s capitol. Said Thoele, “I would just like to send a statement to Springfield that I don’t want them to be infringing on our Second Amendment rights as legal gun owners.” After all, echoed Effingham state’s attorney Bryan Kibler, “If you can be a sanctuary county for undocumented immigrants, why can’t you be one for firearms?”

The board meeting was attended by a near-record number of Effingham County’s 34,000 residents, according to local news sources. The Fox News affiliate reported that the resolution was motivated by a similar resolution passed by Iroquois County, Illinois, in March, “opposing the passage of … any bill where the 100th Illinois General Assembly desires to restrict the individual right of U.S. citizens as protected by the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.” That resolution resolved

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Deerfield, Illinois, Passes “Assault Weapons” Ban Effective June 13

Monday, 09 April 2018 10:06

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, April 9, 2018:

The unanimous approval by the Deerfield, Illinois, Village Board of Trustees of a nearly complete ban on all manner of loosely defined “assault weapons” last Monday night has made headline news. It has also generated at least two lawsuits complaining that the law, to become effective June 13, is unconstitutional under Illinois state law.

In addition, the ban has generated significant pushback from enraged citizens who are threatening to ignore the law if it becomes effective.

The Chicago Tribune explains the extent of the ban and its definition of an “assault weapon”:

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High-school Students Stage Walkout to Support the Second Amendment

Wednesday, 04 April 2018 05:44

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, April 2, 2018:

The completely unplanned, unstaged, unfunded, and spontaneous gathering of 75 students outside Rockledge High School in Brevard County, Florida, last Friday morning was almost completely ignored by the mainstream media. Organized by Chloe Deaton, a sophomore, and Anna Delaney, a junior, the event lasted 20 minutes, just long enough to make their point: Other students in the same high school and around the country who urged more infringements on the people’s right to keep and bear arms didn’t speak for them.

After playing the national anthem (no one kneeled) and “God Bless America” on loudspeakers set up on the school’s track, Delaney told her classmates, “We were built on certain rights and that was one of the original rights, that we should have the right to bear arms.” She can be forgiven for failing to note that the right to self-defense and, thereby, the access to tools useful for self-defense are natural rights and pre-date the Constitution.

She made up for her misstatement by quoting President Ronald Reagan, who got it right:

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Ninth Circuit Vacancies Present Trump With Incredible Opportunity

Monday, 02 April 2018 09:06

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, April 2, 2018:

Map of the geographic boundaries of the variou...

Map of the geographic boundaries of the various United States Courts of Appeals and United States District Courts.

With the death last week of “liberal lion” Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, there are now seven vacancies on the 29-judge court — a court so liberal that 80 percent of its decision are reversed when appealed to the Supreme Court. However, the unusual number of vacancies means one fourth of the composition of the Ninth Circuit could be Trump nominees, not enough to make it conservative but enough to move the court to the right.

After Reinhardt’s passing, Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Sidney Runyan Thomas offered his condolences:

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Other Gun Makers Nervous Over Lawsuit Against Remington

Thursday, 29 March 2018 04:38

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, March 28, 2018:

One of the many factors behind the decision by the board to seek bankruptcy protection for Remington Arms on Sunday was likely the pending lawsuit against the company stemming from the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre.

The 40-page lawsuit, filed two years after the horrific murder of 20 children in Newtown, Connecticut, names as defendants not only Remington Arms (the maker of the Bushmaster semi-automatic rifle that Adam Lanza used on December 14, 2012 to commit those murders) but the entire supply chain. The suit named Camfour, the distributor; and Riverview Sales, the retail gun store where Adam’s mother, Nancy Lanza, purchased the weapon.

The lawsuit begins by claiming

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New Poll a Healthy Antidote to Adolescents’ Phony “March for Our Lives” Rantings

Monday, 26 March 2018 05:22

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Sunday, March 25, 2018:

A healthy antidote to the histrionic rantings of propagandized and beguiled students flooding the Washington Mall on Saturday was released on Thursday. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal Survey found that the average American has an increasingly favorable view of the legal possession and use of firearms when it comes to self-defense. The polling results were based on questioning 1,100 adults, in contrast to the adult-manipulated adolescents who participated in what amounted to a day-long temper tantrum.

The key questions asked were:

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Anti-gun Hollywood Turning off Americans

Monday, 19 March 2018 10:10

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Sunday, March 18, 2018:

Summer's End. Lexington Green, 11 September 20...

Photo taken in Minute Man National Historical Park in Middlesex County, Massachusetts

A poll conducted by Zogby Analytics during the last week of February showed how the combination of hypocrisy and real-world facts are negating Hollywood’s anti-gun message. When 869 likely voters were asked by Zogby, “When Hollywood actors and actresses speak out about gun control, does that make you want to support or oppose our constitutional right to bear arms (the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution)?”, the response across every class, age group, and political party affiliation indicated that Hollywood’s anti-gun message is being increasingly rejected. Taken altogether, 56 percent of those polled said Hollywood’s anti-gun rants make them want either to “somewhat” support or “strongly support” the Second Amendment. Just 28 percent are reflecting the bias pitched by Hollywood, with 16 percent “strongly opposed” to the right guaranteed by the Second Amendment in the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, and 12 percent “somewhat opposed.”

But support for the Second Amendment was strongest among Millennials:

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Pennsylvania’s Special Election is Bad News for Democrats

Friday, 16 March 2018 10:34

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, March 16, 2018:

Despite claims by the mainstream media that the victory of the Democrat in Pennsylvania’s special election on Tuesday over the Trump-endorsed Republican sounded the death knell for Republicans in November, the exact opposite is true. The only way Democrats have any chance of turning the 25 seats they need in the House in their direction is for them to become Republicans. That’s the lesson from Pennsylvania.

It wasn’t so much a battle of Republican versus Democrat but a battle of Americanist A versus Americanist B. Americanist A, one Conor Lamb, looks like he was selected from central casting: handsome, articulate, and skilled in public discourse. Americanist B, Rick Saccone, didn’t measure up. Lamb’s campaign supporting the Second Amendment, Trump’s tariffs, the local coal industry, the right to life for the unborn left Saccone without any leverage. How does one debate someone who already agrees with you on the basics?

Add in one more topic:

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Trump Softens Gun-control Plan, Enrages Anti-gun Liberals

Tuesday, 13 March 2018 05:09

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, March 12, 2018:

Senator Chuck Schumer

Senator Chuck Schumer

So much softer were the president’s gun proposals released Sunday night than were expected that liberals started howling immediately. They were expecting President Trump to push for a raise in the age to purchase rifles, possibly a ban on so-called assault rifles, support for universal background checks, and the NICS “fix” promoted by Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.). Instead they got this tweet from the president: “Very strong improvement and strengthening of background checks will be fully backed by White House. Legislation moving forward. Bump Stocks will soon be out. Highly trained teachers will be allowed to conceal carry, subject to State Law. Armed guards OK, deterrent!”

Sorting it out, the president’s “gun plan” consists of

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Red Flag Warning: States Confiscating Guns by Ignoring Fourth Amendment

Monday, 12 March 2018 09:37

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, March 12, 2018:

An assortment of new restrictions on the Second Amendment in Florida also launched an attack on the Fourth Amendment, as well. As The New American noted last week, Florida’s new “red flag” law abrogates the Fourth Amendment on the way to violating the Second Amendment:

Simply put, someone who thinks someone else might be a danger to himself or others can present his arguments to a judge who then, based upon those arguments, is free to decide whether the state (police armed with guns and badges) can forcibly remove privately and legally owned firearms from that person’s possession. The “red flag” provisions do not allow the person charged to defend himself or even to know who his accuser might be. Further, he must prove his innocence in order to get his confiscated firearms returned to him. He is “guilty until he proves himself innocent.”

All in violation of the Fourth Amendment, which states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Jonas Oransky, deputy director of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety, was delighted, calling the adoption of such laws a “new frontier” in the long war against private gun ownership in America:

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The Minority Report is Now a Reality

Monday, 12 March 2018 09:27

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, March 12, 2018:

Cover of "Minority Report [Blu-ray]"

Cover of Minority Report DVD

Movie buffs will remember the 2002 science fiction film Minority Report based on a short story written by Philip Dick. Set in 2054 in Washington, D.C., a division of the local police department called PreCrime would arrest individuals based on crimes that they were going to commit. The precriminals were targeted by three psychics called “precogs.”

That “PreCrime” unit is now called the Crisis Response Squad, is part of the Seattle Police Department, and is now arresting precriminals based on testimonies from family members, friends, former wives or husbands, and even former roommates. This isn’t 2054, but 2018.

Here’s this from Seattle.gov, dated March 2, 2018:

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Florida Republican Legislators Turn Backs on Second, Fourth Amendments

Saturday, 10 March 2018 07:09

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, March 9, 2018:

Official photo of Florida Governor Rick Scott

Florida Governor Rick Scott

In 1970, Florida’s legislature officially adopted “The Sunshine State” as the state’s nickname. It was designed for the tourists: beaches, warm weather in the winter, and so forth.

About the same time, a 4’10” grandmother teamed up with the National Rifle Association (NRA) and, over time, successfully added another nickname to the state: “The Gunshine State.” When the Gun Control Act was passed in 1968, Marion Hammer decided to do what she could to overturn it. She started in Florida. She was the first female president of the NRA, and the rest, as they say, is history. In 1987, she almost single-handedly persuaded the state’s legislature to pass the first concealed carry law in the nation. In 2005, she was inducted into Florida’s Women’s Hall of Fame.

That was then. This is now.

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No Weapons Violations in First Six Months of Campus Carry at KU Lawrence

Thursday, 08 March 2018 06:27

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, March 6, 2018:

John Lott (left) being presented SAF's Journal...

John Lott (left) being presented SAF’s Journalist of the Year

In a report that the national media didn’t deem newsworthy, the Office of Public Safety at the Lawrence campus of the University of Kansas (KU) said last week that during the first six months that students were allowed to carry concealed on campus, there were no incidents — zero criminal weapons violations — to report. But the office did report that overall crime, mostly thefts, dropped by 13 percent.

The report said nothing about the freedom granted students starting last July to carry concealed on campus if they so desired, but instead stated that the drop in crime and the utter lack of weapons violations were likely due to “the use of security technology on campus, such as cameras … and more police and security officers [that] were added to the Public Safety Office in 2017.”

Undoubtedly, if there had been one weapons violation — just one — it would have made headline news in every liberal media outlet in the country. But in its absence, the media has remained silent.

The Kansas City Star noted that prior to July 1,

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When Firearms are Present, Shooters are Absent

Thursday, 08 March 2018 05:40

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, March 7, 2018:

John Lott being presented SAF's Journalist of ...

John Lott

John Lott, in his book, The War on Guns, gave his readers an astonishing statistic:

Since 2011, there have been only three mass public shootings in areas where concealed carry was allowed … these cases are very rare. From 1950-2010, not a single mass shooting occurred in an area where general civilians are allowed to carry guns.

Over the entire period from 1950 through February 2016, just over 1 percent of mass public shootings occurred in such places.

Put another way, according to Lott more than 98 percent of the time shooters choose places where their intended victims aren’t allowed to defend themselves with firearms!

Those shooters may be certifiably insane, but they aren’t stupid. Take, for example, Khalil Abu-Rayyan, an ISIS supporter who was planning an attack on one of the biggest churches in Detroit. According to Lott, Rayyan explained his choice of target this way:

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Do Anti-gun Democrats Have a Death Wish, Offering a Gun Ban Bill in an Election year?

Saturday, 03 March 2018 06:01

This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Friday, March 2, 2018:

When the liberal Huffington Post did its research, it was horrified to find not only that the worst political disasters took place during mid-term elections, but that third on the list was the cleansing of anti-gun Democrats in the 1994 midterms. Voters, outraged at their passage of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (aka the Clinton assault weapons ban), removed eight Democrat senators and 56 House Democrats. This resulted in the first time Republicans were in control of the House since Eisenhower.

But, as philosopher George Santayana noted, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Guilty of not knowing or remembering their political history are some 165 House Democrats who have signed on to a bill echoing Clinton’s gun ban: Rep. David Cicilline’s Assault Weapons Ban of 2018. Cicilline’s bill prohibits the “sale, transfer, production, and importation” of semi-automatic rifles and pistols that can hold a detachable magazine, as well as semi-automatic rifles with a magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds” of ammunition. Also to be banned would be semi-automatic shotguns and magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition. His bill lists 205 specific firearms that would be prohibited, including the AK-47 and the AR-15.

These anti-gun pols also have forgotten why the Clinton-era gun ban failed to be resurrected in 2004: there was no credible evidence from any source that it had any impact on gun violence. As recently as April 17, 2013, the Senate voted down a measure that would have restored it, 40 to 60.

Nevertheless, ignoring history and its lessons, Cicilline announced his offering last week:

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Media Celebrate Companies Severing Ties With NRA

Friday, 02 March 2018 11:12

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, February 28, 2018:

Following the announcement by a few well-known companies that they were “severing” their relationships with the National Rifle Association (NRA), the New York Times wrote positively of the actions. In just the last few days, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Chubb Limited (insurance), MetLife, and Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise, Alamo, and National car-rental affiliates) have announced they would no longer offer discounts for their various services to NRA members. Also included in the list is First National Bank of Omaha, whose credit card was the official card of the NRA and which offered a $40 cash-back bonus, enough to pay for a membership in the organization.

The Times overstated the impact by calling the decisions a “boycott” of the NRA, adding, “Through an uncoordinated but simpatico collection of Twitter hashtags, retweeted lists, Facebook groups, online petitions and carefully orchestrated campaigns, the protest has pushed a major bank, several car rental companies, two airlines and other businesses to publicly cut ties with the N.R.A.”

Some companies were clearly posturing, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, which hasn’t sold semi-automatic rifles in any of its 800 stores since the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, in December 2012. But the president, Ed Stack, saw his opportunity to promote his anti-gun views on ABC News, telling the network that “We’re taking these guns out of all of our stores permanently.” What was missing is that his decision impacts only 35 stores in its Field & Stream chain.

What impact the so-called “boycott” of the NRA is likely to have is highly questionable. By the numbers, those posturing are an infinitesimally small percentage of the business community. A most generous estimate is that fewer than three dozen companies have cut benefits previously being offered to NRA members. But there are 22 million active businesses in the United States, most of whom aren’t joining the parade of naysayers. FedEx, for example, is keeping its discount program in place for NRA members.

But there are other numbers, too,

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Anti-gun Democrats Introduce Clinton-style Assault Weapons Ban

Friday, 02 March 2018 11:05

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, March 1, 2018:

House Representative David Cicilline (D-R.I.) introduced a bill last week similar to the Clinton-era Federal Assault Weapons Ban but with even greater restrictions. So far 163 of the 193 House Democrats have signed on in support of the bill. Cicilline’s rant against semi-automatic rifles is familiar:

Assault weapons were made for one purpose. They are designed to kill as many people as possible in a short period of time. They do not belong in our communities.

I am proud to introduce the Assault Weapons Ban with the support of leaders in law enforcement. It’s on all of us to end this carnage.

Of course, if semi-automatic firearms were actually able to commit crimes without human assistance, then the ban would make sense. Who would want self-firing weapons walking around the neighborhood unrestricted? But that appears not to matter to Cicilline — who sports a F-minus rating from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a Freedom Index (FI) rating of 26 percent from The New American , and who was a founding member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns while he was the mayor of Providence.

Such illogic also appeared in the words of Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), representing several counties including Broward where the Valentine’s Day massacre took place) — with an FI of just 17 percent — as he announced he was supporting Cicilline’s bill:

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Media Celebrate Companies Severing Ties With NRA

Thursday, 01 March 2018 06:20

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, February 28, 2018:

Following the announcement by a few well-known companies that they were “severing” their relationships with the National Rifle Association (NRA), the New York Times wrote positively of the actions. In just the last few days, Delta Airlines, United Airlines, Chubb Limited (insurance), MetLife, and Enterprise Holdings (Enterprise, Alamo, and National car-rental affiliates) have announced they would no longer offer discounts for their various services to NRA members. Also included in the list is First National Bank of Omaha, whose credit card was the official card of the NRA and which offered a $40 cash-back bonus, enough to pay for a membership in the organization.

The Times overstated the impact by calling the decisions a “boycott” of the NRA, adding,

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Media Stacking the Deck for Gun Control Following Florida Shooting

Friday, 23 February 2018 06:35

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Thursday, February 22, 2018:

During the two-day White House conference on school safety, Andrew Pollack, the father of a child who was killed during the Florida school massacre last week, summed up the feelings of many: “How many schools, how many children need to get shot? I am not going to sleep until it is fixed!”

The question is, what is “it” that needs to be fixed?

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Trump Orders Ban on “Bump Stocks” in Wake of Florida School Shooting

Thursday, 22 February 2018 06:40

This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, February 21, 2018:

During a two-day White House meeting this week on making schools safer, President Trump reversed his solemn promise repeatedly stated as a candidate to support and defend the Second Amendment. He said: “Just a few moments ago I signed a memorandum directing the Attorney General to propose regulations to ban all devices that turn legal weapons into machine guns.”

Trump referred to an effort by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (still known as ATF) to expand its statutory definition of “machine gun” in both the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) to include “bump stocks,” which could then be banned altogether. On Tuesday Trump ordered Attorney General Jeff Sessions to

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