SCOPE often points out that the people going after the 2^nd Amendment are also going after the rest of the Constitution and especially the 1^st Amendment.

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University says on its web site, “Conversations that once took place in parks, sidewalks, and public squares now take place largely online, and often on privately owned social media platforms. As a society, we are just beginning to grapple with the question of how the First Amendment and free speech principles should apply in these digital spaces.”

“Knight” has just, along with five other gun rights organizations, filed an amicus brief in the Second Circuit in the case Antonyuk v. Hochul.  (The big lawsuit challenging many aspects of Hochul’s Concealed carry Improvement Act.)  “Knight” argues, in the brief, that the part of New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act that requires applicants to register their social media in order to get a pistol permit…is unconstitutional.  New York’s regulations must conform to the First Amendment and this particular provision of New York’s new gun law does not.

Anna Diakun, staff attorney at the Knight Institute argues, ‘Not only has the state failed to demonstrate that the social media registration requirement will actually further its goals, but it has also failed to acknowledge its costs: It will have a profound impact on the right to speak anonymously and associate privately online, and it will invite discrimination by licensing officials.’

The brief further states that “the statute compels applicants to direct the State to a record of their online speech and associations. The natural and predictable result of this requirement is that applicants will refrain from speech or associations online that they fear may be held against them in the application process or that they do not believe should be subject to government inspection.’

Katie Fallow, senior counsel at the Knight Institute said: ‘The state’s dragnet social media registration requirement goes far beyond what is necessary, and will set a dangerous precedent for broad intrusions on individuals First Amendment rights…If the New York law is allowed to stand, one can easily imagine the government imposing these requirements in any number of other situations.’

What an accurate description, labelling the law as a “Dragnet.”

The brief quotes Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s concurrence from a 2012 Supreme Court case called United States v. Jones, in which she stated that “Awareness that the government may be watching chills associational and expressive freedoms. And the government’s unrestrained power to assemble data that reveal private aspects of identity is susceptible to abuse.”

Ya think! 

How about the government’s power to assemble data on gun owners – or anyone else that opposes the government’s actions?

Who are the other organizations joining in the brief?  The brief explains, “This is of urgent concern to amici gun owners’ associations, which represent Asian Pacific Americans, African Americans, women, LGBTQ individuals, and politically active individuals—some of whom have particular reasons to distrust law enforcement and to fear the government’s scrutiny of their online lives.”

Those other gun rights organizations are:

The Liberal Gun Club, (gun-owning liberals and moderates), and

The DC Project Foundation, (female gun owners), and

The Asian Pacific American Gun Owners Association (Asian Pacific Americans who own guns), and

The National African American Gun Association (members of the African American community), and

The Operation Blazing Sword–Pink Pistols lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (“LGBTQ”) firearm owners.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Hochul may have kicked a hornet’s nest in her wild desire to deny us our 2^nd Amendment rights.  Perhaps, she should have followed NY law and not declared a non-existent emergency and, instead, thought about what she was doing.

Of course, if she thought about what she was doing she wouldn’t be doing what she is doing.

All members should have received the Jan/Feb 2023 Firing Lines issue in the mail For At-Large Director; take the time and VOTE! *Ballot must have your addess label on the back  if you did not receive your issue in the mail - contact Susan Annual SCOPE Member Meeting Join us in Montour Falls on April 29th! We have Robert Young, MD from Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership Assemblyman Phil Palmesano (District 132) Congressman Nick Langworthy (District 23) Coming to speak to you!~~ SCOPE Ballot -or- SCOPE Member Meeting PO Box 165 East Aurora, NY 14052 (Postmarked by April 14th, 2023) Page 23 has your Official SCOPE 2023 Ballot  Page 21 has the information about your 2023 *Both the ballot & RSVP for the Member Meeting must be mailed separately to Click the link below to download January/February 2023 Firing Lines

NY A4271 and S803  by Tom Reynolds

Two bills (Assembly Bill 4271 and Senate bill 803) have been introduced in the NY Legislature.  They say:

NO PERSON, FIRM, LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY OR CORPORATION ENGAGED IN THE RETAIL BUSINESS OF SELLING RIFLES, SHOTGUNS OR FIREARMS SHALL SELL, DELIVER OR TRANSFER ANY CHILD OPERATED FIREARM TO ANOTHER PERSON.

No one can sell deliver or transfer a Child Operated Firearm.  But, young children aren’t allowed to operate firearms.  Does this mean toys?

The bills explain what is a Child Operated Firearm:

CHILD  OPERATED  FIREARM  MEANS  A PISTOL  OR  REVOLVER…WHICH DOES NOT CONTAIN A CHILDPROOFING  DEVICE OR  MECHANISM INCORPORATED INTO THE DESIGN OF SUCH PISTOL OR REVOLVER TO  EFFECTIVELY PRECLUDE AN AVERAGE FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD FROM  OPERATING  THE PISTOL OR REVOLVER.

So, gun locks are not enough.  The child proofing needs to be built in as a part of the firearm.  Won’t that eliminate virtually every firearm currently sold?  Does a bear…

My kids are all above average.  But for those of you with average 5 year olds, remember, in just one year they will be six and will be able to bypass these new mechanisms.  Wouldn’t it be better to just keep the gun unloaded?  Oh wait, that is already the law when children are present in the household.

My above average kids are grown and out on their own.  Why would I want to buy a gun with these impediments?  

Some examples of these devices or mechanisms to be incorporated into the firearm that are cited in the bill:

1-THE CAPACITY TO ADJUST THE TRIGGER RESISTANCE TO AT LEAST A TEN POUND PULL.

Ten pound pull - the force need to pull the trigger to fire the weapon.  Put into perspective, per the American Gun Association on trigger pulls:

1-5 pounds: most single-action revolvers and semiautomatic weapons, some hunting rifles, most target rifles, some shotguns

5-8 pounds: some other hunting rifles, some shotguns, many striker-fired semiautomatic weapons

Over 8 pounds: double-action weapons

What happens with heavier trigger pulls?  (You jerk the weapon and miss the target.)  Doesn’t missing the target defeat the purpose of the weapon? Does a bear…

Aren’t women generally less strong than men and will have to make greater effort to pull the trigger?  What about the handicapped or elderly?  Too bad…you die if you need a gun for emergency self defense.

2-THE CAPACITY TO ALTER THE FIRING MECHANISM SO THAT AN AVERAGE FIVE YEAR OLD CHILD'S HANDS ARE TOO SMALL TO OPERATE THE PISTOL OR REVOLVER.

Will only big guns be legal?

3-THE CAPACITY TO REQUIRE A SERIES OF MULTIPLE MOTIONS IN ORDER TO FIRE THE PISTOL OR REVOLVER.

The often-cited reason why many people, (women, black, jews, Asians, LGBTQ, and even straight white men) cite as the reason for buying a gun is self-defense.  Using a gun in self-defense is usually an emergency and requires a fast response.  (At least that’s what experts in the field say.  But what do they know compared to Hochul and the NY Legislature.)  Won’t all these mechanisms slow down the response and make it less effective?  Does a bear…

Will those that illegally possess guns – some or many of them living with 5 years old or younger children and are responsible for most gun homicides – follow these regulations? 

These rules need some “fleshing out”.  How will that be done?  The law says:

THE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE STATE POLICE SHALL, IN CONSULTATION WITH SUCH GUN MANUFACTURERS AS SUCH SUPERINTENDENT DEEMS APPROPRIATE, ADOPT RULES AND REGULATIONS ESTABLISHING MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR CHILDPROOFING DEVICES OR MECHANISMS TO ENSURE THAT SUCH CHILDPROOFING DEVICES OR MECHANISMS ARE SAFE AND EFFECTIVE.

Steven Nigrelli is the Acting Superintendent of the NY State Police.  Yes, that same Nigrelli who is being sued by Antonyuk as he is in charge of enforcing Hochul’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act and reports to Kathy Hochul.  Well, I’m sure we can count on him to “deem appropriate” in consulting with gun manufacturers and people in Hochul’s administration and not abuse his unfettered authority when developing these rules and regulations.  And, of course, he will not fall into the bureaucratic tendency to overregulate so no one can accuse him of underregulating. 

What’s the penalty for breaking the law?

              CLASS A MISDEMEANOR.  (Up to a year in jail.)

When would it take effect:

This act shall take effect on the first of November next, succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.

Rough guess: there are 20 million guns already in NY State.  What about them? Nothing mentioned…yet.  Unless of course, you want to trade your current gun in for a new one.  It will be covered and will now have considerably less trade in value.

I know we often say this but you might want to contact your Senator or Assemblyperson and tell them how you feel about these laws. 

And as to those gun owners who don’t vote because these laws are not affecting you…keep living in your dream world.

USA Clay Target League  by Jim Griffin (Steuben County SCOPE)

In Minnesota in 2007, the USA Clay Target League was formed.  The leading reason for the league was to get young people to participate in shooting activities and to help offset declining membership in shooting clubs.  From its onset the league has promoted safety while having fun and improving the individuals’ shooting skills.

The Target League is the fastest growing high school sport in the United States:

• In 2007 the league was limited to Minnesota with 3 teams with 30 participants. 

• In 2013 the league expanded to 2 states with 191 teams and 7,046 participants.

• In 2022 the league is in 34 states with 1,466 teams with 43,009 participants.

• It started in the spring of 2016 with 5 teams and 128 participants

• In the Spring of 2022, it had 122 teams with 2,142 participants

• New teams are being added for the spring 2023 season, and it looks like it will be another record year

• 12,347 first year student athletes joined the league

• 35% of the athletes earned firearm safety certification specifically to participate in the league

• 70% learned about the league through their school

• There was a 99% team retention rate with 95% athlete retention

• 63% of teams have a lettering program

• 80% were included in the school yearbook

• 81% of shooting ranges reported increases in non-youth participation as a result of hosting a USA Clay Target League Teams

• 26% of head coaches expect their shooting ranges will expand participant capacity within the next 2 years

• 43% of league parents reported an increase in hunting and shooting sports participation since their child become active in the league.

• The league has expanded to include Home schooled students, a skeet discipline and a new college league.

• 230 Teams

• 2,950 Registered Athletes

• 375, 000 targets were thrown

• 7,500 Total Attendees

• 100,000 participants by 2025

• 20,000 Team Coaches and Staff Members

• 3,000 High Schools-Approved Teams

• 1,800 Shooting Ranges Hosting Teams across the Country

• 65,000 Tournament Participants

This is the fastest growing sport in New York State,

The league is creating the next generation of outdoor enthusiasts as it is open to all Students from 6^th to 12^th grade.

All shooters must take safety instruction before they can participate in the league, which creates a new generation of safer gun enthusiasts.  The league has a pristine safety record with well over 120 million rounds of shotgun shells shot since the beginning.  77 million rounds were shot in 2022 with NO incidents.  (The league is safer than Band.)  

The league is open to anyone, no matter what race or sex and those who are physically challenged are all welcome.

The League is empowering young people and boosting their self-confidence. 

Experienced shooters and novices can participate and help each other to improve as they compete against themselves.

You don’t need to buy expensive equipment, a Remington 870 works as well as a $20,000 Krieghoff.

One of the hidden benefits that the league has generated are the contributions to the Pittman Robinson Act, which is a tax on sporting goods that we pay when we purchase sporting equipment.  The act was passed in 1937 to let state’s wildlife agencies to use certain funds allocated from the Wildlife Restoration Account to build and maintain shooting ranges and bolster marketing and communications efforts to recruit, retain, and re-activate hunters and recreational shooters.  The league in 2022 added $97.5 million in sports related expenditures which generated an estimated $4.5 million added to the Pittman Robinson fund.

In 2022:

At the 2022 High School National Championship in Mason, Michigan:

What is the vision for the future of the League at a National Level?

With all the bad publicity when it comes to guns, this is a bright spot that we need to talk about.  The High School league benefits all shooting enthusiasts in New York. Anyone who knows of a High School that wants to start a team, have them go to the web site nyclaytarget.com to get the information on how to get started.

With everyone’s help, continued growth is not just attainable but likely.  This is a great way to offset the media’s anti-2A bias.  Let’s do our part in New York!

President’s Day  by Tom Reynolds

A year ago, SCOPE sent this as an email.  It is as current now as it was then…or when Thomas Jefferson wrote them.

Miscellaneous Thoughts on President’s Day by Thomas Jefferson, Founder of the Democrat Party

No free man shall ever be disbarred the use of arms.

The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretense of taking care of them.

The democracy will cease to exist when we take away from those that are willing to work and give to those who would not.

To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes, the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debt’s as it goes. A principle which if acted upon would save one-half the wars of the world.

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

When we get piled on one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

Snipers  by Tom Reynolds

When I was playing football in college, I once had my first opportunity to kick an extra point.  I thought it was a big deal and, later, called my dad to tell him.  He asked me if I had heard what my best friend, Bill Shear, had done that day.  While I was kicking my extra point, Bill had kicked the longest field goal in NCAA history!

Want to feel inadequate?

Most shooters would feel good about hitting a bullseye at 200 yards.  Here are some stories to make you feel inadequate.

In 2017, in Iraq, a Canadian sniper eliminated a target at 2.14 miles (3,540 meters).  This is the record distance for snipers.  Which means it’s probably the record distance for everyone else. 

The shooter was using a McMillan TAC-50 sniper rifle and was firing from a tall building.  The rifle was a 50 caliber, bolt action, 26 pound rifle with a 5 round magazine.  If you want to buy it, bring at least $10,000.

In addition to the usual forces to be considered – like gravity, wind, elevation, relative humidity, etc. - the sniper had to take into consideration the Coriolis Effect; that is, the spin of the earth, since the shot took almost 10 seconds to hit the target.

Think about that for a second.  Say bang and count off 10 seconds.  That’s a long time for a bullet to be in the air.  Lots can happen in 10 seconds including that a motionless target is not really motionless due to the Earth’s rotation.

The previous record was attained in 2009, in Afghanistan.  The sniper took on a Taliban machine gun crew at 1.5 miles (2,475 meters) and the bullet was in the air for 6 seconds. 

He used an L115A3 .338 Lapua Magnum, which is a .338 caliber,  15 pound rifle holding a 5 round magazine.  It’s a “little” more expensive at $38,000.

The sniper was standing up, not lying prone. Which may explain why he missed on two of the five shots he took.  His first shot missed, but his second shot was on target.  The third shot missed, but the fourth eliminated a second target. A fifth shot took out the machine gun.   

The longest American shot was made in March 2004, in Iraq.  The sniper killed an insurgent from 2,300 meters away.  He reportedly used an M82 SASR .50 caliber rifle which held a 10 round magazine.  

Luck or skill?  Probably a combination of both? Mostly a whole lot of skill. 

But as too luck…

The previous longest American sniper kill was in the Viet Nam War by a Marine sniper at 2,286 meters using a machine gun set to semi-automatic.  The Browning M2 was a .50 caliber weapon that had a longer range that the standard sniper rifle so it was occasionally fitted with a scope by inventive snipers. 

As to luck, USMC Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock reportedly had fired at a specific spot while sighting in his Browning M2 heavy machine-gun.  An enemy soldier stopped his bicycle on the spot Hathcock was aiming at.  Talk about bad luck!

Hathcock was entitled to a little luck since this was one of 93 confirmed kills that he had; which were more skill than luck.

In the heat of battle, controlling adrenaline and breathing after formulating the physics of the shot sounds impossible.  But they did it.

As to my extra point, it still stands as a personal record.

1 Person, Biden Lies, the FBI and Voting

The United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in Dobbs v. Jackson defied ‘Stare Decisis’ (precedent) when it overturned “Roe v. Wade.”  (It ruled that the states had the power to legislate on abortion but not the federal government.)  SCOTUS was willing to overturn the Roe v Wade precedent because, “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences.” 

The same can be said for another Warren Court decision, Reynolds v. Sims, which waswrong, weak reasoned and created damaging consequences. 

Reynolds v. Sims was a landmark case in which SCOTUS ruled that the electoral districts of both state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population. Along with Baker v. Carr (1962) and Wesberry v. Sanders (1964), it was part of a series of Warren Court cases that applied the principle of "one person, one vote" to U.S. legislative bodies. 

Reynolds v Sims is the reason the NY State Senate is based on population instead of mirroring the United States Senate where every state has equal representation. 

The US Constitution protects minorities from the ‘Tyranny of the Majority’ by dividing the Legislative branch between one house where representation is based on population and another house which has equal representation for every state, no matter what the population. Or it did protect us before the Warren Court got ahold of it.  Because of Reynolds v. Sims, upstate NY counties are subject to the Tyranny of the Majority in the NY Legislature. 

SCOPE wrote extensively on this on December 8, 2022. S.C.O.P.E. Shooters Committee On Political Education - One Man One Vote (scopeny2a.org)

We need to begin publicizing that ‘one person one vote’ should be reversed.

______________________________________________

In his State of the Dis-Union speech, President Biden demanded the renewal of the Assault Weapons Ban. He and California’s Senator Dianne Feinstein sponsored it in 1994, and President Bill Clinton signed it into law.  It banned the sale of Modern Sporting Rifles.  That ban expired in 2004 and was not renewed because it was widely recognized as ineffective. 

The semiautomatic rifle has since become the most-popular selling centerfire rifle in America – with over 24.4 million in circulation today.

The Heller, McDonald, and Bruen decisions of the Supreme Court made it clear that any such ban as Biden is proposing is unconstitutional.

In last year’s dis-union speech, Biden also wanted Congress to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).  He said, “Repeal the liability shield that makes gun manufacturers the only industry in America that can’t be sued, the only one.”

Gun manufacturers do have legal protections from being held liable for injuries caused by criminal misuse of their weapons, thanks to the PLCAA.  But they are not exempt or immune from being sued, as Biden said.  Their protections aren’t dissimilar to protections for pharmaceuticals and medical device manufacturers.

How can you tell that Joe Biden is lying?  His lips are moving.

_______________________________

The text of an internal FBI guidance document was leaked by an FBI whistleblower and subsequently published by Kyle Seraphin, who had been a special agent at the bureau for six years.  It links traditional Catholicism such as the Latin Mass with violent extremism, as a basis for the FBI to investigate those Catholics.  Per Seraphin, the document contained an unsubstantiated assumption that “a preference for the Catholic Mass in Latin instead of the vernacular and a number of more traditional views on other world religions can amount to an ‘adherence to anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBTQ and white supremacist ideology.’”

After this information saw the light-of-day, the FBI pulled the document and issued a statement: “While our standard practice is to not comment on specific intelligence products, this particular field office product — disseminated only within the FBI — regarding racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism does not meet the exacting standards of the FBI.”

The last six years have given us a pretty good idea of what are the FBI’s ‘exacting standards’.

The FBI statement continued: “The FBI is committed to sound analytic tradecraft and to investigating and preventing acts of violence and other crimes while upholding the constitutional rights of all Americans and will never conduct investigative activities or open an investigation based solely on First Amendment protected activity.”

Oh yeah.  Then how come ‘sound analytic tradecraft’ relied heavily on analysis from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which is a far-left organization.

According to former Attorney General Jeff Session, the SPLC has used the “hate group” designation as a weapon and has “wielded it against conservative organizations that refuse to accept their orthodoxy and choose instead to speak their conscience…They use it to bully and intimidate groups..”

On Tucker Carlson Tonight, Kyle Seraphin asserted that the FBI is “so desperate to find white supremacists that they are going to look at the Catholic Church.”

“They have found a gateway in what they think is fringe Catholicism in order to move into Christians in general and to declare them to be the actual criminals in this country or the potential terrorists.”

Last year, on the Dan Bongino show, Seraphin asserted that the Biden regime has more “demand for white supremacy” than “supply of white supremacy,” which forces the police state to invent cases.

We know that the left wants to ‘disarm’ their opponents, based on the left’s actions against the 1^st and 2^nd Amendments.  Does the left fear that an organized religion (like Catholicism) has the potential to move against the abortion and LGBTQ movements.  Was this the left’s attempt to intimidate and silence them, before they could act?

Think your vote doesn’t count?

According to Ballotpedia, one hundred and three (103) state legislative elections were decided by 100 votes or fewer in 2022, three times more than in 2020.

In 2022, 103 elections represented 1.6% of the 6,278 seats up for election.

In 2020, 30 elections represented 0.5% of the 5,875 seats up for election.

Democrats won 49 of those 103 races (48%), Republicans won 52 (50%), and an independent won one (1%). An additional race in New Hampshire ended in a tie with a redo election scheduled for February 21st.

Bankruptcy, CCIA, and Sheriffs  by Tom Reynolds

Last Thursday, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24) introduced the Protecting Gun Owners in Bankruptcy Act. This bill would exempt $3,000 worth of firearms from bankruptcy proceedings, allowing Americans to maintain their Second Amendment rights through tough financial times.

Current bankruptcy law allows debtors to maintain items to support a base quality of life, including a primary residency, car, clothing, household appliances, and even musical instruments. But there is no current exemption for a firearm that can be used for self-defense, a constitutional right. This important piece of legislation ensures that Americans can keep their firearms to defend themselves, no matter their financial state.

“No American should ever have to sacrifice their constitutional rights because of their financial situation,” said Congresswoman Tenney. “The Second Amendment is a constitutional right for all Americans, even those experiencing financial hardship. I am honored to lead this important legislation that protects the rights of gun owners everywhere, no matter their financial situation.”

Additional co-sponsors include Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-9), Rep. Randy Weber (TX-14), and Rep. Doug Lamborn (CO-5).

In January, Congresswoman Claudia Tenney introduced HR 45 in the House condemning the Concealed Cary Improvement Act.  SCOPE sent the following statement of support.

We are a nation of laws.  By passing the so-called Concealed Carry Improvement Act, Governor Hochul and the New York Legislatures have said that decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States do not apply in New York State.  They have ‘thrown down the gauntlet’ to the United States Supreme Court. 

At a time when crime is sweeping through major cities, the Governor and the Legislature want to leave law abiding citizens at the mercy of criminals.  How will these citizens protect themselves from armed criminals to whom the laws mean nothing?

Governor Hochul and the New York Legislatures know that they aren’t held accountable for unconstitutional laws that they pass and that the law-abiding victims of these laws must spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to overturn those laws.  We need “The People’s House” to step forward and protect the American people of New York State.

SCOPE strongly supports Congresswoman Claudia Tenney’s Resolution that says:

Resolved,

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that-

 New York State’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act violates the rights of New Yorkers under the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and is unconstitutional; 

the courts should immediately strike down the Concealed Carry Improvement Act as unconstitutional; and

all States should pass legislation supporting Second Amendment rights instead of trying to restrict or undermine Americans’ constitutional rights.

The bill is cosponsored by four other NY Republican Congresspersons: Elise Stefanic, Nick Langworthy, Darrell Issa and Brandon Williams.

__________________________________________________________________

Please consider contacting your Congressional Representative and let them know you support these bills.

__________________________________________________________________

Illinois passed new state gun control laws and at least 80 Illinois sheriffs posted letters saying essentially the same thing.

“As your duly elected Sheriff,” one letter says, “my job and my office are sworn to protect the citizens … This is a job and responsibility that I take with the utmost seriousness. The right to keep and bear arms for defense of life, liberty and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people of this country …Therefore, as the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official, I proclaim that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the State, nor will we be arresting or housing law-abiding gun individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act.”

In the left’s never-ending competition to see who can be the most unconstitutional, Washington State’s Governor Jay Inslee has proposed more gun control laws including a ban on semi-auto rifles, the Washington State Sheriff’s Association President wrote:

“We, members of the Washington Sheriffs’ Association, believe the proposed restrictions will serve to erode constitutionally protected rights without addressing the root causes of violent crime. We are particularly concerned with the proposed so-called ‘assault weapons ban’ and ‘permit to purchase’ laws.”

“The rise in violent crime that so concerns citizens has happened even as regulations and restrictions on firearm ownership have grown. Of course, this is because the people who commit violent crimes simply don’t concern themselves with obeying rules about guns.”

The support for the radical left wing leaders of blue states may be a mile wide but in some places it’s only an inch deep.

Gun Murder Rates

A study by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA Network Open) concluded that gun homicide rates among black men have exploded far beyond any other demographic group in America.   

The Wall Street Journal wrote about the JAMA report that: “Since 1990, rates of gun-related homicide have been highest among black men aged 20 to 24, with 142 fatalities per 100,000 people in this group in 2021—a 74% increase since 2014.” 

“Homicide rates are as much as 23 times higher among black men and as much as nearly four times higher among Hispanic men than among white men, the analysis said.”

A co-author of the JAMA study, said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that to stem violence in groups that have high homicide rates, “there are certain programs like violence prevention, firearm-buyback programs, and safe storage.”

It must be the guns that are at fault.  Nothing was put forward to address the psychological or cultural issues that might lead to such violence.

Non safe storage is responsible for the increase in black men’s homicides?

Criminals are going to start selling their illegal guns back to the government?

How about violence prevention through anti inner city gang programs?

Nah, the only other possible root cause is racism.  Except, more blacks are killed by other blacks than by whites.

On March 15, 2022, a left-wing advocacy organization called The Third Way published a 15-page study with the provocative title “The Red State Murder Problem.”  The study states that “murder rates are far higher in Trump-voting red states than Biden-voting blue states.”  Not surprisingly, dozens of media outlets picked up the “study” and reported on its “findings. 

We should have known; Trump did it!

Both theories about the rise in black men homicides and “The Red State Murder Problem” are shot-full-of-holes by some credible research.

According to a 2021 PEW Research Center survey, the household gun ownership rate in rural areas was 79% higher than in urban areas and suburban households are 37.9% more likely to own guns than urban households. Despite lower gun ownership, Biden-voting urban areas have much higher murder rates than Trump-voting rural areas.

This was further emphasized in a November 2022 article in the Heritage Foundation; which countered The Third Way’s study: “The Blue City Murder Problem.”  It wrote that: “…most crime is hyper-localized, so the fundamental flaw with the study and the reason it does not deserve any serious consideration is that the ‘murder rate’ in each state is largely a function of the large number of murders in a state’s biggest city or cities.”  (Remember - those Biden-voting urban areas.)

Heritage then stated: “When you remove the homicide-riddled cities from the state murder rate featured in the Third Way study, you dramatically lower the murder rate for that state, upending their conclusions and exposing the piece for what it really is: a straightforward attempt at political projection dressed up as a ‘study.’”

To further evidence this, On January 17^th, John Lott published a paper about murder rates by counties, based on data from the FBI’s 2020 Supplementary Homicide Report.  He wrote: “Murder isn’t a nationwide problem. It’s a problem in a small set of urban areas, and even in those counties, murders are concentrated in small areas inside them…”

He further wrote that: “The worst 5% of counties contain 47% of the population and account for 73% of murders.

So, the problem isn’t guns or racism but seems to be certain areas of cities. 

Per Lott:

The five counties with the highest number of murders are:

o   Cook County—(Chicago.)

o   Los Angeles County

o   Harris County – (Houston)

o   Philadelphia County

o   New York City – (the 5 counties)

Could soft-on-crime, George Soros funded district attorneys have anything to do with the surge?  All top five counties have Soros funded D A’s

• Kim Foxx, Cook County  - (Chicago)
• George Gascon, Los Angeles County

•  Kim Ogg, Harris County - (Houston)
• Larry Krasner, Philadelphia
• Alvin Bragg, Manhattan

How about the mayors?  All five are members of Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns and have some of the strictest gun laws and all five cities have been dominated by the Democrat Party:

• Lori Lightfoot-Chicago
• Eric Garcetti-L A  (Former Mayor and Karen Bass  new current Mayor)
• Sylvester Turner-Houston
• James Kenney-Philadelphia
• Bill DeBlasio-NYC  (Former Mayor and Eric Adams new current Mayor)

It should be noted that under Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani murder rates in NY City declined.

Lott also points out that in 2020, the murder rate was 5.84 per 100,000 people. If the 5% of the counties with the worst number of murders somehow were to become a separate country, the murder rate in the rest of the US would have dropped to 2.99 per 100,000.

What else might be the cause of this rise in homicides?

The start of this gun homicide spike coincided with the rise of Black Lives Matter, “defund the police” protests, and urban riots.  Any connection?

About the same time frame, Soros funded D A’s put in radical left policies that promote rather than inhibit crime.  These policies generally are:

• Refusing to prosecute entire categories of misdemeanor crimes, including theft, drug possession, shoplifting, receiving stolen property, breaking and entering, destruction of property, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and more.
• Forbidding prosecutors from including sentencing enhancements or allegations of prior convictions or special circumstances for egregious crimes or actions.
• Forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case.
• Forbidding prosecutors from seeking life without parole sentences for any crime.
• Refusing to prosecute violent teenagers in adult court for such crimes as murder, child abuse, and rape.
• Requiring prosecutors to ask for the release of duly convicted violent felons, whose appeals have been denied, after these felons have served as least 15 years of a longer sentence.
• Prohibiting or limiting prosecutors from asking for bail to ensure the presence of the defendant at the next court hearing and/or taking into consideration the defendant’s prior criminal record.

As pointed out, the homicide rates are localized into specific areas of the inner cities.  These inner cities have the worst crime, the worst schools and the worst economies and yet they reliably vote for Democrats and, in spite of the strictest gun laws, those Democrats continually misdirect attention away from them and onto lawful gun owners.

California (is) Dreaming  by Tom Reynolds

Just when you thought New York’s politicians were crazy, California steps up and says, ‘Hold my beer’.

Slavery was never legal in California, but it is considering paying “reparations” to Black Californians who are directly descended from enslaved people. To get around that slavery hurdle, they’re recommending reparations for discrimination and not for slavery. 

If California is offering reparations for racial discrimination, why not offer them to every group that suffered discrimination based on their race or ethnicity throughout California’s history?

How about descendants of Chinese workers who built much of California’s early infrastructure and also the Transcontinental Railroad which linked California with the rest of us and gave their economy a huge boost.

Or the descendants of Japanese Americans living in California who had their assets confiscated and were relocated to internment camps during World War II?

And what about Native Americans? (What we used to call Indians.) Of course, the Mexicans started the discrimination against them so perhaps they should ‘chip in’.

And, of course, we took California from Mexico through warfare so Mexican heritage descendants might qualify? (Although, if one compares California’s economy with Mexico, you would have to conclude that, as a whole, they are better off in California. But maybe not for much longer; not because Mexico is getting better but because California is sinking.)

So, what is California proposing for reparations?

• It wants to make up for a “housing wealth gap” by granting $223,239 to every Black Californian who is descended from slaves. (Kamilah V. Moore, the chair of California’s reparations committee, disagreed. She said that reparations should be $1 million per person.)

• $127,226 per year for unpaid prison labor and years of lost income while in prison or “disproportionate health outcomes,” including shorter life expectancies. (They committed a crime and were imprisoned and should now be paid for the time incarcerated! Who says crime doesn’t pay?

The reparations task force, which did the above calculations, is reported to be overwhelmingly black.  (Who would have guessed that any ethnic group would find that they should be paid big bucks for some past wrong?)

Not to be outdone by the state, San Francisco is considering their own reparations for discrimination:

• pay each Black longtime resident a one-time lump sum of $5 million;

• grant total debt forgiveness;

• supplement lower-income recipients’ income to reflect the Area Median Income (about $97,000) annually for at least 250 years.

To be eligible for SF’s program, the applicant must be 18 years old. (But must be 21 to buy a gun. Of course, with $5 million they could afford to hire their own security.)

Another way to get the dough is to be "Personally, or the direct descendant of someone, incarcerated by the failed War on Drugs." (So, you don’t even have to be jailed to get paid, just be related to someone who was jailed.)

Talk about ‘feelings of guilt’!

Then there is the pesky question: how to pay for this?

The leading proposal to fund this is a “Wealth Tax” on wealthy Californians. (California and New York State lead the country in out-migration of their citizens. Any possibility this might drive even more wealthy Californians into becoming Texans?)

The panel got creative and recommended that ten prisons be shuttered. The savings made from closing the prisons will be used to fund the reparations. (Any recommendations on what to do with the prisoners released?)

The panel also recommended eliminating certain types of punishment and that current inmatesreceive fair wages and that they are eligible to vote.

Will ‘Fair Wages’ have a deduction for room & board as well as security while in prison?

Will there be a reduction in the payments for those that got special treatment in ‘Affirmative Action’ programs or got money through the failed ‘War on Poverty’.

About 360,000 Americans died in the Civil War which freed slaves. Does that count towards a down payment?

Hitler would have ‘final solutioned’ blacks if he had won. Shouldn’t 400,000 American deaths in WW2 count for something?

The War on Poverty taught us that if we take away the incentive for people to work, you foment chaos in families and communities.  There are many stories about lottery winners who blew it all. (One recent single mother of four won $88 million and spent a chunk of it on multiple bail payments for her boyfriend. There’s those pesky personal choices, again.)

___________________________

Where does California get these loopy ideas?

Right from the top!

Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom, writes and directs "gender identity" films that are then licensed to public schools. Reportedly, these films have brought in almost $1.5 million in licensing fees, in addition to donations. Newsom's wife received $2.3 million in total salary between 2011 and 2018

About those films shown in schools, Adam Andrzejewski, founder of the watchdog group The Book, wrote this: "Newsom's films and curricula are saturated with images lifted directly from pornographic websites,…Minors are exposed to social commentaries about privilege and oppression, and one commentator says Americans need to 'express shame and sorrow about who we are and what we've done' as a society." 

Andrzejewski added "When paired with calls to organize and spread the films more widely, it's clear that Siebel Newsom seeks to activate students politically and in accordance with some radical ideologies about gender, identity, race and privilege." 

According to The Sacramento Bee, companies with a history of lobbying the state of Californiadonated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Governor Newsome’s wife's nonprofit over the past several years.

The nonprofit received $290,000 between 2016 and 2018 from Pacific Gas & Electric which is overseen by the California Public Utilities Commission, whose Commissioners are appointed by the governor.

Kaiser Permanente donated $20,000 in 2018 and 2019 before signing a $500 million no-bid contract with the state.

AT&T gave more than $185,000 and Comcast gave more than $15,000 between 2017 and 2020. The companies were able to shut down a plan to bring broadband to underserved parts of the state in 2020.

United Airlines donated between $25,000 and $49,000 and later lobbied Newsom's office for pandemic relief for airlines.

Kendra Arnold of the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust said "Ethics rules routinely prohibit elected officials from soliciting donations for nonprofits that they are closely aligned with — because of course donations may be made in an attempt to seek favorable treatment by the government,"

It appears that Newsome and Hochul are in competition to be labeled the most corrupt governor in the United States. Or the flakiest.