Strategy and Tactics

Understand thoroughly the difference between strategy and tactics in this struggle – and it is a struggle.

The Leftists will never give up regardless of the setbacks that they are dealt. They feel that their position and issue it too important. This is why they still continue to flog a number of things that are considered settled law. For example, the “militia clause” of the Second Amendment. Leftists still argue that the Second only exists to protect members of a formally organized militia rather than every private citizen.

The strategy is to argue and oppose every single thing possible, and constantly invent new approaches to interfere with the fundamental effective self defense rights of law respecting citizens. New strategies are invented regularly, and they ripple through the states and Federal legislative bodies as soon as they are well defined by those that oppose us. Always play to your audience’s motivation, and you play to your strength.

Politicians at all levels of government work to be creative in so many ways. I got over that long ago. I try and figure out all the different ways they manipulate their audiences. Make the sly implication. Outright misrepresent the truth. Quote bogus statistics. Misdirect, misconstrue, and conflate. Leave the inconvenient question unanswered. Work to make your opponent think they are the problem. Make arbitrary and capricious rules that change on a political whim.

Tactics? How about:

• Useless background checks
• Registration schemes
• Bureaucratic complexity in compliance
• Permit systems for purchasing or carrying firearms
• The concept of prohibited people
• The ever expanding definition of those that are prohibited
• Cosmetic bans based on things that “frighten” people
• Magazine capacity bans
• Cosmetic bans based on the size of barrels
• Functional bans based on utilization shouldering firearms
• Firearm confiscation without your ability to refute charges or accusations (extreme risk protection orders / aka Red Flag laws)
  

The list goes on. None existed in 1789 when the Second Amendment was defined or 1868 when incorporated by the 14th Amendment to the states.

Utilizing any number of government mechanisms is also part of the strategy. This most recent ATF rulemaking is the latest strategy playing out in an incredibly complex set of rulemaking and bureaucratic compliance. The industry and citizen response is here, but political response from those that support us will be impotent because we don’t have the political power to do more than get Congress to vote on the record for or against Congressional Review Act audit.

The Senate will likely never pass a bill to stop agency action, and Biden’s administration will veto anything that did pass. Overriding that veto would be very unlikely.

All this infringement is unconstitutional. The courts are our last resort. Leftists know this, and count on the cost, risk and all the delays that they can inject into the “justice” system. If you don’t believe in the interference that they can inflict on our nation, look at what they have done with their Soros funded DAs in our largest cities. They use the same unethical influence to scheme against liberty and citizen rights. They falsely feel justified to do it as well, especially as retribution for Jim Crow laws and past inequity to minorities. The same mechanisms were used then to infringe on citizen rights.

Politicians controlling the Biden deep state have likely pushed the most recent Pistol Brace rulemaking onto the ATF. It’s unlikely that they are funded with the capacity to deal with the bureaucratic workload it will generate, and the constitutional repercussions it is creating.

What should our strategy be? Hold the course. Never give up. Support organizations that are responding to the rulemaking with court action. Don’t be the one to be accused of violating the law. Stay informed.

Thick is the Propaganda – But Look Close and You’ll See “Crime City” Mismanagement

Here’s the AP story (without any links to the actual report):

https://apnews.com/article/bureau-of-alcohol-tobacco-firearms-and-explosives-crime-5797d08e27b4904c4a6b68d88cf544c1

Here’s the DOJ press release:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-publication-second-volume-national-firearms-commerce-and

The report is at:

https://www.atf.gov/firearms/national-firearms-commerce-and-trafficking-assessment-nfcta-crime-guns-volume-two

Be Afraid… Be Very Afraid… Playing with Balloons!

If you’ve paid attention to the media in the past two days you’ve seen them switch from leading with the Memphis police beating story to the new China spy balloon story. 

I lead on last night’s newscasts, and tonight as it drifts into Kansas it is leading on the PBS News Hour. 

That’s a lot of attention for a Chinese weather balloon that “Defense department officials are tracking across the central US”… 

So… Be afraid. Be Very Afraid! 

The truth? 

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/02/why-would-the-chinese-government-be-flying-a-large-stratospheric-balloon/

While we can’t be sure, it’s probably a standard weather research balloon with a descent mechanism that has failed. 

When it comes to quality journalism, this unfortunate work reads like the product of today’s woke advocacy journalism schools where the students have all studied by copying text in the scriptorium illuminated only by gaslight. 

Well, it Seems They Always Have Been SBRs…

Friday, January 13, 2023, the ATF published the final rules for braced firearms, affirming that they are and always have been Short Barreled Rifles – regardless of prior advice from the agency.

https://www.atf.gov/rules-and-regulations/factoring-criteria-firearms-attached-stabilizing-braces

The ATF has agreed to “forbearance” of the $200 fee, which still stands… they just agree to not collect it during registration of braced pistols.

They state that these firearms have always been SBRs, and that they just errored in their analysis in the past. For that reason, when they were transferred to you by an FFL as an individual they are currently in your individual possession as an SBR now unless transferred to a trust prior to 1/13/2023. For that reason, you must generally register these as an individual on Form 1.They consider them to be SBRs now unless you take an action to make them not be SBRs (destroy the brace permanently; change the barrel to over 16 inches). Note that an AR-15 recoil extension behind the receiver may be considered something that can be shouldered on an AR-15 pistol since the surface area no longer is being analyzed.

You will need to provide correct form fingerprint cards by mail or the electronic format fingerprint file for each one you register, and send a notification packet to your CLEO. I don’t understand why new ones are necessary if you already have NFA items on registry, but they appear to be needed.

Consider waiting until after the rule actually publishes on the Federal Register before filing the Form 1. That is when the process will become official.

While GOA/GOF, SAF, FPC and a number of state organizations will likely file lawsuits against this rulemaking, resolving them will take time, involve risk and great expense. Support them as you can.

ATF makes interesting statements in their “Factoring Criteria” document. They indicate that in the last years, about 210 braced firearms involved in crimes have been analyzed by their laboratories. They also indicate an estimate of 3 million braced firearms exist in civilian hands. SIG submitted an estimate of 5 million. Even assuming ATF’s estimate, that means that .007 percent of these firearms were submitted after criminal incidents. That is remarkably low.

NFA is characterized as existing to register “particularly dangerous” “gangster weapons”. With over 3 million braced pistols in circulation over the last decade, it would seem that braced pistols are in “common use”, and that they are not rare, or “particularly dangerous”. It’s difficult to see from the ATF’s own statements, and from FBI statistics how these commonly used firearms should justifiably remain under the NFA.

There are possible Chevron Deference violations in this rulemaking. The questions is whether Congress expressly authorized the agency to define these firearms as SBRs after a decade of use under the GCA, potentially violating the concept of lenity for perhaps millions of citizens.

The ATF addresses all these things, and feels that they have the justification to proceed in their rulemaking. This will likely wind it’s way through a number of levels of courts, encounter disagreement between the Federal District Appeals Courts and then end up in the Supreme Court the way the Bump Stock rules have now in the Cargill v. Garland case.

By what’s key is that Biden’s DOJ simply does not care, and Congress cannot override this action at this point.

The brace is not being registered or  taxed. The pistol firearm with brace can now generally considered a SBR. The ATF has stated that it is an SBR, and has always bene a SBR and that they made errors in declaring them GCA firearms in the past.

They give owners choices. Register them within 120 days and they will “forebear ” (or forget to collect) the $200 transfer tax; or destroy the brace, or install a 16 inch barrel or turn in the firearm or destroy the firearm. If you register it on form 1, you submit fingerprints and notify your CLEO. Some states do not permit civilians to own NFA firearms.

If your FFL transferred the braced SBR to you individually you register it as an individual unless you transferred it to a trust prior to 1/12/2023. Registration involves submitting form 1 online, fingerprints and notification of your CLEO.

The rulemaking is sure to be challenged by GOA/GOF; SAF; FPC and a number of state firearms rights organizations.

Issues of Chevron Deference violation, Lenity and other legal principles were dismissed by the ATF in their order, but are sure to be brought up after the 5trh Federal Circuit ruling on Cargill v. Garland last week.

Understand that Congress cannot address this since the Senate will not pass a bill and the Biden Administration supports the ATF actions. Only the judiciary can reverse this, and that will take time and be expensive. That is, of course, what is anticipated by the agency.

Note that the “factoring criteria” anticipates that there are 3,000,000 of these in use today after a decade of general distribution under the GCA, and that there have bene two incidents of criminal use, and 210 braced firearms submitted to them in the last 5 years for analysis. Still, they describe them as “particularly dangerous” weapons controlled because of “gangster use” as identified for inclusion in the NFA in 1938.

In the post NYSRPA v. Bruen world, where rules didn’s exist about barrel length, how a user shoulders a weapon, and treatment of weapons in “common use” in 1789 when the 2nd Amendment was adopted and 1868 when it was incorporated to the States by the 14th Amendment, one might question how this possible  infringement might impact analysis by a court respecting the Supreme Court.

NYSRPA v. Bruen removes the concept of “Scrutiny” from the court’s analysis of government laws and actions. From June, 2022 on, the 2nd Amendment means what it says, and exactly what it meant in 1789 and 1868, There is no longer “wiggle room”. “Shall not be infringed” doesn’t seem compatible with the 300 pages of rules and explanation that are based on the length characteristics of a rifle or pistol when there were no traditions about this back when the 2nd Amendment was conceived and written.

The arguments in the ATF factoring criteria are tortured. The ruling is somewhat based on how a firearm is advertised and how you end up using something, not it’s physical characteristics. This is similar to regulating weapons because they are “scary” (something Maryland and others justify their “Assault Weapons” bans with).

In the end, the ATF makes it clear in their own argument that there is no evidence that the 3,000,000 weapons with these characteristics are in common usage, and that they are – in fact (based on the evidence from FBI statistics) not “particularly dangerous” and not the choice of modern day criminals as “gangster weapons”.

The Definitive Study of the Perversion of “Scientific Research”

Princeton University in a surprising stroke of honesty has done an extensive analysis and study of the actual rigor that “researchers” apply when doing studies.  So much for “gun control” supporting “research” and “climate change”… 

They gave a large number of them a set of data and asked them all to perform a study of it for publication. Since the media loves to take studies that purport to analyze “gun violence” (whatever that is) and heavily publicize it in the hope that the politicians will get the emotional boost that they need to pass more restrictive gun control laws, the NRA did an overview analysis of Princeton’s results. 

https://www.nraila.org/articles/20221219/research-experiment-exposes-key-problem-with-anti-gun-social-science

The study itself is extensive and rather damning of the social “scientists” that participated. There were a large number that got involved. The net of this is that there was no reliable result from 73 experienced teams of social scientists that were all motivated to come up with the same result from the same data. Only one team did the initial analysis that rejected the data as inadequate for the work. The rest plodded through applying their individual biases and coming up with greatly varying results. 

The study PDF is at: https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2203150119?download=true

It’s quite clear that everyone should question the validity of any “gun violence” research that is presented to the public. I know of only one researcher, John Lott, who regularly makes his raw datasets available to the public so that anyone can do their own analysis and confirmation of his work. Critics of his work don’t actually do that, but rather apply their own biases and theories as is clearly evident in the Princeton study. Lott is a trained economist, not a “social scientist” and he approaches his work from that factual point of view. The Left hates him for it and the factual truth he teases from the data. 

The public and politicians should be very skeptical of the myriad studies criticizing civilian firearm ownership in the United States – and especially those that ignore the impact of criminals and criminal organized gangs in American cities. Here’s an example of how a taxpayer funded study at the CDC has recently been corrupted through agency and administration bias: 

Emails Show CDC Removed Defensive Gun Use Stats After Gun-Control Advocates Pressured Officials in Private Meeting

In this case, real data existed and was removed because it was inconvenient to the intended conclusion of the study. That is both corrupt and dishonest. 

It isn’t really “Science” when the Gaslight Ghouls get their way…

Interesting article:

https://thereload.com/emails-cdc-removed-defensive-gun-use-stats-after-gun-control-advocates-pressured-officials-in-private-meeting/

It seems that the paying customer always gets what they pay for.

In this case, references to valid defensive gun usage were removed from taxpayer funded CDC studies on “gun violence” because it made use of the CDC studies to justify more gun control more difficult.

Yeah… the Gaslight Ghouls lie all the time. They don’t respect your right to defend yourself effectively. That is the Constitutional right to arm yourself against violent criminals. It’s so important to Leftists to disarm you that they will influence taxpayer funded CDC Federal agency “research” to fake the foundation of their work.

Politicians and their deep state agencies don’t care about the Constitution, your rights that the Constitution recognizes and guarantees or your safety. All they care about is getting their way.

For that reason, it’s important to never compromise with Leftists.

The Last 100 times the Leftist Gaslight Ghouls have called for Confiscating Your Guns

Here, one of my collogues in the Grass Roots North Carolina movement, recounts the last 100 times the Leftist Gaslight Ghouls have called for confiscating your guns: 

https://parkerd.substack.com/p/all-the-proof-you-need-the-100-reasons

They will lie to you for a while and claim that they don’t want to take your guns, but by now, we all know the truth… 

This list goes back to 1993 for the first article, then starts just a decade ago for most of the rest. That is a lot of lying to our faces… 

You’d think that they would get the message considering the level of NICS checks in the past few years (which has broken all records), but that is not how it works when Leftists want to disarm you. 

They simply don’t care. They don’t care about your right to defend yourself effectively. They don’t care about your security. They don’t care about the Constitution. They don’t care about their responsibility once they take office. They don’t care about the oath they take to uphold the Constitution – and oath they take to God if they believe in one, or that they “affirm” in a supposedly serious way. They simply don’t care. 

For that reason, make it clear to everyone you know that “guns save lives”, and in the right hands they make you more secure because they can be used to stop violent criminals when criminals choose to put your life in jeopardy or sexually attack you. That said, make it clear – “we will not compromise”. 

When the “Gaslight Ghouls” gaslight – all it takes is someone to light a match to make the world brighter. 

Politicians Simply Don’t Care…

NYSRPA v. Bruen has some of the strongest changes to help resolve Illinois (and other state’s) infringements of gun related rights. The cases will take time to be resolved. They will be expensive. The process will be risky for those involved, and the delays will be frustrating.

Read Justice Thomas’ majority ruling opinion carefully. You’ll see how remarkably assertive and angry he was about the past ten years of abuse.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf

Page 14 of this decision is crucial to understanding the major change that occurred on May 23rd of this year. This is when the “two step” process of reviewing the constitutionality of gun related cases was thrown out. Cases that were in process were remanded back to the courts for reconsideration. Future cases will be judged based on one thing only – compliance with the simple language of the Second Amendment based on it’s meaning in 1789 and in 1868 when it was incorporated into the states by the 14th Amendment.

This will complicate things for maintaining the kind of bans and infringements being enacted by Illinois and other states. Sorting this out will take time. Leftists everywhere simply DO NOT CARE. They will continue to infringe on your rights as long and as often as they can, because abuse of that power is natural to them. They believe it is advantageous to them. Until proven wrong by removal from office, they will continue to abuse their power by doing so.

If you don’t believe this, look to the history of how politicians have abused their power in other “popular” ways throughout the history of the United States. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how this has always worked. Robber barons buying corrupt politicians… Check. Civil War Reconstruction… Carpetbaggers… Check. Over-regulation driving business overseas by newly formed executive agencies like the EPA… Check. Jim Crow laws restricting voting through literacy tests and poll taxes… Check. Establishment of a permanent class of subjects dependent on government transfer payments… Check. A “new deal” that favors some industries and destroys others… Check.

The fees you pay to exercise your right to carry a firearm concealed is the same as a poll tax. There is no difference. So are the courses and proficiency tests required by many states. While an excellent idea, they are required in order to exercise a constitutional right in those states. They are not prerequisites to a privilege – but a guaranteed constitutional right. these Things were not required in 1789 or 1868. Now, go back and read Justice Thomas’ majority opinion. There were no practical restrictions on where you could carry your firearm or how you concealed as long as you were not committing a crime or going armed to the terror of the people. “Gun free” violence attracting massacre zones did not exist.

Remember, the politicians taking these actions simply do not care. They are not exercising the people’s power in a responsible way. It is up to you as a citizen to hold them responsible for this. Subjects just accept their corrupt actions continue to vote them into office because they are scared of losing their government payments or benefits. That is just as corrupt.

It is expensive to challenge these abuses in court, and the Leftists are counting on that and the delays involved to overwhelm citizens. Never forget, and never compromise rights.

Gaslight Gangsters at Work

This morning’s “Meet the Press” is having a feeding frenzy on “gun control” and positively salivating on passing more “gun control” and “gun laws” and “blue states progress”…

They opened with a Leftist Democrat congressman from Colorado outright lying about ERPO “Red Flag” laws…

Not one word was mention about the 100,000 annual Opioid deaths being experienced in the US today as a result of Chinese manufacturing of drugs like Fentanyl, and their illegal transport across the porous Southern border with Mexico which the Biden Administration refuses to address. That is roughly 273 US residents a day that are killed through Opioid poisoning compared to the number of people they are obsessing about in firearm related incidents.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2021/20211117.htm

All this just goes to prove that the “Gaslight Gangsters” that want to disarm America just want to take your guns, and really don’t care about American lives. They have the characteristics of organized criminals… the violent arm that hurts people, and those that benefit by accumulating wealth and power at the expense of others – all while terrorizing the population and manipulating people with fear.

The False Flag is Flying High

This morning, the media was already parroting the senile ranting about controlling “semi-automatic weapons” by banning them…

The ignorant are blindly following the impaired over the cliff of fear and helplessness. There is only peril at the bottom of their downfall.

But these tragically “woke” can preach from their morally corrupt pulpits because they have hired fully automatic guns paid for by us – the tax payers… They wouldn’t go anywhere without them because they are not naïve about their personal safety – and you shouldn’t be either.

Your choice of firearm type and it’s action should never be dictated by a government – it should be dictated by your personal self defense requirements. That is rational, and responsible.

The same “woke” hypocrites fly massive carbon spewing 747 Jets from Washington DC to Delaware repeatedly every week instead of riding in motorcades – completely ignoring their “climate change” impact. Nobody in the media or UN is complaining about that abuse and irresponsibility are they?

More failing gun control will not stop the Democrat sponsored crime wave that they launched in 2020 and have done nothing to stop for the past two years:

• Porous borders,
• illegal invaders,
• irresponsible prosecutors,
• emboldened criminals,
• useless ERPO “red flag” persecution of gun owners,
• FBI focus on “domestic terrorist” parents at school boards,
• Trillions of dollars in corrupt government waste and debt,
• corrupt “Gaslight Gangsters” in executive control of government…
• questionable election integrity…

The entire executive branch is a “false flag” operation…

Rand Corporation (who basically wants to absorb more government “research” money for studying “gun control” approaches) has recently published criticism of the over 20,000 gun control studies. They found all but just over 100 wanting in statistical relevance. 

Overview:

https://www.rand.org/research/gun-policy/analysis.html

Propaganda for indoctrinating school children: 

https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TLA243-1.html

Criticism of competing “research”: 

https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2088-1.html

Realizing that their objective is to capture the marketplace for “gun policy research” money, and that they are a proponent for policies that implement “gun control”, their criticism of existing sloppy “research” is somewhat useful. 

The fact is that there is a huge body of “junk science” behind the justification of every single “gun control” strategy that has been  used to propel the over 22,000 “gun control” laws and all their strategies now active in the United States. 

About every decade, a new and innovative “gun control” strategy launches from the Leftist tyrants. The most recent is called “Stocastic Terrorism”. 

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-stochastic-terrorism-uses-disgust-to-incite-violence/

This is how you – the conservative – is being blamed for the most recent shootings in Colorado Springs even though the actual criminal psychopath that did the murders is a disturbed non-binary person that attacked members of his own cultural diaspora. You will see more of this strategy used to justify Gaslight Gangster operations against conservatives  in the future.