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Kyle Rittenhouse did act in self-defense. That’s the problem.
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Mark A. Taff
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What is true of any answer, however, is the presence of a gun in an emotionally-charged, chaotic situation.
Let me be clear that I do not agree with the jury’s decision. Kyle Rittenhouse needlessly killed two people and forever changed the life of a third, as well as their numerous family and community members. His not-guilty verdict is the product of a racist judicial system, a biased judge, and a poor prosecution strategy. Altogether, it is a miscarriage of justice. |
MO: Advocates for safely storing guns speak out after Michigan school shooting
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"Guns that are being stored should always be secured with some sort of gun safe, a locked room, and then also a gun lock, either a trigger lock or a chamber lock," Duncan said.
Duncan said technology has advanced the security aspects.
"The safest way is to have it within your immediate control. If it can't be within your immediate control, then having that security as well and that could be a small safe whether you use a key, a combination or fingerprints," Duncan said. |
MN: Vague self-defense laws put people like Rittenhouse in lifelong debt
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This begs the question, if a person is legally allowed to be in possession of a firearm for defense how can an individual know when using deadly force is justifiable in incidents which unfold in only moments? I want to believe a person should know the difference if they choose to carry. Mr. Rittenhouse unquestionably initially attempted to flee from Mr. Rosenbaum rather than use deadly force. Yet, he was still arrested and charged with murder. If that is not the line, exactly where is it? |
Republicans Warn ATF Taking Steps Toward Unofficial Gun Registry
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Texas Representative Michael Cloud and 51 other Republicans in Congress warn the Biden administration is encroaching on the Second Amendment. They say the ATF (The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), the government law enforcement agency that deals with firearms, is proposing a rule that would create a backdoor gun registry without Congress permission. Attorney Edwin Walker, with Texas Law Shield, says Cloud has a point. The agency is trying to keep firearm purchase records that are more than two decades old.
“What is the purpose other than for eventually creating a federal gun registry of the ATF hanging on the 4473 [forms] that are over twenty years old?”, Walker asked. |
First Look: Bear Edge 61123 Knife
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Mark A. Taff
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Having a good pocket knife on hand makes sense for so many reasons. A sharp-edged cutting tool was one of mankind’s first inventions, and they continue to be useful to this very day. From do-it-all, everyday carry (EDC) knives to specialized knives for hunting or self defense, there is no substitute for having a knife with you when you really need one.
Bear Edge Knives makes affordable-priced knives for everyday use and carry, and now for 2021 the company is introducing the new Bear Edge 61123. The knife delivers ball bearing washers for smooth deployment, strong aluminum handles, and a unique Warncliffe blade profile for superior cutting performance. |
VA: Virginia police officer fired over Rittenhouse donation after Kenosha shootings wants job back
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A former Virginia police officer who was fired after donating to a defense fund for Kyle Rittenhouse wants his job back now that a Wisconsin jury acquitted the young man of murder during protests against police brutality last year.
Norfolk officials fired former police Lt. William Kelly in April for violating policy by using his work email to donate $25 to a Rittenhouse defense fund. But now Kelly wants to be reinstated, news outlets reported.
News organizations including The Virginian-Pilot reported that they had obtained data from a Christian crowdfunding website that was hacked, apparently showing an initially anonymous $25 donation to Rittenhouse's legal defense fund was linked to Kelly's work email address. |
The G36: Glock's Subcompact .45
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The subcompact, single-stack Glock chambered in .45 ACP introduced in 1999—the G36—doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It’s an ideal choice for self-defense, packs all the performance enthusiasts have come to expect from the company and still, somehow, avoids headlines. Going unnoticed is a valuable and rare skill for a pistol designed for concealed carry, but the relative silence in the two decades since its introduction has been deafening.
Magazine capacity is six cartridges, and that single-stack design keeps the G36 slim, a virtue that minimizes printing during concealed carry. Overall width measures 1.18". It has a 3.78" barrel, weighs 22.4 ozs. with an empty magazine and overall length comes in at 6.97". |
Threat Analysis: Judging Body Language
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Humans convey all sorts of emotion and intention through body language, and it is all but impossible for a person to conceal these tells. Part of being a well-rounded self-defender is developing an understanding of what body language to look for.
Here, I propose that one of the primary methods of determining the appropriate response to a threat is by judging body language. Obviously, you, as an armed citizen, cannot use force against another person just because that other individual scares you or rubs you the wrong way. The only justification for a forceful response is the necessity to neutralize an imminent and deadly threat. The perception of that threat being deadly must be reasonable. |
MO: Local leaders and law enforcement cite new bill as cause for increased gun violence
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“We need to address the Second Amendment Preservation Act that prohibits local law enforcement from working with federal ATF to make sure that felons, federal felons, cannot possess handguns,” Treece said.
Sponsored by Republican Senator Eric Burlison, the SAPA was signed into law by Governor Mike Parson in the summer of 2021. The bill states that federal laws attempting to restrict the purchase, ownership and use of firearms exceed the federal powers outlined in the Constitution. Importantly, the SAPA also imposes a fine of $50,000 to any law enforcement official who cooperates with federal agencies. |
America sacramentalizes guns as God's gift to the good. This is heresy
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He was warmly welcomed by police, who should have told him to go home. Instead, the wannabe security guard got into a scuffle that resulted in two men being killed and a third wounded by him. The jury believed his claim of self-defense and he is scot-free.
Rittenhouse was not even prosecuted for possession of a dangerous firearm because the judge ruled that the semiautomatic was exempt under the Wisconsin law forbidding minors from carrying dangerous weapons because the barrel was more than 16 inches long. |
CA: Court upholds California ban on high-capacity magazines
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The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by two of its judges and upheld California's ban on high-capacity magazines Tuesday in a split decision that may be headed for the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The statute outlaws no weapon, but only limits the size of the magazine that may be used with firearms," the court said in the 7-4 ruling.
The majority reasoned that "the record demonstrates that the limitation interferes only minimally with the core right of self-defense, as there is no evidence that anyone ever has been unable to defend his or her home and family due to the lack of a large-capacity magazine; and that the limitation saves lives." |
Guns and protests a toxic mix
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Unsurprisingly, the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict has exposed some fierce divisions among Americans. On one matter, though, there ought to be renewed consensus: It doesn’t help to have guns displayed at political rallies and protests.
Although the National Rifle Association likes to say that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, the Rittenhouse incident shows how making such distinctions in chaotic or violent situations is impossible. Unfortunately, the fog of war is increasingly a reality on American streets. |
The Supreme Court May Elevate the Second Amendment Above the First
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Critically, and missed in the wider discourse around the case, Paul Clement, the attorney for New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, opened the door to resolving the case by looking at the court’s past First Amendment jurisprudence and applying it to gun rights. Contrary to what Clement argued, though, framing the guns case through a First Amendment lens reveals that the court has drawn clear and workable lines that argue for commonsense regulations. If the Supreme Court were to hold gun owners to the same standards it holds people seeking to take part in protected speech and assembly, New York’s current restrictions on concealed carry would actually survive in some modified form. |
Shooting Straight with Nick Fairall
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Olympian Nick Fairall was representing the Unites States in 2015 at a snow ski-jumping World Cup competition in Austria. He launched off the ramp and soared a distance of about 410 feet from a height of about 13 stories. The jump looked and felt great. As he landed, though, he felt his skis stick against the snow—and then he was tumbling.
The awful accident broke his L1 vertebrae. An operation stabilized it, but his spinal cord had been severed; as a result, he lost the use of his legs. |
MT: Judge says part of firearms law is unconstitutional; state appeals
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The Montana Department of Justice is appealing a state District Court judge’s decision that found a portion of legislation signed into law earlier this year regulating firearms on Montana’s university campuses is unconstitutional.
Lewis and Clark District Court Judge Michael McMahon on Tuesday issued a permanent injunction in the case filed by the Montana Board of Regents over House Bill 102 for segments of the law that stopped the board or university system from prohibiting the carrying of firearms on campuses. The decision does not affect other parts of the law that expand where both concealed and openly carried firearms may be possessed. |
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