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If we cared about keeping guns out of the hands of felons, we’d be locking up straw buyers. We’d be prosecuting prohibited “lie and try” buyers who falsify their ATF paperwork. And we’d be confiscating guns sold in retail transactions that were wrongly approved because of defects in the background-check system. But, for the most part, we don’t do much of any of that.

Instead of doing the hard work of enforcing the law on people committed to breaking it, we focus almost all of our efforts on the most law-abiding group of Americans there is: People who legally buy firearms from licensed firearms dealers, a group that, by definition, has a felony-conviction rate of approximately 0.0 percent.

These are law-abiding people, but they also are, in no small part, the type of people who mash the cultural buttons of the big-city progressives who dominate the Democratic Party both culturally and financially. From that point of view, what matters is not that retail gun dealers and their clients are dangerous — which they certainly are not — but that they are icky.

— Kevin D. Williamson in Gun-Control Laws Aren’t about Preventing Crimes

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56 COMMENTS

    • What was it that Nancy kept saying when she wanted to impeach Trump over delaying foreign aid, and exposing Joe’s quid pro quo corruption? “No one is above the law.” I don’t think even the dumb dems believe she meant that. They don’t care. It’s all about punishing political enemies and increasing their own power.

  1. “From that point of view, what matters is not that retail gun dealers and their clients are dangerous — which they certainly are not — but that they are icky.”

    Strych9 commented on this just a few months back –

    Among the most powerful of emotions, disgust is one of the ones at the top of the list. Once you implant that into someone, there’s no limit as to how far they can go against us, and feel righteous about it. To them, we are nothing but a cockroach that needs to be stepped on.

    That’s seriously dangerous stuff. That’s how the 1994 Rwandan genocide with the Hutu and Tutsi got started.

    Wiki goes into it a bit : “Under this theory, the Hutu and Tutsi distinction arose later and was not a racial one, but principally a class or caste distinction in which the Tutsi herded cattle while the Hutu farmed the land…”

    The good news is, more and more of us are coming to see them as the same… 🙂

    • Which is why they call anyone that disagrees with them racists and Nazis, and their zombie sheep followers actually believe it. I think one reason this works so easily is because there is a strong need to feel virtuous about something. It makes them feel virtuous to look down on the so-called deplorable.

        • “Cultivating real virtues is hard work,…”

          Uh oh. Someone should ban this commenter; “hard work” is raciss; white privilege; cultural oppression; and, uuumm, you know, the thing.

      • Pretty sure “racists and Nazis” never even dreamed of the atrocities perpetrated by both sides during that genocide. I mean, really, eating someone’s entrails while they are still alive and watching is just rude. Some of the “humans” of this world are just prehistoric animals who need to be exterminated, pretending otherwise is not productive.

      • Even happens in shooting circles. Our parent body is dominated by full-bore target shooters who have the attitudes of elitist Fudds. They look down on the service rifle shooters with the level of disdain and contempt only rivaled by Miner and Dacian for average gun owners. They think if the service rifle target shooters were “sacrificed” they will be left alone. They like our money. But don’t like us. They like the larger non-affiliated SSAA more than a group with direct and financial long-time affiliation.

        They clearly fail to see the polarized politics from Progressives and in particular The Greens (insert watermelon joke here) who want nothing less than our extermination.

        • BTW since none of you 2A scholars mentioned it….

          Happy Constitution Day!

  2. It’s hard for dems to lock up their own constituents. That’s why they look to punish middle aged white guys in Maine and Montanta for what happens in Chicago and Baltimore.

  3. Good article. Too bad most democrat voters are deaf and blind to the ones in their very political party who are dead set on relieving them of the rights their ancestors fought and died for.

  4. The defense lawyers for the shooter who killed Kate Steinle (Kate was walking with her Dad on a SanFran pier) are calling on Biden to release the five time deported/seven time convicted shooter/felon.
    The POS shooter and his POS lawyers all still claim it was ‘just an accident’. 🙄

    • while cwb has forty examples of similar local incidents, that was one of the very first that i’d heard of; truly outrageous. honestly, i had no idea he was incarcerated- somehow i thought he’s been released and deported. here illegally, wanted, ~found~ firearm, has death causing nd ricochet.

    • I’m pretty sure it was an accident, and the illegal wasn’t targeting Kate or randomly firing shots. I don’t buy the story that he found the stolen gun in a paper bag immediately before the shooting and it just went off.

      • He was a seven time convicted felon. This means he was aware of his prohibited possession status.
        He was in possession of a firearm that ultimately resulted in the death of another.
        Everything else is just mental masterbation and attorney suppositions.
        If an LTC holder has a ND, they are held responsible for any injuries, 100% of the time.

        • Civil liability and criminal liability are two entirely different animals. And there are degrees of criminal culpability. A ND with a ricochet causing death is not first or second degree murder, which is what this guy was charged with. If the DA had had any brains and charged him with a lesser included offense such as negligent homicide, the result would have been different. That verdict by the way was a jury verdict.
          Further, the shooter did have seven felonies, but none were for violent crimes. Rather, he is a drug addict who committed property crimes to support his habit.

        • ‘Prohibited Person’ status isn’t recognized by pure 2A patriots, FUDD.

          In the US illegally, deported five times, convicted of seven felonies, addicted to drugs…… 🤔

          Sorry, he’s prohibited. 👍

          The only reason this POS is still alive?
          He commits his crimes in a leftarded run state that keeps his victims and the citizenry unarmed.
          Funny how that works. Pass laws, the law abiding will follow them, the lawless and criminal element TOTALLY disregard.

          Send that POS to Texas to act like a fool.
          Problem solved…….

          https://youtu.be/oHDQEcf_LcU

  5. It would appear that each of those ladies are already packing a pair of 38s. I’d love to sell them 12 gauge shotguns just so I can observe the resulting underdamped harmonic oscillations.

  6. icky?

    If you want to see icky or disgusting, you only have to look at the very liberals who want to ban guns, these are the same people who have been peddling the most icky and disgusting perversions like abortion and the transex/homosexual/pedophile creeps.

    These are the same people who want legal protection for addictions like drugs and porn, while persecuting and harassing Christians and Churches with lawsuits and anti-Christian laws. These liberals want to destroy society, and everything they have been doing for decades is designed to destroy society, so they can take over permanently.

    They are basically communists.

  7. The biggest reason they’re so desperate for gun control is without it they can’t implement the rest of their communist agenda, ala Australia!!

  8. They want to make scapegoats out of people who were forced to carry into hostile territory and those found with expended shotgun shells in DC. Meanwhile, Dontray Mills almost got off scot free (probation) for trafficking 55 guns he purchased with a fake ID then sold. There is a YouTube video of a man out there who got a visit from DHS for buying diesel fuel filters from China and he is a diesel mechanic. Up is down and down is up anymore.

    • Haven’t heard of the case you cite, but I am not surprised. If such a law is valid, the person you refer to should spend his life in prison. My view of the goals we are seeing is that the first escalation which will EVER be really punished is, after we have universal registry, “turn them all in or we will kill you”.

  9. “This is why it’s critical that we reconstruct urban gun culture.”

    From the reports I read, there already is one.

    And it is untouchable.

      • “Chicago leads the nation, maybe they should deal in franchises!”

        Isn’t that already in the charter of the agreement with the mob?

      • “…Chicago leads the nation, maybe they should deal in franchises!”

        How do you think that motorcycle gangs like the ‘Hell’s Angles’ and others spread nation-wide (and even internationally)?

  10. it is really laughable to read “Karen” Williamson support a fight in the culture wars. A man (R) who is a never Trumper!!!
    It was President Trump who led the fight in the culture wars for 4 years. And it’s pretty obvious that a lot of so-called “gun owners” and so-called “conservatives” really never had the stomach to fight a cultural War. That was proven decades ago when they refused to side with religious gun owning conservatives.

    The Bible Belt has constitutional carry. The Porn Belt has trainee story time with men exposing themselves to children. Mom and pop stores are forced to close. People are not allowed to attend church services.
    But Walmart is allowed to stay open?

    • Every once in a blue moon a true conservative article makes it out of National Review instead of the usual 99.9% cuckish crap.

      There was a few keeper zingers in the article.
      Collins gives away the game, writing that a proposed gun-show regulation won’t actually do much, “but if it passes, we can at least savor the thought that the weapons lobby finally had a bad day.”

      Giving people you hate a bad day is a pretty poor basis for public policy. Collins’s contribution here is useless to the policy debate, and as journalism, it is somewhere between incompetent and dishonest, dwelling in that no-man’s land of mediocrity that stretches across so many op-ed pages.

      and

      “It just feels good to exercise power over people you loathe or envy… And, if that’s what gets your pistons pumping — well, then, you need Jesus, or at least therapy.”

      Regardless, NatRev is in the dumper and only a matter or time.

  11. We also need to be cognizant of the ever expanding definition of” prohibited person” ,and the parallel expansion of offenses that are not felonies or violent (state level misdemeanors)but ” felonies for the purpose of firearms”…we are aware that many state and federal agencies and offices aren’t immune from applying a ” political litmus test” to the process, how and who they apply it to.
    Let’s take greater care to insure that” prosecuting prohibited purchasers” is solely applied to people who should not be out of custody at all.
    Again-I take issue with the very concept of a lifetime prohibition on anyone NOT CURRENTLY IN CUSTODY or on probation/parole restrictions, restitution obligations etc.
    ANYONE who’s” paid their debt ” via the disposition of The Court who” shouldn’t be trusted” with the full exercise of ALL of their rights should either 1) still be in custody or 2) taking that room temperature dirt nap.
    A lifetime loss of rights should not be without an actual Life Sentence. Or a death sentence. Some people actually deserve either or both.
    I have no problem, however; with making people Walk Their Talk whenever they mouth platitudes, whether it’s about” rehabilitation” or ” being hard on crime”. I just don’t want to let them skate on doing their jobs but creating” new criminals” via new definitions or expansion of prohibited person classifications

    • Looki at it from a rehabilitated lawbreakers point of view.
      “I’ve done all they said, jumped through all their hoops, became a productive member of society and still I’m saddled with being a criminal for life. What’s the use of doing things ‘the law way’?”

    • Downunder even excessive traffic violations can result in either firearms license denial or cancellation (Queensland) on the grounds you are impulsive and reckless.

      Victoria has upped the ante with ONE traffic or public health order violation being sufficient for any police officer down to Inspector rank can cancel a firearms license and impose a firearms prohibition order for 10 years. In that period you can be subjected to warrant less searches of you or your household at any time and cannot attend any venue where firearms are present including a range, a shop, or even a friend’s house. The order cannot be appealed for at least 5 years.

      • “…excessive traffic violations can result in either firearms license denial or cancellation (Queensland) on the grounds you are impulsive and reckless.”

        And the logic they use is “If you can’t be trusted to drive responsibly, then you’re not responsible enough to own a gun”.

        There is no end to where that leads.

        Get into a heated argument at work with a co-worker? Someone who can’t keep their anger under control at all times can’t be trusted to own a gun…

      • Yeah, what you have to deal with in Australia is a liberal’s wet dream. I’m sure there are politicians here that would love to implement that. That’s where our constitution saves us. Taking someone’s guns away on the basis of a traffic ticket, I think, would fall under excessive punishment, which is unconstitutional.
        Sorry you have to deal with that though. Here’s hoping that other people of your country will wise up and get rid of the politicians that subjugate you.

    • ” it is the *Democrat* party, there is absolutely nothing Democratic about it.”

      Yes, there is.

      If they can ever get 51 percent of voters to agree with them, our rights are*gone*.

      That’s democracy, the one with the most votes gets their way…

      • Yes and no. Yes, they can get their way with the most votes, but that’s where our checks and balances are supposed to play an important role. SCOTUS can technically stop it. Although history has shown that if something is popular enough, SCOTUS can say something, but their ruling is about as useful as a third hole in the head. Best example, Andrew Jackson was helping push native Americans off their land. SCOTUS said that was not right. But it was popular with the people, so Andrew just ignored SCOTUS and did it anyways. So there is that. Ultimately, what we as gun owners have to do, is change people’s minds about guns.

  12. My contribution to the culture war is, “Don’t ban guns. Ban the people who misuse guns. They are a menace with or without guns.” The culture war is wholly about holding people who will not or cannot behave responsible for their actions.

    • I like your contribution, but I don’t think that’s what the culture war is about. It’s about changing the way people think. It’s about degrading (or not degrading) society.

      • If the bad actors aren’t held responsible, society cannot but degrade. Whether or not to tolerate bad behavior marks the divide between left and right. A few days ago, a parent, angry about a school mask mandate, snatched the mask off a teacher’s face. The merits of masks, or the lack thereof, were irrelevant. Snatching is unacceptable and deserves as a response dislocated fingers and a kick in the teeth. The school’s response was mealy mouthed nonsense about respecting others opinions. That’s the difference I’m talking about.

  13. Fun fact: The BATFE & US Attorney’s Offices don’t pursue 18 USC 922(g) cases (Felons in Possession of Firearms) because the demographics are not the one’s they want…..

  14. THE REAL FACTS ARE AS FOLLOWS AND NO ITS NOT A CULTURE WAR AT ALL ITS A WAR FOR THE ADOPTING OF COMMON SENSE GUN LAWS AND TURNING CAPITALVANIA INTO A CIVILIZED COUNTRY.

    No industrialized nation on earth permits criminals and lunatics to buy all the firepower they want through the purchase of un-vetted second hand guns except of course Capitalvania where blind greed rules and human life is considered cheap and expendable.

    The NRA of course is the chief culprit who has traditionally bought off corrupt greed monger Republicans and Republicans through the corrupt practices of gerrymandering hold on to power despite being a minority political party and hated by the majority of American voters.

    In Capitalvania states with lax laws funnel tens of thousands of second hand guns up the “Iron Pipe Line” (as verified by Law Enforcement) from South Carolina up the East Coast of the U.S. where thousands of guns are fed into the bigger cities like New York and Chicago. Its a multimillion dollar underground business.

    The lack of vetting on second hand guns allows convicted felons, mentally ill people and terrorists to buy all the firepower they want. No other civilized society on earth allows criminals and lunatics to walk out of prison, and walk across the street to a bar, gun show, flea market, answer a newspaper add or log on to an internet chat room and start buying weapons of mass destruction, no questions asked except “do you have the cash brother?”.

    Two different Chicago studies showed the average age of guns used in crime was 13 or more years old and were for the most part not stolen but had passed through many hands, plus tracings by Law Enforcement in other cities and states prove beyond all doubt that it is second hand guns that are used in the most crime.

    And recently the availability of ghost guns used in crime has skyrocketed which led Biden to ban the sale of such ghost gun weapons which of course was the sale of untraceable weapons and of course pure insanity and a heaven on earth for criminals and psychopaths that would be banned from buying new guns under the Brady Bill.

    Again here is just a partial list of murder and mass murder committed by criminals and lunatics with Ghost Guns.

    A PARTIAL LIST OF LUNATICS AND CRIMINALS WHO BUILT GHOST GUNS AND USED THEM IN CRIME OR MASS MURDERS.

    Are ghost guns frequently used in violent crime?????????????????????????

    Yes, ghost guns are increasing being used in shootings across the country.

    In July 2020, an individual who was prohibited from possessing guns allegedly murdered two people in Pennsylvania using a homemade 9mm handgun.9

    In November 2019, a 16-year-old shot five of his classmates at Saugus High School in California—two of them fatally—using a homemade handgun, before fatally shooting himself.10

    In August 2019, a shooter used a homemade gun kit to build a .223-caliber firearm that he later used to fire 41 shots in 32 seconds in a bar in Dayton, Ohio, shooting 26 people and killing nine.11

    In 2017, in Northern California, a man prohibited from possessing firearms ordered kits to build AR-15-style rifles. On November 13, he initiated a series of shootings that began with fatally shooting his wife at home, followed by a rampage the next day during which he fired at multiple people in several different locations, including an elementary school, killing five people and injuring dozens more.12

    In 2013, a shooter opened fire in Santa Monica, California, shooting 100 rounds, killing five people, and injuring several others at a community college using a homemade AR-15 rifle. Reporting indicates the shooter had previously tried to purchase a firearm from a licensed gun dealer and failed a background check, potentially indicating why he opted to order parts to build a gun instead.13

    Law enforcement officials around the country are sounding the alarm about the dramatic increase in the recovery of ghost guns at crime scenes in their communities. ATF reported that approximately 10,000 ghost guns were recovered across the country in 2019.14 Ghost guns have also been illegally trafficked to Mexico.15 In addition:

    In 2019, Washington, D.C., police recovered 115 ghost guns, a 360 percent increase from 2018, when they recovered 25 ghost guns, and a 3,733 percent increase from 2017, when only three such firearms were recovered.16

    In 2019, ATF reported recovering 117 ghost guns in Maryland with almost 25 percent recovered from Baltimore alone. Ghost gun recoveries in the state then tripled in 2020.17
    According to law enforcement in Philadelphia, ghost gun recoveries in that city rose 152 percent from 2019 to 2020.18

    The special agent in charge of the ATF Los Angeles Field Division reported in January 2021 that 41 percent of the division’s cases involve ghost guns, and a May 2019 statewide analysis in California found that 30 percent of all guns recovered in connection with a crime in the state did not have serial numbers.19

    In addition, an investigation by The Trace found that ghost guns are increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for violent white supremacists and anti-government extremists.20

    In conclusion the ATF is a law unto itself and as in the past it rules at 8:00 AM and it is then a new “regulation” (disingenuous term for new law) is now the law of the land at 5:00 PM.

    No Judge Conservative or Liberal will declare the ATF ruling illegal or Unconstitutional because ghost guns are a danger to the people of the country and even the much ballyhooed Scalia decision with the usual double talk and smoke and mirrors declared “The Courts had the right to regulate firearms” (slick disingenuous term for ban or restrict firearms).

    In conclusion your right to own a weapon rests with the rulings of the courts, not the Constitution, and history has proven this reality like it or not.

    No sane person would want ghost guns legal and no other civilized nation tolerates them.

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