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TX: Jury weighs whether Austin protester Garrett Foster was killed in self-defense in 2020
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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Jurors on Thursday began weighing whether Uber driver Daniel Perry was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed Austin protester Garrett Foster in 2020.

During closing arguments in Perry's murder trial, defense attorneys said Perry had no choice but to shoot Garrett Foster five times as he approached Perrys car with an AK-47 rifle. Prosecutors countered that Perry had plenty of choices, including driving away before he fired his revolver.

MT: Montana considers self-defense law against bullies in schools Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
The Montana Legislature advanced a bill that will give public school students the same rights to self-defense that Montana citizens enjoy outside of schools. HB 450, sponsored by state Rep. Jedediah Hinkle, R-District 67, was passed in the House by a margin of 70-30, said local NBC Montana. Republicans dominate the Montana State House, 68 seats to 32 seats for Democrats.

DC: Suit Claims Strict DC Gun Laws Result in Racist Enforcement
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Washington, DC is targeting minorities with illegal stops and searches to enforce its strict gun laws, according to a class-action lawsuit.

A federal judge recently ruled plaintiffs have shown enough evidence to continue the suit. She denied a request by the city to have the case tossed. I spoke with the plaintiffs lawyers who said they hope to end DCs own version of the infamous stop and frisk policy championed by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

But theres another important aspect to the story. The inequitable enforcement of stop and frisk policies gets most of the attention. But I explain why the gun laws theyre enforcing create the incentives that lead to these scandals.

OH: Pack the Supreme Court and get a gun ban
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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Another mass killing of innocent people this time children included. This has to stop.

The MAGA Republican representative from the Nashville district brushes it off as just another What can be done?

What can be done is gun control.

Assault weapons can be banned, along with any high-capacity weapon or bump-stock. The Second Amendment specifically states that Congress shall not ban firearms for a well-regulated militia and does not include most of the people who own guns. Our well-regulated militia is the National Guard, not the vast majority of people who own guns.

SC: South Carolina Constitutional Carry Bill Amended to NRA-Backed Language
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Yesterday, April 5th, a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee amended Senate Bill 109 to address the NRAs concerns and adopt our preferred language. After amending the legislation, the subcommittee reported out S. 109 to the full Senate Judiciary Committee on a 3-2 vote.

This bill recognizes the fundamental right of law-abiding adults to carry firearms for self-defense without having to navigate burdensome government regulations. Constitutional Carry does not change the criteria for eligibility to obtain a carry permit, nor does it affect previously issued permits. It also allows citizens who wish to obtain a permit for the purpose of carrying in other states recognizing South Carolina's permits, to do so.

IL: Illinois gun and magazine ban in federal court Wednesday
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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This week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there are limits to the Second Amendment. Next week, he will be defending that position in federal court. A fellow defendant in the case says the states gun and magazine ban should be overturned.

On Wednesday, Pritzker said his gun and magazine ban is meant to curb gun violence.

There is a Second Amendment to the Constitution, but there are limits to what that means, Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Champaign. One thing it doesnt mean is that everybody in every circumstance should be able to get a hold of every gun.

UT: The problem with Utahs recent gun legislation Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Republicans sponsored and passed approximately a dozen bills concerning firearms during the 2023 legislative session. It would be reasonable to think that legislators are actually doing something to protect Utahns from gun violence. But, these bills will have little or no effect on reducing death and injury from gun violence and could, in fact, increase it.

NV: GOP cant be the party of law and order if it doesnt believe that laws create order
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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We dont need laws criminals will just ignore them. Thats the argument that Republicans in the Nevada Assembly made Thursday in Carson City. In a statement on Twitter, the Assembly Republican Caucus declared its opposition to a proposed gun control law moving through the Legislature by saying, A criminal intent on committing violent crimes will not be stopped by this law This legislation will do nothing to stop the career criminal already intent on breaking the law

Restraining orders dont prove that people are dangerous and cant be trusted with guns
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Three decades ago, Congress enacted a law that seemed commonsensical: It prohibits gun possession by people who are subject to restraining orders aimed at preventing domestic violence. But as the legal battle over that rule shows, its intuitive appeal is complicated by the reality that judges often issue such orders without any credible evidence that the respondent poses a danger.

That policy, according to a unanimous decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, is inconsistent with the Second Amendment. Not so, says the Biden administration, which last month filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to overturn the 5th Circuits decision.

TX: Hes Been Portrayed as a Villain: Black Texas Man Was Charged with Murder Until Surveillance Footage Revealed He Acted In Self-Defense
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Before video footage and 911 audio were released of a Fort Worth, Texas, shooting, authorities believed four Black men were the aggressors in a road rage shooting that left an Asian businessman dead.

However, the footage and calls show that Jin Shin loaded his gun and pointed it at a group of people near a car that he had just hit in a minor accident.

The other drivers friend, Markynn West, 28, fired to protect the group from the assailants bullets, killing Shin.

There Are Still Democrats Who Support the Second Amendment and Hunter Education
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Firearm safety doesnt have to be the partisan issue that too many, unfortunately, make it out to be. Just ask U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska).

I just appreciate the opportunity to put a plug in for the many, many, many Americans who are responsible gun owners, Congresswoman Peltola said. You look at some of the tragedies that are occurring, and those arent hunters, those arent kids that have grown up with hunting and the good values that, I think, hunting and hunting families provide.

Conservative commentator claims gun deaths are worth it in order to protect second amendment Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
Gun supporters in the US sure have some absurd arguments against gun control from more guns somehow being the solution to mass shootings, to the ludicrous suggestion it will cause people to eat dogs (yes, really) but conservative commentator Charlie Kirk may have offered up the most outrageous one yet.

NV: Nevada Dems push gun control bills with uncertain future
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Nevada Democrats and gun control advocates rallied around a trio of bills on Thursday that amplified calls for gun regulation while recalling the 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting that became the deadliest in U.S. history.

More than five years after a shooter killed scores of people at a country music concert, the recent rise in mass shootings across the U.S. was repeatedly cited in debates over a bill to solidify language meant to ban homemade ghost guns and raise the eligible age to possess semi automatic shotguns and assault weapons from 18 to 21.

AR: Arkansas House OKs bill allowing permitless concealed carry
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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A permit would not be required to carry a concealed handgun in Arkansas under a bill lawmakers sent Thursday to Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, which supporters say is meant to clear up a decade-old disagreement about the states gun laws.

Sanders office said she plans to sign the measure approved by the majority-Republican House on a 81-11 vote.

The governor strongly supports the Second Amendment, spokeswoman Alexa Henning said in a statement. This bill further clarifies that Arkansas is a constitutional carry state.

FL: DeSantis signs concealed weapons bill
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a measure that will allow Floridians to carry guns without concealed-weapons licenses.

The legislation passed 76-32 in the House and 27-13 in the Senate, largely along party lines. Nearly all amendments put forward on the bill by Democrats failed. The Republican-controlled Senate gave final approval to the measure (HB 543) on Thursday, March 30, about a week after the House passed it.

NH: New Hampshire Homicide Investigated As Possible Self-Defense Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
The New Hampshire Medical Examiners Office has concluded its autopsy on the victim of a fatal shooting that occurred in Manchester on Tuesday night. Rodney Yancey, a 43-year-old Manchester resident, was killed on Union Street after sustaining gunshot wounds to his chest, according to Patch. The death has been classified as a homicide, which is defined as one person killing another.

In short time, half of America moves to constitutional carry as more states embrace gun rights
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Gov. Ron DeSantis this week signed legislation into law that makes Florida the 26th state to allow Americans to carry firearms on their person for self-defense without a permit as one of the fastest moving affirmations of the Second Amendment continues to sweep the country.

All eyes are now turning to Nebraska and South Carolina, two states expected to take up such legislation in coming months. Gun rights activists say the summer 2020 riots and the subsequent rise in violent crime in many blue cities gave a jolt to a constitutional carry movement they long wanted to see gain steam.

I think that we have it all wrong...
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Every time there is a shooting (sigh) we become enraged and demand that someone do something. Like clockwork, we are met with ridiculous NRA illogic and near hysterical screaming about the Second Amendment. Dutifully, we say that we dont want to take their guns or keep law abiding citizens from owning assault rifles. (I do.) Then we get Boebert, or Greene, or whomever, or the orange stain vomiting out a clear call for more guns and more violence and his brown shirts start making threats which we ignore, or file a lawsuit! over, or minimize as fringe. No. Its not fringe. Its not reverent defense of one single Amendment to the exclusion of every other one. Its not hunting or self-defense, or protecting a way of life.

VT: Vermont Legislature Considering Red Flag, Gun Storage Law Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
The Vermont Legislature is considering a bill meant to reduce suicides by instituting gun storage laws, setting a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases, and expanding the states extreme risk protection order statute. The purpose of this legislation is to prevent death by suicide by reducing access to lethal means of firearms, the bill, H.230, reads.

Second Amendment Roundup: Persons Aged 18-20 Are Entitled to Carry Firearms
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Several decisions have been rendered recently on whether persons aged 18 to 20 have a Second Amendment right to carry or purchase a handgun or any firearm. I'd like to highlight the March 31, 2023, decision of U.S. district judge Katherine Menendez (D. Minn.), which is one of the most thorough decisions to date on the young-adult carry issue. The case is Worth v. Harrington.

Judge Menendez granted summary judgment to the 18-to-20-year-old plaintiffs who were ineligible for carry permits under Minnesota law.

NH: Second Amendment 'rights' do not mean children should be slaughtered
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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I sometimes wonder if puppies throats were slashed or kittens tongues removed as a consequence of those touting Second Amendment rights if THEN perhaps assault rifles would be banned. Or background checks on guns implemented. Or gun safety required.

Did these puppy and kitten images cause you discomfort? Anger perhaps? Good. That feeling is miniscule compared to those affected by ridiculous, utterly nonsensical gun violence. Every day.

NY: New York Court Rules Due Process Must Be Considered For Red Flag Orders
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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A New York court affirmed that Due Process rights must be taken into consideration when enforcing so-called red flag laws and vacated New Yorks Gov. Kathy Hochuls executive order for enforcing Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs) or red flag orders. That is consistent with what NSSF has said from the beginning about ERPOs. If an individual is going to be deprived of fundamental constitutional rights, they must be afforded the opportunity to examine and challenge evidence brought against them they must be afforded due process of law.

MO: Officials at Lake of the Ozarks wont answer ATF questions about local gun businesses
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
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Leaders of the largest county at Missouris Lake of the Ozarks say they will not answer questions from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about local gun businesses.

At Thursdays county commission meeting, Presiding Commissioner Ike Skelton notified the public that the ATF had recently sent emails to county staffers asking whether four gun businesses were in compliance with local zoning and business licensing regulations.