Category Archives: Uncategorized

Uvalde Cops CAN Act Quickly

You just have to find the right motivator.

You may recall the 2022 school shooting at Robb Elementary, in Uvalde, Texas. If not, here’s a synopsis.

  • Police observed a scumbag actively shooting at people near the school.
  • Rather than do something about it, the officer radioed in for permission to act.
  • By that time, the shooter made it into the school.
  • Police — hundreds — responded to the scene, but did not engage the killer.
  • The killer spent a great deal of time in a classroom shooting 40 people; students and teachers.
  • One officer attempted to enter the classroom. Other officers forcibly stopped him.
  • After 77 minutes, the police finally went in.

The end result was 19 dead children and two dead adult victims.

It’s been nearly a year since I’d heard anything more about this. I assumed it had simply fallen out of the mainstream “news” cycle while they concentrated on “get Orange Man Bad.”

Nope. It turns out that the Uvalde prosecutor, Christina Mitchell, has been slow-walking and blocking the investigation into the police [lack of] response.

Which led to this little incident, which shows the Uvalde cops can respond quickly. When they feel like it (like when someone is criticizing them).

Brett Cross committed the horrific crime of telling a county commissioner, “My child is fucking dead!” He was immediately arrested, cuffed, taken out, and put into a police car. (Pardon the language, but I thought the exact quote leading to his arrest was needed.)

Why would these grieving parents suspect a cover-up, driving them to the criminal use of naughty language?

  • It took more than a year for prosecutor Mitchell to convene a grand jury.
  • No officer was called to testify until a few days ago.
  • The Texas Rangers hired a doctor to determine if any of the dead victims might have survived if the response had been quicker (at least four still had heartbeats when found).
  • Mitchell shut down the doctor’s part of the investigation, and didn’t allow him to review autopsy reports (apparently they’re still sealed since the grand jury is “investigating”).

That last part is key. A determination that any of the children could have lived if the cops had done their jobs would be the most likely basis for criminally charging the cops.

So long as Mitchell is covering for the cops, I hope she remembers to kill any investigation of where the money for Level IV vests for every single Uvalde officer went. They claimed to have the cash in hand four years prior to the school shooting…

… and then pleaded a lack of vests as the reason they didn’t go in against a murderer with a rifle. Can’t have anyone looking into that.

Yep, the Uvalde police can be real brave when an unarmed, grieving parent starts cussing.


(Hat tip to Wisco Dave)

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Uninformed “Whistleblowers”

I spotted an odd headline today.

Biden Administration Preparing to Ban Private Gun Sales: Whistleblowers
President Joe Biden’s administration has drafted a document that would effectively ban private gun sales by requiring background checks for all transactions, even those made between private citizens, according to a whistleblower group.

That would be Empower Oversight, more of a whistleblower support organization. But why we need “whistleblowers” to tell us that the ATF is sneaking around to change the rules is odd…

Since they published the Notice of Proposed Rule-Making last year. You commented on it, right? Maybe your comments even got posted. Maybe.

What Empower Oversight did was send a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland about those devious miscreants at the ATF.

The draft rule received immense comment and was interpreted by many to require that any private citizen who sells even a single firearm online might be required to register as an FFL…

Yep. I certainly did. Because it would.

This proposed rule, essentially requiring any person, selling a single firearm to pay bills, to first obtain a Federal Firearms License (FFL), is blatantly unconstitutional. It also would not work as advertised, and would even be counter-productive.

But back to EO’s letter.

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…despite clear language in law since 1986 that the term “engaged in the business” of selling firearms “shall not include a person who makes occasional sales, exchanges, or purchases of firearms for the enhancement of a personal collection or for a hobby, or who sells all or part of his personal collection of firearms,”

They are referring to the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986. And yes, that language was there. But they missed the bit in the so-called Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022 that The Zelman Partisans warned you about.

When we heard that these senate scum would “clarify” what it means to be in the “business” of selling firearms — requiring an FFL — I hoped, but didn’t actually expect, that they might finally set a threshold for number of sales in a defined time period. That isn’t what we’ve gotten.

Instead, they changed the definition from “with the principal objective of livelihood and profit” to “predominantly earn a profit”.

No longer would you need to be selling enough guns to make a living. Just a single sale, if your intent is to make money, suffices to require a Federal Firearms License. There is no exception for sales to friends or family. There is no exception for sales to pay off medical bills.

They legislatively changed the old 1986 definition. The ATF’s rule is “merely” implementing the law.

Perhaps Empower Oversight should assign someone to watch TZP for updates like that.

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What Mistake?

More gang rivalry in Chicago.

Chicago man admits to shooting 3 undercover federal agents after mistaking them for rival gang members
The shootings occurred on the morning of July 7, 2021, when two agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and an ATF Task Force officer were driving in an unmarked vehicle while conducting a covert federal investigation on the South Side.

McLaurin admitted in a plea agreement that he had mistakenly suspected the officers were members of an opposing gang.

“Mistakenly”? Looks to me like he nailed it.

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Tippy and Pocahontas Strike Again: S.3407

Sen. Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren [Fraud-MA] and Georgia’s Rep. Hank “Tippy” Johnson [Addled-GA04] have filed S. 3407, “A bill to end the epidemic of gun violence and build safer communities by strengthening Federal firearms laws and supporting gun violence research, intervention, and prevention initiatives.” Bill text is not yet available, but the Firearms Policy Coalition expects this to be a re-run of their old H.R. 5717, a veritable victim disarmament wishlist; you might remember that monstrosity.

Johnson’s F******k post supports that notion.

  • Federal gun licensing
  • “Assault weapons” ban
  • Universal preemptively-prove-your-innocence checks
  • Ban “undetectable/untraceable” guns
  • Nastier ATF FFL inspections
  • Minimum gun/ammo purchasing age of 21y
  • 7 day waiting periods to buy
  • Gun storage laws
  • Ban guns for domestic abusers (that’s already law, so I expect he means for unconvicted accused), and “stalkers” so be careful following people on eX-Twitter or F******k.
  • School campus gun bans
  • Standard capacity mag bans
  • No-due process red flag laws
  • Manufacturer liability for third party misuse (bye-bye, PLCA Act)
  • Higher taxes on firearms
  • Bribes to states to inflict more 2A infringements
  • Funding for anti-gun “research”
  • Funding for “violence intervention” (not more cops, one presumes) and “prevention” programs (which always turn out so well)

Tippy tells us we can get more information at HANKJOHNSON.HOUSE.GOV/GVPCSA, which alternately goes to a 503 SERVICE UNAVAILABLE message, or his home page, which only recursively has the link to his F******k post directing you back to his House website.

I’ll know more when the bill text is published. But a lot of what Tippy listed is stuff that courts are already questioning or striking down: age limits, prohibited status without convictions, magazine limits, gun owner licensing.

Seems like none of of those have much of a general, historical legal tradition.

The good news is that GovTrack gives this a zero percent chance of passing. One indicator is that it’s apparently been referred to the Senate Finance committee, not Judiciary; that suggests it was specifically sent there to die. Probably because no Dim actually wants to be seen trying to pass this with the 2024 elections coming up.

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Lewiston Shooting And Red Flag Laws

Regarding the mass shooting in Maine, I received this in an email.

A bit more on SFC Robert Card: Army spox says that after his medical evaluation in July — done after unit leadership observed him ‘behaving erratically’ — the Army directed he “should not have a weapon, handle ammunition, and not participate in live fire activity.”

Another person commented:

Well that fits the narrative well. More “ammo” to justify red flag laws.

Not really. In fact, some folks will probably hope this goes away, because they won’t want to draw attention to the massive series of failures on the part of law enforcement.

Maine has a “yellow flag law,” instead of the left’s preferred no-due process “red flag” laws.

The law differs from red flag laws in that it requires police first to get a medical practitioner to evaluate the person and find them to be a threat before police can petition a judge to order the person’s firearms to be seized.

A formal evaluation by a medical professional and a hearing. How ’bout that? What the left doesn’t like about this is that only the police can request this, and that hearing.

In the case of the Lewiston killer, the police had every reason and opportunity to invoke the yellow flag law.

In May, in a written statement, the perp’s ex-wife informed the police that he was mentally unstable, a danger to others, and that he possessed several firearms.

Other family members contacted the police to inform them that he was unstable and dangerous. Law enforcement attempted several “wellness checks,” sometimes reaching, somethimes not. At one point, the sheriff reportedly told a responding deputy to blow it off; because the sheriff knew of the killer-to-be, and figured he’d just get over it as he had other times.

In July, he was involuntarily committed, making him a prohibited person. Reportedly, New York law enforcement was involved.

In September, the National Guard informed Maine law enforcement that he was nuts and dangerous. For once, they did something: they issued a statewide alert on him.

And cancelled it a few days later. About a week later, he started his killing spree.

At no point did Maine law enforcement decide that this guy, whom they knew to be 1) crazy, 2) dangerous, and 3) armed, should be “yellow flag” and taken into custody for evaluation and seizing his firearms. Now add in that, with the National Guard’s alert, they should alos have known that he was a prohibited person. And took no action.

All the Baker Acts, red flag laws, and yellow flag laws in the world won’t help if the authorities refuse to use them. In Card’s case, I suspect that he was part of the good ol’ boy network; as a firearms trainer, he may have even trained the sheriff’s deputies. So the sheriff didn’t want to cause the guy legal problems; after all, it was as if he’d killed anyone. Yet. He’ll get over it. Again. Right?.

So they didn’t, and he didn’t. And poeple died because of it.

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Oathbreaker

In reference to her unlawful, (doubly) unconstitutional, and immoral attempt to disarm citizens, NM Dictator Lujan Grisham had this to say.

“I can invoke additional powers. No constitutional right, in my view, including my oath, is intended to be absolute,” Grisham claimed, adding, “There are restrictions on free speech. There are restrictions on my freedoms.”

That may be the single most honest statement by any American politician I have ever seen.

And it’s a bit scary to know we’ve reached the point where a politician will be so open about how little she cares about your rights and her oath.

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Garden City, Georgia Parks Gun Ban

It’s 2023; how is this still a thing in Georgia; cities banning lawful carry in parks?

Garden City, Georgia – Still In Prehistoric Times Regarding Georgia’s Gun Laws
Today, I spoke with a young lady at the Garden City, GA Police Dept., having been transferred there by City Hall. She relayed to me that according to Cpl. Wesley Soroken, firearms are not permitted in city parks or recreation areas, even for those with a “permit”, due to their city ordinance.

The ordinance, Sec. 60-5. – Firearms; weapons; tools., reads:

It shall be unlawful for any person to bring into or have in his possession in any park or recreation area:

((1)Any pistol or revolver or objects upon which loaded or blank cartridges may be used. Official starters, at authorized track and field events, are excepted from this restriction.
(2)Any burglar tools.
(3)Any rifle, shotgun, BB gun, air gun, spring gun, slingshot, bow, or other weapon in which the propelling force is gunpowder, a spring or air.

Well, railguns and linacs are still an option.

I have no idea, other than sheer, arrogant effrontery, why that is still on the Garden City books and the police still willing to actively enforce it. Georgia 2nd Amendment (previously Georgia Carry) spent years suing the bejeebus out of Georgia towns for doing exactly what Garden City is still doing.

And winning. Consistently. Because Georgia state is pretty clear on the subject in GA Code § 16-11-127:

c. Any lawful weapons carrier shall be authorized to carry a weapon as provided in Code Section 16-11-135 and in every location in this state not listed in subsection (b) or prohibited by subsection (e) of this Code section; provided, however, that private property owners or persons in legal control of private property through a lease, rental agreement, licensing agreement, contract, or any other agreement to control access to such private property shall have the right to exclude or eject a person who is in possession of a weapon or long gun on his or her private property in accordance with paragraph (3) of subsection (b) of Code Section 16-7-21, except as provided in Code Section 16-11-135. A violation of subsection (b) of this Code section shall not create or give rise to a civil action for damages.

Parks are not listed as prohibited areas.

Even better, Georgia has state preemption, under GA Code § 16-11-173:

b. 1. Except as provided in subsection (c) of this Code section, no county or municipal corporation, by zoning, by ordinance or resolution, or by any other means, nor any agency, board, department, commission, political subdivision, school district, or authority of this state, other than the General Assembly, by rule or regulation or by any other means shall regulate in any manner:

B. The possession, ownership, transport, carrying, transfer, sale, purchase, licensing, or registration of firearms or other weapons or components of firearms or other weapons;

Garden City should also take note of section g., which specifies minimum penalties for violating that law.

I am strongly tempted to take a drive up to Garden City and violate their little unlawful ordinance. Should one of their fine, if under-educated-on-the-law, officers issue me a citation, I would hand him a notice of my own. I would require him to sign the notice acknowledging that he is in violation of § 16-11-127 and § 16-11-173.

That citation and notice would then become exhibits in my hypothetical lawsuit, which would probably list the city and police department as defendants, and also you, the police chief, and the citation-issuing officer by name as individuals.

Might I suggest, as a more palatable alternative, that Garden City remove the unlawful language from the city ordinance, as well as any signage; and ensure that their police officers are informed that any attempt to cite people for a lawful activity could subject them to legal penalties?

Yes, I have brought this to the city’s attention. We’ll see if they respond wisely.

 

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Happy Patriots’ Day

…from the ATF?

On the off chance that, like the gun-grabbing ATF, you’re not real clear on what Patriots’ day commemorates…

Acting on orders from London to suppress the rebellious colonists, General Thomas Gage, recently appointed royal governor of Massachusetts, ordered his troops to seize the colonists’ military stores at Concord.

Yep, that’s when we killed 273 statist thugs out to confiscate American arms. Military arms, of the sort the ATF and their enabling Dims think we shouldn’t be allowed to possess. And fought an eight year war to hammer the point home. With those military arms.

History may not repeat, but it rhymes. The ATF may want to consider other things that took place on this date. Some of us do remember.

I might add, “Don’t fire till you see the whites of their eyes,” but that might be a little hard to see.

Fortunately, they won’t see you either.

 

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New York “Buy Back”

I see New York state Attorney General Leticia James is going to hold a statewide gun “buy back” on Saturday, April 29, 2023.

The pricing schedule caught my eye.

The attorney general’s office will provide $500 per assault rifle or ghost gun turned in on-site at each event, $75 per rifle or shotgun and $25 per non-working, replica, antique, homemade or 3D printed gun. The office is offering $150 per handgun, and $500 will be given for the first handgun turned in per person.

Two things jumped out at me. The first, “assault rifle” seemed a bit odd for something run by the state Attorney General, the top lawyer for the state, who should presumably know something about her state laws. So I turned to the official announcement. After all, maybe that was just the usual authorized journalist sloppiness.

Nope. She’s offering to buy select-fire assault rifles, not assault weapons as defined in New York Consolidated Laws, Penal Law – PEN § 265.00.

I wonder how many idiots would actually turn in a select-fire assault rifle worth $10,000-plus, for a mere five hundred bucks.

Assault rifle or ghost gun $500

Now the second odd point: “ghost gun” and “3D-printed gun” are listed separately, with differing prices. Regular readers here know that for the past several years, in an effort to demonize homebuilds –especially supposedly “undetectable” 3D-printed guns — like to conflate 3D-printed jobs and commercial builds with obliterated serial numbers, in order to drive up the apparent number of homebuilda used in crimes.

And yet, she also distinguishes “ghost gun” from general “homemade” gun. What definitions is she using?

Ghost gun does not equal homemade does not equal 3D-printed? It matters. It’s a of $500 versus $25.

I’ve asked the Attorney General’s office for clarification, but have not received a response.

The AG’s event FAQ raises more questions.

Can I transport the firearm in a car?
Yes. It must be unloaded and in the trunk in a plastic bag, paper bag, or box.

Funny that. Transporting a firearm in a vehicle, unless you’re properly licensed, is a crime in New York. So is possession of an unserialized firearm. Seems to me that a less than ethical cops could stake out the approach to one of these “buy backs” and make quite a few busts, before the sucker gets to the turn-in point.

Again James is the state’s top lawyer. Surely she knows she’s telling people to break the law.

You know what else is illegal in New York? Disposing of a licensed firearm “without first notifying in writing the licensing officer.”

Funny how James fails to mention that part. Entrapment, anyone?

 

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“Conveniently” Preemptively Proving One’s Innocence

Former ATF agent, and once-wannabe Director, David Chipman thinks that delaying Second Amendment rights by requiring people to pay good money to beg the government to give them permission to purchase a firearm by first proving they are not a criminal, and then waiting even longer if the feds can’t do their — unconstitutional — job in a timely manner, is convenient.

“This is a security system set up in such a way as not to inconvenience gun buyers and sellers,” Chipman said. “There is no other security system that I’m aware of that is set up in this way. Think of it: the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) was set up to prevent another 9/11. But the nature of that job requires putting people at some inconvenience.”

The TSA comparison is interesting, and strongly suggestive of what he’d like to inflict on citizens.

I recall the first time I had to endure the NICS check. After years of conveniently just paying my money and taking my new gun home, I decided to buy a little Marlin .22 rifle. And then the gun shop told — quite apologetically; it wasn’t their fault — that I had to pay extra for a background check.

Me, a military veteran and former peace officer, gainfully employed, with a clean record.

But I had to let the gov prove it first.

Neither I nor the gun shop found that “convenient.”

 

Carl is an unpaid TZP volunteer. If you found this post useful, please consider dropping something in his tip jar. He could really use the money, what with ISP bills, site hosting and SSL certificate, new 2021 model hip, and general life expenses.
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