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US Olympic shooters caught in political crossfire on guns [via bellinghamherald.com] would have you believe that our Olympic shooters face derision from their friends and society in general. While I don’t dispute the evidence presented, these athletes are hardly part of an invisible minority. They have the full support from The People of the Gun, who form a significant part of American culture. So . . .

desantis blue logo no back 4 smallRegardless how our shooters fare in the Olympics — and  we’re delighted that WVU Champion shooter Ginny Thrasher won the first gold medal for the U.S. in Rio — is American gun culture in ascendency, decline or stasis? There are two seemingly incompatible trends: more guns sold and carry permits granted vs. more gun control in states like California and constant calls for gun control from Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Who’s winning?

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40 COMMENTS

  1. Ginny is awesome. I’m so happy for her. And, I dare a Dem Pol to publicly say something derisive about a Gold-winning U.S. Athlete during the Games. The blow-back would be exhilarating to watch.

  2. I honestly think we are in the ascendancy. While places like CA have taken steps back, other states have loosened up on their restrictions. More states allowing superstore, constitutional carry, carry on college campuses…
    But we cannot let up the fight. We MUST press on!

  3. ” is American gun culture in ascendency, decline or stasis?”

    As Tom mentioned, in some areas rights are ascendant.

    In others, steep decline. And in others, stable.

    We are in a civil war regarding enumerated civil rights, and I fear it will get a lot worse before major change occurs…

    • Agree. In part it’s a matter if demographics and education,to wit: urban populations increase, and schools, which in the ideal should be incubators for knowledge about Second Amendment civil liberties and hunter safety. simply ignore both. Unfortunately, fewer Americans hunt, but in the plus side the increase in CCW permits and possession of handguns by women for lswfulvdekf defense may help our cause

  4. Hawaii, Coastal California, Cook County Illinois, Washington D.C., New Jersey, Maryland, New York City and immediate vicinity, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are “all in” on civilian disarmament. Other areas/states are at worst evenly divided and quite often firearm freedom is on the rise.

    Life for the majority is all about fantasy and feelings in those regions. The dominant businesses in those areas (vacation paradise, television, movies, BIG technology, BIG banking, and BIG education — e.g. Ivy League universities) have fostered an environment where the power brokers and the masses in those locations are immersed in fantasy and indulging feelings. Being immersed in fantasy and indulgent feelings means you can reject reality and drink the “utopia” Kook-Aide with gusto. Thus they reject icky self-defense and the requisite icky guns for self-defense … heaven forbid they get their hands dirty.

  5. Watch how big we can lose when we have Hilary set the coarse of the SCOTUS for the next 2 generations.

    If you sit this election out you’re enabling the Hildebeast.

    • True. Because of our stupid 2 party system, if you don’t vote for Trump, you are voting for Hillary and the tyranny that comes with it….even if you do not vote. There has never been an election more important than this one. We are about to lose the Bill of Rights, and short of a revolution, we are not going to get them back. I don’t like Trump, but I will vote for him to prevent Hitlery from destroying this nation.

      • If you think that the “2 party system” is the problem OR that it is horrible then you need to get out more. Read up on the alternatives. There are obviously uninformed fools think that some “parliamentary”/coalition would be awesome.

        Just look at the history of Eurp. Those morons bought into tribal/royalist BS for millennia then they traded it in for a succession of dictators and socialist/marxist coalition gov’t.

      • I’m really hoping all those Bernie supporters go Green or go home. Libertarian party is dead to me with those candidates.

    • The rifle she uses in competition looks more like a plumbing contraption than a weapon.

      I don’t know if it would have the desired effect.

      • Kinda crazy and definitely a mean-spirited couch potato attitude to suggest turning down a chance to meet the President of the United States after winning a gold medal in any event, but especially an event we’d like see given more respect. Luckily that’s not something any U.S. Olympian is going to do at the suggestion of a rabid racist, gun rights or not.

        • I’d turn down the chance to meet him. But I’m just a person that took an oath to uphold the Constitution, so whatever.

        • goggle the dick act of 1902=gun control forbidden.{go ahead and goggle it,this is no joke}the dick act of 1902-can,t be repealed{gun control forbidden}its protection against a tyrannical government.the dick act of 1902 also known as the efficiency of militia bill h.r. 11654 of june 28,1902 it invalidates all so-called gun-control laws.the right of the people,to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. goggle hillary clintons scandals,and bill clintons criminal/mena connection. go trump everyone we know is voting for you.

  6. Kudo’s to Ginny

    Support the team, buy a T-Shirt http://www.usashooting.org/

    As with all polarizing issues, you have your victories and you have your defeats. We just have to keep going and cannot quit. We are in a Culture War fueled by the media. Everyone has to just find their little part to make things better. Get involved at least at the grass roots. Don’t like the NRA, fine, there are so many gun rights groups just in your own backyard donate to at least one before the year is over.. Join the campaign of a pro-gun candidate, take a non-shooter to the range, teach the young folks about our rights. Pick-up a free copy of the Constitution http://www.nccs.net/us_constitution.html and teach a young person….so many little things. Just don’t sit down and expect someone else to do all the hard work for you. This is a fight that requires everyone to row in order to keep pushing things forward.

    The difference between us and them is all they have is emotions and political elitist ideology, gun owners have a vested interest and passion.

    The fight this fall is for the future of the SCOTUS — we loose that fight and we will have the fight of our lives in front of us. Even with a friendly SCOTUS, there is a ton of state level work to do. It will never stop so we cannot stop but we need to make sure that we expand the tent of gun owners and bring new gun owners on board every day.

  7. I don’t know if we’re winning, but the Statists sure aren’t.

    Everytime they do something retarded the result is massive non-compliance. People don’t register their “assault weapons” and people here in Colorado laugh while flagrantly ignoring magazine restrictions that the LEO’s don’t even try to enforce.

    The Statists are gonna state but more and more their irrelevant because free people simply ignore them.

      • I’ve got the Jamo. You bring the Guinness and we’ll have a party!

        Hell, bring your 80% receivers and I’ll open up the garage and we’ll have a party that will really piss off the pearl clutchers!

    • “People don’t register their “assault weapons” and people here in Colorado laugh while flagrantly ignoring magazine restrictions that the LEO’s don’t even try to enforce.”

      I agree with you but you have to look at the long term game the anti-gunners are now playing. They are trying to destroy local gun culture one felony count at a time.

      For example, the Sullivan Act passed in 1911 in NYC. By the 70’s and 80’s “only bad guys and cops have guns” was an oft repeated mantra I would hear in school and on the local news. Now kids can’t even run around playing with toy guys without some MDA clucking hen calling the cops or tying to get them suspended from school. The anti-gunners are desperately trying to push laws that restrict minors from handling firearms in pro gun states. Throwing shit at the wall to try and get anything to stick.

      In Colorado, they got the mag ban and background check bills to pass. These laws need to be not only ignored but repealed as soon as possible in order to hold the line. UBC ballot initiatives in Nevada, Maine, and Arizona must be defeated by a wide margin and anyone supporting those initiatives must be campaigned against. We have to be as relentless in repealing their laws as they are in trying to pass new ones.

      • I agree with you right up until I don’t. Democrats pushing gun control has been and continues to be a loser for them. I hope they keep pushing their nonsensical ideas because every time they do they go down in flames.

        You’ll note that on the national level they’re getting nowhere with their nonsense and here’s why: no one really cares about gun control other than the people who incessantly push it and those who are against it. Most people don’t care, but these days err on the side of the 2A.

        Gun and gun control don’t make ABC’s top 15 things Americans care about.

        http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/top-15-issues-americans-worried/story?id=29758744

        1% of people tell Gallup that Gun Control is their #1 issue:

        http://www.gallup.com/poll/1675/most-important-problem.aspx

        In fact if you look at the polling from Pew over time, we’re winning and winning handily at the national level. In 1999 66% of people favored gun control and 29% supported American’s right to own a gun. 10 years ago in 2006 we were still losing. Gun control had 60% support while gun rights only had 32%. However, in the last decade things have gone decidedly in our favor. In 2014 support for gun control had crashed 20 points from it’s 1999 high, down to 46% while support for gun rights had gained 23 points, up to 52%. You’ll also find that over time, support for gun rights is going up across nearly all demographics while support for gun control is on the decline. The trend is our friend.

        Play this this graph, it’s fun! (currently set for gender but you can change things as you wish) http://www.people-press.org/2015/08/13/gun-rights-vs-gun-control/#gender

  8. “There are two seemingly incompatible trends: more guns sold and carry permits granted vs. more gun control in states like California and constant calls for gun control from Democrats, including presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Who’s winning?”

    Yeah, about that….
    There is no win/loss for the pro-gun/anti-gun teams.
    If our side prevails, everybody wins. If the anti’s prevail, everybody loses… even the anti’s that think they’ve won. They just will never understand what they’ve lost until it’s too late.

    • Free America vs marxist America. But it’s not just geographical by region or state. It’s urban vs suburban/rural. Takers vs “contributors”. Capitalists vs Marxists/socialists. Again its brother vs brother.

    • I think they know that more people will lose if they get what they want. They’ll just look at the person who got assaulted, murdered, and/or raped and just say “oh well”, as their armed guards stand close by.

  9. Yeah winning…though Donnie is going crazy. He IS onto something with the hildebeast losing it’s mind. I just hope we keep the house. Stock up. Yay Ginny!!!

  10. If we weren’t winning, the Left wouldn’t be out of its collective mind with hatred.

    Yes, we’re winning. But if the Old Crone is elected in November, the Left will have the hammer it will use to take it all away.

  11. First, I’m saddened that any Olympic athlete should ever face any kind of criticism for their chosen event and their unstinting dedication. Anyone who derides them is essentially not a true American.

    Second, I think society as a whole is on a major turn-around in terms of respecting the human right of good people to defend themselves. It is only the Liberal politicians who are hijacking people’s rights, and those who kowtow to them in order to keep their government sponsored living without working programs.

    The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoer.

    Theodore Roosevelt

  12. We are at a stalemate on the Federal Level because Congress is not passing any new Gun Control Laws, but neither is Congress even hinting at repealing/modifying NFA 1934, GCA 1968 or Brady background checks of 1992 to observe the operative statement of the Second Amendment, “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shat not be infringed.”

    The Supreme Court needs to make a definitive ruling on 2A that upholds the Constitutional imperative of the Second Amendment as a law-making right reserved to the Federal Government. While SCOTUS has made some rulings based on the 10th Amendment in other matters, it has not ruled definitively on the Second Amendment, which has allowed States we know all too well to openly trample and deny their Citizens’ Second Amendment RKBA. Lesser Courts have contributed to this ambiguity by ruling for and against various gun rights cases.

    The present Obama ruled DOJ cherry picks what it will and will not enforce and the Main Stream Media is a source of deliberate disinformation and bias against American civilian gun ownership to the general populace. The Courts may rule in favor of civilian gun owners, but as long as State Governments are allowed to ignore those rulings, the rulings are meaningless.

    There is no clear-cut answer to the question and there will not be until the Federal Government commits to enforcing the Second Amendment literally and strictly for all Americans in every State and Territory.

    On an alternative note, that situation MIGHT be dangerous should a gun-hating POTUS and COTUS be elected because we could get Kaliforniah style gun control laws enacted that affect all of us. It’s a conundrum where it might be best to be careful about what we wish for…

  13. Here we have a persecuted minority ( gun owners) that accomplished being best in the world. What does that get them? Hatred and abuse.

    • Agreed. So, do you think we can get our wonderful government to support us? Oh wait, they are the primary persecutors.

      Never mind.

  14. I d like to interrupt the lack of news reports on the Obamas-on-vacation-on-Martha s-Vineyard for an important update on the green slime problem at the Rio Olympic diving pool.

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