Red Flag Laws Are Getting Trump's Support

In his remarks today on the mass murders in El Paso and Dayton, President Trump called for the passage of red flag laws.

Fourth, we must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that, if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for red flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders.

If a person is such a danger, they need to be confined. Mentally disturbed individuals as well as terrorists have used many other instruments besides firearms to kill large numbers of innocent people. Little more than two weeks ago, an disturbed individual killed 33 people in an anime studio in Japan by setting it in fire. This followed an earlier stabbing rampage in May that left one schoolgirl dead and 16 more injured. Islamofascists in Europe have used cars and trucks to run down people attending street fairs. They have attacked and killed people in New York City using rented trucks. So why just guns when flammables, knives, and vehicles have all been used in mass attacks in recent times?

Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned brings up an interesting point. Now that Chris Cox has left or been ousted from the NRA, it is left to Wayne LaPierre to try and control Trump's worst impulses regarding firearms. I doubt Wayne is up to the task.

You can be sure that the gun prohibitionists will laugh in Trump's face as they rush to pass more gun control without the quid pro quo that he thinks supporting it will get.

The Firearms Policy Coalition released a statement which I will quote in part below. I think they have a very good understanding of what these calls for more restrictions on our freedoms and liberties mean for us as individuals and as a nation.

It is disingenuous and immoral to ratify and incent evil acts of the very few by responding in kind with broad restrictions on the fundamental human rights of the People that pre-exist government itself. We will not accept this as a means of affecting change in a free society. The loss of human lives will always affect and change us, but they must never be allowed to alter our fundamental principles, freedoms, and commitment to individual liberty.

To be sure, our Constitution and society are at an unprecedented crossroads. Politicians and presidential candidates now openly call for a fundamental transformation of our system of laws: from a constitutional republic of free men and women founded in federalism and individual liberty, to a nation-state of subjects ruled with an iron fist from ivory towers and Washington, D.C.

Protecting the People and their human rights and property from the tyranny of mob rule and capricious political winds is a unique feature of our Republic—one that we fiercely defend even when doing so may be unpopular.

Stabbed In The Back Again

Eight years of Obama brought no new gun control at the federal level. Three years of President Trump has brought an unconstitutional ban on bumpstocks, no Hearing Protection Act, no national reciprocity, and now a call for more gun control in the wake of the murders in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.

We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2019

If he thinks that Democrats will trade gun control for funding a "the wall", he is sadly mistaken. They will do a bait and switch saying they will support "the wall" after passing red flag laws and universal background checks (and other gun control) but then do nothing about funding the wall.

Right now I don't give a big rat's ass about a wall along the border that would have marginal effectiveness. I do care about any denigration of the Second Amendment and gun rights.

By the way, all indications are that virtually every mass murderer in the last 10 years has gone through a NICS check. These bills would do nothing to have prevented them from obtaining the firearm in question.

Quote Of The Day - Editorial Version

Jim Shepherd of The Outdoor Wire had an interesting editorial today discussing the latest earnings report from Ruger along with some recent pronouncements from President Trump. After discussing the earnings report, he noted that much of the good news and bad news for the firearms industry seem to tied to President Trump.

He continues:

That’s because his announcement earlier this week that he wants a ban on bump fire stocks and other devices that increase the rate-of-fire of AR-style rifles is viewed as a politician, once again, throwing gun right supporters under the bus after wooing their support to get elected.

Indeed, candidate Trump and later President Trump could be characterized, at least until Tuesday’s announcement, as having a simple message for gun owners: “we will never, never, never infringe on our Second Amendment Rights.”

Now it may seem that our definitions on what Second Amendment protections really mean may differ significantly. For most Second Amendment supporters, any additional regulations on guns are beyond the pale. In fact, many gun rights groups have already begun to spread the word they will seek legal remedies should Attorney General Sessions make a move to place restrictions on either bump stocks or binary style triggers.

Seems a fight with the man gun owners helped put in the White House is brewing over gun rights. If that happens, Mr. Trump may learn that formerly ardent supports make the most fierce opponents.

Like Trump, gun owners don’t easily forgive- or forget- a betrayal.

We’ll keep you posted.

 Jim's absolutely correct. Instead of kow-towing to a bunch of people that never supported him and never will support him, Mr. Trump needs to remember just who put him over the top in the battleground states. It sure as hell wasn't members of Moms Demand Action.

"Be Like Kim Kardashian" - My Presentation At 2017 Gun Rights Policy Conference

I teased people before my presentation on the Using New Media To Advance Gun Rights panel at the 2017 GRPC that I would be talking about Kim Kardashian.

And I did.

You can read and see my whole presentation below. I do think it is important that we adopt all forms of social media to inform and persuade the Millennials and iGeneration about freedom and the Second Amendment.

Hi. I'm John Richardson.

I have the gun blog No Lawyers – Only Guns and Money and I’m a co-host of the Polite Society Podcast.

In past years I’ve spoken about how bloggers have worked to advance gun rights, how they’ve exposed gun walking in the Obama Administration, and also how we can use new media as a tool to fight the enemies of freedom ranging from the Mainstream Media to the well-funded gun control lobby.

This year when I was putting together my notes for this talk I thought about things like fake news, the bias of the mainstream media, how balanced in their lexicon means always quoting a gun banner in reference to crime, and how ridiculous it is that the media takes anything Gabby Giffords says seriously.

However, last Saturday morning while I was sitting in bed drinking my coffee I watched a report on CBS Saturday which encapsulated what we in the gun rights community need to do: we need to become Social Media Influencers.

Put another way, we need to become like Donald Trump and Kim Kardashian. I know you are probably saying right now that you can maybe understand Trump but a Kardashian? Really?

Think about this – you have a young woman with virtually no discernible talents, with no education past high school, and no employment history to speak of who got upwards of $1 million for merely attending a party due to the attention she draws.

That is social media influence. We may think it is absurd but it is the new reality.

Big business understands this. They have made it a $1 billion annual industry because it conveys authenticity and because it goes around the gatekeepers to put their message directly into the pockets of Millennials and Gen. Z aka the iGeneration.

The reason I care and you should care about reaching the Millennials and the iGeneration is that we are in the long war. If we don’t reach them with the message that gun rights are important, that the shooting sports are fun, and that our opponents are the enemies of freedom, then the Second Amendment will be effectively dead within our lifetimes.

The Millennials and the iGeneration don’t read newspapers. They don’t watch network news. Half the time they’ve replaced cable with Netflix and Amazon Prime. They don’t have landlines and their cell phones are more often used to text than to talk to friends. More importantly, they don’t trust traditional media and they value authenticity. This means they give greater weight to user-generated social media than virtually anything else.

The other thing to understand is that there is New Social Media and Old Social Media. The latter would include things like blogs, podcasts, Facebook, and, to some extent, Twitter. New Social Media is centered on things like Instagram, SnapChat, and Periscope with YouTube somewhere in between the two. To give you an idea of the reach of Instagram as a means of social influence, the Kardashian-Jenner daughters have 410 MILLION followers combined.

So how do you use it?

Number one – download the app to your smart phone and register an account.

Number two – start posting pictures when you take a new shooter to the range. Or alternatively, post pictures from GRPC. Just make sure to put hashtags with them. You know – those little cross-hatched number signs with a word or two after them. Stuff like “#newshooter” or “#grpc2017”.

Number three – if you feel this is beyond what you can do, enlist your kids and grandkids. Take them shooting and have THEM post the pictures to their accounts.

Finally, keep it fun and keep it light. If we need serious, we have people like Alan Gura for the legal stuff, Dr. John Lott to challenge the anti’s statistics, and my friend sociologist David Yamane for studies on GunCulture 2.0.

We can win at this because we are the real grassroots. Social media influence comes from below and not from above. But we need to start doing it NOW.

I will be posting my notes and associated video from the 2017 Gun Rights Policy Conference throughout the week.

Happy New Year!

As we approach 2017, we, in the gun culture, have good reason to be optimistic. While we lost some referenda in the West, we now have a President, Senate, and House that should be able to work together to enact legislation such as the Hearing Protection Act and national reciprocity. More importantly, soon to be President Trump will not only get to appoint one or more justices to the Supreme Court but also 100 or more Federal judges at the District and Circuit levels. We may finally get to a point where the lower courts can no longer pay lip service to the Heller and McDonald decisions.

So, as we close 2016, I want to leave you with this rendition of Auld Lang Syne by my good friend Charlie Cook. His musical interpretations of various songs and themes are wonderfully unique.

Happy New Year!

Rep. Ryan Zinke's Nomination For Interior Secretary Garners Approval

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) was selected by President-elect Donald Trump to be his Secretary of the Interior. Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, is the lone Congressman from Montana and was rumored to have been a potential candidate to take on Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) in 2018. Zinke's selection has garnered approval from the NRA, the NSSF, and other organizations.

From the NRA-ILA:

Fairfax, Va.— Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, issued the following statement on the nomination of Congressman Ryan Zinke to be the Secretary of the Interior:

“On behalf of our 5 million members, we commend President-Elect Donald Trump for nominating Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana to be our next Secretary of the Interior,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action. “The sportsmen and women of this nation have long waited for an Interior Secretary who understands the need to preserve America’s outdoor heritage for generations to come. Ryan Zinke will champion those traditions with the devotion of a true outdoorsman while serving as our next Secretary of the Interior.”

From the National Shooting Sports Foundation:

NEWTOWN, Conn. — The National Shooting Sports Foundation® (NSSF®), the trade association for the firearms, ammunition, hunting and shooting sports industries, today praised President-Elect Donald Trump’s selection of U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) to become Secretary of the Department of the Interior.

“In Congressman Zinke we have a true friend of American sportsmen who believes in the inestimable value of our public lands. We are confident Congressman Zinke will work to preserve and promote our hunting and related outdoor traditions. He is an American hero, a lifelong hunter and angler, and a true conservationist in the tradition of Teddy Roosevelt,” said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The Secretary of the Interior is arguably the nation’s single most important position with regard to the management of federal lands, wildlife habitat and natural resources. Competing interests must be balanced with what will be in the best long-term interest of the nation. We look forward to enthusiastically supporting his nomination in Congress and then working with Secretary Zinke to help him achieve that mission.”

“We are very pleased that President-Elect Trump is listening to the voices of American sportsmen and conservationists, but no one should be surprised. That positive influence has been close at hand for many years in the form of his son, Donald Jr.,” Keane added.

From the Boone and Crockett Club:

The Boone and Crockett Club, the oldest wildlife conservation group in the U.S., founded by Theodore Roosevelt, praises President-Elect Donald Trump's announcement of U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) to become Secretary of the Department of the Interior.

"Ryan Zinke has already demonstrated the leadership required as America's top conservation steward, and the president-elect has done likewise in embracing it." said Ben B. Hollingsworth Jr., president of the B&C Club. "The congressman has seen that frustrations with federal land management are the driver of many controversies and has rejected surrendering those federal lands as a supposed solution. Ryan Zinke and Donald Trump know that ever since Theodore Roosevelt made federal lands and conservation a national priority, hunters and other sportsmen-conservationists have carried out the work on the ground that ensures America's wildlife heritage."

The Boone and Crockett Club moved its national headquarters to the Rocky Mountain west in Missoula, Montana in 1992 because the Club's leadership at the time felt this would be the epicenter of many future conservation challenges for land and wildlife.

In a statement released by Zinke, the new Interior Secretary said he would uphold Theodore Roosevelt's belief that public lands are "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." He continued by assuring the public that he will "work tirelessly to ensure our public lands are managed and preserved in a way that benefits everyone for generations to come."

Hollingsworth said, "We are proud that Montana, where we call home and where the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch is located, is the source of so much conservation leadership at this moment in history. With the state so well represented in Congress, having a Montanan in the administration is a prime opportunity to restore working relationships in Washington to the benefit of conservation work on the ground."

From the Dallas Safari Club:

DSC congratulates Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke on his recent nomination to lead the Department of Interior. Zinke will be charged with protecting the natural resources of the U.S., which includes federal lands and overseeing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. DSC is pleased to see the position filled by an ardent proponent of continued access to public lands and a champion of conservation.

“DSC has supported Representative Zinke since his first run in Congress,” said DSC Executive Director Ben Carter. “He symbolizes the DSC mission of ensuring the future of conservation through hunting and protecting hunter’s rights. We are excited to see how he handles the critical issues facing wildlife and wild places. Our membership respects and appreciates his dedicated service to this Nation as a former Navy Seal and as a Congressman. He has proven to be a straight shooter in all aspects, and we look forward to working with the newly nominated Interior Secretary.”

Zinke is a native of Montana and has a lifelong love of hunting and fishing. During his time in Congress, Zinke has a track record of backing hunter’s rights. He announced his support for the Sportsmen’s Conservation and Outdoor Recreation Enhancement Act, which contained seven provisions to reauthorize or implement ways to fund conservation programs on federal and private lands.

In a released statement, Zinke stated, “As inscribed in the stone archway of Yellowstone National Park in Gardiner, Montana, I shall faithfully uphold Teddy Roosevelt’s belief that our treasured public lands are ‘for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.’ I will work tirelessly to ensure our public lands are managed and preserved in a way that benefits everyone for generations to come.”

“Zinke is a sportsman just like the members of DSC,” said Carter. “His heart lies in the same place as ours and we feel he is the perfect person to direct management of our lands and wildlife. This is a great step in ensuring the future of hunting, fishing and the outdoor life for upcoming generations.”

Finally, in what I consider the greatest endorsement of Zinke yet, is this statement from the Center for Biological Diversity. They have been consistently a thorn in the side to hunters, anglers, and shooters with their constant lawsuits against lead-based ammunition and professional wildlife conservation management efforts.

TUCSON, Ariz.— Freshman congressman Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) has reportedly been picked by Donald Trump to serve as secretary of the Interior to oversee endangered species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hundreds of millions of acres of public land including the national parks, Bureau of Land Management lands and national wildlife refuges and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Zinke was a staunch, early and controversial supporter of Trump throughout the presidential campaign. Trump has picked his wife Lola Zinke to oversee the transition of the Veteran's Administration.

Statement of Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity:

“Ryan Zinke has a dismal 3 percent lifetime environmental voting record. His brief political career has been substantially devoted to attacking endangered species and the Endangered Species Act. He led efforts to strip federal protections for endangered wolves, lynx and sage grouse, voted to exempt massive agribusiness and water developers from Endangered Species Act limitations, and opposed efforts to crack down on the international black market ivory trade."

“Zinke consistently votes for the interests of oil and gas companies, which is not surprising since Oasis Petroleum is his largest campaign contributor and the oil and gas industry is his third-largest sector contributor. He has also voted against and attacked the establishment of protective national monuments on public lands."

“On the bright side, Zinke has spoken and voted against the outright transfer of federal public lands to states and corporations. This is in keeping with positions taken by Donald Trump and his son Donald, Jr. Unfortunately Zinke has championed the same result — greatly increased logging, mining and oil drilling, greatly reduced environmental protections, elimination of federal control, and weakening of environmental standards — by turning over public land management to industry-dominated panels appointed by state governors. In Zinke’s scheme, industry and state interests get all the environmental destruction and profit they want, with the federal government being made to pay for it through nominal retention of land title."

“Zinke’s cynically named ‘Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2015’ was one of several schemes he led to turn control of public land to industry-dominated panels. It was widely opposed by conservationists, sportsmen, businesses and even some timber companies for dispensing with environmental laws and public involvement in order to ramp up unsustainable logging levels."

"Disturbingly, in 2012 Zinke contradicted his recent stance when he signed the extremist Montana Constitutional Governance Pledge promising to 'legally and administratively oppose the multitude of bureaucracies that have sprung up to enforce the unlawful seizure of our native land and its resources including, but not limited to: the Bureau of Land Management, the United States Park Service, the various bureaus of Wildlife and Fisheries, etc., and restore the rightful powers over the land to the State and private ownership.' During confirmation hearings, the Senate needs to grill Zinke on this contradiction and ensure he truly supports keeping public lands in public hands."

He Beat Us To It

Many in the gun rights community have been coming up with our wish lists now that Donald Trump has been elected President. Given the support from the NRA, other gun rights organizations, and the gun culture was critical in his win, it's payback time.

Among the things I've been hoping for is national concealed carry reciprocity, removal of suppressors from the NFA through passage of the Hearing Protection Act, overturning previous executive orders by Presidents George H. W. Bush and Barack Obama, and the elimination of the sporting use test from the Gun Control Act of 1968. This is in addition to appointing judges and justices that will will uphold and expand Heller and McDonald. Of course that is just a start.

Well it looks like President-elect Trump (has a nice ring to it!) has beat us to the punch on national reciprocity and the elimination of gun free zones on military bases.

From a position paper released today:

GUN AND MAGAZINE BANS. Gun and magazine bans are a total failure. That’s been proven every time it’s been tried. Opponents of gun rights try to come up with scary sounding phrases like “assault weapons”, “military-style weapons” and “high capacity magazines” to confuse people. What they’re really talking about are popular semiautomatic rifles and standard magazines that are owned by tens of millions of Americans. Law-abiding people should be allowed to own the firearm of their choice. The government has no business dictating what types of firearms good, honest people are allowed to own.

BACKGROUND CHECKS. There has been a national background check system in place since 1998. Every time a person buys a gun from a federally licensed gun dealer – which is the overwhelming majority of all gun purchases – they go through a federal background check. Study after study has shown that very few criminals are stupid enough to try and pass a background check – they get their guns from friends/family members or by stealing them. So the overwhelming majority of people who go through background checks are law-abiding gun owners. When the system was created, gun owners were promised that it would be instant, accurate and fair. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case today. Too many states are failing to put criminal and mental health records into the system – and it should go without saying that a system’s only going to be as effective as the records that are put into it. What we need to do is fix the system we have and make it work as intended. What we don’t need to do is expand a broken system.

NATIONAL RIGHT TO CARRY. The right of self-defense doesn’t stop at the end of your driveway. That’s why I have a concealed carry permit and why tens of millions of Americans do too. That permit should be valid in all 50 states. A driver’s license works in every state, so it’s common sense that a concealed carry permit should work in every state. If we can do that for driving – which is a privilege, not a right – then surely we can do that for concealed carry, which is a right, not a privilege.

MILITARY BASES AND RECRUITING CENTERS. Banning our military from carrying firearms on bases and at recruiting centers is ridiculous. We train our military how to safely and responsibly use firearms, but our current policies leave them defenseless. To make America great again, we need a strong military. To have a strong military, we need to allow them to defend themselves.

The position paper also notes that Trump himself has a concealed carry permit.

This is a great way to end the week!

Tweet Of The Day

The tweet of the day comes from BearingArms.com editor Bob Owens. This was in response to a tweet by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Brian Terry, murdered with guns Holder's DOJ provided to narco-terrorists, could not be reached for comment. https://t.co/iJGXcfR9zz

— Bob Owens (@bob_owens) October 10, 2016

You can see Holder's full tweet below:

Be afraid of any candidate who says he will order DOJ/FBI to act on his command This is dangerous/so is @realDonaldTrump-he's not qualified

— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) October 10, 2016

Lest we forget, Holder was found in Contempt of Congress for withholding documents (among other things) during the hearings into Operation Fast and Furious.

As to "acting on command", one must wonder what current Attorney General Loretta Lynch's marching orders were from President Obama that she passed on to FBI Director James Comey. Hmm?

"Donald Trump Is An Asshole"

Evan Kostreva of On Point Firearms puts out an occasional newsletter. He sent out one on Saturday afternoon. His thoughts captured what a lot of us are feeling especially after a week in which all we heard in the media was that Donald Trump is a sexist boor.

Evan graciously gave me permission to reprint his comments. It is a bit of a rant but it is on target.

Donald Trump is an Asshole

Donald Trump is an asshole. Thankfully, that doesn't matter in a president. We've all had bosses or friends or family members that are assholes. And guess what, they all managed to do whatever job they're doing. It's of no consequence. There are plenty of assholes in the world. I'm one of them, I should know. You might be one also. I'm not going to have a beer with Trump. He's not coming over for Thanksgiving dinner. I don't care. People have written literally dozens of books on the Clintons. Guess what? They're assholes too.

Donald Trump is an asshole. He has hurt some people's feelings. In contrast, the Clintons have blood on their hands and have left a trail of dead bodies in their wake a mile long. And look what happens when you choose a president that is hip and cool. You get 8 years of Barack Obama hanging out with Jay-Z and Beyonce.

Donald Trump didn't pay taxes. So what. Apple doesn't pay taxes and you keep buying their shit. Lots of rich people don't pay taxes. There's a whole cottage industry called "wealth management" that finds creative ways to hedge the rich from taxes. I file deductions every year-- as many as my poor ass can manage. I hope you do the same. Is it fair? Probably not. But you know why those loopholes are in place? Because of career politicians like Hillary Clinton. She's been at this game for decades. What good has she done for this country? Our tax code is a joke and it's because of crooked politicians like the Clintons. The Clinton Foundation doesn't pay taxes. It's nothing more than a giant money laundering scheme for their cronies.

Barack Obama has weaponized the IRS and other areas of the government to attack our Constitutional rights. Operation Chokepoint targeted firearms-related businesses. That's why my bank of 15 years just dropped me as a client two weeks ago. Imagine the outrage if banks discriminated against the LGBT community, blacks, or Muslims. You wouldn't hear the end of it. But because liberals hate the 2nd Amendment, it's okay. No media coverage. No outrage. This policy literally threatens my way of life-- and my ability to provide for my family.

Are you better off after 8 years of Obama? Do you want 8 more years of this bullshit under Hillary Clinton? It is impossible for Donald Trump to do a worse job than Obama or Hillary. Impossible. Our country cannot take much more. Obama preaches about low unemployment and the recovery of the economy. That's laughable. Most of my customers cannot afford to buy a $200 knife from me-- let alone a $2000 rifle. It was different a few years ago. Things are worse now. Your dollar doesn't buy much. The entire financial system is on the brink of collapse. There is much uncertainty in the market. The failed policies of this administration have cost many folks their livelihoods-- their homes and cars, their marriages. Can you afford 8 more years of this? I cannot.

My son is going to grow up in an America that is unrecognizable. The good old days are long gone. "Hope and Change" failed miserably. We need a major course correction and Trump is the asshole to do it. That's my rant for today. I'm going to mow my yard and kick something in anger. Have a good weekend and God bless you and yours. God bless America. We need it.

-- Evan

Evan runs a firearms and accessories business down in St. Pete, Florida. His website is here.

As to Trump's comments to Billy Bush (nephew of George H. W. Bush and 1st cousin of W), they were rude, crude, and unattractive. Very few men unless they are up for sainthood have not said or thought something similar, if maybe less crudely, to other guys. I'd wager many women have said or thought the female equivalent about some guy's buns or his "package". The only difference is that we weren't being recorded and it wasn't "discovered" 11 years later in some video vault as we were running for President.

The Republican politicians who are stampeding to disavow Trump are what Trump said he'd grab. Their moral righteousness and prudishness is disgusting. Their weak spines are why our national debt is out of control and why even with majorities in both houses of Congress we still don't have national reciprocity. The only reason to vote for some Republicans is because it would be even worse for gun rights if Democrats controlled things.

I don't like Donald Trump any more than I like Hillary Clinton. However, while the former is a boor the latter is the avowed enemy of my civil rights. As I said three months ago, #NeverTrump means #NeverGuns. I will vote for Donald Trump whether I like it or not. Pragmatism and my gun rights must rule the day.

Forget 1984 - I Feel Like It's 1964 Again

I was seven years old and in 2nd Grade when Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson faced off against one another. As historians and political junkies will remember, the campaign featured the famous (or infamous) "Daisy" ad which implied a vote for Barry Goldwater might result in nuclear war.

Fast forward 52 years to now. I watched an ad attacking Donald Trump that was eerily like that Daisy ad. It was produced and paid for by the pro-Clinton Super-PAC Priorities USA.

As much as things have changed over the last 52 years, there are some things that haven't changed. Democratic presidential nominees and their surrogates just can't help themselves when it comes to accusing Republicans of being warmongers. As things turned out, we can thank God that we didn't have nuclear war despite the wide escalation of the war in South Vietnam under LBJ.

Some Of My Fellow Deplorables

Donald Trump is speaking in Asheville this evening.

I happened to be at my nearby Lowe's Home Center which overlooks the Asheville Regional Airport when I noticed a number of people on one end of the parking lot. It turns out they were hoping to see Trump's plane land. After I finished my shopping I joined them.

There were young deplorables there.

There were old deplorables there.

There were even some of my fellow middle aged deplorables there.

These pictures don't capture the total number of people that had been there. I'd estimate it was over 50 during the course of an hour. Unfortunately, Trump arrived earlier than expected and most people missed seeing him arrive including me.

I did get to watch Trump's speech over Livestream. He was introduced by former NYC Mayor Rudy Guilani. He started by having an assortment of folks on stage speak which included both whites and blacks.

The elderly black couple who had a "huge" number of combined years in education said it would be hard for them to be racist and sexist. It was kinda funny. Hillary is going to regret her description of a segment of Trump voters are both "deplorable" and "irredeemable". They are already coming back to haunt her.

Trying To Decide Between #NeverTrump Or #NeverHillary? Ponder This.

This presidential election may be historic if for no other reason than both presumptive nominees are grossly unpopular. Now if you like Donald Trump or you like Hillary Clinton and you object to that statement, then you are probably in the minority. Both candidates had unfavorability ratings of over 50% as of late June. Frankly, I don't see that changing.

I'll admit right up front that Donald Trump was not my first choice. Heck, he wasn't even my fourth choice. At the start of the primary season, I considered Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz as potential recipients of my vote. I added Carly Fiorina to that list after I saw how she handled the press.

As to Hillary Clinton, oh, please. Her primary qualification to me seems that she married the right guy to have pulled her along with him to national prominence. Without Bill Clinton, she'd be just another Yale educated lawyer with political ambitions. It is doubtful that she would have ever been elected a US Senator from any state especially given she had held no prior elected offices. She would never have been Secretary of State as she wasn't one of the "wise old men" like a Warren Christoper, a college professor specializing in foreign policy like  Kissinger or Madeleine Albright, or a general like George Marshall.

To those who would say I'm forgetting about Gary Johnson, I'm not. While he has gathered more support than prior Libertarian candidates, his role in this election is that of a spoiler. He will either take just enough #NeverTrump Republican votes from Donald Trump for Hillary to win or he will take just enough Bernie supporting Millennials from Hillary for Trump to win. I've participated in every election since 1976 and have studied American presidential politics at the graduate level. Gary Johnson being elected President just isn't going to happen.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was interviewed by the New York Times on Friday. What she said should clarify for any gun owner or any Second Amendment supporter what this race for President is really about. This holds true for both the deer hunters in Gun Culture 1.0 with their .30-06 Remington 700s and the non-hunting concealed carriers in Gun Culture 2.0 with their Glock 19s.

This election is about the Supreme Court which now stands in a four to four split between conservatives and liberals. Another way of putting it is that neither the Originalists nor the Living Constitutionalists hold a majority.

Justice Ginsburg was asked whether there were any cases of recent memory that she would like to see overturned. Here is what she said:

Asked if there were cases she would like to see the court overturn before she leaves it, she named one.

“It won’t happen,” she said. “It would be an impossible dream. But I’d love to see Citizens United overruled.”

She mulled whether the court could revisit its 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which effectively struck down a key part of the Voting Rights Act. She said she did not see how that could be done.

The court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, establishing an individual right to own guns, may be another matter, she said.

“I thought Heller was “a very bad decision,” she said, adding that a chance to reconsider it could arise whenever the court considers a challenge to a gun control law.

Should Judge Garland or another Democratic appointee join the court, Justice Ginsburg will find herself in a new position, and the thought seemed to please her.

“It means that I’ll be among five more often than among four,” she said.

Rest assured that Michael Bloomberg would spend big bucks to get a gun control case before a Supreme Court in which Justice Ginsburg was now among the five who believe there is no individual right to own a weapon of any sort (firearm, knife, sharp stick). The Wall Street Journal noted yesterday in an editorial that Justice Ginsburg thinks the Second Amendment obsolete and that there isn't even a need for the militia anymore.

So unless something untoward happens this week or next at the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump, warts and all, will be the nominee. He is on record as supporting the Second Amendment as an individual right and is on record as opposing gun-free zones.

The coronation of Hillary Clinton will take place in Philadephia the following week. She is on record as saying she'd "change the gun culture". To think that a President Hillary Clinton would appoint anyone to replace Justice Scalia that believed as he did that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right is ludicrous.

I still don't really like Donald Trump. However, I am adult enough to realize that stomping my feet and saying I'm not going to vote or that I'll vote for Gary Johnson is giving aid and comfort to Hillary. This election has become a zero-sum game for the Second Amendment. If Hillary wins, we lose.

I'll boil it down to the essentials:  If you are #NeverTrump, then you are #NeverGuns.

Yo, Donald! Fuhgeddaboudit (updated)

I just saw this tweet from presumptive GOP nominee for president Donald J. Trump.

I will be meeting with the NRA, who has endorsed me, about not allowing people on the terrorist watch list, or the no fly list, to buy guns.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2016

You will need the gun culture if you want to be elected. You have been tough on other stuff so now is no time to go wobbly.

As I've written in the past, the Terrorist Screening Database, the TSA's "no-fly" list, and the FBI's terrorist watch list should not be used to deny an otherwise non-prohibited person from making a firearms purchase. Secret lists, even if created with the best of intentions, have no place in a free society and definitely no place in the United States.

The possibly gay Islamofascist who pledged his allegiance to ISIS during the middle of killing 49 good people had been interviewed by the FBI multiple times yet was not on any so-called watch list. Saying the addition of people on these secret lists to the NICS banned list would prevent further attacks is nonsense.

UPDATE: The NRA-ILA released this statement about meeting with Trump regarding no-fly and terrorist watch lists.

Fairfax, Va.— The executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action, Chris W. Cox, released the following statement regarding terror watchlists:

We are happy to meet with Donald Trump. The NRA's position on this issue has not changed. The NRA believes that terrorists should not be allowed to purchase or possess firearms, period. Anyone on a terror watchlist who tries to buy a gun should be thoroughly investigated by the FBI and the sale delayed while the investigation is ongoing. If an investigation uncovers evidence of terrorist activity or involvement, the government should be allowed to immediately go to court, block the sale, and arrest the terrorist. At the same time, due process protections should be put in place that allow law-abiding Americans who are wrongly put on a watchlist to be removed. That has been the position of Sen. John Cornyn (R.-Tex.) and a majority of the U.S. Senate. Sadly, President Obama and his allies would prefer to play politics with this issue.

If the Democrats really believe that a no-fly list and/or the terrorist watch list will stop them from obtaining the means to kill Americans, they are sadly mistaken. Gangs use straw purchasers all the time. Am I to think that ISIS terrorists are so mentally disabled that they won't emulate this? No!

As to the efficacy of no-fly lists, this CNN story details some of the people who have been prevented from flying due to the list including Democratic icon Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA).

The NRA Endorsement Of Trump

I posted an article from Politico on Facebook yesterday. The article said the NRA was facing member backlash from their endorsement of Donald Trump on Friday. I noted that I thought Politico was stretching to find NRA members who were opposed to the Trump endorsement. I compared it to finding people at the Annual Meeting who were in favor of universal background checks. You would find them if you looked hard. I went on to add that Politico was a part of the mainstream press whose job it seems is to get Hillary elected even if she does treat them like something she found on the bottom of her shoes.

I thought what I said was fairly uncontroversial.

I was wrong.

I have lost track of how many comments and replies pro and con the Trump endorsement that I have received. Some of the comments have up to 50 replies to them. Much of it is back and forth between people who oppose the endorsement and those who thought the NRA right to do the endorsement. To get a true feel for it you need to read the comment and then the back and forth replies.

The comments on both sides of the argument have come from people within the gun culture whom I respect for their devotion to the Second Amendment. Given that, I do see that the endorsement of Trump was more controversial than I thought.

My take on why the NRA-ILA and NRA-PVF made the endorsement now is that it was pragmatic politics. The NRA is nothing if not a practitioner of realpolik. The pragmatic consideration is that an early endorsement at a time when it would get lots of media attention cements the NRA as one of the inner circle of organizations who will have the ear of a President Trump. It is already a given that the NRA will have no seat at the table under a President Clinton. She has already declared us as one of her prime enemies.

The NRA could have waited to make the endorsement later in the campaign season but they would have risked that endorsement getting lost among other endorsements. Moreover, as some have suggested, they could have just foregone an endorsement of Trump as they have done with some past Republican nominees. Given Trump's past pro-gun control comments, they could have been excused for going this route. That said, 2016 Trump is very pro-gun, has made very pro-gun statements throughout the campaign, and has very pro-2A positions posted on his website. It could be posited that the NRA endorsement is a reward for coming over the from the dark side.

As I said above, I do see the endorsement of Trump as being more controversial than I thought. However, pragmatically, I don't see that the NRA had any other choice than to do what they did.

"Heartless Hillary"

I listened to Donald Trump's speech at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum yesterday. Two things stood out for me. First, and most important, I really do believe that Trump understands the issues surrounding the Second Amendment and gun rights. In his speech he referenced the makeup of the Supreme Court, judges, concealed carry permits, the threats to the Second Amendment, self-defense, and gun free zones.

The latter two, self-defense and gun free zones, are two areas that he really highlighted. Noting the Paris Massacre in a gun free zone, Trump said he doubted that it would have gone on long if held at the Annual Meeting due to the number of armed citizens. (As a sidebar, due to the Secret Service and their protective rules, Trump *was* speaking in a gun free zone.) Trump spoke of single moms in Florida and grandmothers in Ohio that would be left defenseless if Hillary was elected. That lead to his newest nickname for Clinton as "Heartless Hillary". Though, he admits, he still really likes "Crooked Hillary."

Second, listening to a Trump speech is an exercise in patience. This is not because of what he says but how he says it. The man has a severe case of attention deficit disorder when it comes to public speaking. He'd start out on a topic and then ...SQUIRREL! and he'd be off on a tangent. He makes some good points but he can be damn hard to follow.




I read some discussion yesterday on Sebastian's blog on whether or not the NRA should have endorsed Trump. In my opinion, the NRA did not have much of a choice. They deal in realpolitik. Their avowed foe Hillary Clinton has doubled down and made gun control, the Second Amendment, and the NRA her number one target.

This is a two-person race unless Bernie decides to run as an independent which Trump encouraged in his speech. The NRA has to pull conservatives who supported other candidates and gun owners who don't trust Trump back into the fold. Without them, Hillary most likely will win and the Second Amendment will be lost as an actual civil right. It will become a historical artifact. That is something the NRA can't live with and I certainly won't live with.