Tag Archives: news

Article – New rule on pistol attachments to boost gun safety, U.S. Justice Department says

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And so it begins….

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department announced on Friday a new rule targeting pistol attachments known as “stabilizing braces,” implementing a key move in the Biden administration’s efforts to beef up gun control regulations.

A stabilizing brace is an attachment to a pistol that functionally turns it into a short-barreled rifle, similar to a sawed-off shotgun. Such weapons are considered particularly deadly as they offer the power of a traditional rifle, but are much easier to conceal.

For decades, short-barreled rifles have been subject to strict regulations, including a law known as the National Rifle Act, which requires additional taxation and background checks for private transfers, among other provisions.

The new rule clarifies that pistols modified by a stabilizing brace are subject to those additional requirements, department officials said.

“This rule enhances public safety and prevents people from circumventing the laws Congress passed almost a century ago. In the days of Al Capone, Congress said back then that short-barreled rifles and sawed-off shotguns should be subjected to greater legal requirements than most other guns,” said Steven Dettelbach, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

Last year, President Joe Biden and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced they were planning measures to tackle stabilizing braces as well as “ghost guns” – a type of firearm that is assembled by users and practically untraceable.

While Democrats in Congress have pushed aggressively for new regulations of stabilizing braces, most Republicans have opposed such measures, portraying them as an infringement on Americans’ constitutional gun rights.

The new rule gives owners, manufacturers and distributors 120 days to report their stabilizing braces to the ATF tax-free. They may also remove the stabilizing brace or turn in any pistol modified by a stabilizing brace to the ATF.

It goes into effect once it is published in the Federal Register, likely next week, department officials said.

The perfect scenario?

ATF lets you register your arm-braced guns to SBR’s for free

Arm brace ruling gets struck down

Enjoy your new tax-free SBR’d guns AND enjoy your arm braced stuff.

Article – Buffalo blizzard fuels racial and class divides in polarized city

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C’mon, you knew it was only a matter of time before Buffalo’s blizzard became a symbol of racist oppression……..

As the toll on the city has become clearer, a dozen residents and community leaders said in interviews that structural issues such as poverty, food deserts, poor housing and a lack of investment by government have made the impacts on working-class, Black and Brown neighborhoods much worse. They expressed concerns that surrounding wealthier and Whiter suburbs appeared to be more prepared, their response better coordinated, their power and roads restored faster.

Now, maybe I’m crazy but hear me out on this…is it possible that some people were more prepared and better coordinated not because they are ‘wealthy’ but rather because the things that caused them to be wealthy…initiative, responsibility, work ethic, foresight, cooperation, etc….lead them to also be prepared and coordinated?

I’m not sure what relative wealth ‘inequity’ has to do with being able to pick up a shovel and start digging your street out from a major snowfall.

The truly sad thing is, the people who were prepared weren’t prepared by accident. They made a conscious and deliberate effort to take responsibility for their own well being….but their efforts will be parsed as ‘racist’ and ‘supremacist’ because…y’know…institutional racism and all that.

Article – Prosecutors say Iowa police chief lied to buy machine guns

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How does the saying go? Pigs get fat but hogs get slaughtered? Or something along those lines. The gist of it being that greedy or selfish behavior can be overlooked until you get a little too greedy or a little too selfish.

Case in point: the police chief of a three-man police department who police letterheaded 90 machineguns for department use….and tried for a minigun.

A small Iowa town of 800 residents likely has no need for a police force armed with 90 machine guns to keep the peace.

That, at least, is the view of federal prosecutors, who on Wednesday announced the indictment of Adair Chief of Police Bradley Wendt on charges of making false statements to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to obtain numerous machine guns over a four-year period on behalf of the Adair Police Department, which during Wendt’s tenure has never had more than three officers.

I admire his entrepreneurial spirit, and his taste in giggle-switch-equipped firearms. But there’s only so much you can do before the Eye of Sauron homes in on your otherwise benign collecting activities. And, of course, using your position to procure thundertoys to rent out at a profit…well, that’s a bit on the ‘abuse of power’ side.

Machineguns are fun, no two ways about it. I think about the line in “When we were soldiers” where the colonel tells the sergeant that he needs to get himself an M16. The grizzled old sergeant says “I reckon the time comes I need one, there’ll be plenty of them laying around.” Same with machineguns. Nine times out of ten, theyre probably unnecessary for the task at hand. But that tenth time….boy, nothing else will do. If you’ve got the, literally, tens of thousands of dollars for an MP5 or Uzi….have at it. But for a survivalists needs, I’d rather take the money and buy gear more likely to be of use in a crisis.

However, when the zombie rise and I come across some zombified state trooper with a full-auto M4…..well, he won’t be needing it anymore, and it’d be a shame to let it lay there to rust.

 

Article – Judge blocks federal law banning possession of firearms with serial number removed

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CNN  —  A federal judge in West Virginia has invalidated part of a federal law that prohibits the possession of a firearm with an “altered obliterated, or removed” serial number, citing the Supreme Court’s recent decision that demands a historical review of gun laws to determine their constitutionality.
“Firearms with no serial number are just as ‘bearable’ as the same firearm with a serial number,” Judge Joseph Goodwin said in his opinion Wednesday, though he acknowledged that guns missing serial numbers “are likely to be used in violent crime.”
The court’s decision is the latest to reflect how far reaching the Supreme Court has opened up new legal challenges to federal, state and local gun control laws nationwide.
This is interesting on a very big level. How do you track firearms to/from specific people without serial numbers? While .gov will continue to try to restrict guns (and mags) at the entry point into the general public through bans, licensing, registration, etc. once that gun has entered public circulation and it has it’s number removed it is now as free as a bird. There are some interesting consequences as far as the ability to enact effective control.
Many people don’t know that it was only within this lifetime that guns were required to have serial numbers. Until 1968 you didn’t have to have a serial number on shotguns and .22 rifles. In fact, you can probably find a serial-less .22 in almost any gun store’s used rack. I’ve had plenty of ancient .22 rifles that lacked serial numbers, and a couple little .410’s as well.
Regardless of whether this serial number episode has any effect on gun freedoms, it is interesting to see how the winds are changing in regards to guns. But even if something is ruled unconstitutional, it can still take years…decades…to wind through the court. So don’t stop buying those mags and AR lowers just yet.

Articles – Canadian police found in undercover operation at Great Falls gun show

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Two articles about a little Canuckistan/Federal op at the Great Falls gun show:

GREAT FALLS, Mont. – According to Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter, local county employees and people noticed someone with Canadian plates watching people at the gun show.

Once deputies and the sheriff arrived, the operation was shut down immediately.
….
The police officer was assigned to a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Task Force for gun smuggling and was working with ATF.

And

Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter on Saturday broke up an investigation carried out in apparent coordination between federal and Canadian authorities at a Great Falls gun show, saying those agencies had not contacted his office beforehand.

Although state law does not require federal investigators to obtain approval from local law enforcement to conduct operations, the agents left the fairgrounds “reluctantly” and without issue. Slaughter has positioned himself as a “constitutional sheriff,” which theorizes sheriffs are the ultimate authority in their county — above local, state and federal officials — raising questions in this incident about possible friction between layers of law enforcement.

I suspect sheriff Slaughter just won himself a re-election.

This sort of behavior was notorious from California law enforcement. Theyd hit the Nevada gun shows, and sometimes even Nevada gun stores, and look for cars in the parking lots with CA plates. They’d then follow the CA-plated car back across the border into CA and pull them over to search for guns and related items that were prohibited in the glorious peoples republic of California. (Ever notice all the socialist places start with C and end with A? California, China, Cuba, Canada, etc…)

Remember guys – if youre buying thundertoys and ammo,keep that situational awareness going. Put that FAL or AUG in a case or something when you take it back to your car if you think its prudent. What you buy is no one’s business but your own.

I suppose the cautious man might remove the plates from his vehicle once he parks at the gun show. And the more JamesBond-y might keep a spare set of plates off a wrecked car to quickly swap out. But, regardless of your level of paranoia, it seems it might be a good idea to always operate under the assumption someone is watching.

Article – Pressure mounts for credit card companies to track suspect gun sales

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A group of congressional Democrats is urging credit card companies to track suspect firearm and ammunition purchases as a means to identify and stop gun crime, according to a letter obtained by CBS News Thursday.

…

“The creation of a new [merchant category code] for gun and ammunition retail stores would be the first step towards facilitating the collection of valuable financial data that could help law enforcement in countering the financing of terrorism efforts,” the letter says.

A merchant category code, they wrote, “could make it easier for financial institutions to monitor certain types of suspicious activities including straw purchases and unlawful bulk purchases that could be used in the commission of domestic terrorist acts or gun trafficking schemes.”

By hook or by crook…

This was bandied about a few years ago, too. The moral of this story, other than that .gov needs to mind its own business, is that paying cash whenever possible is never a bad idea.

Article – Half cows, entire pigs: Families are buying meat in bulk to save money

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It was the $200 weekly grocery bills that finally did him in. With three young kids and soaring meat costs, Logan Wagoner decided it was time to go whole hog.

This spring, the St. Louis attorney bought half a cow and an entire pig – plus a freezer that now holds 320 pounds of bacon, sausages, rib-eye steaks, ground beef and soup bones in his basement.

I’m somewhat amused, and mildly dismayed, that it’s only now that the normies have discovered that, golly, buying in bulk saves money. Who knew? There is, of course, another alternative to dropping that much money at once and that is to actively pursue sales and bargains, which has generally been my strategy. There are plenty of cases, documented here on the blog, where I found a closeout or sale on some meat and swooped in on the whole batch.

But the notion that buying a freezer and half a beef is somehow newsworthy? Dude, one generation ago this was standard practice.

I’d say that its a pretty solid bet that 95% of the people reading this already have freezers, and keep them full all the time. And…thats not newsworthy.

Step one: turn public opinion against them

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Every morning, one of the first things I do is hit the various newsfeeds. After all, you can’t be prepared against something if you don’t know its coming (or going on, for that matter).

Todays headlines as I woke up:

The Inside History of How Guns Are Marketed and Sold in America

Manufacturers of AR-style rifles would see 20% tax under proposed bill

‘It’s just insanity’: ATF now needs 2 weeks to perform a routine gun trace

Look, you and I both know that one of the very first steps towards ‘controlling’ a particular demographic is to create an atmosphere of animosity towards that demographic that the general public can get behind. Most notably, Hitler and the Jews. If he’d walked up to the podium and said “Today, we’re gonna wipe out the Jews” just out of the blue like that he probably would have not gotten very far. Instead, he creates a poisonous atmosphere for them (so to speak). He spends years telling the public how this group has misled them, bled them, is a threat to their values, etc, etc. He paints them as the threat for so long, and so intently, that after a few years people start thinking “Yeah, those people are a real threat to me. Someone should do something about it.” and the next thing you know the boxcars are steaming down the tracks.

An extreme example, yes. But it’s an accurate one: to oppress/marginalize/eradicate/control a particular segment of the population you need to get the broad public behind you. You do that by demonizing that particular group so that after a while the general public says “Yeah, those people have it coming.”

And these headlines? Thats what it looks like. I’m not saying they’re planning to throw gun owners into camps. What they are planning is to throw your gun rights (and your guns) into the shredder. Theyre fine with the people who own guns, its the guns themselves theyre after.

So, they load up the media with articles about AR-15’s being evil, ghost guns are everywhere, a national registry is needed, manufactures are profiting over dead children, no one needs a 30-round clipazine, etc, etc, etc. And they keep shoveling this stuff into the media outlets so that, after a while, the public can’t see things any other way….and thats when those ‘reasonable’ and ‘common sense’ bans and prohibitions start coming. Because, after all that indoctrination, how can anyone possibly disagree that all those evil black rifles rifles of color need to be taken out of the hands of those evil would-be insurrectionists and white supremacists.

But…you gotta start somewhere. And that starting place is by making out the guns and the gunowners to be out-of-touch racist anti-government social reprobates. Make the public believe theyre the bad guys and no one will speak up for them when the hammer comes down.

We saw this in the 90’s with the whole ‘militia/anti-government’ movement. Randy Weaver, for example, gets virtually no sympathy outside of our circles because even though his wife was gunned down for basically no reason, he was an evil ‘militia type’ who harbored ‘anti-government views’.

Make a particular group look bad and then you can do whatever you want to them without fear of the consequences. It’s a technique thats been around for thousands of years, the trick is to recognize it when it’s happening. We give it the benign name of ‘culture war’ but culture wars have a way of turning into real wars…or pogroms..or purges.

Watch the news, see how many pages of headlines you can scroll through before seeing yet another post about someone calling for AR-15’s to be banned, magazines to be limited, registries started, licensing mandated, etc. It’s not a coincidence.

You know what you need to do, get out your wallet and do it.

 

 

Article – Zimbabwe debuts gold coins as legal tender to stem inflation

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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe has launched gold coins to be sold to the public in a bid to tame runaway inflation that has further eroded the country’s unstable currency. The unprecedented move was announced Monday by the country’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, to boost confidence in the local currency. Trust in Zimbabwe’s currency is low after people saw their savings wiped out by hyperinflation in 2008 which reached 5 billion%, according to the IMF.
This would, I think, actually make Zimbabwe’s currency more stable than the dollar. Economics and goldbugging are two flavors that are tough to get into one candy. There’s a line in the book The Mandibles where the character is talking about how the independent nation-state of Nevada is on the gold standard..he says something along the lines of ‘Gold is useless..can’t eat it, can grow it, but for some reason it works as money…even if no one seems to know why.’ I’ve often that that gold is about as close as you’ll ever come to a global currency. According to the article, Zimbabwe will sell you all the minted coins you’d like as long as you pay in foreign currency. I wonder how Zimbabwe will acquire enough gold to make a difference in their economy..I wouldn’t want to be paid for my gold in those crappy Zimbabwe dollars. Theyre gonna have to pay in other ways…foreign currency, military land leases to the Chinese, oil, etc. I’d be curious to see where this goes. I suspect what will happen is that this plan, like every other great idea in Africa, will fizzle out from mismanagement and the resources (gold) will disappear into some general or prime minister’s pocket. And the Zim gold coins will become collectors items that are seen ore outside Zimbabwe than in.

NYS gun laws and the Supreme Court

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So the Supreme Court rules that NYS’ famous ‘gotta show a good reason’ clause for carry permits is unconstitutional. For those of us from NY, the answer as to what they will do is obvious – they’ll make the process so onerous that it will be a de facto ban. They’ll require ‘training’ from .gov-approved instructors and then simply not approve any instructors, they’ll raise the fees and prices into the stratosphere, they’ll put so many hoops, hurdles, and obstacles in the way that it may as well be ‘business as usual’ as it was before the decision.

But, take your victories where you can. Especially nowadays.