Tag: Second Amendment

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton Supports TFA, GOA Lawsuit over Memphis Gun Ordinance

Tom Pappert
Cameron Sexton

A spokesman for Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) told The Tennessee Star on Wednesday that Sexton supports the lawsuit brought against the City of Memphis by the Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA) and Gun Owners of America (GOA) over its new gun ordinance that restrict Second Amendment within city limits.

The lawsuit was filed last week after Memphis voters passed legislation to require pistol licenses, impose red flag laws, and ban weapons deemed assault rifles, and Sexton’s spokesman confirmed his support for the lawsuit after the speaker previously promised the Tennessee House of Representatives would withhold Memphis’ share of state sales tax revenue if it imposed the ordinance.

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Elon Musk Ignores Unprecedented DOJ Threat of Prosecution over His $1 Million Giveaway for Signing Petition Supporting the Constitution

Rachel Alexander
Elon Musk

X owner and world’s richest man Elon Musk is defying an unusual threatening letter from the Department of Justice, which warned his America PAC that its giveaway may violate federal law. Musk is giving away a million dollars a day to registered voters in battleground states who sign his petition to support the First and Second Amendments. Those who refer other voters in the battleground states of Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina to sign receive $47 per signature, and $100 in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania. 

According to 24sightNews, which broke the news about the letter, the DOJ told Musk’s Super PAC that offering anything of value to influence voting was in violation of 52 U.S.C. 10307(c). That law makes it a federal crime to pay someone to register to vote or to vote, punishable by a fine of $10,000, five years in prison, or both. Musk continued to issue the $1 million checks after receiving the letter.

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Supreme Court Leaves in Place Pennsylvania Law Banning Those Under 21 from Publicly Carrying Guns

Daily Caller News Foundation
SCOTUS

The Supreme Court decided to leave a Pennsylvania law in place banning the carry of firearms in public for people under 21, according to court orders released Tuesday.

The decision sends the case back down to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to be reconsidered, with the Supreme Court declining to hear arguments, according to the court orders. The court pushed back against the Third Circuit’s initial judgement in June that the law violated the Second Amendment by arbitrarily excluding some adults from carrying just for being under 21 and having no historical precedent, according to the decision handed out by Third Circuit Judge Kent Jordan.

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Tennessee Firearms Association Founder John Harris Slams State Law Prohibiting Use of Deadly Force to Defend Personal or Real Property

Kaitlin Housler
John Harris

Founder of the Tennessee Firearms Association and Second Amendment expert John Harris is bringing attention to Tennessee’s law prohibiting the use of deadly force to protect real or personal property.

Harris’ criticism of the statute, Tennessee Code Annotated §§ 39-11-611; 39-11-614, comes as residents in East Tennessee impacted by devastating flash flooding from Hurricane Helene are being warned of an increased possibility that looters may trespass on properties in areas affected by the weather looking for valuable property or essential supplies.

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Federal Appeals Court: Illegal Aliens Do Not Have Second Amendment Rights

American Greatness
Second Amendment

On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that illegal aliens do not have the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, due to the fact that they are not American citizens.

As reported by Fox News, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that federal law prohibiting illegal aliens from owning firearms is legal, as the Constitution does not apply to anyone who has entered the United States illegally.

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Tim Walz Once Received ‘A’ Grade from NRA — Then He Shot Left

Admin
Tim Walz

Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was once a champion of Second Amendment rights during his time in the U.S. House, but he quickly abandoned his policy position during his campaign for governor.

Walz represented Minnesota’s 1st district in the House from 2007 to 2018, earning ‘A’ ratings and donations from the National Rifle Association (NRA), according to Forbes. During his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, he began shifting his policy on guns, and when he became governor in 2019, he passed several gun control measures in Minnesota, receiving an ‘F’ rating from the NRA during his campaign as a result, according to The New York Times.

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‘Excessively Dangerous’: Federal Court Upholds Maryland’s ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban

Admin
Person practicing marksmanship at shooting range with AR-15 style rifle

A U.S. appeals court upheld a Maryland law banning assault-style weapons on Tuesday, ruling that the law does not violate the Second Amendment.

The Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and several Maryland citizens brought up the case challenging the constitutionality of the state’s “military-style assault weapons” ban, prohibiting the sale and possessions of the AR-15, AK-47 and Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifle, among others. The ban has been in place since 2013 following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that killed 20 children and six adults in Connecticut.

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Commentary: The Second Amendment Is More Crucial than Ever After Attempt to Kill Trump

Admin
Man training at gun range

A 20-year-old man with a rifle, perched atop a nearby roof, fired several rounds July 13 at Donald Trump as the former president spoke at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one attendee and wounding at least two others.

As we know now, one round nicked Trump’s right ear and he avoided a serious wound or death with a fortuitous head turn that moved him out of the bullet’s path at the last second.

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Supreme Court Strikes Down Bump Stock Ban for Firearms in Major Win for Second Amendment Advocates

Just the News
Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a federal rule put in place during former President Donald Trump’s administration that prohibited bump stocks for guns, handing a major victory to Second Amendment advocates.

In a 6-3, ruling, the court ruled the devices added to semiautomatic weapons to make them fire faster does not convert weapons into prohibited machine guns.

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Tennessee State Legislature Candidates Reveal Positions on Second Amendment

Matthew Giffin
Gun Range

Tennessee State Legislature candidates revealed their positions on possible Second Amendment-related legislation in a survey of the candidates conducted by the Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA).

The TFA’s candidate survey consisted of 24 “yes” or “no” questions, asking candidates up for election whether they would vote for hypothetical legislation. Most of the hypothetical bills in question dealt with repealing restrictions on Tennesseans to own and carry firearms. The TFA posted the results on Monday.

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Commentary: More Defensive Gun Uses Undermine Government Claims About Armed Civilians

Admin
Hand Gun

It should be painfully obvious to anyone paying attention that the Biden administration distrusts an armed civilian population and is willing to fudge the truth time and again to defend its untenable positions. But for those living blissfully unaware of the Biden administration’s animosity toward gun owners, it once again demonstrated its animosity in clear terms.

Earlier this month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security accidentally said the quiet part out loud: It thinks that only the government really can be trusted with firearms, even when the government at issue is notoriously corrupt.

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Goldwater Institute Sues Pima County over New Gun Ordinance Allegedly Illegal Under Arizona Law

Tom Pappert

The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit against Pima County in late April over a new ordinance that levies fines against gun owners who fail to report stolen weapons within 48 hours after learning they are missing, it confirmed Monday.

Pima County’s ordinance requires gun owners to report guns lost or stolen within Pima County to local authorities under penalty of a $1,000 fine should gun owners take longer than 48 hours.

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Tennessee Firearms Association Sues ATF over Private Gun Sale Rule

Peter D'Abrosca
Hunting

The Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA) is joining a lawsuit with several states and pro-Second Amendment groups against the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which says that the ATF far too broadly interpreting a new law passed by Congress regarding private gun sales.

The lawsuit stems from the definition of the term “‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms,” and claims that the ATF is angling to make citizens who sell even one firearm privately subject to licensure that large firearms sellers must obtain, according to a release from TFA.

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Commentary: ATF Rule Change Creates a Trap for the Unwary

Admin
A selection of modern firearms on a table

On Friday, the 31st anniversary of the massacre of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, the ATF issued new regulations that make it more difficult to comply with federal laws regulating gun dealing and background checks.

Since the 1930s, federal law has required gun dealers to be registered as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL). The requirements hinged on the meaning of “engaged in the business of” gun dealing. This language has always been ambiguous, and there has never been (even after the announcement of the new rules) a true “bright line” that distinguishes when one graduates from selling a few guns from one’s personal collection into full-fledged gun dealing.

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Teachers Could Carry Firearms Under Proposed Legislation Set for Tennessee Senate Vote

Tom Pappert
Teacher Gun

Tennessee teachers could soon be allowed to carry firearms while on school property. The State Senate is poised to vote on legislation allowing faculty and staff to carry concealed weapons if they are licensed, trained, and undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted on Tuesday to advance SB 1325, which would authorize school faculty or staff members “to carry a concealed handgun on school grounds subject to certain conditions, including obtaining an enhanced handgun carry permit and completing annual training.”

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‘Non-Partisan’ Anti-Gun Group Forms Human Chain Around Nashville Children’s Hospital on Year Anniversary of Covenant Shooting

Peter D'Abrosca
Safer TN Event

A “non-partisan” political activism group that calls for gun control held a rally in Nashville Wednesday night on the year anniversary of the mass shooting at The Covenant School.

“Together, we will wear red and link arms as we mark the anniversary of one of our community’s darkest days and honor the memory of the hundreds of Tennessee lives lost to preventable firearm tragedies over the last year,” Voices for a Safer Tennessee said on its website. “Our goal is to form a chain of 13,000 people from Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt through Centennial Park and up Charlotte Avenue to our state capitol.”

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Three Gun Control Bills Head to Youngkin’s Desk, Governor’s Office Maintains ‘Virginia’s Gun Laws Already Among the Toughest’

Tom Pappert
Gov Glenn Youngkin

Governor Glenn Youngkin must decide the fate of gun rights in Virginia after Democrats narrowly passed three bills they claim will reduce gun violence in the commonwealth.

The bills, passed by the Virginia General Assembly between Wednesday and Friday, seek to regulate how gun owners in the commonwealth must store their firearms and where they can be carried.

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South Carolina House Passes Clean Constitutional Carry Bill

The Center Square
South Carolina Gun Bill

The South Carolina House advanced a clean Constitutional Carry bill, returning the measure to the state Senate and potentially setting up another showdown.

The state House rejected a Senate-amended version of H.3594, the South Carolina Constitutional Carry/Second Amendment Preservation Act of 2023. In a letter, the head of a pro-gun rights group said Senate-introduced amendments violate the Second Amendment.

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Commentary: Gun Owners End 2023 Proving Gun Control Advocates Wrong

Admin
Hunting

As 2023 drew to a close, millions of peaceable Americans geared up for a new year that will bring with it many new limitations on their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

In California, for example, Jan. 1 was the date to ring in the state’s plethora of new restrictions on carrying concealed firearms in public, courtesy of SB 2, a law passed in the wake of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen to punish concealed carry permit holders for having their rights vindicated by the Supreme Court.

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Mexican-American Billionaire from New York Funds ‘Tennessee 11’ to Push Gun Control Agenda via ‘Citizen Solutions’ in 2024

Tom Pappert

The foundation created by Mexican-American “social entrepreneur” and billionaire Daniel Lubetzky is funding a group called the “Tennessee 11,” which seeks to pass a red flag law and other gun control legislation this year in Tennessee.

Lubetzky is the founder of the snack company Kind LLC, and it was reportedly worth $5 billion when the company was sold to Mars Inc. in 2020. When the company was under his management, Lubetzky was named a Presidential Ambassador of Global Entrepreneurship by former President Barack Obama and his administration’s Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker.

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

Admin
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: Domestic Violence Protection Orders Don’t Pass Constitutional Muster

RealClearWire

How certain should we be that someone did something wrong before they lose their right to own a gun? Tuesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that could have a major impact on how courts evaluate the constitutionality of gun control laws. The Biden administration asked for a review of the 5th Circuit Court’s decision not to deprive Zackey Rahimi of his right to own guns. 

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Republicans Preemptively Shoot Down Mayes Red Flag Law Pitch

The Center Square

Attorney General Kris Mayes wants to propose red flag laws, but Republican lawmakers say it will not stand a chance in the Legislature. 

The laws Mayes wants would be targeted toward those who would be determined to be a risk to the safety of schools, according to Arizona’s Family. The report said that Mayes would be proposing legislation that would also allow firearms belonging to adults could be targeted if there is evidence that a minor in their household poses a risk of misusing those weapons.

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SCOTUS Backs Biden Admin ‘Ghost Guns’ Rule for Second Time

Admin

The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a federal judge’s order suspending the Biden administration’s “ghost guns” rule, which regulates gun parts kits as traditional firearms.

After blocking U.S. District for the Northern District of Texas Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision to vacate the rule nationwide in August, the Supreme Court vacated O’Connor’s more recent Sept. 14 injunction suspending enforcement of the regulation against two manufacturing companies, Blackhawk Manufacturing and Defense Distributed. The justice’s decision leaves in place the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) “Frame or Receiver” rule, which expands the definition of firearm to encompass parts kits that are “readily convertible to functional weapons” or “functional ‘frames’ or ‘receivers’ of weapons.

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

Admin

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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Smith & Wesson Cited Support for Second Amendment, Cost of Living as Reasons for Move to Tennessee

Peter D'Abrosca

Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson held a weekend ribbon cutting ceremony at its new $160 million headquarters in Maryville, leaving its former home in Massachusetts behind. 

“From where I stand, the next 170 years of Smith & Wesson are looking pretty good,” said the company’s CEO and President Mark Smith at the ceremony. “It is something special here in Tennessee.”’

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Arizona Republicans Sound Alarm After Flagstaff Considers Firearm Ad Ban on City Property, Including Airport

Tom Pappert

Three Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives signed a letter questioning Flagstaff’s plan to see firearm advertisements banned from public buildings and facilities. The letter came after Flagstaff city leaders received a draft of new advertising guidelines that explicitly ban any mention of firearms or ammunition, even though the previous policy focused on banning “violence” and “antisocial behavior” in the advertisements.

Arizona State Representatives David Marshall (R-Snowflake), Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu), and Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) warned the draft policy “raises a host of constitutional concerns, including viewpoint discrimination, and very likely violates state law,” urging the city leaders to “postpone your consideration” until the new policy adheres Arizona law and the U.S. Constitution.

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New Mexico Attorney General Says He Will Not Defend Governor’s Gun Ban Stance

Just the News

New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez announced Tuesday that he will not defend Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a fellow Democrat, in multiple filed lawsuits opposing her gun ban.

“I do not believe that the Emergency Order will have any meaningful impact on public safety,” Torrez’s letter reads. “I do not believe it passes constitutional muster.

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Commentary: 12 Defensive Gun Uses Show That Armed Citizens Make Communities Safer

Admin

As the nation continues to reel from historic violent crime spikes, many gun control activists turn reflexively to the same “bumper sticker slogan” policy “solutions” that fail to address real problems while often undermining the Second Amendment rights of peaceable citizens.

Last week, some Hartford, Connecticut, residents made headlines for taking a different approach. Instead of demanding that their fellow citizens abandon their rights to armed self-defense, they announced that they would henceforth start exercising those rights in a public manner to enhance community safety.

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Commentary: Allowing Enhanced Permit Holders on School Grounds Dies with Republican ‘No’ Votes

Admin

Many people believe that one of the best defenses to an armed attack on any location, including a school, is an immediate armed response.   Certainly, the actions already taken this year to put “school resource officers” in public schools with taxpayer funding evidences at least some in government and many in the public see the life saving necessity of an immediate armed response to a potential mass killing or assault.

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Gulbransen Confronts the Rumor Mill About a ‘Backroom Deal’ to Pass Red Flag Gun Control Laws During Special Session

Tennessee Star Staff

Sparks fly in Tuesday’s edition of Aaron’s Analysis on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, as official guest host Aaron Gulbransen directly confronts swirling around the politics of Gov. Lee’s proposed “red flag” gun control law. In a rare moment, Gulbransen shares shocking details about his past and how that informs his insights into what he thinks which measures will and won’t pass during the upcoming special session. TRANSCRIPT Aaron Gulbransen: So, I wanna set this up: I absolutely despise talking about myself other than telling funny stories, but I feel I must point out a few things so the audience can understand where I’m coming from in general, and how I view things politically in special session. The audience knows me, of course, as the official guest host of this program and the executive director of The Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition. I am, long ago, a Blue State refugee. I got my start in politics as a volunteer for the Long Island Coalition for Life, the oldest pro-life organization in the country, folding and distributing their newsletter. My first paid campaign was in the year 2000 against Hillary Clinton. Years later, I moved to Virginia and…

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Michael Patrick Leahy: Gov. Bill Lee’s 18 Separate Bills Are a Smoke Screen to Jam Through Red Flag Gun Control Laws During Special Session

Tennessee Star Staff

The Tennessee Star Report host Michael Patrick Leahy took to the airwaves Monday morning to break down Governor Bill Lee’s call for an “extraordinary” special session.

By looking into the recent past, Leahy shows listeners how Lee’s “laundry list” of eighteen line items are little more than a smoke screen to hide the central purpose of the August 21 session, which is to pass legislation that will fundamentally alter the nature of gun ownership in Tennessee.

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