Second Amendment

Grisham’s law

Featured image While we’ve had our guard up against the return of the Branch Covidians, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has shown us a new frontier in the malign uses of public health “emergencies.” Grisham has suspended laws that allow open and concealed carry of firearms in Albuquerque for 30 days after declaring a public health emergency (I’m borrowing the formulation of Jonathan Turley, who explains what it’s all about in »

Man Bites Dog: Gavin Newsom Betrays Progressives!

Featured image There’s long been reason to believe Gov. Gavin Newsom is nearly as dumb as his “frenemy” Kamala Harris, but this week gives some of the best proof yet: he has departed from Progressive orthodoxy in the dumbest way possible. You may have heard that he has proposed a constitutional amendment to allow for “common sense” gun control, such as background checks, bans on so-called “assault weapons,” and waiting periods for »

Sorry, Liberals, Audrey Hale Is Not the Victim

Featured image One New Year’s Eve in the 1990s, I was seated on a train out of Manhattan when a huge man dressed as a woman took the facing seat directly across from me. Although he had caused quite a stir as he moved through the car, he seemed oblivious to the eye rolls from my fellow passengers. With his bare midriff, I remember thinking he must be cold given the freezing temperatures »

Supreme Court Upholds Gun Rights

Featured image Today the Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a challenge to a New York State law that barred residents from obtaining a carry permit unless they could show “proper cause.” Proper cause, in turn, required the applicant to “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community.” Under the Court’s controlling precedents, Heller and McDonald, I think the New York »

Senate Gun Deal Looks OK [Updated]

Featured image A bipartisan group of senators have announced an agreement on gun legislation. I am not sure whether their deal has been reduced to legislative language, and I don’t know whether it will get through the Senate, or whether Democrats in the House will vote for it. (If I were a Democrat, I would think that the deal is extremely weak, and its main effect may be to take gun control »

A Sensible Position On Crime and Guns

Featured image I haven’t written much about the latest round of gun control hysteria, mostly because I have said everything I have to say on that topic many times over the years. The liberal solutions to mass shooting incidents, which are very rare, are every bit as silly and ineffective as their solutions to crime in general, which is ubiquitous and therefore vastly more important. Defunding the police makes about as much »

Biden shooting blanks (again)

Featured image Yesterday at the White House executive-order signing ceremony commemorating the death of George Floyd, President Biden unleased a false bromide that he has often repeated (transcript here): I spent my career, as chairman of the Judiciary Committee and as Vice President, working for commonsense gun reforms — as I said, as a senator and a Vice President. While they clearly will not prevent every tragedy, we know certain ones will »

Don’t nuke me, bro

Featured image President Biden shared his deep thoughts on the surge in violent crime (a/k/a “gun violence”) with a weary populace yesterday. The White House has posted the text of Biden’s remarks here. Among his deep thoughts: For folks at home, here’s what you need to know: I’ve been at this a long time and there are things we know that work that reduce gun violence and violent crime, and things that »

California AR-15 Ban Overturned

Featured image On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez ruled that the State of California’s ban on “assault weapons,” which dates to 1989 and basically refers to AR-15 style modern rifles, is unconstitutional. Benitez’s ruling was clearly correct under controlling Supreme Court precedent, in my opinion. Under District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), as Benitez wrote, “the Second Amendment protects guns commonly owned by law-abiding citizens for lawful »

The Boulder Murderer

Featured image The 21-year-old who murdered ten people at a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado has been identified as Ahmad Al Issa. He is a refugee from Syria who came to the U.S. as a child. Based on what has emerged so far, Al Issa had anger issues and a paranoid streak. He might have been a paranoid schizophrenic, but so far nothing has emerged that suggests he was insane in a legal »

Apocalypse fever

Featured image One of our gimlet-eyed friends has asked for anonymity to report from the firing line. He calls himself Ammoboy. I’ll give you his name when you pry it from my cold, dead lips. We are happy to protect his identity with a nod to our beloved humor columnist and grateful for the opportunity to put forward his modest proposal. He writes: I shoot a lot. Three times a week minimum, »

Joe Biden explains

Featured image Pressing the flesh with factory workers in Detroit today, Joe Biden was challenged on his Second Amendment views by a man in the crowd (CNBC account here, video below). Here we see something of a throwback to the old Biden — the freedom with the facts, the logic chopping, the fake manliness, the bullying style. The Detroit man has taken note of Biden’s delegation of gun control duties to Bobby »

Thoughts from the ammo line

Featured image Ammo Grrrll explores the deep meaning of the RUGER SHIRT. She writes: Last Wednesday, I had a really good day at the Tactical Range. I’m sure we’ve all had them; you remember all your mechanics and execute well. Your weapon is really sighted in and seems to be almost incapable of missing the x-ring. You are – to use a popular sports figure of speech – IN THE ZONE. That’s »

Pro-Gun Rally In Richmond Is Peaceful; Liberals Hardest Hit [Updated]

Featured image Today an estimated (by police) 22,000 people demonstrated at the Virginia capitol in Richmond in favor of Second Amendment rights, which are being threatened by the newly-elected Democratic majority in that state’s legislature. Liberal news outlets were hoping the rally would turn violent, and their disappointment when it didn’t was palpable. Thus, the Washington Post: And CBS: And CNN: The Babylon Bee headlines: “Media Offers Thoughts And Prayers That Someone »

90% of Virginia’s Counties Are Gun Sanctuaries

Featured image I am tempted to say that the Democrats’ pre-ordained, 100% partisan impeachment vote is the bottom story in today’s news. But that might be a slight overstatement, so I am grateful to my Power Line partners who have the patience to delve into something so boring and insignificant. While impeachment might not be at the very bottom, there were any number of more important news stories today, like this one: »

A Pensacola Postscript

Featured image It is still not clear whether Pensacola murderer Mohammed Alshamrani was part of an extremist Muslim cell or acted alone, although some of his fellow Saudis evidently shared his political views and bloodthirstiness. For now, I want to salute the contribution of Joshua Watson, 23 years old, who was one of Alshamrani’s three victims. Watson graduated from the Naval Academy in June and was stationed at Pensacola because he wanted »

Ignorance on Guns: Common, But Inexcusable

Featured image It is remarkable how little most people who are adamantly opposed to firearms know about them. In general, of course, blissful ignorance of guns is perfectly fine. But if you are a legislator, and you set out to ban something, you do have a duty to know what it is you want to make illegal. Sheila Jackson Lee is the latest to embarrass herself. She wants to ban America’s most »