Harold Hutchison

Did Biden Declare War On Heller?

July 26, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Did Biden Declare War On Heller? iStock-1055138108
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Joe Biden has long been a foe of the Second Amendment. His push for bans on modern multi-purpose semiautomatic long guns over the years has been a prime example. But the extent of his anti-Second Amendment extremism has long been well-disguised, partially because he played one group of gun owners against other groups.

That being said, his recent comments at an Ohio town hall deserve the notice of Second Amendment supporters. Why? Because during his rant about those who oppose his desire to place an arbitrary 10-round limit on magazine capacity, he all but expressed a desire to overturn the landmark Heller case.

Make no mistake about it, Heller poses a significant threat to proposed gun bans, not to mention current ones.
The Duncan case in California took out the standard-capacity magazine ban using Heller’s “common use” standard. This also can extend to the long guns Biden wants to ban as well, which United States District Judge Roger T. Benitez already has done.

We’ve discussed how the facts and numbers have blown up the case for gun bans before, and the latest figures available from the Justice Department only reinforce just how little logic there is behind the bans proposed by Eric Swalwell and Beto O’Rourke. That being said, Second Amendment supporters know all too well that anti-Second Amendment extremists are not driven by logic, they’re motivated by emotional trauma (in the more understandable cases) or a strong dislike of those who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Whether it is a person who is grieving a victim of a mass shooting who has channeled that grief into punishing millions of Americans for a horrific act they did not commit or a cynical activist who seeks power, the fact that the Second Amendment protects firearms commonly owned for lawful purposes – including self-defense – has become a huge hindrance to their agenda. This is why anti-Second Amendment extremists are eager to dump the Heller ruling. Overturn it, and they can ban guns to their heart’s content.
The current composition of the Supreme Court makes the overturning of Heller unlikely. That said, it assumes that the court is not packed, which many on the Left are vowing in the wake of rulings not related to Second Amendment issues. You can bet that if the Second Amendment becomes grounds to strike down gun and magazine bans or “may issue” concealed carry laws, that those cries will get louder.
At that point, Second Amendment supporters will need to work very hard. The only way to protect those rulings will be to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local levels via the ballot box as early and as often as possible.

About Harold Hutchison
Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.

Below The Radar: Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriation Bills

July 21, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Violent criminals will always ignore gun laws, just as they ignore the myriad other laws that make them violent criminals. IMG NRA-ILA
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- When it comes to appropriations bills, many Second Amendment supporters all too often don’t take much notice, other than to grumble about how Washington politicians are wasting our hard-earned tax dollars. While that is true, these bill often are used to attack our rights.

Remember the 1996 Lautenberg amendment? That was inserted into a consolidated appropriations bill for the fiscal year 1997. It is perhaps the most notorious attack on our Second Amendment rights via this process – simply due to how many gun owners who suddenly found themselves instant felons because of the ex post facto nature of that piece of legislation.

At Congress.gov, four bills, HR 4431, HR 4432, HR 4502, and HR 4505 have been introduced, respectively titled Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, and the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. These are all opportunities for the current anti-Second Amendment extremists to replicate what was done a quarter-century ago.

Other antics from anti-Second Amendment extremists have included a prohibition on funding the ATF’s “relief from disabilities” process. On the flip side, Second Amendment supporters have similarly used the appropriations process to halt biased research by the Centers for Disease Control. To date, anti-Second Amendment extremists are trying to bring back that funding, and it is not hard for Second Amendment supporters to understand why – given how health researchers favor attacking our rights.
This means that Second Amendment supporters need to keep as close an eye on these bills, and particularly amendments, as they possibly can. This can be very difficult, given that each of these bills are massive – HR 4431 is 104 pages, and the accompanying committee report is another 174 pages. HR 4505 is 138 pages long, and that bill’s report is another 220 pages. HR 4432 (a 148-page bill and a 409-page report) and HR 4502 (a 196-page bill and a 453-page report) dwarf those two, incidentally.
It’s hard to imagine just how members of the House of Representatives can understand what is in a bill before they vote. That makes it pretty easy for stuff to be slipped in – whether by our enemies or by Second Amendment champions. All of it depends, though, on who controls the appropriations committees in the House and Senate. That is why Second Amendment supporters should be working hard to ensure that anti-Second Amendment extremists are defeated via the ballot box at the federal, state, and local levels as soon as possible.

Below The Radar: The PISTOL Act

July 20, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Take Action Time to Act
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- A while back, we discussed the difference between the ideal and the achievable. It is a conundrum that many Second Amendment supporters have, whether it is legislation or candidates. Our enemies often have the same problem, so we can take some small comfort.

Just as Dianne Feinstein has introduced a fallback measure to the semiauto ban she really wants, the same approach is being taken with regards to the Biden-Harris regime’s attack on AR-15-type pistols (among others). We have discussed the Home Defense and Competitive Shooting Act on multiple occasions, and it is the ideal solution to address that attack.

However, as Second Amendment supporters have often learned, the ideal solution isn’t always possible.
In this case, removing short-barreled rifles from the purview of the National Firearms Act may not be possible at the present time. In fact, to be very blunt, seeing the Home Defense and Competitive Shooting Act become law in this Congress is a pipe dream, given who controls the committees and subcommittees.

This is not to say it’s a bad idea – introducing legislation and tracking the cosponsors is a good way to gauge what sort of support there is for efforts to restore our rights. That makes having a fall-back option a good idea. Enter HR 3823, the PISTOL Act.
What this bill, introduced by Representative Bob Good (R-VA), does is to maintain the status quo by stating that firearms like the AR-15 pistols with a stabilizing brace may not be placed under the National Firearms Act. This would end the present threat for the short term – provided that anti-Second Amendment extremists don’t increase their numbers in Congress.
This doesn’t come without trade-offs.
On the one hand, if the PISTOL Act were to be passed into law (say as an amendment to the appropriate appropriations bill), it may make it more difficult to pass the Home Defense and Competitive Shooting Act in the future. But given the realities that surround passing legislation, even taking a majority in the future won’t make passing the Home Defense and Competitive Shooting Act a given.
For one thing, the same filibuster that currently is preventing anti-Second Amendment extremists from packing the court and ramming through extreme legislation will be wielded by the likes of Chuck Schumer, Chris Murphy, Dianne Feinstein, and other anti-Second Amendment extremists to block pro-Second Amendment legislation. It cuts both ways, and before Second Amendment supporters contemplate nuking the filibuster to pass such improvements, remember that Harry Reid’s use of the “nuclear option” for nominations backfired to the tune of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett on SCOTUS.
The fact is, the PISTOL Act may be a suitable incremental measure in lieu of passing the Home Defense and Competitive Shooting Act, and Second Amendment supporters should contact their Senators and Representative and polite urge them to support this legislation. However, it is no substitute for defeating anti-Second Amendment extremists at the ballot box at the federal, state, and local levels.

Will The Biden Regime Call Second Amendment Activism Misinformation?

July 19, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Vivek Hallegere Murthy
White House/Silicon Valley – -(AmmoLand.com)- In the course of White House press briefings, Second Amendment supporters got good news, but they also found themselves facing a much greater short-term danger. The good news is that Jen Psaki probably handed enough evidence to prove that Silicon Valley has been acting as a proxy for the federal government to pretty much ensure former President Trump will win his court case.

The bad news is that Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has upped the ante over the short term by claiming that “misinformation” about COVID-19 is “an imminent and insidious threat to our nation’s health.” Of course, Murthy has a prescription that includes “suggestions” for social media companies.

Do you know what else has been described as a “public health” issue? The Second Amendment.
Remember how the Centers for Disease Control were pushing gun control? It was so bad Congress wisely pulled the plug on funding for that pseudo-science, much to the chagrin and anger of anti-Second Amendment extremists like Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), who want to take us back to the bad old days of politicized medicine.

(As an aside, the CDC’s blatant anti-Second Amendment propaganda may be a big reason why they aren’t entirely trusted with regards to COVID and vaccines. Let this be a lesson to Second Amendment supporters who, in this media environment must take a higher level of care about how we come across to our fellow Americans, like avoiding the use of dubious quotes.)
The big question is, of course, whether Murthy would declare activism for our Second Amendment rights as “misinformation” if CDC goes back into the business of being propagandists for gun control. We can’t put that past them, especially given how Silicon Valley censorship has affected things already.
Think about how CDC has suppressed information about the use of firearms for self-defense in the past. Or remember how Arthur Kellerman claimed that a firearm was 43 times more likely to be used to kill you than to be used for self-defense? Right now, if Murthy calls efforts to point out Kellerman’s BS “misinformation,” you can bet that Silicon Valley will be censoring in moments.
As we now know, Kellerman got that figure by only counting those homicides that were ruled self-defense. But as Massad Ayoob – or any other competent self-defense instructor – would quickly tell you, you don’t have to kill an assailant to have successfully defended yourself. Don’t take my word for it: The NRA’s Armed Citizen over the years has examples of armed bad guys fleeing or surrendering when they realize there is an armed good guy, with no shots fired by the good guy at all.
Second Amendment supporters need to urge their Representative and Senators to block any CDC effort to attack the First and Second Amendments in the name of “public health.” In addition, they need to work to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local levels at the ballot box as soon as possible.

Ayoob Provides Unflinching Look At Reality Of Self-Defense

July 15, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Ayoob Provides Unflinching Look At Reality Of Self-Defense
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Recently, Massad Ayoob was named as President of the Second Amendment Foundation. It is the latest step in a long career of service, both to community (as a part-time police officer), to those who choose to exercise their Second Amendment rights (he is also well-known for self-defense training – including developing the Stressfire system for pistols and shotguns), and to the cause of protecting the Second Amendment (Ayoob has been a long-time supporter of the Second Amendment Foundation).

But perhaps one of the most important services Ayoob has provided for anyone exercising their Second Amendment rights or thinking about exercising those rights appears in print – and has since 1986. The bi-monthly American Handgunner runs the Ayoob Files as a regular feature. If you have ever thought about carrying a firearm for personal protection, this column ranks up there with his books In The Gravest Extreme and The Truth About Self-Protection as must-reads.

Why is the Ayoob Files feature so important? Because in this case, Second Amendment supporters can learn lessons from others – and these lessons have come at a very high price, ranging from post-shooting trauma and picking up the pieces of one’s life (the very lucky ones), to those who have lost their liberty (including their Second Amendment rights) and even their lives.

Many Second Amendment supporters want people to learn about Second Amendment issues, and that is often done through education. Well, when it comes to exercising our Second Amendment rights, education and training matter a great deal. As constitutional carry spreads across the country, being well-educated and well-trained in self-defense will be a crucial step in protecting those laws from being overturned.
This is one aspect of responsibly exercising our Second Amendment rights that doesn’t get discussed often, and perhaps it should be. When we exercise our Second Amendment rights, we have the power of life and death in our hands. Knowing the basic rules of firearms safety, knowing how to safely operate your firearm, knowing how to clean them and secure them, knowing the laws – federal, state, and local – that govern them, and knowing when to use them are just as important as knowing what legislation is percolating in Congress and your state legislature.
Hopefully, no loyal Ammoland reader will ever wind up having an experience that becomes the subject of the Ayoob Files. Ayoob has a number of other books available on Amazon.com – and their Smile program allows for donations to the Second Amendment Foundation. Perhaps Ayoob’s earlier works can find their way to Kindle – with suitable updating, of course. Ayoob’s works are a great benefit in helping Second Amendment supporters responsibly exercise the rights that we are trying to defend by defeating anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local level via the ballot box.

Below The Radar Handgun Licensing and Registration Act of 2021

July 12, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Below The Radar Handgun Licensing and Registration Act of 2021 (Dave Workman photo)
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- While all the talk has been on gun bans – particularly in light of the Miller v. Bonta case – but let’s keep in mind that there are many attacks on our Second Amendment rights that could come aside from gun bans. One of the biggest avenues will be efforts to push licensing and registration.

Now, anti-Second Amendment extremists have long wanted licensing and registration. Take a look at statements Lyndon Baines Johnson made on two occasions during the passage and signing of the Gun Control Act of 1968. Already this year, we have covered various licensing and registration schemes, from bad pieces of legislation like the Handgun Purchaser Licensing Act to abominations like the Sabika Sheikh Firearms Licensing and Registration Act.

Falling in between these two bad bills is one from Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), who has introduced HR 3740, the Handgun Licensing and Registration Act of 2021. This bill, while not as intrusive as the Sabika Sheikh Firearms Licensing and Registration Act, still is quite ugly for those who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Her legislation would impose a federal license – unless a state had already set up its own version. However, it would require the fingerprinting of anyone who wanted to exercise their rights, a photo, and the longest term for the license would be five years. In addition, every handgun gets registered.
Incidentally, there is no provision for carrying firearms. Privacy protections are also non-existent – something that should be kept in mind when one thinks about how well the IRS has protected private tax data. In addition, there is no timeframe for the licensing process, meaning there could be endless waits. Ask Carol Bowne about that process. Being from New Jersey, Coleman cannot pretend that she does not know about what New Jersey’s laws did to Bowne, so it means that she couldn’t care less if others are killed waiting for permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights. There’s a host of other reasons to distrust the Biden-Harris regime with any new powers.
Let’s get one thing straight – the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own firearms.
These licensing schemes, with or without registration, are intended to be a way to reduce the number of people who exercise those rights by creating more and more hoops for people to jump through.
It goes without saying that Second Amendment supporters should contact their Senators and Representative to politely urge that they oppose this legislation. They also need to work to ensure that anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local level are defeated at the ballot box as soon as possible.

Below The Radar Protecting the Right To Keep and Bear Arms Act of 2021

July 8, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Second Amendment Activist Protest Activism Take Action
New York/United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- One thing that Second Amendment supporters need to take from the COVID-19 pandemic is the fact that public health can be used to really go after liberty. In fact, we know that more than anyone based on experience. Anyone remember the Handgun Epidemic Lowering Plan? Andrew Cuomo’s just unveiled measures now, including signing legislation that legalizes suing gun manufacturers.

It goes without saying that we could see an effort to target our Second Amendment rights via the declaration of a “public health” emergency. The good news is that Senator Mike Braun (R-IN) has introduced S 1916, the Protecting the Right To Keep and Bear Arms Act of 2021, cutting this move off at the federal level.

This legislation expands on a list of prohibitions passed in the wake of gun confiscation after Hurricane Katrina. It would make it illegal for the President to use a declaration of emergency or major disaster to enact gun control measures. In addition, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would be prohibited from using a declaration that a public health emergency exists to enact gun control measures by executive fiat.

Could we put it past the Biden regime to do that? We probably can’t, and it’s an open question about who really runs things. So, what needs to be done is to tie the hands of the executive – ideally before they can try such a stunt.
The good news is that the legislation is not that big of a read, two pages as a PDF. This makes it a very easy one to print out and share at your local gun club. More importantly, in an era where it seems that government officials act unilaterally, this legislation can help cut it off at the pass.
Second Amendment supporters should keep in mind that this only cuts off federal action. This sort of move could also be made at the state level, and Cuomo has demonstrated a known animus towards groups who try to protect our Second Amendment rights. But a federal bill is a good start.
As of this writing, 24 Senators have co-sponsored this bill. This list includes Senators Tim Scott (R-SC), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Rick Scott (R-FL), all of whom could be seeking national office in 2024 or later years. On the flip side, a couple of purported Second Amendment supporters in the Senate, Jon Tester (D-MT) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) have not signed on yet.
Second Amendment supporters should politely urge their Senators and Representative to support this legislation. Those who live in Montana and West Virginia should ask a few pointed questions to Tester and Manchin in particular. Most importantly, they will need to work to defeat anti-Second Amendment extremists at the ballot box at the federal, state, and local level.

Plan Now To Defeat The San Jose Strategy

July 6, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Below the Radar: Making America Safe and Secure Act of 2019
San Jose, California – -(AmmoLand.com)- Many Second Amendment supporters make one big strategic mistake: They fail to understand just how creative our enemies are. Whether it was big city mayors trying to use civil litigation to bludgeon gun manufacturers out of existence, Andrew Cuomo using financial regulations to cripple pro-Second Amendment activism, or even the increasing dehumanization that anti-Second Amendment extremists engage in, it seems we’re always caught by surprise and having to react to their latest scheme.

This is going to be crucial to rectify, because should the Supreme Court rule in our favor on the Duncan and Miller cases out of California, it will only have take bans of standard capacity magazines and modern multi-purpose semiautomatics off the table. It will leave multiple avenues of attack open.

This includes the recent proposal celebrated by San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo. This is not the first time Liccardo has tried to shift blame for crimes and acts of madness on those who were exercising their constitutional rights. During the 2016 campaign, he blamed Trump for the actions of rioters who targeted people who exercised their First Amendment rights by attending one of his rallies. We covered the similar scheme that Carolyn Maloney proposed earlier.

Liccardo tried to justify his attack by saying, “While the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms, it does not require taxpayers to subsidize gun ownership.” Not only that, they will also look to make us pay for the “societal costs” of exercising our Second Amendment rights. The goal, as it was with any scheme like this, is to make it too expensive and inconvenient to exercise our Second Amendment rights.
Think that will be all that happens on this front? Get ready to see them try to expand the scope of the National Firearms Act. Sheila Jackson Lee, to date, hasn’t been able to get co-sponsorship on the Sabika Sheikh Firearms Licensing and Registration Act. Think that will be the case if gun bans are off the table? Guess again, they’ll be coming to license and register, and they will even try to spin opposition to those measures as paranoia because, after all, “The Supreme Court won’t let us ban guns.” We’re not even getting to the risks posed to our Second Amendment rights by corporate gun control and financial blacklisting.
The work will be only starting. The good news, in the case of San Jose, is that the Firearms Policy Coalition is already threatening legal action to halt Liccardo’s scheme. But the real work is going to involve defeating anti-Second Amendment extremists at the ballot box at the federal, state, and local levels.

ATF Report Smearing Home Gunmakers Shows Big Failure By 2A Supporters

June 30, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Hollywood gun control IMG: iStock-1145895508
Hollywood/United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Second Amendment supporters are rightly offended by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives report that the Second Amendment Foundation recently blew the whistle on in an e-mail alert smearing those who make their own firearms. If anything, it shows the blatant disregard for our Second Amendment rights that the Biden-Harris regime has.

But it also represents, in one way, a massive failure by pro-Second Amendment groups and Second Amendment supporters across the board. In the past 35 years, we have greatly improved the situation overall. We went from few states even offering a fair system for concealed carry to 20 states going to constitutional carry. We’ve seen the Supreme Court set the groundwork for ultimately upholding rulings like those of Judge Benitez, especially with a pro-Second Amendment majority on the court – not counting Chief Justice Roberts.

But much of this may not matter. Why? Because Bloomberg and his stooges have been left to spread anti-Second Amendment extremism via pop culture. Let’s take one metric into account: The NA has about 840,000 followers on Twitter. The Second Amendment Foundation has a bit over 32,000. GOA has a little under 196,000. This site has just under 83,000.

Kim Kardashian, who used a Celebrity Family Feud appearance to raise money for Bloomberg’s Everytown anti-Second Amendment extremist group, has just under 70 million followers. To put that into perspective, that is anywhere from 12 to 14 times the number of members the NRA, the largest pro-Second Amendment organization, has (depending on estimates). Alyssa Milano, who has engaged in plenty of anti-Second Amendment extremism, has about 3.6 million followers, or more than twice the membership of GOA (1.5 million, give or take). They are not the only folks in Hollywood/pop culture attacking our rights, either. Even CMT has signed on with Bloomberg’s bull.
Put it this way, while we rightly fought in the political/legislative arena, our enemies – and yes, the anti-Second Amendment extremists like Bloomberg and the politicians he backs are enemies – went to work with pop culture. In essence, Hollywood provides portrayals of firearm use that are unrealistic when used by heroes (just about any “gun-fu” flick violates basic firearms safety rules), but which are often peddling blood libels when it comes to private ownership.
And it matters. The fact of the matter is that pop culture matters. When the fight for our freedoms is becoming a full-spectrum fight that includes pop culture, corporate boardrooms, Silicon Valley cubicles, and even your doctor’s office, Second Amendment supporters need to play some serious catch-up for the court rulings to have a fighting chance.

Addressing Straw Purchasers And Other Bad Apples A Must For 2A Supporters

June 29, 2021 by contrib1 Leave a Comment

Addressing Straw Purchasers And Other Bad Apples A Must For 2A Supporters (Dave Workman)
United States – -(AmmoLand.com)- Sometimes, there are some things that we don’t want to admit but ignoring them is just not feasible, nor is it wise. It’s unpleasant to deal with those who give the many of us who safely, responsibly, and prudently exercise our constitutional right to keep and bear arms a black eye. Those who own – or wish to own – modern multi-purpose semiautomatic long guns know that all too well, especially after a mass shooting. The fact of the matter is that Second Amendment supporters need to deal with the straw purchasers and other bad apples.

The harsh reality is that Michael Bloomberg and his stooges are looking for any excuse they can to inflict their anti-second Amendment extremism on the country, no matter what. It’s like Aesop’s fable of the wolf and the lamb, they find whatever excuse they can to justify the injustice they seek to inflict by punishing millions of Americans who wish to exercise their Second Amendment rights for horrific crimes and acts of madness they did not commit.

Now, when we are talking about “straw purchasers,” we’re not talking about people who buy a firearm as a gift for a friend or family member. In fact, federal and state laws should be reformed to make that sort of thing hassle-free and worry-free for any law-abiding citizen. We are discussing the people who knowingly are buying firearms on behalf of those who intend to use them in the course of committing violent crimes or while engaged in the drug trade. The fact is, while some of the categories in 18 USC 922(d) need to go, the provisions covering fugitives, felons, illegal aliens, and those dishonorably discharged (who have been convicted by a general court-martial) certainly would pass constitutional muster.

More importantly, Second Amendment supporters know how often “gunrunning” is used to justify calls for legislation like “one gun a month” schemes that ration our Second Amendment rights. Sending some “straw purchasers” to federal prison is a small price to pay when it can prevent the spread of “gun rationing.”
Similarly, addressing those who misuse firearms in the commission of violent crimes is in our interest. Already, we have Terry McAuliffe acting as if violent crime is the fault of those who support the Second Amendment. As if McAuliffe didn’t know about the many left-wing DAs who put thugs back on the streets or the fact that the Justice Department can’t be bothered to actually use laws that punish the misuse of firearms, like the sentencing enhancements in 18 USC 924.
Would breaking out those unused tools and supporting Senator Cotton’s legislation to bring back the Armed Career Criminal Act really be that much of a sacrifice when it can convince our fellow Americans to oppose an abomination like the Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act?
Freedom has never been free – it often has come from sacrifices. Second Amendment supporters are not asked to give their lives. But they do need to figure out ways to convince our fellow Americans to oppose the anti-Second Amendment extremism from the likes of Bloomberg and the Biden-Harris regime. Second Amendment supporters should also support NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF to ensure the defeat of anti-Second Amendment extremists at the federal, state, and local level at the ballot box as soon as possible.