Daily Archives: May 3, 2022

Anyone expecting Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons confirmation hearing to be a firework show when it came to gun rights was disappointed. President Joe Bidens nominee answered questions posed by probing U.S. senators, but some of those answers gave reason for pause.

Although Judge Jackson noted the U.S. Supreme Court in Heller affirmed the Second Amendment is an individual right, her full testimony was revealing. Judge Jackson demurred on questions surrounding concealed carry, spoke of the importance of Court precedent and refused to define her judicial philosophy.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) started off the three-days of marathon questioning of Judge Jackson getting to the heart of the matter.

Do you believe the individual right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right? Sen. Grassley asked.

Judge Jackson answered, Senator, the Supreme Court has established that the individual right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental right.

Sen. Grassley pressed further asking the judge to describe how she would decide what a fundamental right is under the Constitution. Judge Jackson pointed to Court precedent that serves as a guide for how justices would discern fundamental rights. She added that those precedents set the standards for determining if rights are fundamental, including the 14th Amendments Due Process Clause as it applies to liberty and personal autonomy.

Thats the tradition of the Court for determining if something is fundamental in that way, she added.

Click here to read the entire article at NSSF.org.

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Judge Jackson Affirms Second Amendment Rights But ...

By U.S. Sen. Mike CrapoR-IdahoPresident Biden and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco recently announced the nomination of Steve Dettelbach to serve as Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

They also used the opportunity to reiterate the administrations hard stance against so-called ghost guns and its efforts to extend firearms record-keeping requirements that risk establishing an unlawful gun registry.

The administration is using all of its tools, including circumventing the legislative process, to go after law-abiding gun owners and firearms vendors. I do not support more gun control.

Burdening law-abiding citizens of this country with additional gun restrictions is not the answer to safeguarding the public. I continue to oppose all efforts to weaken Second Amendment rights.

ATF Nomination Steve Dettelbachs nomination to lead the ATF is rightly concerning, as it would put a person who has voiced support for eroding Second Amendment rights in charge of the federal law enforcement agency responsible for enforcing gun laws. At President Bidens direction, the ATF has begun broadening restrictions, including returning to the outrageous practice of repressing firearms licensees for de minimis (trivial) grammatical errors in their record keeping.

Ghost Guns The Biden administration has taken a hard stance against so-called ghost guns, or guns built from unserialized gun assembly kits. The ATF finalized rule 2021R-05, Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms, that would redefine firearm receivers in order to require them to have serial numbers. Additionally, President Biden created a National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative focused on prosecuting criminals who use ghost guns in crimes.

However, data concerning the use of ghost guns in crimes is limited, and reported numbers on confiscated guns are not limited to those used to commit crimes. The administration should focus its resources on pursuing dangerous criminals, not scapegoating hobbyists.

Firearms Record Keeping I am also deeply concerned by the ATFs admission it is cataloguing and digitizing business records from shuttered federal firearms licensees (FFLs).

Current federal law requires FFLs to keep their records of firearm transfers for 20 years, at which point they can be destroyed. Should an FFL close its business, it must turn its records over to the ATF, which maintains them at the National Tracing Center.

The final rule 2021R-05 would extend record-keeping requirements by requiring FFLs to retain key records until they shut down their business or licensed activity. The Firearms Owners Protection Act prohibits the federal government from creating a national gun registry. The ATF must adhere to this law and cease any efforts to create a de facto gun registry.

The ATFs excessive rulemaking is deeply troubling, and I am countering its bureaucratic overreach:

I am an original co-sponsor of S. 1920, the ATF Accountability Act, that would ensure firearms manufacturers and lawful gun owners are not subject to unchecked bureaucratic ATF rulings;

I joined in pressing the ATF on its use of secret internal guidance to enforce regulations not openly published; and

I joined in demanding the ATF provide answers on recent actions to prevent law-abiding citizens from creating and owning suppressors.

These are just some of the recent efforts underway to protect and preserve our constitutional right to bear arms.

Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) characterized the Administrations push for more gun restrictions as a distraction from the reality that the explosion of crime in blue cities is directly attributable to those same cities implementing de-policing, installing progressive prosecutors, and enacting disastrous bail reform policies.

I agree and will continue to press for policies that truly get at the root cause of the violent crime problem without compromising law-abiding citizens constitutional rights.

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Countering Biden's push to erode Second Amendment rights - The Highland County Press

Written by Steve Ulrich, Managing Editor

In the past week, Pennsylvania residents have been subjected to TV ads featuring U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick firing a series of weapons, showing his experience as a teenage hunter, a West Point cadet and a solider in Iraq.

Im Dave McCormick and I approve this message to protect the second amendment because thats what guarantees the rest.

Today, Mehmet Oz released a new ad showing the celebrity doctor from New Jersey handling a rifle, explaining how his father taught him about how to handle a rifle and that he is passing along the same lesson to his son.

Its about our constitutional right to protect ourselves from intruders or an overly intrusive government, said Oz in his ad.

Four years ago, Conor Lamb introduced himself to the Commonwealth with a video that stated he served four years in the Marines. Still loves to shoot.

In 2020, the Pennsylvania Game Commission reported over 887,000 general hunting licenses for residents of the Commonwealth. The Commission estimated hunters took 435,180 deer during the 2020-21 seasons.

No other state in the Northeast can match those numbers, not even when taking landmass into account, the Game Commission wrote highlighting the season.

Pennsylvania by the numbers Percent of residents with paid hunting licenses: 7.3% (24th out of 50 states) Total paid hunting license holders: 930,815 Total hunting license, tags, permits and stamps: 2,646,720 Gross cost of all hunting licenses: $36,873,199

But this appears to be more than just about hunting for sport.

A little over a decade ago, the Supreme Court redefined the Second Amendment. Before then, in the eyes of the federal courts, the amendment protected the rights of state militias to bear arms not the rights of individual Americans. That all changed in 2008 with the stroke of a pen.

The scale of Second Amendment arms puts firearms into context. To be sure, Americans possess hundreds ofmillions of guns. But researchers trace most firearms tomultiple-gun owners, and about half to super-owners the three percent of the adult population that owns 17 guns on average.

Most eligible Americans do not possess firearms, and the percentage of households that do has dropped in recent decades, according to onecommonly cited survey, from 47 percent in 1980 to 31 percent in 2014.On an individual level, that survey found that only 22 percent of American adults own a firearm; 78 percent do not.Far more people own knives for the basic reason that they have broader utility in day-to-day life. Some Second Amendment scholars havecalled knives the most common arm in the United States.

Politicians supported by gun rights groups similarly assume that the Second Amendment is just about guns. In fact, the Republican Partys official platform conflates gun rights and SecondAmendment rights:

We uphold the right of individuals to keep and bear arms, a natural inalienable right that predates theConstitution and is secured by the Second Amendment. Lawful gun ownership enables Americans toexercise their God-given right of self-defense for the safety of their homes, their loved ones, and their communities.

As the days count down to the primary election on May 17, we will continue to see candidates utilizing hunting and firearms to make their case for who is the most Pennsylvanian.

April 29th, 2022 | Posted in Front Page Stories, Senate, Top Stories, Video | 12 Comments

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The Politics of Hunting in Pennsylvania - PoliticsPA

By Dr. Harold A. Black

blackh@knoxfocus.com

haroldblackphd.com

The latest French election shows voter discontent with the establishment. The incumbent was primarily challenged by the same far right candidate that was soundly vanquished in the last election. However, this year, the election was closer than predicted with the ruling party garnering less than 50% of the vote dictating a second round runoff. The challengers party was openly racist and pro-Nazi when it was founded with its sole issue being the massive immigration of Muslims into France. Today its rhetoric is softer. The party now speaks of independence from the European Union, the removal of French forces from the command of NATO and amending the French constitution to limit immigration.

In last weeks runoff, the opposition party ended up with less than 50 percent of the vote but the French discontentment was still evident. It is almost identical to the discontentment with the Biden Administration. The Wall Street Journal called the discontent a cultural alienation from a progressive hegemony in the Wests academic, media and artistic institutions and resistance to the new religion of universal climate change compliance with its costly implications for energy customers and seething fury with the little autocrats in government and health bureaucracies decreeing lockdowns, masks and vaccine mandates. underlying it all, righteous indignation at the arrogance of unaccountable elites who dismiss opposition to their authority as the product of bigotry and ignorance and denounce anyone displaying it as a traitor or a domestic terrorist. Sound familiar?

The incumbent, Emmanuel Macron won but acknowledged that many voted for him as the lesser of two evils. A few on the American Left have said that if Macron could be re-elected with his low popularity, then there is hope for Biden. I am no expert on the sagacity of French leadership but Macron is no Joe Biden. Here our problems are compounded by the ineptitude of our leadership. We, too, must endure the lefts obsession over climate change, open borders and Covid mandates. Add to that Afghanistan, gender identity, transgender athletes, Critical Race Theory, the woke military, inflation, shutting down pipelines, shackling oil and gas, the Build Back Better fiasco, the surge in crime and the war on parents where the attorney general was investigating parents attending PTA meetings as domestic terrorists.

The difference between the French election and our forthcoming election is that the opposition is projected to win. If Republicans win both the House and the Senate, then Biden will try to enact his changes through edict something that the progressives in Congress have been urging all along. No Biden budget would pass both Houses. No radical progressive would be confirmed by the Senate. Republicans would have the power to effectively shut down the Biden agenda and throttle back actions taken by those in the administration who think that climate change is the existential crisis of our time. I find it remarkable that so much damage has been done to our economy and our national psyche in so short a time.

We are confronted with elected officials who want to severely curtail our freedoms, re-write the Constitution, pack the Supreme Court, eliminate the Electoral College, abolish the Senate, cancel our culture, muzzle free speech and annul the second amendment. We take to heart the words of Abraham Lincoln: Our safety, our liberty, depends upon preserving the Constitution of the United States as our fathers made it inviolate. The people of the United States are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. Amen.

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The French election and the international revolt against the ruling 'elites' - The knoxville focus

In the Western North Carolina region, eight long-time sheriffs arent seeking reelection. Voters in Avery, Cherokee, Clay, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Transylvania and Rutherford counties will elect a new sheriff in the midterm election.

BPR talked with retiring sheriffs and reformers about what this turnover means for the region and the future of law enforcement.

Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland has been sheriff since 2002 - now hes retiring.

In his office there is a picture of Holland as juvenile officer shaking hands with Former President George Bush when Bush was campaigning for his son in 2000.

Courtesy of Robert Holland

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I was in my early twenties. I was a baby. That was a long time ago, said Holland.

Hes says that he has seen the job grow in his three decades in law enforcement.

Gosh, looking back at, you know, through my career, there's been lots of changes. I can remember a time where when your patrol car broke down, you used your personal vehicle to get through the week until you could have your patrol car fixed. Computers I was one of the first ones to have a computer in the agency as an officer, said Holland.

Professionalization, and more technology have been increasingly a part of law enforcement reform.

For example, in 2020, the North Carolina Sheriffs Association recommended reforms such as recruitment, certification, use of force procedures and the creation of an employment database meant to weed out officers with performance issues before they move to a new department was also implemented. They issued an updated report on reforms this year.

Every day things change. What might work yesterday may not work today, and you've got to look at different ways to handle those things. I think that the standards that they're coming up with, they're good, said Holland.

While some things change, the position of sheriff has always been political.That side of the sheriffs role was highlighted in 2020 when the Second Amendment sanctuary movement hit North Carolina.

The resolutions were put forward across the South in part because of gun control legislation moving through the Virginia General Assembly. Cherokee County was one of the first counties to become a sanctuary in 2019. The designation is largely symbolic and promises to uphold the Second Amendment rights of citizens.

In Macon County, the debate lasted three months. Holland calls it an important moment in his career. He provided the county commissioners with a version of the resolution from the N.C. Sheriffs Association which he said did not conflict with the Constitution.

I've already taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, which includes the Second Amendment. One of the major issues that I had with signing this oath for the Second Amendment ... it wasn't the oath that I take for office. It was only a portion of that oath, Holland. And so I had legal advisors outside of Macon County that were giving me advice that you need to understand that if you're signing an oath, a new oath, then you could be null and voiding your oath that you've already taken.

Macon County ultimately passed a resolution protecting the U.S. Constitution, N.C. Constitution and all other laws.

In Haywood County, Sheriff Greg Christopher took a similar stance.

I lean on the North Carolina Sheriff's association to help guide myself as well as our other sheriffs here in North Carolina when it comes to anything constitutional, said Christopher. But especially that second amendment, which is very valid for a lot of people, they do have some valid concerns.

Haywood ultimately passed a similar Constitutional protection resolution.

Christopher, a Democrat, is also retiring after more than four decades in law enforcement.

Two Democrats and three Republicans will run their own Primary Election campaigns in hopes of replacing him. Of the five, two are current employees of the HCSO, one is a former employee and former interim sheriff, and the other two have significant law enforcement experience in Buncombe County. He has this advice for those running:

Our motto here, when it comes to community relations has been, we want to know our communities before we need to know our communities, said Christopher.

Meanwhile in Macon, all five candidates are Republicans. No Democrats filed for the seat, making the Primary Election all-important. Three out of the five candidates in Macon Countys Primary Election are current officers at the sheriffs office. Holland says he will be happy if any of those three are elected.

The Second Amendment is a key issue for candidates and groups who want local law enforcement to have more power.

One national group, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, wants local sheriffs to assert constitutional powers even over those of the president.

The group believes in zero gun control, no federally-owned land in states and more. This is founded in the CSPOAs contention that The vertical separation of powers in the Constitution makes it clear that the power of the sheriff even supersedes the powers of the President.

Christopher says there are reasons for gun permitting laws despite Second Amendment rights.

One of the things that sheriffs across our state are dealing with constantly is people who want to carry a pistol or to buy a pistol or to have a conceal pistol. And then we have to determine, whether from a mental health standpoint, if they need to do that - or not - for the safety of all of our citizens, said Christopher.

We have to protect our citizens and mental health is a huge issue for us, especially here in North Carolina, with the lack of mental health facilities that we have, he said.

Christophers point that sheriffs must consider mental health is a part of an opposing view to the constitutional association.

These conversations about other law enforcement reform spread across the county in 2020 and continue to be an important political topic.

During last months State of the Union, President Joe Biden explained that he wants to fully fund police.

"We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police. The answer is to fund the police. Fund them with resources and training they need to protect our communities, said Biden.

Biden proposed federal budget for 2023 includes more than $24 billion for law enforcement centered programs and even more for research on gun violence, mental health services and other services.

These reforms are currently being hashed out by local governments like Buncombe County.

Rob Thomas of the Racial Justice Coalition in Asheville has been working on law enforcement reform since 2019. He says the organization advocates to re- invest some police funding into community services.

The one sentence that I would try to use is: Would you try to build an entire house with just a hammer. We try to look at law enforcement as a blanket solution for a lot of our social problems in America, said Thomas.

Thomas says that it feels like the momentum of change in 2020 has stalled.

I think people have forgotten what inspired the attention and focus on law enforcement in the first place and the individuals that didnt appreciate the changes that we made are gaining their platform back, said Thomas.

I think the thing that made so much change in 2020 is that people were able to see the injustice and the deaths and see how this has been happening for a while and it hasnt been personalized. I think that the only way we are going to get back where we were is if we are able to specific stories about how specific policies, specific things and specific power held by specific individuals creates massive ripples in individual lives within the community, said Thomas.

Law enforcement reform will be the ballot this year. Voters turning out will be able to vote for eight new sheriffs in Western North Carolina.

Another version of this story was also published in the Smoky Mountain News.

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There's a new sheriff in town: How the local elections could have constitutional implications - Blue Ridge Public Radio

Who wants to play the Bucs in Deutschland?

It seems one team is lobbying the NFL to play a road game in London against the Packers. And it got Joe thinking about what teams, if any, are pushing NFL warden Roger Goodell to play the Bucs in Munich?

The Bucs will make NFL history hosting the first NFL regular season game on German soil this fall. Rumors arethe Bucs will play on Sunday, Nov. 13. Later this week, the NFL is expected to announce dates and matchups for all the international games scheduled for England, Mexico and Germany.

That news came from Daylight-Savings-Time-scared, crossword-puzzle-puzzled, Elon-Musk-peeved, Barstool-Sports-triggered, almond-milk-sipping, hot-dog-eating-contest-protesting, mock-draft-scowling,L.L.-Bean-wearing, tennis fans advocate, Second Amendment abolitionist,Mike-Florio-arguing,parrot-insensitive,chewing-with-his-mouth-open,soup-gulping,California-train-romancing, anti-football proliferation,outhouse-admiring,airline-napping,steerage-flying,Yogi Berra-worshiping,urinal-picture-taking,video-game-playing,Taylor-Swift-listening,pickpocket-thwarting,Bucs-uniform-frowning, Allie LaForce-smitten, Big-Ten-Network-hating,pedestrian-bumping,olive oil-lapping,popcorn-munching,coffee-slurping,fried-chicken-eating,oatmeal-loving,circle-jerking, craft-beer-chugging, cricket-watching,scone-loathing,college football-nave,baseball-box-score-reading,NPR-honk,filthy-hotel-staying,fight-instigating,barista-training, Budweiser-tolerant,baseball-scorecard-keeping, pasta-feasting, vomit-dodging scrooge, Kay-Adams-following, Coors-Light-souring, pineapple-upside-down-cake-eating social activist and NFL insider Peter King of NBC Sports fame in his weekly Football Morning in America column.

However, there was another juicy bit of intel from King about international games and scheduling. It seems, per King, the Rams volunteered to play the Packers in London, so long as the game will be played in the second half of the season.

Joes first thought was the NFL rarely puts marquee games on international soil. In 2018, however, the Rams and Chiefs were expected to play in Mexico City but that got moved to Los Angeles because the field in Mexico was not in playing condition.

It turned out to be a game for the ages on Monday Night Football with the Rams winning 54-51. But the vast majority of the international matchups are garbage.

So why in the world would the Rams want to travel halfway across the globe to play the Packers instead of just two time zones away in Green Bay? Well, King said the Rams want to take advantage of a neutral site and avoid Lambeau Field.

The second reason? The weather.

England in November isnt that awful (40s or 50s). In Green Bay? It could be 20 degrees at night and a foot of snow. So by playing in England, Los Angeles dodges potential frigid temperatures or freezing rain or snow, or all three that can easily happen in East-Central Wisconsin in November.

Smart!

So that got Joe thinking: If the Packers opponents are trying to play Green Bay in England to avoid wintry weather and a road-field disadvantage, how many Bucs home opponents are begging the NFL to play Tampa Bay in Munich to avoid roasting in the brutal Florida September or October sun?

Average temperatures in Munich are about the same as in England, 40s in November in Bavaria. The Seahawks are probably begging the NFL to play the Bucs in Munich, which seems to have a Seattle-like climate. (The Packers are another far-northern team on the Bucs home schedule, but Joe doubts they want to travel to Europe twice).

The rest of the Bucs home opponents are more accustomed to the heat.

King also noted that the NFL is trying to get half the league to play an international game instead instead of a ninth home game. Thats fair to Joe. Its been eight home games for decades.

Just FYI, Bucs home opponents this year: Atlanta, Carolina, New Orleans, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Kansas City, Los Angeles (Rams) and Seattle.

Enjoy The Ira Kaufman Podcast Dissecting The Draft, And More.

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So Who Is Lobbying The NFL To Play The Bucs In Munich? - JoeBucsFan.com