Commentary: 11 More Examples of Defensive Gun Use to Fend Off Criminals

Gun Bullets

As cities across the country reel from explosive crime rates, many politicians at the local, state, and federal levels are too preoccupied with disarming peaceable American gun owners to identify, arrest, and prosecute actual criminals adequately.  

Two masked attackers met their match last month when they attacked Los Angeles resident Vince Ricci as he walked toward the front door of his house. The pair brandished a firearm at Ricci, who pulled out his own gun and shot at the thugs, who ran away.

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Los Angeles Implements ‘Zero Bail’ System

The heavily-populated Los Angeles County implemented its own “zero bail” system this week, allowing for most criminals to be released from jail almost immediately after being arrested.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, the new policy replaces the previous one requiring defendants to post bail before they could be released, with the bail often set at a certain level depending on the severity of the crime committed. The Left has long advocated against the concept of bail, on the basis that it allegedly results in poorer criminals staying incarcerated.

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Progressive Activists, Officials Work to Extend Voting to Prisoners, Noncitizens to Expand Base

by Fred Lucas   Inmate voting, noncitizen voting, and even mandatory voting have been among the initiatives pushed in Democrat-led jurisdictions this year to expand their voting base. “The Left wants to normalize voter classes that nobody took seriously a generation ago—criminals, foreigners—to help them win elections,” J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election integrity group, told The Daily Signal. As I noted in my book “The Myth of Voter Suppression,” Democrats long have sought to change election laws to gain a political advantage. The nation’s capital, the District of Columbia, adopted noncitizen voting this year for local elections such as mayor and city council. Oregon lawmakers are pushing prisoner voting, while blue states on the West and East coasts are considering mandatory voting. “The Left talks big about ‘helping everyone vote,’ but for at least the past decade, they’ve focused all their efforts on only helping their preferred voters cast a ballot,” Hayden Ludwig, director of policy research at Restoration of America, a conservative group, told The Daily Signal in an email. “Everything from lowering the voting age to vote-by-mail and felon voting rights is geared to drive turnout among the ‘New American Majority,’ their term for the demographic groups Democrats are…

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County Attorney Rachel Mitchell Announces Sentencing for Perpetrators of 2022 Armed Robbery

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell (R) announced Monday that four individuals responsible for the 2022 armed robbery of an Arizona jewelry store had been sentenced to prison.

“The victims in this case lived through terrifying moments as they feared for their lives at the hands of criminals,” said Mitchell. “Our office was relentless in the pursuit of justice for those nine individuals inside the store; the money and jewelry taken were recovered.”

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New ATF Rule Sets the Stage to Classify Legal Gun Owners as Criminals

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) recently implemented pistol brace final rule could classify millions of gun owners as felons should they fail to comply with the updated requirements, according to the gun rights advocacy groups.

The rule, announced in January, will void all previous guidance on pistols braces, opting to redefine “rifle” as any weapon “designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder,” forcing pistol brace owners, many disabled, to register their pistols as short barrel rifles (SBR) with the federal government. The ATF has allowed 120 days for gun owners with pistol braces to adjust the barrel longer than the required 16 inches, file a Form 1 to “make” the pistol a SBR, remove the brace, surrender the firearm or destroy the firearm.

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Murder Rate Rose More than 30 Percent in Two Years, FBI Report Suggests

The number of murders nationwide rose by approximately 30% during 2020 and 2021, according to the FBI National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

The estimated aggregate national murder volume increased by 4.3% in 2021, adding to the 29.4% rise from 2019 to 2020, the FBI’s NIBRS trend analysis report said. The bureau cited a 1% decrease in violent crime in 2021 compared to the year prior, stating that the crime rates were “consistent,” according to a 2021 release.

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Maricopa County Attorney Changes Policy for Cases Involving Gun Violence

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell announced Thursday that she would change prosecution policies for cases involving gun violence in an attempt to ensure violent criminals face jail time.

“The revision to our plea policies recognizes that these crimes will not be tolerated in Maricopa County. Those who choose to put the residents of this county at risk by using a firearm in the commission of felony will be held accountable,” Mitchell said. “I will not let the Valley of the Sun and surrounding communities become another San Francisco or Chicago where law and order has been overlooked by prosecutors, which has caused unnecessary chaos.”

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Phoenix Police Seize Hundreds of ‘Crime Guns’ in Crackdown Operation

The Phoenix Police Department (PHXPD) announced that after roughly a month after the launch of “Operation Gun Crime Crackdown” (OGCC), officers seized hundreds of crime guns to reduce gun violence in the city.

“The results of this targeted effort are a great example of how working with our law enforcement partners can enhance the great work the men and women of the Phoenix Police Department do every day,” said Phoenix Police Chief Jeri Williams.

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Arizona Attorney General Alleges DHS Is Abusing Parole Authority by Releasing Criminal Illegal Aliens into Communities

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich (R) filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in support of Texas v. United States, which focuses on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) dangerous Permanent Guidance.

“This policy is another example in the shameful list of actions that the Biden administration is taking to hobble immigration enforcement and encourage border crossings,” Brnovich said in a press release. “It has and continues to cause the Amici States extensive harm through increased law enforcement, education, and health care expenditures.”

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Commentary: No Shot at a Fair Trial for January 6 Defendants in the Swamp

Large group of people storming Washington D.C. in protest on January 6.

The first set of trials for the hundreds of protesters charged in the Justice Department’s sweeping criminal investigation into January 6 begins later this month. Since the Capitol building is considered the scene of the crime, every trial will be held in the District of Columbia—which means the jury pool will be composed solely of residents living in the nation’s capital.

To say this is a problem for Trump supporters facing even minor charges is a huge understatement.

January 6 defendants already have suffered the wrath of D.C.-based federal judges who’ve imposed unusually harsh prison sentences for low level misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies while routinely berating defendants from the bench.

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Commentary: Virginia Likely to Reinstate Parole for Even Murderers

man in handcuffs

Senator Joe Morrissey (D-Richmond) predicts that Virginia’s senate will vote to bring back parole in 2022 — “across the board,” meaning for even the most serious crimes, such as murder. Restoring parole could increase the number of murders, rapes, and robberies in Virginia. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports:

A movement to reinstate parole in Virginia could hinge on the outcome of election results next month. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe has indicated willingness to support expanded parole….While many Democrats support reinstating parole broadly in Virginia, Republicans generally oppose it. The Democrats hold a 55-45 seat edge in the House of Delegates…the issue will be debated in next year’s General Assembly session.

“I will be introducing a bill that will reintroduce parole across the board,” said Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond. “I think it will pass [the] Senate Judiciary [Committee] and … the full body.” Democrats control the Senate 21-19. Senators are not up for election until 2023. But Morrissey said he predicts a possible roadblock to parole expansion in the House, where he thinks Republicans will make gains in the Nov. 2 election….Virginia created parole in 1942 and abolished it in 1995, passing a “truth in sentencing” law among other criminal justice measures in an effort to reduce high crime rates….

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FBI Makes Messaging App for Assassins and Drug Dealers, Arrests 800 Users in Global Sting

Woman holding iPhone

An international drug sting operation resulted in more than 800 arrests and 32 tons of drugs seized, the FBI and other top law enforcement agencies announced Tuesday.

The sting, titled Operation Trojan Shield, dates back to 2019 when the FBI and Australian Federal Police covertly developed the encrypted device company ANOM to replace two platforms that had been taken down by police, according to European Union law enforcement agency Europol. In search of a new encrypted software to use for communications, criminal gangs flocked to ANOM, which grew rapidly servicing more than 12,000 devices and 300 criminal syndicates across 100 countries.

“Encrypted criminal communications platforms have traditionally been a tool to evade law enforcement and facilitate transnational organized crime,” FBI Criminal Investigative Division Assistant Director Calvin Shivers said in a statement. “The FBI and our international partners continue to push the envelope and develop innovative ways to overcome these challenges and bring criminals to justice.”

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Minnesota Bail Fund Promoted by Kamala Harris Helped Free Serial Domestic Abusers

A bail fund promoted by Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris helped bail out of jail six men accused of domestic violence between June and August, court documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

Two of the men face felony charges for allegedly strangling women in their own homes, and another stands accused of beating his girlfriend upwards of six times with a closed fist, records show. All but one of the individuals had been convicted of prior domestic violence-related charges when the Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) helped bail them out of jail, according to court records.

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