I know Twitter is a wasteland but sometimes I just cannot help myself. With Elon Musk completing his purchase of it soon, it may get better. Nonetheless, you can find some interesting things there.
Given how the media, Joe Biden, and the Democrat Party are constantly saying the greatest threat today is armed, right wing, extremist, white supremacists, this Zoom webinar put on by Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions fits the bill.
— Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions (@JHU_CGVS) October 25, 2022
While Josh Horwitz is not one of the featured speakers, this sounds like something right out of the old Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) playbook. Horwitz was always harping on “insurrectionists”. When he wrote stuff like that, he was talking about people who really didn’t like Barack Obama more than anything else.
While I will be on vacation on November 1st, I’m going to try and listen in on what is sure to be a scintillating (!) presentation. I just registered and added it to my calendar. It is times like this that I wish the late Mike Vanderboegh were still alive. I know he’d have something to say about it.
Haywood County, North Carolina is not a place where you would expect to find politicians who disrespect memorials to fallen service men and women. I lived there for over 30 years. It is and was a patriotic county filled with many veterans. Thus, when I read the post by my friend Tim who owns Old Grouch Military Surplus, I was shocked and saddened.
His store is located in the center of the town of Clyde across from “the big gun”. That is a decommissioned 50mm naval gun which serves as a memorial to the fallen in all wars from Clyde. The “big gun” is even incorporated into the town’s seal.
In front of the “big gun” is a stone monument in memory of Sgt. Charles Crockett Matthews who was killed in action in Vietnam in 1969. It was placed there by his wife Mary as Sgt. Matthews was the first person from Clyde killed in action since WWII.
From Tim:
They (local Democrats) decided to use the base of the Big Gun as a platform to make political speeches from. I don’t see that as an appropriate activity at a war memorial, no more than it would be a President having a campaign event at the Vietnam Wall would be, but I guess maybe some people could argue differently. But how they did it was utterly disrespectful and disgusting, and nobody can argue it was ok.
There is a stone monument in the front of the Big Gun, a memorial to SGT Charles Crockett Matthews who was killed in action in Vietnam. He was the first person from Clyde to be killed in action since WWII, so to add his name to the memorial his wife had the stone monument you see in the picture made and placed by the gun. When the Big Gun was relocated to its present position a raised pedestal was made to place it in a position of honor in front of the gun.
At least two of the politicians/candidates speaking proceeded to STAND ON the monument to SGT Matthews. And I mean the soles of their shoes right on his name engraved in the stone. Joe Sam Queen did and Jasmine Beach-Ferrara not only stood on it, she used for a step-stool to get up on the platform.
They STOOD ON the monument to a fallen Soldier so they could make political speeches.
For those that are unaware, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara is the Democrat nominee for Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina. She is a Buncombe County Commissioner as well as an ordained minister. What makes this even worse is that she has support for veterans as one of her campaign planks along with abortion, legalizing marijuana, gay rights, and climate change.
Tim notes that none of these pictures are “gotcha, hidden camera pictures” but rather came from the Facebook pages of the candidates involved.
What makes this even more disappointing is that some of the candidates involved such as Josh Remillard and Larry Bryson were veterans. They knew better and still just went along with it.
Tim concludes:
Everyone there- from those who organized it to the candidates it was for to those in attendance- saw a memorial to those from Clyde who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation as a good prop for partisan campaign speeches, didn’t take a second to reflect on if their actions were appropriate, and saw no problem with people standing and walking on top of that memorial for SGT Matthews as they did so. Had they simply stood in front of it and not hung campaign signs on it their event would have been 100% respectful. But that isn’t the path they chose.
October 22nd aka 10/22 is Ruger Day. I’m not sure who came up with it but it works for me. According to Ruger, it was started on October 22, 2017 as a day to celebrate all things Ruger because of the 10/22 rifle. There are even special events held at a number of gun stores.
The first firearm I ever bought with my own money was a Ruger 10/22 carbine. I was 18 and bought it at a discount chain in North Carolina called Best Products. I paid $55. Like Best Products, unfortunately that 10/22 is long gone. As I recall, it was in the mid-1980s and I needed cash for something or other.
While I now have a couple of 10/22 rifles including one with the full Mannlicher stock, I really wish I had that first one back. If we didn’t have to attend a wedding today, I would take that original 10/22 out to the range and shoot it in honor of Ruger Day.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues on his path to make Canada an authoritarian state. His latest move was to freeze the sale, purchase, or transfer of handguns.
Update: People can no longer buy, sell, or transfer handguns within Canada – and they cannot bring newly acquired handguns into the country.
While there is a gun control act called Bill C-21 that is pending before Parliament, Trudeau is relying upon regulation to do what legislation does not allow him to do. This is similar to what he did earlier with regard to certain semi-automatic firearms in 2020. Provincial governments in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan are pushing back on co-operation with the RCMP on that move.
The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today announced the national freeze on the sale, purchase, and transfer of handguns comes into effect. From now on, people cannot buy, sell, or transfer handguns within Canada, and they cannot bring newly acquired handguns into the country.
A national handgun freeze was first announced alongside Bill C-21, the strongest gun control measures in over 40 years, in May 2022. While the bill continues to be debated in Parliament, we are taking immediate action through regulations to keep Canadians safe.
The national handgun freeze is part of the government’s comprehensive plan to tackle gun violence. We have already banned over 1,500 types of assault-style firearms and have strengthened our gun control laws to expand background checks. Bill C-21 proposes further measures to keep guns out of the wrong hands like revoking the firearms licences of those involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment, continuing to fight gun smuggling and trafficking, and providing law enforcement more tools to investigate firearms crimes.
According to the details, applications submitted before October 21st for the sale, purchase, or transfer of a handgun will be processed. Their temporary ban on the importation of handguns implemented in August 2022 will remain in effect. Finally, there are limited exceptions to this freeze. Thus, “high-performance sports shooting athletes” and security guards will be exempted along with the film industry (of course!), gunsmiths, and museums. The last three are exempted only to the extent of their existing licenses.
Trudeau even used the “if it saves one life” canard in his justification for this authoritarian measure.
I love Canada. I have traveled through most of the provinces in both the east and west of that formerly great country. Indeed, my honest-to-god first girlfriend was a Canadian from Ontario. It just saddens me tremendously to see the extent to which Trudeau fils has abridged freedoms in Canada. He really does illustrate the difference between a citizen and a subject in the way he governs.
CNN announced yesterday that they were establishing a “Guns in America” beat. In somewhat of a surprise, it isn’t totally filled with gun prohibitionists. That fact has the Shannon Watts and the rest of the gun prohibitionists in a tizzy.
Josh Campbell will lead CNN’s new “Guns in America” beat, one of the new initiatives announced earlier this year by CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht.
Providing reporting and analysis to the beat will be figures from a range of points of view, including Stephen Gutowski, the founder of firearms reporting site (The) Reload; Jennifer Mascia from The Trace, which covers the impact of gun violence; and Abené Clayton, reporter on the TheGuardian’sGuns and Lies in America project.
CNN said that the team “will explore who buys and sells guns; who makes and regulates them; and dive into the communities most impacted to help illuminate possible solutions to America’s epidemic of gun violence.”
It is the addition of Stephen Gutowski, a reporter who is not ignorant about firearms, that has her and the rest of her ilk so outraged.
This sentiment was echoed by many others, with one user saying the hire, who will join the Guns in America beat, “a new beat dedicated to tracking and unpacking all aspects of the complex and divisive issues surrounding guns and gun violence in the country,” according to CNN, was like getting “paychecks for the price of innocent lives,” considering his approval rating from the NRA. Another user tweeted “CNN hires gun nut for gun analysis,” while others insisted Gutowski’s hire would end their CNN viewership. “No thanks @CNN,” one user wrote. “I will not be watching ANY of your programs. NONE.”
Therein lies the problem for them. They don’t want to hear anything that challenges their narrative about firearms. It is like they all live on the set of the Truman Show and their favorite song is Home on the Range because “seldom is heard, a discouragin’ word”.
I have known Stephen for a few years now. I have always found him to be a serious, sober, and fair-minded journalist. Yes he does provide an alternative perspective on firearms issues. Moreover, despite the charge of being “NRA approved”, he has never shied away from criticism of the NRA, its leadership, and the board when criticism is due. I think he will acquit himself well even though it will be two against one.
He said this on The Reload to which I’m a paid subscriber about being an analyst for CNN in addition to continuing his work on The Reload:
I’m excited about the opportunity to work with many solid reporters and reach a new audience. I’ve long criticized how major media outlets have reported on firearms. A severe lack of knowledge about guns, gun owners, gun laws, and even gun politics is endemic throughout the industry.
But I’ve also long been an advocate of engaging with other reporters to help foster a more informed media. I’ve contributed stories to outlets across the political spectrum. I’ve given advice to writers at every one of the top news outlets in the country and even taken many to the range for first-hand experience.
So, I’m glad to get a chance to put that worldview into practice on a greater scale than ever before.
What makes this whole faux-outrage by Shannon Watts so amusing is that the president of Everytown of which her organization is a part and that of The Trace are one and the same. Thanks to Rob Romano for pointing that out.
Her criticisms are especially funny because one of the other people in CNN's announcement (Jennifer Mascia) works for The Trace, which is mostly funded by (and shares a president with) Everytown, which Watts' group (Moms Demand Action) is a part of. https://t.co/9Ql4TZmHwh
Cheri Beasley, the Democrat nominee for the US Senate in North Carolina, is running the ad below incessantly. It features six retired judges all extolling the virtues of Cheri Beasley. They then attack Ted Budd saying, “he focused on what is good for him, not North Carolina.”
They say their job as judges was not about politics but about standing up for what was right. If one takes their statement at face value, then you would also have to conclude that if an attorney made that statement about Budd in any one of their courtrooms they would have ruled it out of order. It is an ad hominem attack for which they provide no supporting basis.
Unlike in many states, every judge in North Carolina runs for his or her judgeship. While some may be initially appointed to fill a vacant position, they must run for the office if they want to keep the job. Therefore, it is important to recognize that every one of those six judges was not only a jurist but a politician.
Retired Chief Justices Jim Exum and Henry Frye both served as State Representatives in the North Carolina General Assembly before becoming judges. Justice Bob Orr, a Kasich supporting “Never Trumper” who ID’s as an “independent”, ran as a Republican for governor against former Gov. Pat McCrory. Judge Carl Fox was the District Attorney for Orange County before becoming a judge. Even Judges Manning and Bryan had to play politics one way or another in order to be initially appointed as judges.
What they really object to is that Ted Budd is not a member of the club unlike Beasley. He is not a lawyer and he was never a judge unlike Beasley. To my mind, given the overabundance of lawyers in the Senate this is a plus. Beyond being a conservative and a Second Amendment supporter, Budd brings the experience of having to run a business and make payroll to the Senate.
The race is close and Beasley has a ton of out-of-state money backing her. I just voted today for Budd and will keep my fingers crossed that he wins.
Early one-stop voting starts on Thursday, October 20th, in North Carolina. The premier race is for the US Senate. It pits Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC13) against former NC Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley. This is going to be a very, very close race as they are virtually tied.
For those who value the Second Amendment this is a critical race that we must win. On one side you have Ted Budd who not only supports gun rights but owns a gun store and range. He isn’t afraid to be seen shooting in his campaign photos and ads. You may remember I mentioned running into him at Montgomery Community College while he was touring the gunsmithing department.
Cheri also believes that we must keep our children and communities safe by also implementing common sense gun safety measures like universal background checks, encouraging safe storage and closing loopholes to prevent domestic abusers and those with mental health issues from being able to obtain a gun. We must also do more to stop the plague of mass shootings across our communities by keeping combat-style weapons and high-capacity magazines off our streets and away from our schools.
I have highlighted all the buzz words used by gun prohibitionists.
There are many other races as well that are just as critical ranging from Congress to the appellate judicial races to the state house and senate.
In my own Congressional district, you have self-made businessman St. Sen. Chuck Edwards who just happens to hold a FFL against Buncombe County Comm. Jasmine Beach-Ferrara. While neither has made gun rights a part of their campaign, you have to know that Edwards will support gun owners and Beach-Ferrara will not. Her main campaign focus seems to be abortion where she portrays herself as a caring, pro-abortion minister. Edwards’ focus is on the economy and inflation.
Two NC Supreme Court seats are up for grabs. If the Republicans take both of them, they will then be in the majority on the court and we probably won’t get rulings overturning the vote on constitutional amendments dealing with tax reform and voter ID. While both Republican candidates are good, Judge Richard Dietz who is now on the NC Court of Appeals really stands out. He has argued the Abramski case before the US Supreme Court. While he unfortunately lost, we know he is pro-Second Amendment and pro-self defense.
The other seat has Justice Sam J. Ervin IV (D) versus Trey Allen (R) who serves as the General Counsel for the Administrative Office of the Courts. I met Jimmy Ervin (who now goes by Sam) years ago when in college. He and I were both heads of our respective chapters of College Democrats. (Yes, I was young, stupid, and a Democrat at one time.) Despite his Harvard Law degree, he never has been seen as one of those brilliant lawyers who must be on the bench. What he does have is a famous last name. Grandpa (Sam Jr) served like Jimmy on the NC Supreme Court and as a US Senator while Daddy (Sam III) served as a NC Superior Court judge and on the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. We don’t have hereditary rights to office in this country though it seems that the sons and grandsons of politicians often “inherit” a seat. He is running an “aw, shucks” kind of ad saying he works to balance the law and the facts. If that was really the case, then he would have broken with the Democrat majority on the NC Supreme Court in voting down voter ID.
In the State House and Senate, if the Republicans can flip just a handful of seats, they will regain their super-majority. In terms of gun rights, this would mean the end of the Jim Crow era pistol purchase permit who Gov. Roy Cooper (D) vetoed.
To see where the legislative candidates – state and Federal – stand on gun rights, Grass Roots North Carolina has their candidate evaluations posted. You can search by name or by district. The GRNC-Political Victory Fund recommendations have been released and have gone out by email. As soon as I get a link to it, I will post it. One thing I should note, if a candidate didn’t have a voting record and didn’t return the GRNC survey they are rated zero stars. For the life of me, I cannot understand Republican candidates who just ignore the survey. You don’t have to be great; you only have to better than the Democrat.
The Judicial Fairness Project has their recommendations posted for NC appellate level judges. These are candidates who have pledged to uphold originalist interpretations of the Constitution.
One thing I heard at the recent Gun Rights Policy Conference was that over 30% of gun owners don’t bother voting. Just imagine if the majority of them did vote and voted for gun rights.
UPDATE: I now have an updated link to the Grass Roots North Carolina – Political Victory Fund candidate recommendations for the General Election.
This is a follow-up on the departure of Jonathan Lowy from Brady United for Global Action on Gun Violence which I wrote about last week. As many have speculated, Brady United did not want to be viewed as a foreign agent according to a story in Politico. While I had asked Lowy himself many of these questions in an email, I never got a response.
Brady United COO Susan Lavington said they were reluctant to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
Brady, for its part, was hesitant to dive into work that would fall under the foreign influence law, its Chief Operating Officer Susan Lavington said. Lavington added that the group would remain “laser focused on America’s gun violence,” and did not plan to collaborate with or provide any funding for Lowy’s group.
Lowy, by contrast, wanted to go international in the fight for more gun control including lobbying for new laws.
In an interview, Lowy emphasized that he departed from the legacy nonprofit “amicably.” He said he views gun control as a means to address issues with cross-border drug trafficking and migration and plans to work with countries or others “affected by U.S. gun industry practices.”
“The guns that are trafficked across the border, is like the venom in the cartel,” he said. “That is the venom that makes them dangerous.”…
Lowy explained that the goal was to go beyond litigation, suggesting that the group would lobby around legislation and regulation of gun companies on behalf of foreign governments or people outside the U.S.
He declined to provide details about the group’s funding or its advisory committee at this point. But according to a filing with the Department of Justice, its board will include Dennis Henigan, another lawyer and Brady alum, and Malcolm Ruby, a lawyer who has worked with Brady on a lawsuit against the firearm manufacturer Smith & Wesson on behalf of victims of a Toronto shooting.
Forgive me for being skeptical about Lowy’s contention that more gun control, whether in the US or other places in the world, will stop either drug trafficking or illegal border crossing. It will not.
As for his latest lawsuit on behalf of the Mexican government against Arizona gun dealers, I seem to remember a little episode in the not too distant past. You may remember it. It was run by BATFE and DOJ during the Obama Administration. It was called Operation Fast and Furious. Or, as David Codrea and others have called it, Project Gunwalker where the BATFE “encouraged” Arizona dealers to sell to known straw purchasers so that the weapons would cross the border. Their goal was use that as the pretext for more gun control when traced back to the US from crime scenes. So sorry about the two Federal law enforcement officers killed along with untold numbers of innocent Mexican nationals.
If Lowy is interested in suing anyone on behalf of Mexico, perhaps he should start with former BATFE officials and former Attorney General Eric Holder. Since we don’t know who is funding Lowy’s new organization – though we can make some educated guesses – it is impossible to say how his financial backers might respond to that. More than likely, very negatively.
Jonathan Lowy and Brady United have parted ways. Lowy was formerly the Chief Counsel and VP Legal for Brady United. He headed their Legal Action Project and had been an attorney with them in various capacities for 25 years. Lowy’s biography has been removed from the Brady Legal section and no mention is made of him in their history section.
Lowy is now the President and Founder of Global Action on Gun Violence. They are a 501(c)(3) non-profit located in the District of Columbia. According to Lowy’s LinkedIn profile, this parting of ways took place in September.
The lawsuit filed Monday by the Government of Mexico against five Arizona gun stores was what tipped me to the change. Lowy was listed under that attorneys representing Mexico in this lawsuit along with a firm from Arizona and another firm from Austin, Texas. Unlike past lawsuits in which he was listed as being part of Brady, this lawsuit has his affiliation listed as the new Global Action on Gun Violence.
Under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, Lowy and his new organization had to register with the US Department of Justice as foreign agents representing Mexico. As his organization doesn’t yet have a website, the registration filing (see below) provides the best clues about it.
The first name that pops out is Dennis Henigan who was the former Chief Counsel and one-time Acting President at Brady. He is now the VP for Legal and Regulatory Affairs at Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Henigan is a member of the Board of Directors for Global Action on Gun Violence. He is joined on the board by a Josh Levy (chair) and Malcolm Ruby who is a Canadian attorney with a background on trans-border disputes.
Rounding out the team is Elizabeth Burke, COO, who was an attorney with Brady, and Lisa Proctor, CFO. Burke often served as co-counsel with Lowy on lawsuits brought by Brady.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out and what triggered the split. Was it because Lowy wanted to represent foreign governments in their lawsuits against the firearms industry? Or was Lowy being pushed out by Kris Brown as she did to former co-president Avery Gardiner?
Regardless, Global Action on Gun Violence now goes on the watch list. Since the fight for protecting the Second Amendment doesn’t have NFL refs ready to throw the penalty flag, we are on our own to prevent getting blindsided.
The blog NRA In Danger is reporting that Millie Hallow and Tyler Schropp have left the NRA.
Mrs. Hallow was the Managing Director of Executive Operations. Her primary function seems to have been as the gatekeeper for Wayne LaPierre as willing to lie for him when needed. I should note that Mrs. Hallow is a prohibited person insomuch as she is a convicted felon. I reported on that in 2019 when it came to light she had been convicted of embezzlement while serving as the Executive Director of the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities.
I have had confirmation from another source that Mrs. Hallow is out. There is no word on whether she received a golden parachute or was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Additionally, it is not known if she left willingly or was pushed out the door.
Tyler Schropp served as the Executive Director for Advancement. I have not received confirmation from a second source that he has left the NRA. If and when I do, I will update this post.
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