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Florida Police Chief’s Group Wages War For Incompetence In Command
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Regular readers are familiar with the tragic death of retired librarian Mary Knowlton at the hands of the Punta Gorda Police Department due to gross incompetence and negligence by multiple officers before and during a completely unnecessary use-of-force scenario.
Officer Lee Coel, who shot and killed Knowlton with wadcutter bullets that he couldn’t tell from blanks, has been charged with 1st degree felony manslaughter with a firearm for her death. Coel was fired from the department after being charged, but is appealing his termination.
Chief Tom Lewis is being charged with 2nd degree misdemeanor culpable negligence for the incident ... |
More on the Active Defense Certainty Act
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Bobby Chesney raised a number of issues regarding the Active Defense Certainty Act, and I’m just getting into it now. I think Bobby’s comments are spot on, but I want to amplify some of his concerns.
Meaning of persistent intrusion
Bobby calls out the terms “persistent” and “intrusion” (victim of a persistent unauthorized intrusion). He asks what defines a “persistent intrusion,” and suggests dwell time or a series of intrusions by the same actor as possible definitions.
Ed.: Self defense against intrusions in your computer network. |
Trayvon Martin inspires film, TV projects
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Trayvon Martin’s story will be told in film and television projects from Shawn “Jay Z” Carter and the Weinstein Company, Variety has reported.
Carter and the Weinstein Company have purchased two books: “Rest in Power” by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s parents, and “Suspicion Nation” by Lisa Bloom, who offered legal analysis of the case for NBC News. |
WV: West Virginia House, Senate consider dozens of bills
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The House also approved House Bill 2679 by a vote of 94-4. The measure would allow firearms to be carried in state and county parks for self-defense, and it would prohibit county parks from banning guns.
Coonskin Park in Kanawha County is apparently the only county park in the state to prohibit guns. Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, argued that county officials should be allowed to restrict guns in the park because it is next to Yeager Airport and state National Guard facilities, but the park was home to a skeet range for several years. |
TN: Pro-Gun Bills Moving Through the General Assembly
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Several pro-gun bills are on the move in Tennessee!
House Bill 508 and Senate Bill 445 would create a private cause of action for a party that is adversely affected by a local ordinance, resolution, policy, rule, or other enactment on firearms preempted by state law. This bill would prohibit local government entities from prohibiting or restricting firearms on local property unless certain conditions are met. Law-abiding citizens should not be placed in jeopardy of unintentionally violating local restrictions simply because they have crossed from one municipality to another. Gun owners continue to be unduly burdened by local ordinances which violate the current state firearm preemption law. |
Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Embraces Heller and Originalism During Senate Hearings
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Judge Neil M. Gorsuch, President Trump’s pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme court, asserted during his confirmation hearings this week that Scalia’s landmark Second Amendment opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller “guarantees the individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense.”
Gorsuch made the comment during an exchange with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who was trying to goad him into agreeing with the anti-gun opinion recently issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (see story at this link). |
NRA to Include Gorsuch Votes on Election Scorecards
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The National Rifle Association will be considering senators' support of Neil Gorsuch in the upcoming elections.
Executive Director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action Chris Cox has sent a letter to Senate leaders, telling them that their confirmation votes on President Donald Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court will be part of their election scorecards, according to the Washington Examiner. |
FL: GOP gun bills stall in Capitol
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oncerned about mass shootings at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and the Fort Lauderdale airport, some Republican lawmakers said they’d push to allow guns in more public places this year.
But three weeks into the legislative session, bills to permit guns on college campus, at airport terminals and in government meetings have stalled.
One major reason why is Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, who has declared she wouldn’t support far-reaching gun bills earlier this month. |
SC: Shoot down 'constitutional carry' bill
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Every new session of the state Legislature brings new plans to expand the ability of gun owners to pack iron whenever and wherever they want. And this year is no exception, including a proposal to eliminate the need for a permit to carry a weapon.
Described as “constitutional carry,” by its advocates, it eliminates the requirement for a State Law Enforcement Division-issued permit for concealed weapons and adds the ability to carry a gun openly, under the presumption that the Second Amendment defines an absolute right. |
Promise Fulfilled
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I think it’s fair to say that before late January, few Americans outside of the legal profession had heard of Judge Neil M. Gorsuch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Denver. That all changed, of course, once he was nominated by President Donald Trump to replace the late, great Justice Antonin Scalia. |
WA: Seattle’s Gun Violence Tax
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This week, it’s a call for transparency in Seattle, tales from the road, alternative carry methods, and more on Tom Gresham's Gun Talk, the original nationally-syndicated radio talk show about guns and the shooting sports.
Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb talks with Tom about the continued issues with getting information from the City of Seattle as to how much revenue has been collected from a “gun violence tax”. |
AR: Senate Votes To Exempt Sports Events From Gun Law
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A day after Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed into law an expansion of Arkansas' concealed-carry law, the Senate on Thursday approved a bill to bar handguns at college athletic events, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Arkansas State Hospital.
Hutchinson said he supports the bill. The National Rifle Association said it will fight the measure.
Senate Bill 724 by Senate President Pro Tem Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, would add exemptions to Act 562 of 2017, formerly House Bill 1249 by Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville. The bill heads now to the House. |
FL: Open Carry Protection in Sen. Judiciary Tuesday
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SB-646 by Sen. Greg Steube will be heard by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, March 28, 2017, between 3:00-5:00 pm.
SB-646 Open Carrying by Sen. Greg Steube removes the criminal penalties for violations of the open carry law and prohibits a person who has a concealed firearms license from being arrested and charged with a crime if their firearm becomes temporarily exposed to sight of another person. |
VT: Campus should allow for Second Amendment rights
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Here at UVM, the possession of any weapons other than pepper spray or knives under three inches is prohibited by University policy, unless one obtains the permission of the chief of police.
I fail to see how a public university such as UVM has the authority to place restrictions on the possession of firearms. The state of Vermont allows the carrying of firearms in public, and that policy should apply to all public lands, including UVM.
Public universities should not get special exemptions from the law.
The University cannot censor this newspaper or my words due to First Amendment protections.
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WA: Seattle Gun Tax Fails to Generate Projected Revenue, Succeeds in Burdening Rights
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On March 16, 2017, the Seattle Times reported that Seattle city officials were reluctant to release data on the revenue generated by the city’s firearms and ammunition tax, citing taxpayer confidentiality concerns. Less than a week later, we now know the more likely reason that Seattle failed to disclose this tax revenue; because the money raised fell woefully short of the figure projected by supporters of the tax.
In July 2015, Seattle City Council President Tim Burgess proposed legislation he dubbed a “Gun Violence Tax,” contending that “It’s time for the gun industry to help defray” the cost of criminal violence perpetrated with guns. Burgess’s proposal was unanimously passed by the city council on August 10, 2015. |
ND: NRA-Backed Permitless Carry Law Enacted in North Dakota
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The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) today thanked Governor Doug Burgum and North Dakota lawmakers for adopting a new law allowing law-abiding citizens greater flexibility for defending themselves. House Bill 1169 makes North Dakota the 12th state to adopt a permitless carry law that reduces the burden of government fees and mandates on citizens who choose to exercise their Second Amendment right to self-protection.
“This new law gives North Dakota’s law-abiding citizens greater freedom to defend themselves and their families,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA-ILA. “Criminals carry guns, regardless of the laws. Permitless carry simply puts law-abiding gun owners on equal footing.” |
The Washington Post Gives Gun Control Group and U.S. Senator Three Pinocchios on Suppressors
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Last week, we wrote about Americans for Responsible Solutions’ irresponsible misinformation about The Hearing Protection Act on Twitter. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who took notice of ARS’s complete disregard for the facts on firearm suppressors.
On Monday, The Washington Post Fact Checker took a look at ARS’s tweet as well as a tweet by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) about suppressors. While the Post raised many of the same problems we did, its fact check further confirmed that ARS has no problem with lying to achieve its mission for gun (or in this case suppressor) control. |
ID: Lewiston ammunition maker reduces workforce
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Vista Outdoor has trimmed 15 salaried positions in Lewiston, the latest move in a round of cost-saving measures as it refines its strategy to match shifting market demand for ammunition.
The 15 jobs being lost in Lewiston are in addition to another 15 salaried positions being cut in Anoka, Minn., Vista’s other bullet-making factory, said Vista Outdoor spokeswoman Amanda Covington in an email. The positions being cut “support operations, purchasing and customer service,” and the former staff members are receiving severance as well as help finding new employment, Covington said. |
Black Guns Matter and Maj Toure
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As a political activist and writer, sometimes something crosses your Facebook feed that gets you fired up. I stumbled across the organization Black Guns Matter in such a way and was immediately sucked in. The group was founded my Maj Toure, if you’ve never heard of him, here’s what the Black Guns Matter website has to say about him. |
TX: Bills would allow Firefighters, EMS to carry Guns
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Firefighters and paramedics could soon respond to 9-1-1 calls in Texas armed with a handgun, under proposed legislation in the State House.
Lawmakers filed a few bills that would allow firefighters and EMS workers to carry a handgun while on duty, if they have a permit to do so.
Captain Rick Rutledge said Austin-Travis County EMS crews are often first to arrive on scene. “You never really know what you’re getting into,” Rutledge said, “There are certainly risks.” |
KY: Bloke whose drone was blasted out of sky by angry dad loses another court battle for compo
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An appeals court has snubbed a drone owner's demand for $1,500 compensation from a furious dad who blew the flying gizmo out of the sky when it hovered over his family.
In July 2015, William Merideth, 47, was at home in Hillview, Kentucky, America, when his daughter came in from sunbathing in the garden to say there was a drone buzzing overhead. As a firm believer in his Second Amendment rights, Merideth loaded up his shotgun with bird shot, waited until the camera-fitted quadcopter came over his home, and then took it down with a single shot – which bought the drone's operators running. |
Concealed carry: Lessons learned
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So, this year marks five years of me being a concealed carry permit holder and almost daily conceal carrier, and in that time I have learned a lot about me, and a lot about other people, and I just want to share my experiences.
So, first things first. Concealed carry isn’t something you can do 50%, or just add it into your current lifestyle. I tried, and failed epically. For me, I got my license right after I turned 21, and well, as most people, only got a crappy four hour class that didn’t teach me anything. I tried to add in the gun to my current clothing style, or lifestyle, and well it was horrible. Concealed carry, is something that will make you change your closet inventory, and lifestyle, in a hurry too. |
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| I do believe that where there is a choice only between cowardice and violence, I would advise violence. Thus when my eldest son asked me what he should have done had he been present when I was almost fatally assaulted in 1908 [by an Indian extremist opposed to Gandhi's agreement with Smuts], whether he should have run away and seen me killed or whether he should have used his physical force which he could and wanted to use, and defend me, I told him it was his duty to defend me even by using violence. Hence it was that I took part in the Boer War, the so-called Zulu Rebellion and [World War I]. Hence also do I advocate training in arms for those who believe in the method of violence. I would rather have India resort to arms in order to defend her honor than that she should in a cowardly manner become or remain a helpless witness to her own dishonor. — Mohandas K. Gandhi, Young India, August 11, 1920 from Fischer, Louis ed.,The Essential Gandhi, 1962 |
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