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Quote Of The Day

October 10, 2025 by 6 Comments

The quote of the day regards the continuing Federal government shutdown. I found it on of all places a long range hunting forum. The suggestion comes from “VTbluegrass”.

Speaking of the shutdown itself. It appears everyone in Washington has decided no movement will happen this week, so that’s a fun update.

They should do this like the Catholics. If no budget is passed we get to lock their butts in that building with no media to pander to until they work it out. I am tired of both sides BS media appearances and the attempts at puns and jabs.

Imagine that. Locked into the floor of the Senate and the House like the College of Cardinals locked into the Sistine Chapel during the conclave to elect a new pope. Given both houses of Congress are in session usually for less than five days a week, I could see this expanded to more than the budget.

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Not Only No But Hell No!

October 8, 2025 by 2 Comments

Judge Robert Summerhays of the US District Court of the Western District of Louisiana released his judgment yesterday in the case of Reese v. ATF. The case was a challenge to constitutionality of 18
U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(1) and (c)(1) which prohibited FFLs from selling handguns to 18 to 20 year olds. Reese was on remand from the 5th Circuit which had found in favor of the plaintiffs on appeal. The 5th Circuit found that this age group was part of “the people” for whom the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms was protected. Further, the 5th Circuit said the government had provided scant evidence of any founding era firearm restrictions for this age group.

The judgment found for the plaintiffs including members of the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Louisiana Shooting Association if they were members in 2020 when the case was filed. However, Judge Summerhays restricted the injunction on the ATF to only the states of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas or the geographical area of the 5th Circuit. That, unfortunately, was not the worse part of the judgment.

Within twenty-one (21) days of issuance of this Judgment, those Plaintiffs identified at paragraph 2(b) shall provide to Defendants a verified list of their members as of November 6, 2020.

Requiring the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the Louisiana Shooting Association to provide the government a list of their members is patently unconstitutional as it violates the First and 14th Amendment. The US Supreme Court found in National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449 (1958) that:

    “Immunity from state scrutiny of petitioner’s membership lists is here so related to the right of petitioner’s members to pursue their lawful private interests privately and to associate freely with others in doing so as to come within the protection of the Fourteenth Amendment” and, further, that freedom to associate with organizations dedicated to the “advancement of beliefs and ideas” is an inseparable part of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The action of the state’s obtaining the names of the Association’s membership would likely interfere with the free association of its members, so the state’s interest in obtaining the records was superseded by the constitutional rights of the petitioners.

    The bottom line is that there is no compelling state interest in the full membership rosters of any of these organizations. If proof is needed that a person under 21 but over 18 years old seeking to purchase a handgun is a member of any of these organizations, a membership card should suffice.

    The organizations in question as well as other 2A organizations have come out with strong statements regarding Judge Summerhays’ judgment.

    FPC called it “legally baseless and morally bankrupt” and promised an immediate appeal to the 5th Circuit. The Second Amendment Foundation attacked the ruling saying, “the scope of the injunction – who’s protected by it – is a population of people that is essentially zero.” SAF’s Executive Director Adam Kraut said, “And even then, they’re only covered if SAF discloses their membership to the government under duress. We’re currently examining our options in relation to the relief granted and will vigorously defend our members’ right to free association and privacy of such.” They go on to say they never have and never will give the government their membership list. The Louisiana Shooting Association has not released a comment on the ruling yet.

    GOA on their X feed said, “This is inexcusable. Not even the Biden Administration ever attempted something so heinous.” In another post, they accused US Attorney General Pam Bondi of “creating a registry of gun owners.” Even NAGR issued a statement on X saying, “No Attorney General who claims to support the Second Amendment should ever demand that a gun rights organization turn over its member lists to the federal government, violating the freedom of association of both the organization and its members. It is beyond the pale and must stop immediately.” William Kirk of the Washington Gun Law YouTube channel contends the DOJ has just ruined a big win.

    I will post more statements condemning this judgment as I get them.

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    GRPC 2025 – First Impressions

    October 2, 2025 by

    The 2025 Gun Rights Policy Conference was held in Salt Lake City, Utah this past weekend. Preceding the actual conference was AMM-Con which is an event for bloggers, writers, podcasters, YouTubers, and other firearms related social or alternative media. I have attended both events for some years. I will go into detail on both later as I took extensive notes but these are my first impressions.

    The first AMM-Con as I remember it was in Dallas in 2017. There were discussions on how to monetize our work using Patreon, how to use a iPhone to record a YouTube video, and how a gimbel could be used to stabilize your video. It was very hands on and very oriented to everyone helping everyone else get going. This year it was less about the tools than about how to market your product, build a fan base. how to work with editors, rebranding, and on the pluses and minuses of AI or artificial intelligence. My impression was that alternative mass media had matured and now it was time to be more professional about it.

    Moving on to the actual Gun Rights Policy Conference, the format has changed. It still starts with a reception on Friday night, speakers all day on Saturday, another reception, and then a half day on Sunday. However, the format has changed from groups of 4-5 speakers on a topic spread out over 20-25 minutes to a minimum of 15 minutes dedicated to one topic with one speaker. Having attended a number of GRPCs since 2010 and spoken at quite a few, I love the new format. Rather than a presenter being cramped for time and having to compress their topic into essentially bullet points, one can now go into more detail. This allows the presenter to flesh out their topic and the listener has a better understanding.

    Another change was the addition of two fireside chats. One featured the Attorney General of Montana Austin Knudsen, Speaker of the Arizona House Steve Montenegro, and Utah State Representative Karianne Lisonbee. The other was with Sara Weaver, daughter of Randy Weaver, who lost her brother and mother at during the Federal siege in Ruby Ridge. Both were great for different reasons. The former showed what state officials could do to advance the Second Amendment and the latter the long-term consequences of deadly Federal mistakes.

    I was impressed by the number of state representatives that attended the conference. In addition to those above, there were Rep. Quang Nguyen (R-AZ) aka “The Shredder”, Rep. Bobby Cox (R-SC), Rep.-select Ava Flanell (R-CO), and longtime attendee Rep. Rebecca Schmoe (R-KS). Having legislators participate as both speakers and as participants was useful for the ideas generated and connections made. For example, Rep. Bobby Cox was the primary sponsor of South Carolina’s successful permitless carry bill. He has agreed to help make calls regarding the override of SB50 – Freedom to Carry NC. Likewise, the Arizona legislature has joined a number of pro-gun amicus briefs arranged by Attorney General Knudsen as their own AG is anti-gun. Given that North Carolina’s AG Jeff Jackson (D-NC) has been joining anti-gun amicus briefs along with the usual suspects from California, NY, Massachusetts, etc., it is time for the NC General Assembly to emulate Arizona and join pro-gun briefs.

    Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that NRA EVP/CEO Doug Hamlin gave a very well received speech. He went out of his way to recognize people like Alan Gottlieb of SAF and former NRA-ILA Director Chris Cox. More importantly, he said that the NRA was working together with other 2A organizations on multiple court cases as well as the elimination of the NFA. Doug gave a speech that AckMac would never have allowed Wayne to give which I think is an indication that things have changed at the NRA.

    I’m glad I went. I had a great roommate in Charlie Cook (Riding Shotgun with Charlie). Met up with a lot of old friends and former colleagues. I also made some new friends and am coming home with a lot of ideas on how to advance the 2A here in NC. Saw some “interesting” people in the hotel who were attending the comic-con across the street from the hotel. All in all, it was a great long weekend.

    PS: I don’t know where the 2026 GRPC will be held. Rumor is it might be heading to the East Coast after two years in the West.

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    The Skelton Collection

    September 26, 2025 by 1 Comment

    Rock Island Auction’s October auction will feature a collection of firearms from Skeeter and Bart Skelton. Both were well known lawmen and gun writers. In addition, Bart had been a long time member of the NRA Board of Directors until he ran afoul of the then powers that be. He did that by joining Judge Phil Journey in the call for an examiner in the NRA’s abortive bankruptcy case.

    As seen in the video below, there are some interesting firearms up for auction.

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    Barnett V. Raoul – Oral Arguments And Analysis

    September 25, 2025 by 2 Comments

    The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Barnett v. Raoul on Tuesday. The case involves the ban by the State of Illinois on certain semi-automatic firearms as well as standard capacity magazines. The US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois had issued a permanent injunction against the enforcement of this ban and the state appealed against this judgment. Barnett is the lead case and is the amalgam of four different challenges to the state’s Protect Illinois Communities Act.

    What makes this case even more interesting than a usual AWB and mag ban case is that the US Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs and was given time in the oral arguments. Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, argued on behalf of the DOJ.

    The full oral arguments can be found here. The three judge panel consisted of Judges Frank Easterbrook, Michael Brennan, and Amy St. Eve.

    Involved in the case(s) since the beginning has been my good friend Todd Vandermyde. He and I had a long conversation about the case and the oral arguments earlier this week as he was in the courtroom. He has since put up an analysis of the case on his Freedom’s Steel YouTube channel. Most interesting was Todd’s analysis of what happens next depending on the opinion in the case. It could a win, it could be a win and the state appeals for an en banc hearing, it could be a split decision, or it could be a loss. All have ramifications for what direction things take from there.

    Todd also did an interview with William Kirk of Washington Gun Law regarding the case. That interview is on YouTube and can be found here.

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    GRPC Live Streaming

    September 23, 2025 by 4 Comments

    The Gun Rights Policy Conference starts this coming Friday evening in Salt Lake City with a reception. Co-hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the conference itself kicks off on Saturday morning.

    Here is the final agenda for GRPC: https://saf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GRPC-2025-Agenda-FINAL.pdf

    Reading over the agenda there are a lot of great speakers. I must say as a member of the NRA Board of Directors I am quite pleased to see that the NRA-ILA’s Director of Litigation Joe Greenlee and NRA EVP/CEO Doug Hamlin are on the agenda to speak. For too many years the 2A community was split into their own little camps and competition rather than cooperation was the rule. Over the last couple of years things have changed and cooperation is now the rule. This is as it should be.

    When I went to my first Gun Rights Policy Conference in 2010, live streaming was non-existent. We did have Charles Heller of Liberty Watch Radio recording the conference and making audio available on thumb drives for later listening. Then the next year Mark Vanderberg and Doc Wesson of the old Gun Rights Radio Network provided a live feed using a webcam (if I remember correctly). It progressed from there to Paul Lathrop of the Polite Society Podcast doing the live stream for a few years.

    According to this release from SAF, both days will be live streamed through the links below and on their social media channels.

    For those who can’t make the event in-person, the Saturday and Sunday GRPC 2025 sessions will be livestreamed beginning at 8 a.m. (MST) on Saturday and 9 a.m. (MST) on Sunday. The links will also be sent via SAF’s email newsletter and posted to the organization’s social media channels.

    This will be the 40th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference. I have both attended and spoken at a number of them. One change that I think is welcome is that they have reduced the number of speakers but have given them more time to speak. So instead of having 4-5 minutes for each speaker with only a chance at hitting the bullet points in that time, the scheduled speakers will be able to give a more fuller and richer presentation.

    As you can tell, I am looking forward to this weekend. I hope to see many old friends there and make some new ones.

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    The Old Guard Is Not Fading Away

    September 23, 2025 by 5 Comments

    Those who thought that with the reformers ascendant in the NRA that the Old Guard would, to paraphrase Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, go quietly into the night would be mistaken. With the Nominating Committee chaired by Buz Mills and filled with reformers, many in the Old Guard whose terms are expiring are, by necessity, going the petition route.

    Some like former NRA President Charles Cotton seem to have taken a stealth approach. From what I understand, he worked his connections in Texas to gather enough signatures to be on the ballot for 2026. I should note that he was not in attendance at the recent Fall Meeting of the NRA Board.

    Others were working to gather signatures at the Board meeting and I did sign a number of petitions. I did this because I did see many of the Old Guard working cooperatively with the reformers to rebuild and rejuvenate the NRA. At the end of our semi-marathon Board meeting, many on both sides stood to say it was good to see everyone working together for the good of the NRA and gun rights.

    A friend tipped me off to a website linking to the petitions of many of the Old Guard or newbies associated with them. It is called votersaware.com. There are petitions for existing directors such as Curtis Jenkins, Barbara Rumpel, and Eb Wilkinson among others. In addition you have potential candidates like Jeff Fleetham and Lane Ruhland who ran unsuccessfully in 2025 plus two or three other new candidates.

    I don’t know who established this website but the Wayback Machine shows it having posts going back to 2016. Back then it was affiliated with an independent expenditure PAC. It seemed to have an anti-Hillary Clinton focus along with conservative leanings. Examining the page source of the page now, I did come across a reference to https://www.armsandammunitionnews.com. Using the Wayback Machine again, that led to an endorsement by Bob Barr of the list of candidates affiliated with the StrongNRA (Old Guard) team in the 2025 board election. If I had to make a guess, and it is only a guess, the website is somehow affiliated with him.

    I am not saying to sign or not sign these petitions. Use your own good judgment.

    I would, however, say re-electing Charles Cotton to the Board of Directors would be a travesty.

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    AMM-Con Schedule Of Events

    September 22, 2025 by

    If you plan on attending the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Salt Lake City and you are involved in new media, you should arrive early so you can take in the AMM-Con Second Amendment Media Conference. While I have missed a couple of recent AMM-Con conferences, I was there when it began. It has grown over the years from essentially bloggers and podcasters doing “show and tell” to what you see below.

    The Schedule for the day!

    9:00-9:05 Welcome

    Charlie Cook, Riding Shotgun With Charlie, News2A, Armed Lifestyle Magazine

    9:05-10:00 Pitch Sheet & Earned Media

    Amanda Suffecool, Eye On The Target Radio, Women for Gun Rights, NRA Board of Directors

    10:00-10:45 Actions Speak Louder Than Words

    Michelle Cerino, Women’s Outdoor News, Shooting News

    10:45-11:00 Break

    11:00-12:00 Turning Strangers Into Raving Fans

    Jarrad Markel, Student of the Gun

    12:00-1:00 Lunch

    1:00-1:45 Rebranding an Organization

    Tanner Lineberry, Digital Media Manager, SAF

    1:45-2:45 How to Report on 2A Supreme Court and Other Cases

    Mark Smith, Host of Four Boxes Diner, Constitutional Lawyer

    2:45-3:00 Break

    3:00-4:00 AI Debate, Good or Bad?

    Cheryl Todd & Amanda Suffecool vs Lee Williams & Mark Walters 

    4:00-4:45 Speak Softly and Carry a Big Podcast

    Michael Schwartz, Keynote Speaker, San Diego County Gun Owners, Gun Owners Radio

    If you haven’t registered to attend, use this link.

    If you have registered and are not going to be able to attend, please contact Charlie Cook at RidingShotgunWithCharlie@gmail.com so that he can adjust the number of lunches that need to be ordered.

    As a reminder, AMM-Con like GRPC is free to attend.

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    Let’s Put Huey Over The Top

    September 21, 2025 by 2 Comments

    Huey Laugesen needs your help to get on the NRA ballot for 2026 by petition. He is close to having the required number of signatures but needs about 100 more to get over the top.

    He is the executive director of the Colorado Shooting Sports Association and serves with me on the NRA Board’s Membership Committee. I have endorsed him in the past and continue that endorsement as I believe he has good ideas on how to increase membership in the NRA.

    Just as importantly, he understands how tenuous our hold on gun rights can be. He is from Colorado which has transitioned from a good state on gun rights to one of the worst. Earlier this month, his organization with the assistance of the Mountain States Legal Foundation filed suit against the State of Colorado over its new permit to purchase law for certain semi-automatic firearms.

    If you are a NRA Life Member (of any level) or an Annual Member with five or more years of continuous, unbroken membership you are eligible to sign Huey’s petition. As I and others have said, Huey is just the sort of younger member we need on the Board. Please sign his petition below if you have not already done so. Just as importantly, forward his petition link to fellow NRA members for them to sign.

    https://nra.directnominations.net/Petitions/Sign/c1cb1f95-9d72-4df2-9be4-935a07d2e6e6?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

    All signatures must be submitted by October 7th. Signatures done online are submitted immediately so I am urging you to go use the link above and not procrastinate on signing.