Everytown

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June 21, 2023 by 2 Comments

The gun control industry is always pushing for new laws and regulations. You would think that they would also be interested in seeing existing laws being enforced as well as seeing equal justice under the law for “gun crimes”.

Given the release yesterday of news about Hunter Biden’s plea deal regarding his lying on the Form 4473 about his drug use, you would think that the major players such as Everytown, Giffords, and Brady would have something to say about it. Biden and prosecutors agreed to a Pretrial Diversion Agreement whereby the felony charge is dismissed if he complies with the agreement.

It seems that the gun control industry did have stuff to say yesterday but none of it involving the President’s wayward son.

Everytown said the shootings on Juneteenth highlighted the need “for action on gun violence (sic)”. On Twitter, they talked about stuff like so-called safe storage laws, urged the Senate to not to vote against Biden’s pistol brace ban, and touted the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Nothing was said about Hunter Biden nor was anything said about how an African-American mom was facing a probable 2-year sentence for the same crime as Biden.

Moving on to the Cult of Personality known as Giffords, what did they have to say about Biden. Nothing. Rather they lauded the Oregon legislature for passing legislation against DIY firearms which they call “ghost guns” (sic). On Twitter, the only mention of Biden by them was to say they knew the President would make good on his promise to work against “gun violence” (sic).

Finally, there is Brady United. Their only press releases were to say they are suing a gun store in Michigan regarding a straw purchase and that they have a new initiative to “harness ad agency and media company talent” to change America’s “gun culture narrative.” Herr Goebbels was not available for comment on the new initiative. Their Twitter feed had nothing about either Biden but a few posts on “Ask Day” which demands that parents ask other parents if they have firearms. Personally, I think they should be pushing for 100% tax credits for gun safes with no dollar limit but that’s just me.

I should note here that both the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms issued strongly worded statements denouncing the plea deal. Both pointed out the failure of the Biden Justice Department to uphold the law when it involved the President’s son.

So to sum it up, when the gun control industry had a chance to speak out about the failure to keep a firearm out of the hands of a person under the influence of drugs, they punted. They did not want to upset their cozy relationship with the Biden Administration by casting any aspersions upon either Biden father or Biden son.

Hypocrisy today, hypocrisy tomorrow, hypocrisy forever is their motto.

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Shouldn’t The Killers Be The Ones Held Accountable?

March 29, 2023 by 2 Comments

I received the expected blood-dancing email from Everytown, the Demanding Moms, and their Young Pioneers (aka Students Demand Action) this afternoon. They are calling for accountability. And donations. Mostly donations.

We must hold the people who continue to enable gun violence accountable: The lawmakers who choose to exacerbate this crisis with only thoughts, prayers, and deadly legislation to further weaken our gun laws. The gun industry executives and gun traffickers who have flooded our communities with guns. The extremists who have pushed forward a violent agenda that we—and our children—are paying for with our lives.

I agree with accountability.

Accountability for those who demand gun free zones that make our children and grandchildren targets for killers. The killer chose the Covenant School as the backup after passing on a better defended location.

Accountability for those who decided a private school shouldn’t be assigned an armed school resource officer yet who would object to trained armed school staff.

Accountability for those politicians who veto bills that would allow churches with private schools to protect their congregations.

Accountability for prosecutors who give violent people a slap on the wrist or even a pass as opposed to prosecuting them. Perhaps three students at Michigan State would have been alive if a prosecutor had done his or her job.

Accountability for those in the media whose spin on anything involving guns and crime would make Josef Goebbels proud with its half-truths and lies.

It is the gun control industry and their allies in both media and politics who raise money off of tragedy who are the real villains in this story. While they have their own personal armed security, they will continue to fight to keep us, our children, and families defenseless. That is what is unforgiveable.

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See Something; Say Something

March 9, 2023 by 3 Comments

This past weekend I helped to staff the Grass Roots North Carolina booth at the Asheville Gun Show. Soon after setting up and the show opening, a couple in their 60s stopped by and started asking questions about GRNC. They were interested in our organization, what it did, and if we did anything about educating on gun safety. They then said they were with a gun safety organization for kids called Be Smart. After they left, I knew something didn’t seem right so I googled “Be Smart”. Turns out they are a project of Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety.

Now I was really suspicious about what they were doing at a gun show of all places. Shortly thereafter, another one of their members stopped by and started asking questions on how to purchase a handgun and then a long gun. I educated him on North Carolina and Federal law regarding both handgun and long gun purchases. In NC, to purchase a handgun, either from a dealer or a private individual, you must either have the Jim Crow-era pistol purchase permit or a NC Concealed Handgun Permit. I also said if he were to purchase a long gun from one of the dealers, he would have a NICS check. This lack of knowledge of NC gun laws really raised the warning flags for me. He left a couple of pieces of their literature with me.

While their card does acknowledge their affiliation with Everytown, you need a magnifying glass to read it. The disclaimer is in gray, ultra-tiny print at the bottom of the card. It is almost like they are trying to hide something.

Later that morning, I went by their booth and saw Project Childsafe gun locks. I asked how they obtained them and was told they got them from the sheriff’s department. Having donated to Project Childsafe in the past, I knew it was a project of NSSF and the gun industry. Given Bloomberg’s billions, that really irritated me so I tweeted about it.

That tweet has been seen over 12,000 times and was retweeted another 29 times. I also contacted NSSF and Project Childsafe to alert them that gun locks that they had bought for distribution by authorized groups was being handed out by Be Smart. I got a nice reply back from NSSF Communications Director Bill Brassard thanking me for alerting them to this. I thought that was the end of it.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a tweet from NSSF VP and General Counsel Larry Keane with a link to a story about it. The story on the NSSF news page is entitled, “Bloomberg-Backed Gun Control Swipes Project ChildSafe Kits to Pass Off as Their Own.” My initial tweet which included a picture of the locks provided the basis for their story and they credited me for it. The article by Matt Manda then gave some of the history of Project Childsafe including praise for it by politicians including then-VP Joe Biden.

This is not the first time that the anti-gun, anti-rights forces have been caught relabeling Project Childsafe gun locks and handing them out. Journalist Beth Bauman called them out on it last year. My guess we will see more of it in the future.

I did one other thing. I made sure the gun show promoter was aware of just who Be Smart was and their affiliation with Everytown. I found out they had gotten a free booth at the show by claiming they were “a local group promoting kid’s safety”. Guess who is not going to be allowed back to the gun show.

So, if you see an anti-gun organization handing out gun locks, stop and see how it is labeled. If it says “Project Childsafe” on it, call them out on it. As the saying goes, “See Something; Say Something.”

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Everytown Confuses NC with NY

February 23, 2023 by 1 Comment

Bloomberg’s Everytown sent out an email this morning with comments from Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action on the repeal of the pistol purchase permits. Beyond the fact that it is the usual pearl-clutching drivel, it is amusing how they refer to the North Carolina legislative body that passed the repeal.

From the email:

The North Carolina chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action released the following statement after the North Carolina Assembly followed the Senate and voted to advance HB50 — a dangerous piece of legislation that would repeal the state’s background check requirement which has been on the books in North Carolina since 1919, and which requires a person to obtain a permit before they can legally buy a handgun. The permitting system also provides local sheriffs with authority to deny permits to people who would pose a threat to public safety with a handgun.

New York’s lower house is called the Assembly. North Carolina’s is the House of Representatives. The only “assembly” in North Carolina is the General Assembly which is the term for the combined bodies of the House and Senate.

A real grassroots organization would have been aware of the difference. As it is, Everytown is an astroturf organization that is run top down and not bottom up.

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The Same Old Same Old In NYC

December 28, 2021 by 1 Comment

I think the old saying goes “that the more things change, the more they stay the same.” Eric Adams, Mayor-elect of New York City, has announced a number of his selections to head various departments and agencies within city government.

Among the positions that he filled was that of his communications director.

From the New York Post:

Meanwhile, Maxwell Young, the head of public affairs at gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety, will be Adams’ communications director. He previously advised Sen. Chuck Schumer (D- NY), and led the MTA’s external affairs.

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From Twitter profile

According to his LinkedIn profile, Young has been the Chief Public Affairs Officer and Senior VP of Everytown since September 2019. He also seems to have worked on and off for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) since 2007 with interludes working for the MTA and the Rockefeller Foundation. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 2006.

The only surprise here is that he didn’t work in the Bloomberg Administration. That said, Bloomberg and Schumer both hate individual freedoms. I will admit to being amazed that Young announced on Twitter that he bought a subscription to Stephen Gutowski’s The Reload. Maybe he can learn something and have his viewpoints expanded.

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Questions Not Asked (Updated)

December 17, 2021 by 1 Comment

I received a press release late this morning regarding a recent shooting in Durham, North Carolina. It was from the North Carolina chapters of Everytown, Moms Demand, and Students Demand. The tenor of this missive was that “gun violence” (sic) is killing the youth of North Carolina.

Lest I be accused of selective editing, here it is in its entirety:

DURHAM, N.C. —  The North Carolina chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots networks, released the following statement after a shooting in Durham left two people dead and four others injured. According to local reporting, the six victims were driving in an SUV when they received fire at around 3 a.m. Monday morning. Most of those shot were under the age of 18, with some of the youngest being just middle school students, WRAL reports.


“The shooting in Durham is another tragic example of the devastating impact gun violence has had on North Carolina’s youth,” said Sylvia Burns, a volunteer with the North Carolina chapter of Moms Demand Action. “We can’t sit idly while young lives continue to be cut short by gun violence. Enough is enough.”


The shooting comes at the end of Durham’s deadliest year — by September 30, 2021, Durham police had investigated 43 homicides, surpassing 2016’s previous record of 42, according to INDY Week.


In an average year, 1,388 people die and 3,407 are wounded by guns in North Carolina. Guns are the second-leading cause of death among the state’s youth population, with an average of 104 children and teens being killed by guns every year. 60% of these deaths are homicides. More information on North Carolina gun violence can be found here.

There are a number of questions that this press release ignores while saying “enough is enough.”

Why were these “youths” out driving around at 3am on what is a school night?

Did the parents of those that were identified as “middle school students” know their children were out at this time of the morning? According to a more recent report, the middle schools students included a 13 year old boy, a 13 year old girl, and a 12 year old girl.

Given police say this shooting was not random, were any of these “youths” members of a gang?

Did the victims know their attackers?

Was this shooting gang related? Durham officials said earlier in the year that the city has a gang problem.

Were any firearms found in the SUV of the “victims”?

With one of those killed being 19 years of age, does Everytown consider this victim a “youth” or an adult?

The Durham Police Department reports that the SUV, a Hyundai Santa Fe, was reported stolen sometime on Sunday. Were these “youths” involved in the theft of the car and did the theft play any role in the shooting?

I do agree that it is a tragedy to see any young person’s life end prematurely. However, there are so many factors at play here that to heap all the blame on firearms is both misleading and simplistic.

UPDATE: More details emerge on this incident.

In addition to there being a seventh passenger in the stolen car, a firearm was found in it by police.

From WRAL Raleigh:

A police report indicates a .308 Winchester 88 was recovered from the Hyundai Santa Fe, which crashed into a utility pole near the intersection of Mathison and Eugene streets after the shooting.

Police said the SUV had been reported stolen on Sunday from a location in Durham that they didn’t disclose. There was no information as to whether the rifle was stolen along with the vehicle. Police haven’t said whether any of the teens have been linked to the vehicle theft.

A Winchester 88 is a magazine-fed lever action rifle. I will say it is not what one would expect to find at the scene of the crime.

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Taliban – You Don’t Need Weapons For Personal Protection

August 17, 2021 by 3 Comments

As the Taliban consolidate their power in Kabul, Afghanistan, they have started going door to door collecting weapons from private citizens.

From Reuters:

Taliban fighters in the Afghan capital, Kabul, started collecting weapons from civilians on Monday because people no longer need them for personal protection, a Taliban official said.

“We understand people kept weapons for personal safety. They can now feel safe. We are not here to harm innocent civilians,” the official told Reuters.

The Taliban also believe in a strict interpretation of Muslim law including women should not leave their homes unless accompanied by a male relative and to be fully covered in a burqa. There are numerous stories of how they have killed or beaten innocent women as they moved back to power.

This leads me to ponder on the the conundrum facing American gun prohibitionists like Everytown, Moms Demand Action, Giffords, and the Brady Campaign. On the one hand you have a group that brutally subjugates women like it was the 7th Century. On the other hand, they want to ban the private possession of firearms saying, in essence, the state will protect you.

Choices are tough.

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The Next Battle Has Begun – Salvo One

February 15, 2021 by

The war for our gun rights began in 1934 with the National Firearms Act if not earlier. Battles that were fought along the way include the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 (with the Hughes Amendment), the Brady Bill, and the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban.

The first shots in the next battle have been fired. We knew it was coming the moment the Democrats essentially won control of the Senate.

Last week, Bide policy advisors Susan Rice and Cedric Richmond had all the major gun control groups to the White House to discuss strategy. Here is the White House’s release on it:

Today, Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice and White House Public Engagement Director and Senior Advisor Cedric Richmond hosted a virtual discussion with leaders of gun violence prevention advocacy groups – Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, Giffords, and Brady. They discussed the ongoing public health crisis of gun violence in America, the historic increase in homicides across American cities last year, and commonsense steps that can be taken to make our communities safer such as closing background check loopholes, stopping the proliferation of unregulated and untraceable “ghost” guns, and expanding community-based violence intervention programs.

Ambassador Rice and Congressman Richmond expressed gratitude for the leaders’ ideas, persistent advocacy efforts over the years, and commitment to working together to tackle the gun violence epidemic. Ambassador Rice and Congressman Richmond also underscored President Biden’s longstanding record of fighting for families impacted by gun violence, his full support for taking commonsense actions to reduce gun violence, and his unwavering commitment to pushing ahead further steps to make our communities safer.

The Bloomberg groups had this comment on the event:

“This meeting provided more evidence that the Biden Administration is committed to being the strongest we’ve ever seen on gun safety,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “With Covid making gun violence worse and armed extremists literally holding our democracy at gunpoint, the time for action is now –– and we fully expect to see it soon.”

“Gun safety was a cornerstone of President Biden’s campaign, and this meeting confirmed that gun safety is a top priority for the Biden administration as well,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “We look forward to working with the administration to save lives and stop gun violence, and we’re confident that we will see executive and legislative action in the near future.”

Remember, it is not about the criminal misuse of a firearm with these people. It is about power and they need a disarmed populace to achieve it.