PJMedia

After last weekend's horrible mass shootings, we're hearing the usual cries from the left for stricter gun control -- but this time we're also hearing them from increasing numbers of Republican lawmakers willing to embrace "red flag" legislation.

Time reports that a bipartisan proposal to create a federal grant encouraging the adoption of state-level red flag laws is "gaining momentum" in the Senate. President Trump gave the bill a push on Monday, telling the nation in a prepared address, “We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms and that if they do those firearms can be taken through rapid due process." GOP co-sponsor Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) said that red flag laws will allow law enforcement to "do something" about potentially dangerous gun owners or would-be buyers.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has made the Senate the place where Democrat gun control bills from the House go to die, but even he seems at least somewhat open to new legislation. In a statement released earlier this week, McConnell said that "serious, bipartisan, bicameral efforts will enable us to continue this important work."

This is certainly a moment of political danger for gun owners -- followed shortly by intense, personal danger as ex-girlfriends, ex-wives, "triggered" liberals, and potential boyfriends of young daughters all call in to "red flag" anyone they think might own a gun and seems angry. But the fact is, so-called "red flag" laws won't change anything (at least not in a positive way) and are likely to instead make things dramatically worse.

Right now, we have laws against making violent threats, laws in many states enabling involuntary commitment of people who pose a danger to others, and most of those laws come with a prohibition on firearms ownership. They are already of questionable legality in some cases for lack of due process, they are already on the books, and they don't work. Every time this happens we hear about the warning signs, the calls to police, the threats. But no action is taken... and not for lack of legal authority. Sometimes the police don't bother. Sometimes they bother, but don't add the murdered to the NICS list. Sometimes the government sponsors straw purchasers smuggling guns to criminals (see Fast and Furious under Obama's watch).

Bottom line, background checks don't actually stop criminals from getting guns. Hardened criminals can get guns on the black market anyway. The people who commit mass shootings have usually come to the attention of law enforcement in myriad of ways before their mass murder but without being added to the appropriate lists or any serious action being taken. Adding red flag laws into the equation will do nothing but increase the false reporting rates and harass peaceful gun owners during divorces or even just a bad breakup with a girlfriend.

If Trump wants to win re-election in 2020, he absolutely cannot afford to piss off gun owners. He's going to have enough problems with the NRA sidelined, and he's already taken some actions that have pissed off the 2nd Amendment community. All we have to do is stay home, and he's a one-term president.

That said, other presidents -- both Bushes, for a recent example -- have danced around this issue successfully. They publicly supported assault weapons bans which Congress never sent to them to sign. At the moment, though, the Democrats control the House, and the Senate is in Republican hands by a very slim majority. The GOPe -- who hate Trump despite sharing his party -- might well send him a gun control bill hoping he would sign it and destroy his re-election chances. Without the NRA to speak up, Trump might not have the instincts to realize how bad an idea this would be.

Fox News

The panel investigating the Florida high school massacre recommended Wednesday that teachers who volunteer and undergo extensive background checks and training be allowed to carry concealed guns on campus to stop future shootings.

The Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission voted 13-1 to recommend the Legislature allow the arming of teachers, saying it's not enough to have one or two police officers or armed guards on campus. Florida law adopted after the Feb. 14 shooting that left 17 dead allows districts to arm non-teaching staff members such as principals, librarians and custodians — 13 of the 67 districts do, mostly in rural parts of the state.

The media will ignore this, because it doesn't follow their gun control narrative.

The Democrats control the House and plan to push for a ban on private gun sales, Bloomberg's running in 2020, Florida passed gun control laws, the governor of Massachusetts ignores a court order to reinstate gun permits, doctors are lobbying about guns again, gun cases are queuing up at the Supreme Court, a New Jersey court tells Mr and Mrs New Jersey to turn in their magazines, doctors are injecting themselves into he gun debate again, and the new governor of Nevada wants to ban assault weapons, silencers, and bump stocks.

2020 is shaping up to be an election about gun control.

Fox

A Miami-based political committee has proposed a constitutional amendment that would ban possession of “assault” weapons in Florida if approved by voters.

The proposal, backed by the committee Ban Assault Weapons Now, was posted on the state Division of Elections website this month. The committee had raised nearly $410,000 since March, while spending almost $284,000, according to finance information. The expenditures included $75,000 last month to a California-based company for what was described in the finance information as “petitions.”

The antis have had success pushing ballot measures in the past, though they usually try for "background checks" rather than assault weapons bans. This is opening a new front on the ballot measure idea. Will it work? We'll find out, I guess.

She will have control of the House for the next two years, so this should be a matter of significant concern for us. She's specifically talking about gun registration in the form of so-called "universal background checks". In practice that means that every time anyone buys or sells a gun, they have to be background checked, and that check creates a government record of the sale. Transferring a firearm without a background check would immediately become a felony, and any firearm in your possession without a matching record with a manufacture date after the legislation took effect would be a presumption of guilt.

Now, the good news...

Pelosi's comments came immediately after a mass murder in California, which already is practically a gun control paradise. That won't help her argument and passion is likely to cool before the new Congress is seated.

Furthermore, gun control has passed the House before. The Senate is the more difficult hurdle. Republicans still hold the Senate, and even increased the margin a little. However, many of our Senators are a bit wobbly on this, and Trump is a bit of an unknown. He's already backed a bump-stock ban and he has New York attitudes about guns. We don't want this to get to Trump's desk.

Schumer probably can't count to 60 on this, but "universal background checks" are a recognized point of political weakness. We know they don't work but politicians find it hard to vote against them.

It seems likely Pelosi's real goal is to excite her base and force a vote on the record, then use it to fundraise and go after vulnerable 2020 senators.

Worse, this is a declaration of war from the Democrats. They no longer believe that gun control loses elections.

UPDATE: Vote counters say Pelosi can't win. I wonder which direction the causal arrow points?

Does anyone remember the Democrats, as a party, seriously campaigning on gun control this cycle? Sure, a few folks mentioned it. But apparently the real program is mandatory buybacks backed by nuclear arms. That seems extrema and not what voters were promised.

The population is Texas is approximately 30 million people and the state is solidly Republican. When, not if, Texas says no to confiscating their semiautomatic firearms (note: rifles and pistols both), will the Democrats nuke Texas? According to the CDC (not exactly a gun-friendly source), there are 12,979 firearm homicides per year in the United States. If the goal of firearms confiscation is to save lives, and the cost is nuking Texas, it would take two thousand, three hundred, and 11 years to save a single life... and that's assuming none of those 12,979 firearm homicides was justified or replaced by an alternative weapon.

Luckily the nuclear button is in Trump's hands. Bet you never thought those words would be written here.

Trump may be unpredictable, but he's not crazy.

What the Democrats are proposing would lead immediately to civil war, if passed and implemented. Luckily the chances such a confiscation bill would pass the Senate are low. Luckily, Trump is in a position to veto it for now. But losing 2020 could have dire consequences, and we'll have to watch the Senate like a hawk to make sure nothing gets to Trump, who just might be unconventional and New York enough to sign it.

So here's my answer to Dem Rep Eric Swalwell's call to confiscate firearms by force in violation of the 2nd Amendment:

We will fight you on our soapboxes, our microphones, our websites. We will fight you in the House. We will fight you in the Senate. We will fight you in the White House. We will fight you on the streets in protests and petitions. We will fight you at the ballot boxes. We will fight you in the courts. If necessary, we will fight you from our rooftops, in the back alleys of your cities, in the tanks and aircraft and naval vessels based on those states which remain free, and in every place you don't expect us to be. We will pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor to this cause. Should your nuclear fire rain down upon our nation, burning friend and foe alike, from our backyard bunkers our answer shall resound throughout history, soaked in the blood of your abbatoir altar: NO.

Now what?

View from North Central Idaho

The Second Amendment Foundation and National Rifle Association have filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging gun control Initiative 1639 in Washington State, on several grounds.

I won't be trying to read the tea leaves here. But it would be nice to see a gun case or two reach SCOTUS soon to see how the justices vote. We may have a solid five votes now, but if not, it would be nice to find out on a case that isn't for all the marbles.

SayUncle

It appears that the Department of Justice is about to ban bump stocks. I say about to because the Final Action is slated for the imaginary date of 12/00/2018.

The imaginary date suggests December, ie, next month. BATFE is going to do this without legislation, and it will have a significant economic impact (hundreds of millions) even ignoring the fact that the law will take probably thousands of people who bought legal products for their firearms and turn them until felons unless they destroy their property for basically no reason, all sparked by a shooting that the government continues to hide details about -- and can't even prove the shooter actually used bump stocks, because they did not examine any of his firearms.

Trump should step in and smack this down hard. But he probably won't, because it's not really his issue.

Maybe the NRA can wake him up... except they are kinda-sorta-agreeing.

Here is a direct admission of the central gun control strategy:

Captain's Journal

“The end impact is you decrease gun ownership overall,” Cassandra Crifasi, a researcher (and gun owner) at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and Research, told me. “Lots of folks think, ‘Well, it’s probably not worth going through all these hoops to buy firearms, so I’m not going to buy one.’ And then you have fewer firearms around, and less exposure.”

Make owning a gun so fraught with regulations, permits, licenses, and legal peril should anything go wrong that no one ever buys a gun.

Project Veritas

Senator McCaskill on Tape: “Of course!” She Would Vote Yes on Gun Bans”
Campaign Staff Says: McCaskill supports “a semi-automatic rifle ban“
McCaskill is Quiet on Gun Views “because she has a bunch of Republican voters,” Secretly Supports Gun Control Group
Staff: Wait Until After Election to Bring up Trump Impeachment; to Voters: “Get over it”
“People just can’t know” McCaskill and Obama “essentially have the same views on everything.”

Democrats lie to get elected. This is not news.

But pointing to a specific candidate who is lying specifically to get elected when the election is in two weeks? Yeah, that's not going to work out well for Ms. McCaskill.

Washington Times

Andrew Pollack, the father of a student killed in the Parkland school mass shooting, tore into Sen. Dianne Feinstein in a series of tweets Wednesday, accusing the Democrat of pushing a “radical” anti-gun agenda during the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

“Senator Feinstein, Please stop weaponizing the death of my daughter to push your radical agenda. Sincerely, Andrew Pollack #FixIt,” tweetedMr. Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter, Meadow, was killed in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

“A percentage of every dollar raised by a whacky politician using ‘Parkland’ as a fundraising tool, should go to the families of the victims,” he wrote in another tweet. “Stop using our heartbreak to raise money and push a dangerous agenda! It’s disgusting & pathetic. No wonder the country hates you people.”

Not everyone who lost someone to the Parkland murder is for gun control. And the people who are using that crime to push for policy changes they favored, and that have nothing to do with the murders, are vile. The ones using it to fundraise are worse.

Free Beacon

Levi Strauss announced on Tuesday it would be creating a new gun-control group with billionaire Michael Bloomberg and donating millions of dollars to a collection of established gun-control groups.

What is it with corporations spending millions on idiotic political virtue signaling? Nike made the face of their brand the anti-patriot kneeler, and now a jeans manufacturer decides that going against the Constitution is a good public image and worth millions of dollars to convey to the public.

Free Beacon

Chip Bergh, Levi Strauss president and CEO, justified the decision to become more deeply involved with the gun-control groups by saying it may be unpopular but he felt compelled to do it.

So, the CEO even admits it is unpopular, but he felt compelled to do it anyway.

Free Beacon

Bergh then compared those who oppose the company's gun-control stance to segregationists and those opposed to other moves the company has made.

"As a company, we have never been afraid to take an unpopular stand to support a greater good," Bergh said. "We integrated our factories in the American South years before the Civil Rights Act was passed. We offered benefits to same-sex partners in the 1990s, long before most companies did. We pulled our financial support for the Boy Scouts of America when it banned gay troop leaders. While each one of these stands may have been controversial at the time, history proved the company right in the long run. And I'm convinced that while some will disagree with our stand to end gun violence, history will prove this position right too."

He could have saved himself a little unpopularity if he had stuck to the platitudes about wanting to stop the violence, but he had to go and compare American gun owners to racists. That makes it clear where he stands, and that this is far more about virtue signaling and looking down on ordinary Americans than it is about safety.

UPDATE: Country singer Will Hoge headlines event for Karl Dean after calling NRA members whores and pimps. I can't imagine that being tone-deaf will help either career.

As far as I knew, they already had. It's been a long time since I was in school, and I was never offered archery as an option. This would make it official across the whole state, I suppose. Perhaps some rural districts offered it and they are determined to shut it down?

They explicitly say they are wanting to shut it down because it promotes "gun culture", which aside from being literally nonsense, may open them to First Amendment challenges.

Sebastian points out they hired three gun control lobbyists. As far as picking sides go, that's a lot worse than just not selling scary guns.

But he's only the chief. He's appointed by politicians. Has anyone asked the Indians?

CBSNews

On Tuesday, Boulder's City Council unanimously passed a ban on the sale and possession of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and bump-stock devices -- even while attorneys from a pro-gun rights group threatened legal action.

In accordance with the new ordinance, owners of high-capacity magazines and bump stocks will have until July 15 to dispose of the firearm accessories or sell them. After that point, they will not be permitted in the city of Boulder.

They are already being sued for violating the state preemption law.

Daily Caller

A city in Illinois is making a gun control activists’ dreams come true.

The Village Board of Trustees in Deerfield, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, approved an ordinance to ban “assault weapons” and large capacity magazines, Cleveland 19 News reports.

Violators will face a hefty fine. If the owner of an assault weapon lives in the town does not voluntarily turn over their banned weapon, he will be fined $1,000 a day until the weapon is confiscated.

So, once they figure out you own an assault weapon in this town, they want you to give it up to their police force. Not remove it from their jurisdiction, sell it to someone else, or destroy it -- the daily fines continue until they have it in their hands and you do not. That's a definite escalation from other attempts at gun bans that have focused on banning new manufacture or sale while grandfathering existing firearms.

Daily Caller

According to Cleveland 19 News, the term “assault rifle” applies to “Semiautomatic rifles with a fixed magazine and a capacity to hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition are banned. Shotguns that have revolving chambers are also outlawed.”

The actual ordinance is more precise. It's a one-feature test. Semiautomatic, capacity to accept a detachable magazine, plus one feature (including a pistol grip, forward grip, thumbhole stock or other scary stock types, shroud, or anything scary on the muzzle).

In practice, that means almost any semiautomatic firearm with the capacity to accept a magazine regardless of size (since you can always find a standard-capacity magazine).

Original report Press Release Ordinance

[UPDATE: Second Amendment Foundation has already filed a lawsuit challenging the law.]

His take is about the same as my take: some guy reloading ammunition as a hobby and occasionally selling the results of his work. Consensus seems to be so far that the armor piercing element of the charge is somewhere between complete bullshit and a technicality, and we're not going to know which without knowing the details of the ammunition that was found. I don't have any idea what the law on manufacturing and selling tracer rounds is.

In a Democrat administration we'd get some BS gun control laws passed over this. I bet the ATF is salivating over the possibility of eliminating or regulating reloading if the House turns over to Democrat hands, figuring they can pick up enough Republican squishes in the Senate and pressure Trump to sign it.

Folks, we're going to have to keep an eye on this. It's not going away.