Tag: guns

Rep. Faison: Democrat ‘Thoughts and Prayers Gun Tax’ Bill ‘Ill-Conceived’

Peter D'Abrosca

A Republican member of Tennessee’s General Assembly is critical of a Democrat colleague’s new bill.

HB 2193, introduced by State Representative Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville), “imposes an additional 15-percent tax on the retail sale of firearms [and] requires revenue from the firearms tax to be deposited into the K-12 mental health counselor fund to be administered by the department of education and used exclusively to provide school counselors in elementary and secondary public schools and public charter schools in this state and for mental health assessments and services for students pursuant to a school counselor’s referral.”

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

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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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Commentary: Five Stupid Things the Left Would Have You Believe

Admin

I was on a media panel talking about what the Left has done to the Fourth Estate in America and how that damage might ultimately be repaired. And afterward, I spent a lot of time interacting with sponsors and attendees, and a common thread seemed to run through those conversations.

Namely, the multiplicity of utterly indefensible, absurd propositions that make up the narratives and constructs by which our left-wing current ruling class seeks to base its power over us.

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Commentary: The Left Would Grab Your Guns in a Minute If Patriots Stopped Defending the Constitution

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The Left constantly reassures Americans that they do not want to take away firearms, but actions speak louder than words.

In September, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) used an emergency public health order to suspend the Second Amendment for 30 days in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County. Grisham knew fully well that she was violating the Constitution (in fact, she happily admitted so). A handful of gun control advocates quickly condemned her unprecedented decision, but not because they respect the Constitution.

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House Education Administration Committee Passes Bill That Would Arm Teachers

TC Weber

The Tennessee House Education Administration Committee has passed a bill out of the committee that allows those teachers who wish to carry a firearm, to do so, provided their District Superintendent signs off, and they meet prescribed requirements. Current law allows teachers who have served as law enforcement agents, to carry firearms. This bill, HB1202,  would expand those eligible.

The vote passed, after nearly an hour of discussion, by a vote of 12-6. In opposition were three Republicans and three Democrats:

Representative Charlie Baum (R – Murfreesboro)
Representative John Gillespie (R-Memphis)
Representative Mark White (R-Memphis)
Representative Harold Love (D-Nashville)
Representative Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis)
Representative Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville)
Representative Kirk Heston voted present.

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Katie Hobbs’ Press Secretary Resigns After Tweet Threatening Violence Against Those Critical of Promoting Transgenderism

Rachel Alexander

Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs’ press secretary Josselyn Berry resigned Tuesday evening after outrage over a now-deleted tweet threatening to use violence against those who disagree with promoting transgenderism. Coming less than 12 hours after a transgender fatally shot students and staff at a Christian elementary school she used to attend in Tennessee, the Arizona Freedom Caucus led the call for her to resign.

Berry, who has a history of partisan offensive tweets, tweeted, “Us when we see transphobes,” captioning a photo of a woman with a determined look pointing two guns. The photo is from the movie “Gloria,” featuring the late actress Gena Rowlands. In the 1980 movie, the character Gloria shoots and kills gangsters. 

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Two Foreign Countries Join Forces in $10 Billion Lawsuit Against U.S. Gun Manufacturers

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The Bahamas joined Mexico Wednesday to appeal a federal judge’s November decision to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers for deaths caused by firearms, according to EyeWitness News.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis announced the decision, saying the firearms used to commit violent acts in his country are manufactured by American firearm companies and illegally trafficked across borders, according to EyeWitness News. The appeal follows a November ruling in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts where a federal judge dismissed Mexico’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. and Sturm, Ruger & Co.

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Pennsylvania Democrat Proposes Waiting Periods for Acquiring Guns

Bradley Vasoli

A Pennsylvania state senator this week announced she is reintroducing legislation to force gun buyers to undergo three-day waiting periods before they take possession of their firearms. 

Senator Amanda Cappelletti (D-Norristown) wrote in a memorandum describing her bill that she believes the measure could reduce both violent crime and suicides. She stated that more than 60 percent of gun deaths are intentionally self-inflicted and said research has shown that many suicide survivors thought about taking the actions they did for less than a 24-hour period. 

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Arizona Citizens Defense League’s Founding President and Chief Lobbyist Dave Kopp Has Died

Rachel Alexander
David Kopp

Dave Kopp, the longtime lobbyist and founding president of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), a Second Amendment organization in Arizona, passed away at age 56.

Kopp fought cancer for 12 years but succumbed to the illness on August 24. Several people in the Arizona gun industry told The Arizona Sun Times Kopp was responsible for transforming Arizona into the top-ranked state for Second Amendment-friendly laws.

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State Representative Proposes Emergency Response Devices for Pennsylvania Schools

Bradley Vasoli

State Rep. Karen Boback (R-PA-Dallas) on Friday proposed legislation to equip Pennsylvania K-12 public schools with emergency response devices. 

The representative modeled her bill on “Alyssa’s Law,” named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who was killed in the mass shooting that occurred on February 14, 2018. Alyssa’s Law, which Florida, New York, New Jersey and Nebraska have already enacted, requires all elementary and secondary schools to install panic alarms which are connected to area law-enforcement agencies. 

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Pennsylvania House Democrat Introduces Bill to Create Gun Purchase Permits

Bradley Vasoli

Pennsylvania state Representative Emily Kinkead (D-Pittsburgh) announced on Friday that she will sponsor a bill to require residents to obtain permits to buy guns. 

Her legislation is a companion to a Senate measure authored by Art Haywood (D-Philadelphia). The senator began touting his legislation the day after the May school shooting in Uvalde, TX in which an 18-year-old killed 19 children and two teachers. 

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DeWine Tells Ohio School Leaders Arming Teachers Remains Optional

The Center Square

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, in a letter to school superintendents around the state, called arming teachers in classrooms a serious local decision that remains optional after he signed a new law that reduces training needed for guns in schools.

DeWine, who recently signed House Bill 99, also told school leaders he would rather districts use school resource officers than armed teachers.

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DeWine to Ohio Superintendents: $100 Million Budgeted for School Safety Grants

Bradley Vasoli

Ohio schools will receive $100 million in total to purchase security equipment as part of the next round of K-12 School Safety Grants, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) wrote to superintendents on Friday.

The allocations, which come as a part of the state’s capital budget bill that DeWine signed into law last week, will go toward purchases such as outdoor lighting, facility-mapping software, school-radio systems, door-locking technology and visitor-badge systems. The Ohio School Safety Center in Columbus is now drafting the application for schools to access this money and expects to soon start the application process.

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Commentary: Yes, They’re Coming for Your Guns

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handgun with ammo

Perhaps, like me, you’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that the un-American Left is ignorant of many things. But then they open their mouths and remove all doubt. 

The most recent example comes from the gaping maw of Elie Mystal on MSNBC, where he claimed that, like everything else in this country apparently, the Second Amendment is the creation of long-dead, racist white supremacists who supported it for the sole purpose of putting down slave revolts keeping the enslaved populations in bondage. Of course, there is as much “truth” to that as there is in the 1619 Project. Progressives use such revisionist history to discredit the founders so that they can dismantle the founders’ republic.

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Gov. Ducey Suggests Reviving His ‘Red Flag’ Gun Control Bill, Arizona Citizens Defense League Responds with 53,000 Email Alerts

Rachel Alexander

Politicians, including some Republicans, are calling for gun control after a recent spate of mass shootings, particularly last week’s involving a gunman who shot and killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas. Gov. Doug Ducey pushed for “red flag” gun control laws previously, including in 2019 after two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, and indicated this week he may renew that effort. The Arizona Citizens’ Defense League (AZCDL) immediately sent out 53,000 email alerts.

“Politicians like Ducey are dancing in the blood of victims as opposed to saving people’s lives,” AZCDL Communications Director Charles Heller told The Arizona Sun Times. “We need to stop the psychopaths who are doing this, by taking action like implementing FASTER, which trains teachers and staff at schools to arm themselves after proper training. Ducey’s statement is a profile in cowardice, he’s acting like politicians do when they are afraid of not getting votes.”

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Bill to Allow Ohio School Boards to Arm Teachers Advances

The Center Square

Legislation that would give local school boards the authority to put guns in the hands of teachers moved forward in the Ohio Senate after passing the House more than four months ago.

House Bill 99 received its first Senate hearing Wednesday in the Veterans and Public Safety Committee, with bill sponsor Rep. Thomas Hall, R-Madison Township, saying local schools need to be able to make decisions to protect students.

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Dozens of Firearms Stolen from Trains in Los Angeles

Admin
handgun with ammo

In the latest train robbery in the city of Los Angeles, dozens of firearms, including handguns and shotguns, were stolen from a cargo train in a massive raid.

As reported by ABC News, three suspects arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) last summer were found to be in possession of some of the new .22-caliber handguns from the stolen cache. The guns were found to match the larger batch of 36 handguns stolen from the train that had been bound for Tennessee, according to police.

One of the suspects admitted that the guns were stolen while the train was in the Lincoln Heights rail yard, which has become a prime target for train robberies in recent months. Later, two more suspects were arrested with shotguns that were found to have come from a larger batch of 46 shotguns that had also been stolen from the train.

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Hunt Clubs Sue Pennsylvania Game Commission Claiming Illegal Searches

The Center Square

Two Western Pennsylvania hunting clubs are suing the Pennsylvania Game Commission claiming unconstitutional warrantless searches of private property.

The Punxsutawney Hunting Club and neighboring Pitch Pine Hunting Club filed suit against the game commission and conservation officer Mark Gritzer alleging Gritzer repeatedly entered clearly marked private property to investigate club members for wildlife violations.

Gritzer issued one hunter a citation for having no hunting license or identification and another for carrying a loaded gun in a vehicle, while other members were approached and issued warnings for minor issues, according to the lawsuit, filed last week.

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Missouri Legislators Want to End Sales Tax On Guns, Food, Diapers in 2022 Session

The Center Square
Missouri State Capitol

If the number of bills submitted in the Missouri House of Representatives and the Senate is any indication, lots of time will be devoted to debating taxes during the next legislative session starting Jan. 5, 2022.

Approximately 10% of the 1,020 bills filed contain the word “tax” in the description. Senators filed about 40 bills and joint resolutions while representatives filed approximately 60.

More than 50 bills cover taxation and general revenue.

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Nearly 50 Guns Stolen Out of Vehicles in Nashville Last Week

Chris Butler
An unloaded handgun sitting on the center console of a vehicle with the magazine clip next to it

Thieves in Nashville this year have stolen exactly 1,259 guns out of vehicles, according to statistics, as compiled by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD). “More than 70 percent of ALL guns reported stolen in 2021 (1,789) were taken from vehicles. Last week, 49 guns were stolen from cars and trucks. Many of the guns taken last week came from vehicles parked outside nightclubs, apartment buildings and hotels,” MNPD officials said in a press release last week.

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Biden Administration Collecting Information on Millions of American Gun Owners

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Guy shooting hand gun at gun range

In just one year, the Biden Administration has collected records of over 54 million legal gun-owners in the United States, for the purpose of increased surveillance of such citizens by the federal government, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

As shown in internal documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the ATF processed approximately 54.7 million records in fiscal year 2021. These documents were obtained by the gun rights advocacy group Gun Owners of America (GOA). The records in question are “out-of-business” documents, which consist of all firearms-related transactions made by a particular gun store after the store has gone out of business, at which point those records become property of the ATF.

In the year 2021, the ATF used this method to collect 53.8 million paper records, and roughly 887,000 electronic records. Gun stores are currently allowed to destroy records that are 20 years old or older; the Biden Administration is actively pursuing avenues to ensure that such records are made permanent and cannot be destroyed.

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Proposed Law Would End Ohio Sales Tax on Guns, Ammunition, Knives

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Sales tax would no longer be collected on guns, ammunition and knives in Ohio if a bill planned for introduction in the state House of Representatives becomes law.

State GOP Rep. Al Cutrona recently announced he will introduce legislation that would exempt those items from sales tax, saying the move would help make gun, ammunition and knife retailers and manufacturers more competitive with neighboring states.

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Commentary: The Media Doesn’t Accurately Cover Defensive Gun Usage in America

RealClearWire

While Americans know that guns take many innocent lives every year, many don’t know that firearms also save them.

On May 15, an attacker at an apartment complex in Fort Smith, Ark., fatally shot a woman and then fired 93 rounds at other people before a man killed him with a bolt-action rifle. Police said he “likely saved a number of lives in the process.”

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Ryne Bolick, Son of Shawnna Bolick and Clint Bolick, Leads Arizona State University Students’ Effort to Allow Open Carry on Campus

Rachel Alexander

Tyne Bolick, the son of Arizona Rep. Shawnna Bolick (R-Phoenix) and Arizona Supreme Court Justice Clint Bolick, is following in his parents’ footsteps taking an interest in politics and the law. He started a chapter of Students for Liberty at Arizona State University last year, and soon afterward the club launched a petition drive to allow open carry at Arizona’s universities. 

Bolick told The Arizona Sun Times that he saw a need for the change due to the alarming number of reports of rape, armed robbery, and other violent crimes on campus, which are emailed to students sometimes as often as once a week. It’s especially a problem on the downtown ASU campus due to the large homeless population. 

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Commentary: I Need an AR-15

Admin

I don’t need an AR-15 for hunting: It’s not even legal to take a deer with one in my state—the caliber is too small. I also don’t need an AR-15 for self-defense, though I’d want to have one if someone broke into my house. And I certainly don’t need one just because it’s a beautiful piece of engineering. I need an AR-15 because the government doesn’t want me to have one.

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Commentary: ‘No Evidence’ That Gun Buyback Programs Reduce Gun Violence, New Economic Study Finds

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handgun with ammo

Shortly before Christmas in 2018, a woman named Darlene voluntarily turned in a 9mm pistol to the Baltimore Police Department. It was just one of about 500 firearms the department collected that day as part of the city’s gun buyback program, which paid citizens somewhere between $25 and $500 in exchange for their firearms and high-capacity magazines.

Darlene, however, had a confession. She was turning in her 9mm, she told a local news reporter, so she could “upgrade to a better weapon.”

Like what? the reporter asked.

“I don’t know,” Darlene said. “I haven’t quite decided.”

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With New Administration, Record Number of People Bought Guns in January

The Center Square

Concerns about President Joe Biden’s potential restrictions on firearm purchases sent sales soaring in January, industry insiders said. More than 4.3 million people purchased guns in the first month of 2021, the highest number on record.

The 4.3 million purchases represent legal applications through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS); it excludes illegally purchased firearms.

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Unelected Group Bans Open Carrying of Guns from Michigan Capitol

Peter D'Abrosca

Just days after unarmed, mostly peaceful protestors entered the U.S. Capitol in Washington, a group of unelected officials has banned open carrying of guns from Michigan’s Capitol building.

“The Michigan Capitol Commission voted unanimously Monday to ban these firearms from the Lansing building,” ABC said. “Concealed weapons with permits will be still allowed.”

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Biden’s Gun Registration Tax Could Cost Firearms Owners Billions

Admin

President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed firearm tax could cost gun owners upwards of $30 billion to keep the weapons they already possess, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

Biden plans to mandate both taxation and registration of so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines under the National Firearms Act (NFA), which requires a $200 fee per item, according to the former vice president’s campaign website. Around 20 million rifles and 150 million magazines would be taxable, leading to a total cost to U.S. gun owners of over $34 billion, according to the Free Beacon.

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Background Checks, a Metric for Gun Sales, Hit All-Time High

The Associated Press

Historic numbers of background checks to purchase or possess a firearm were done in June, a trend in a year marked by uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic, a subsequent economic recession, protests over racial injustice and calls to reduce police funding.

FBI numbers released Wednesday show that 3.9 million background checks were conducted last month, the most since the system was created in November 1998 to ensure felons and other prohibited people could not buy or possess a firearm. The previous monthly record came in March, when 3.7 million checks were done. Each week in June is now in the top 10 weeks for background checks.

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