The other day, TZP reported on a Sixth Circuit panel ruling on bump-fire stocks. As “Geoff” was kind enough to point out in a comment, that was old news. I guess you get what you pay for.
So here’s some more old news on the case: On June 25, 2021, the Sixth vacated that ruling and put it back on the docket for a rehearing en banc.
You may recall that a lawsuit was filed by relatives of the Sutherland Springs, Teas, church shooting against the store that sold the rifle to the chumbucket shooter. The theory they used was that the shooter used Colorado ID to purchase the rifle in Texas (legally). He also bought a 30-round magazine unlawful in Colorado. While federal law allows in person long arm sales to out-of-state residents, the sale of the firearm must comply with the laws of both states.
Plaintiffs stupidly argued that “firearm” includes “magazine,” and the store made an unlawful sale. More than two years ago, I rather vehemently disagreed. Sadly, the lower court displayed a level of idiocy on par with plaintiffs and allowed the case to go forward.
Well, it took more than two years — one might think that justice delayed is justice denied, but welcome to America — but the Texas Supreme Court finally weighed in. They slapped them down unanimously.
The lawsuits said that Kelley provided store clerks with a Colorado ID, and the U.S. Gun Control Act required Academy to comply with Colorado gun laws before approving the purchase. Colorado, however, prohibits the sale of magazines holding more than 14 rounds, while Academy sold Kelley a rifle that came packaged with a 30-round magazine.
But the court said the sale was legal because the federal law applies only to the sale of firearms, not components.
Thus, having not acted in a criminal or negligent manner, Academy retains immunity under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. Told you so, “law professor” Lytton.
Here is the actual decision. I found this part of particular interest.
We hold that the underlying lawsuits are qualified civil liability actions that the PLCAA bars as a matter of law. Accordingly, the trial court abused its discretion in denying Academy’s
motion for summary judgment. We further hold that Academy lacks an adequate remedy on appeal. We therefore conditionally grant Academy’s petition for writ of mandamus and direct the trial court to grant Academy’s summary-judgment motion.
“Abused.” Generally, when I see a court overturning a lower court, they say the court “erred,” or was “incorrect.” Abused suggests that the Supreme Court is rather unhappy with that judge. As well they should be.
Hopefully, Academy Sports will now countersue for legal expenses., which I imagine have been substantial. I have no idea whether the plaintiffs will attempt to appeal this to the federal level (where all bets are off on sanity and Second Amendment rights recoginition). Frankly, I was surprised that this was filed in state court rather than federal, given that plaintiffs were attempting to cite federal law.
A three judge panel of the Sixth so ruled, reversing the lower court and remanding the case back to be decided consistent with the finding that they do not meet the definition of “machine gun.”
Importantly, they also ruled that the lower court erred in granting the ATF Chevron deference.
Because an agency’s interpretation of a criminal statute is not entitled to Chevron deference and because the ATF’s Final Rule is not the best interpretation of § 5845(b), we REVERSE the district court’s judgment and REMAND for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
That’s quite proper, because Chevron deference is limited to administrative interpretation of civil matters, and specifically excludes interpretations that inflict criminal penalties.
The meat of the machine gun matter is here.
To initiate bump firing, the shooter pulls the trigger once, firing one shot, while maintaining “constant forward pressure with the non-trigger hand on the barrel-shroud or fore-grip of the rifle.” Id. at 66,516. At the same time, the shooter also maintains constant rearward pressure with his trigger hand, while keeping his trigger finger stationary. The recoil energy from the fired shot causes the firearm to slide backward approximately 1.5 inches. Id. at 66,518. The forward pressure applied by the shooter’s non-trigger hand, along with the recoil energy channeled by the bump stock, causes the firearm to then slide forward. As the firearm slides forward, the trigger “bumps” against the shooter’s stationary trigger finger, causing the trigger to depress and the firearm to shoot again. This second fired shot creates recoil energy once again, which again causes the bump-stock-attached firearm to slide back. The trigger is released and reset, and the process repeats.
And they take note of the way the ATF keeps changing its collective alleged mind (my phrasing, not theirs).
In 2006, the ATF opened an investigation and, by its own admission, “overruled” its previous decision that the Akins Accelerator was not a machine gun. Final Rule, 83 Fed. Reg. at 66,517. The Agency concluded that the Accelerator’s internal spring made the device a machine gun, but stated that if Accelerator owners removed the internal spring from the device, then it “would render the device a non-machinegun under the statutory definition.” Id. Akins sued, arguing that the Agency’s reversal was unreasonable, that the reversal violated due process, and that the statutory definition of machine gun was unconstitutionally vague.
This is a major win for freedom and rights. But it’s one Circuit, and it’s likely to be appealed to SCOTUS. And I trust them about as far as I can throw their building. With one hand.
You know, sometimes you just can’t tell the difference between reality and the Babylon Bee. So I think I’ll take a swing at some creative writing.
Dateline: Washington DC
As Joe Biden’s handlers sorrowfully regarded his plummeting poll numbers they considered their options. In the next room they could hear Kamala cackling as she considered her next trip to the border via New Orleans for some gumbo. A shiver ran through the room as they realized their limited options. Joe sat next to the fireplace with his pants leg pulled up showing his minder for the hour his hairy legs and asked his female secret service agent if she wouldn’t come a little closer. She vehemently shook her head no and said “You’re fine where you are, as am I”. He asked if there were some little girls with barrettes in their hair coming later to visit, the agent looked pained and replied “NO”! She looked pointedly at the agent next to her covering a grin and said “When is Jill supposed to be back”? The agent tried manfully to cover a chuckle and said “She’ll be back from getting her legs waxed in a couple of hours. She didn’t want a repeat of that no hose, visible band-aid on the leg thing like when they were photographed with the queen”.
“There’s GOT to be something” whimpered Susan Rice, maybe we should call Barry?
“Nope, no need” chimed in Fredo Cuomo “I know the perfect issue! It’s always a winner with all the American people!” Everyone looked hopefully at Cuomo. “GUN CONTROL” He crowed triumphantly! “Remember how popular Eric Swalwell and Bozo O’Rourk were with the American people? Why when Duke Nukem threatened to use nuclear weapons on American citizens everyone all across America just fell in love with him! Everyone in the newsroom loved him! All my friends thought he was a shoe in! I don’t know anyone that didn’t think he had a perfectly reasonable idea. Oh I heard some of those mouth-breathers in flyover made some noise, but who cares about them. They are a tiny minority! I mean look at it, the guy was sleeping with a Chinese spy and he’s still on the intelligence committee. If that doesn’t show how highly he’s regarded, what could? Then Bozo was so manly when he flat out told people he was going to take their AK-47s and AR-15s.” I think we could use that to show how in control Joe is. That would show people he really knows how to wield power, who care if they find out we cheated in Maricopa, and Georgia, and Pennsylvania, and Minnesota, and Wisconsin, and Nevada and” Susan Rice broke in “We know Fredo, we all know”. Well sniffed Fredo offendedly, “I’m telling you the only reason Eric didn’t win the nomination was his huge percentage started shriveling when that mean old Bear at The Zelman Partisans started writing about him. Everyone loved him!”
Kamala who had snuck unseen into the room chimed in “Gun control? Don’t you think the media might start to raise questions about Hunter and his gun?” Fredo glared witheringly at her and said “Of course not! What is the matter with you?” Kamala cackled nervously and shot back, “Well, it’s a real issue and a real problem! He probably can’t keep this up much longer” Fredo looked at her in astonishment and said “Of course he can! We’ve got his back”. Susan looked patronizingly at Kamala and said “Are you planning on visiting Disney World on your way to visit the border via New Orleans Kamala dear?” Kamala got her deer in headlights look, cackled “FLORIDA?? You mean go into De Santis territory? No, I think I’ll go to Virginia and look for root causes of ….something, I’ll think of something” and slunk out of the room.
Susan and Fredo mulled over the gun control angle. “Well, Joe is making a name for himself, look at the fabulous guy he pretended he nominated for the head of the ATF. All the senators are so impressed with him, they all love him!” Susan mused. And with the good help you guys have given him Fredo, Americans now see how deadly those assault rifles are.
Sadly for Chipman and the Communists, Americans aren’t stupid, or unskilled. So, the BATFE didn’t give Chipman a automatic weapon? Interesting.
And so a speech was whipped up for Joe while he took a long nap. He was then trotted out for the cameras and promised a nice ice cream cone if he did a good job.
As normal sane Americans listened to this, they wondered if perhaps Eric Swalwell had taken a break from sharing National security secrets with spies from enemy countries to take up speech writing for Beijing Xiden.
Predictably news outlets more reliable than the NY Slimes (which would include this column) immediately came out with notices of sales and family shopping trips to their local armory and airfield.
Palpatine was also dismissive of the idea that people need blasters in case they have to overthrow the Empire if it turns tyrannical. “It’s just a ridiculous idea that a rebellion armed with blasters could do anything about us,” he said. “You’d need your own armored, planet-destroying superweapon to match the strength of our Death Star. Even if you had X-Wings, what could they do but scratch its surface? Abandon all hope to rise against us! Abandon!”
Bass Pro Shops Announces 2-for-1 Sale On All Nuclear Missiles
In a bit of exciting news for firearms enthusiasts and those who wish to deter their government from becoming tyrannical, Bass Pro Shops has announced that its semi-annual 2-for-1 nuke sale will be kicking off this weekend. Every nuclear weapon in the company’s arsenal will be completely free with the purchase of any other nuclear weapon.
Biden Makes Compelling Argument In Favor Of Second Amendment
WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a speech yesterday, President Joe Biden made a compelling and powerful argument in defense of the Second Amendment. The president ranted on and on about how if people were to rebel against his iron-fisted rule, he would nuke them and send F-15 fighter jets to attack them in their homes. These statements alone were enough to convince millions of Americans the Second Amendment is still desperately needed to protect their natural right to defend themselves.
Huge Spike In Americans Buying F-15s After Biden Suggests You’ll Need Them To Overthrow Government
The nation scrambled to buy F-15s and nuclear weapons after President Biden said in a speech Wednesday that you’ll never beat a government unless you have the fighter jets and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
All over the nation, American citizens were seen parking their brand-new F-15s in their driveways and garages. Some wealthier Americans purchased the F-22, while less fortunate citizens were forced to buy the F-35 joint fighter. But no matter what craft they chose, American citizens said they were just glad to finally be protected against a tyrannical government.
Personally, I have a email in to Israel to see about a home version of the Iron Dome. I knew I should have bought that Centurion tank when I had the chance!
At this point Nancy Pelosi tottered in on her high heels, “Don’t you mess with my commission!” She screeched. Susan Rice glared at her and said “OUT! Do you want me to call AOC?” The painted on color drained out of Pelosi’s face and she wheeled about and tottered back out of the room without a word, repeatable.
As the cabal congratulated themselves on having undoubtedly pumped up Joe’s poll numbers, they also savored the fact they had threatened him sufficiently to pretty much stay on topic.
Joe, you already are in trouble with the American people. With or without your mask, we see you and your cronies for what you are.
Marjorie Taylor Greene [R-GA14] continues to endear herself to me, while driving the Dims nuts. Today, she’s going to introduce the Brian A. Terry Memorial Eliminate the ATF Act. Brian Terry, I hope you recall, was the Border Patrol Agent murdered by illegals armed with a gun that the ATF willfully allowed to be unlawfully trafficked across the border.
Amusingly, it begins with:
All regulations and guidance issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives during the period that begins with August 1, 2020, and ends with the date of the enactment of this title are hereby null and void and shall have no force or effect.
That would include:
I would have set the start date at December 1, 2018 and included the bump-fire stock rule.
I also love the part where employees of the ATF as of the date of abolishment of the agency are terminated. Not reassigned. Fired. The feddies’ union would go nuts.
Sadly, between the Dim-crat control of the House, government inertia, and the fact that this is coming from MTG guarantees it’ll go nowhere. But I still like it.
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PART III
“When people are solely fixated on the issue of race, they tend to view everything that happens to themselves and others of their racial group through a prism that has only two colors—black (oppressed) and white (oppressors). That is far from the reality in America today”.1
Dr. Ron Martinelli
“All the Panther lovers. All the ‘Do it or Die.’ All the ‘by any means necessary negroes…I didn’t see ‘em stand up and do nothing’. Oh really, I don’t believe in marching, I believe in offing the pigs’. Well they got pigs out there. You ain’t offed one of them. What I believe in, I do. Do what you believe in. Or shut up and admit you’ve lost your courage and your guts to stand up…’I’ll off the man. Well off him. Plenty of crackers walking right around here tonight”.2
Al Sharpton, Speaking to Students, Kean College, New Jersey, 1992
On 28 August 1963, in what became the largest civil rights march to date, Dr. Reverend Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech before a huge crowd in Washington, D.C. His vision foresaw a future in which “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.3 King expressed the Biblical principle of universal brotherhood wherein people of all races see their own humanity in the faces of others. In G_d’s eyes, there is only the human race. One’s heart and character define who they are. However, Critical Race Theory (CRT), the intellectual foundation of BLM, denounces King’s colorblind society and equality of races as a trap set by white supremacists.
Samantha Vincenty, senior staff writer for the Oprah Daily, who is white, insists a color blind society is racist because it “ignores the realities of systemic racism” and thus hides the fact that blacks are “mistreated, underserved, and underpaid”.4 CRT’s adherents and BLM base their “proof” for systemic racism on de rigueur claims police are engaged in a genocidal war of oppression against blacks.5 Mistreated, underserved, and underpaid by whom? Where are the examples? Has she not heard of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, especially Title VII? If race-based discrimination in pay were occurring, Civil Rights attorneys would like to know.6 Nevertheless, Vincenty makes the self-validating claim blacks must suffer mistreatment because CRT presupposes “systemic racism” as an incontrovertible fact for its starting point. If not true, their remedial solutions collapse like the proverbial house of cards. Systemic racism is an amorphous creature whose singular quality is plasticity. It is possessed of many meanings and no definitions. From there, Vincenty jumps to the conclusion not to see race is itself racist. Why? It allows those who utter statements about a colorblind society to ignore systemic racism.7 Being called a racist is the greatest fear among the whites she knows but it pales in comparison with black’s greatest fear, “not surviving an interaction with a police officer”.8 Like communist professor Howard Zinn, who used no footnotes in his writing,9 Vincenty provides no sources for her claims. This shields authors from having to defend their research, such as it is, on the one hand and blast critics as racists on the other.
Vincently asserts when white people hear the term racism, they see Jim Crow laws establishing segregated schools, neighborhoods, restaurants, hotels, and public transportation. Since this is illegal, white people assume racism no longer exists. This view blinds whites to black poverty and lack of educational and employment opportunities resulting from institutionalized racism. Institutionalized by whom? Whites, of course. In order to preserve their dominant position in society, white Americans erected a system of structural racism built on oppressing other races. She does not explain how her boss, Oprah Winfrey, overcame structural racism to become one of the richest women in the world. Vincenty also sees the American tradition of individualism as racist and a source of pathologies plaguing black society. Individualism allows whites to see poverty, academic failure, alcohol and drug dependency, and the inability to find and hold jobs as “personal moral failings” rather than identify the real cause. That cause, of course, is systemic white racism. Worse, individualism teaches if one engages in right behavior, (studying in school, working hard, obeying the law), one succeeds in life. If you don’t, you won’t. This view places blame for personal failures on the individual rather than on where Vincenty believes it really belongs, systemic white racism.10 This view generates a neat and tidy rationale for recurring and seemingly impregnable pathologies plaguing black inner cities. It is the white man’s fault. One could ask who created “pregnant teens; families without fathers; or a 50% high school dropout rate” as well as rampant drug abuse among this demographic. Who created its “murderous street gangs preying on their own communities and killing young black adolescents and young adults”? Who gave birth to and promotes “gangsta rap” which denigrates girls as “bitches” and “ho’s”?11 In addition, critics of CRT point out African immigrants from Nigeria are among the most educated and successful of any immigrant group.12 CRT proponents counter the difference is the legacy of slavery.
According to Brandon Jones, blacks suffer a transmissible and inherited generational form of PTSD resulting from slavery, humiliation, discrimination, and hatred by whites in America.13 Original rationales justifying slavery evolved into a systematized structure of oppression by the white against the black race. If this were true, why would black and brown people become police officers? Vincenty claims some minorities are willing to serve Caucasian’s system of racial control to the point of oppressing their own.14 Spokesmen for BLM and their allies are less generous referring to these officers as race traitors.15 Vincenty, writing from the ultra-liberal enclave of NYC, is more than an opinion essayist she is a propagandist for CRT, which, itself, is an adaptation of Karl Marx’s theory of class conflict and exploitation.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels authored the Communist Manifesto. They boiled history down to a constant struggle between two economic classes, oppressors and the oppressed. The former, capitalists, own the means of production as well as natural resources. The latter own nothing therefore trade labor, far below its value, to their oppressors for goods and services. Therefore, these classes are “in constant opposition to one another”. Either this ongoing clash leads to a “fight” ending “in a revolutionary reconstitution of society at large” (with the end of oppressors owning the means of production and private property) or it ends “in the common ruin of the struggling classes”.16 As society evolves, the classes remain the same because oppressors devise “new conditions of oppression” resulting in “new forms of struggle that replace old ones”. Society exists in two hostile camps, “bourgeoisie, and proletariat”. The bourgeoisie construct society to prevent the oppressed from ever rising above their class.17 Does this sound familiar?
Proponents of CRT adapted Marx’s theory replacing economic with racial class. Just as Marx contended due to oppression by the bourgeoisie the proletariat could never rise above its station in life, CRT argues the same with respect to race. Whites are the bourgeoisie and blacks the oppressed downtrodden proletariat. As butterflies pinned to a museum display case, blacks cannot escape their race. Born black, black they will always be. Because whites designed society to exclude them, it automatically denies blacks full participation. Where did CRT come from? Like any movement, CRT has its pioneers.
Derrick Bell, Professor of Law at New York University, together with Alan Freeman, a white “scholar”, State University-Buffalo Law School, created the foundations for Critical Race Theory. They and those who followed cleverly refashioned Marx’s theory to explain why blacks fail to thrive in white society.18 It should not escape notice white people were integral to the black struggle for equality going back to abolition. Much like Vincenty, Bell brushes aside this untidy fact asserting, “Whites support civil rights protections for blacks only if those protections would also promote white self-interest and social status”. He views blackness as equivalent to membership in a “permanently oppressed caste”. For white people, “racism is a normal, permanent aspect of life”. For blacks, notions of “equality before the law” is an affront, an insult because systemic white racism fixes blacks in an inescapable oppressed class denied the same rights enjoyed by whites. Therefore, black “moral claims” to equality before the law “are superior to those of whites”.19
Professor Bell, like his CRT replicates, “built his academic career” on “the endless repetition of the claim that whites and white institutions are irremediably racist”. He also embraces Race Traitor, a journal dedicated to the “abolition of whiteness”. Its motto is “Treason to the white race is loyalty to humanity”.20 Bell, like other CRT adherents, insists the American legal system is structurally racist.21 This includes its laws, courts, police, and prisons.22 In addition, “American society at large” is “racist” in its very “construction”. White racism permeates all aspects of American culture and life. This includes its educational, economic, governmental, health care, and religious institutions. Because whites constructed them to promote white supremacy, racism is intertwined with and inseparable from their institutions. Therefore, “oppressed racial groups have both the right and duty to decide for itself” which laws they will obey.23 Looting during summer riot seasons is acceptable because blacks are re-appropriating what whites stole from them through slavery and exploitation.24
Bell condemns and rejects all standards with respect to research methodology as racist constructs. Flouting convention, he eschews source citation contending black oral “storytelling narratives” are more legitimate. Do universities allow white professors to do the same? This carries over in his demand universities hire and promote blacks irrespective of qualifications. Harvard Law always prided itself on hiring professors with law degrees from elite universities, who clerked for the Supreme Court, and worked in a major law firm. In response to pressure from the Black Law Students Association, Harvard hired Bell who met none of these qualifications. He “mocked” them as “exclusionary constructs of a racist white power structure” erected to “deny blacks an opportunity to teach at the nation’s elite schools”.25 Does this hold true for white law school graduates denied employment by Harvard who lack these requisite qualifications? Bell complains, “White society condemns all blacks to quasi-citizenship as surely as it segregated our parents”. Slavery shows what white people did and could do again and “black people will never gain full equality”. Blacks “must confront and conquer” this “reality of our permanent subordinate status”.26
Kathleen Cleaver, once Communications Secretary for the Black Panther Party, is a senior lecturer in law at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. She insists the Panthers were part of a “liberation” movement and violence committed by blacks, especially against police, constitutes “righteous resistance” and “self-defense”.27 Is this not what BLM and its surrogates say? Is there a connection between BLM’s claim attacking police is self-defense and the dramatic spike in assaults against officers? Cleaver teaches revolution to overthrow white society in American and Europe is necessary because they built their societies on colonization and enslavement of black and brown peoples. She embraces communist dictatorships as well as Muslim terrorist groups. In short, she finds common cause with anyone who hates America and the white man.28
Lewis R. Gordon, professor of Philosophy, Temple University, joins professors Bell, Freeman, and Cleaver in pushing CRT. Not only is he a member of the Radical Philosophy Association, but he has authored articles for Political Affairs, the “theoretical organ of the American Communist Party”. He teaches, “White America does not see blacks as individuals, but as a threatening ‘existential reality’ waiting to overtake the country”. He argues blacks suffer “humanistic anxieties” resulting not just from past injustices but “modern slavery and racism”. These injustices continue because white Americans refuse to regard blacks “in racial terms in their ‘blackness”. A color-blind society would cause blacks to disappear. He calls for teaching a new African philosophy that rejects Western Philosophy. Professors should view students “as potential agents to be deployed in the service of ‘progressive’ politicians”. Like other CRT adherents, he speaks extensively on “liberation” of blacks from the white society that “cruelly oppresses them”.29 They can only achieve this through revolution and overthrow of all aspects of white society.
This constitutes but a sampling of CRT proponents. They exist on virtually every college campus. White majority public schools are rushing to implement CRT curriculum. How many Americans understand what CRT is? How many know it is the intellectual foundation of BLM? How many know liberal white teachers have been promoting CRT in public schools for some time? CRT and BLM cannot survive a color-blind society. For them, race identifies who is part of the oppressor and oppressed groups. Therefore, they reject Martin Luther King’s call for non-violent resistance and a color-blind society. Yusra Khogali, co-founder of the Toronto, Canada BLM Chapter, declared BLM rejects the goals and tactics of the “old-guard” who led the civil rights movement in the 1960s. They reject notions of equality, integration, and assimilation into mainstream America. Instead, they want to overthrow it.30
CRT is an adaption of Karl Marx’s theory on class conflict and oppression. It teaches that Caucasians are inherently racist as if part of their DNA. They are irredeemably racist unable to escape their history of exploitation, oppression, and enslavement of black and brown people. They built their civilization and wealth on racial expropriation. They maintain comfortable middle and upper class lifestyles by denying blacks a seat at the table. Whites constructed their institutions to ensure hegemony over other races. The police enforce white rule. Therefore, liberation for the black man can occur only when he overthrows white society and all its institutions. This then, is CRT.
1 Ron Martinelli, Ph.D., The Truth Behind The Black Lives Matter Movement And The War On Police (Temecula, California, Martinelli & Associates, Justice & Forensics Consultants, Inc., 2016), 153.
2 “Flashback, Al Sharpton Screaming At A Crowd to ‘Off the pigs’ and ‘crackers” at https://www.dailywire.com/news/flashback-al-sharpton-screaming-crowd-pigs-and-chase-stephens.
3 Daniel J. Boorstin and Brooks Mather Kelley, A History of the United States Since 1861 (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice Hall, Inc., 1990), 695.
4 Samantha Vincenty, “Being ‘Color Blind’ Doesn’t Make You Not Racist—In Fact, It Can Mean The Opposite”, 12 June 2020 at https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/
5 Black Lives Matter at http://www.blacklivesmatter.com/. This is from BLM’s 2015 webpage. They have sanitized and scrubbed some content from their webpage to hide who they really are.
6 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), “The Current Stat of Equal Pay Laws, at https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/the-current-state-of-equal-pay-laws.aspx
7 Vincenty, “Being Color Blind”.
8 IBID.
9 David Horowitz, The Professors (Washington, D.C., Regnery Publishing, Inc., 2006), 358-364.
1010 Vincenty, “Being Color Blind”.
1111 Martinelli, 113.
1212 B. Joseph, “Why Nigerian Immigrants Are One of The Most Successful Immigrant Groups in the U.S., 2 July 2018, at https://medium.com/@joecarleton/why-nigerians-are-one-of-the-most-successful-immigrant-groups-in-us-23a7ea5a0832
1313 Brandon Jones, M.A., Psychotherapist and Behavioral Health Consultant, “Legacy of Trauma, ‘Context of the African American Existence”, at https://health-state-mn-us/communites/equality/projects/infantmortality/session2.pdf.
1414 Vincenty, “Being Color Blind”.
1515 Donna Weaver, Staff Writer, “Black Police officers talk about being seen as traitors by community”, The Press of Atlantic City, 1 March 2016, at https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/crime/black-police-officers-talk-about-being-seen-as-traitors-by-community/article_aef98ab2-dd96-11e5-a926-eba8ce62ad69.htm;
1616 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Joseph Katz, editor, The Communist Manifesto (New York, N.Y., Washington Square Press, Pocket Books, A Division of Simon & Schuster, 1974), 57-58.
1717 IBID. 59-66.
1818 Horowitz, 56.
1919 IBID, 56.
2020 IBID, 56.
2121 IBID, 56-57.
2222 IBID, 57.
2323 IBID, 57.
2424 Khaldea Rahman, “Black Lives Matter, Chicago Organizer Defends Looting: ‘That’s Reparations”, 12 August 2020, Newsweek at https://www.newsweek.com/black-lives-matter-chicago-defends-looting-reparations-1524502.
2525 Horowitz, 57.
2626 IBID, 60.
2727 IBID, 89.
2828 IBID, 90-91.
2929 IBID. 197-199.
3030 Taleeb Starkes, Black Lies Matter: Why Lies Matter To The Racial Grievance Industry (Lexington, Kentucky, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016), 30-34.
Yes, once again — as they did with the bump-fire stock NPRM and the “ghost gun/frame/receiver NPRM — the ATF published docket ATF 2021R-08, took comments, then deleted that docket, and opened new docket ATF-2021-0002 without the old comments. This appears to violate the Administrative Procedures Act. It also appears — due the regularity with which they do this — to be a deliberate attempt to discourage public comment on legally dubious proposed rules. The ATF publishes, the hardcore Second Amendment advocates rush to comment and publicize the NPRM so more people will comment…
And when they try, the publicized link is dead. Some will be sufficiently dedicated to search out the new docket. Others may assume the docket wasn’t real and never comment. Those who had commented may never check back (something TZP has learned to do), and discover their comments are gone; possibly never to be transferred over to the new docket.
But for now new docket ATF-2021-0002 is there. Please comment; be sure to click the “Opt to receive email confirmation” box so you get verification of your Comment Tracking Number. Bookmark the docket so you can can go back to check it (and your comment’s) status.
Comments are due by September 8, 2021.
The Zelman Partisans submitted this comment.
Comment Tracking Number: kpq-zrva-s2yf
The Zelman Partisans oppose this proposed rule.
This proposed rule is an incoherently expressed description of an arbitrary, capricious, and incoherent process of classifying firearms.
As no standards were given, a subjective examiner’s guesstimate of “rear surface area” could pass a brace, or put it right on the edge of alleged short-barreled rifle by itself. Will one examiner estimate the “rear surface area” of a cuff-type brace by the physical area of the rear EDGE of the cuff, while another goes by the area of the space ENCLOSED by the cuff?
“Length of pull” presupposes that all braced pistols are SBRs until proven otherwise. The restriction on brace length would make it a one-size-fits some piece of junk. A brace properly fitted for a large male would be unworkable for a smaller female. Defensive firearms are commonly purchased with shared use by family members in mind.
Also, it appears that the ATF is unaware of braced pistols that are not AR-type. The attachment evaluation assumes an AR-type buffer tube. The weight and overall length exclude the entire class of drop-in pistols braces, such as for Glocks. The rule is silent on those. Is the braced Glock automatically an SBR because it fail the 4999 Section tests? Or would the chassis resembling a carbine NEVER be a rifle?
And why would flip-up iron sights (which one might well want for storage and transport) make a pistol into a rifle?
Because the 4999 “test” requires that any specific pistol-brace combination be evaluated in whole, rather than evaluating the BRACE itself, none of the millions of owners of braced pistols currently in existence can know whether their equipment has the a ATF’s dubious blessing, or requires NFA registration. This proposed rule thus puts those millions in danger of unwitting felonhood. The only legal option is those MILLIONS to flood the The Firearms and Ammunition Technology Division with MILLIONS of firearms for evaluation, depriving them of their property for years as the FATD struggles with the backlog.
We think the ATF will need to go on a hiring spree, for examiners. And when MILLIONS of newly-annointed “short-barreled rifles” are created by fiat, the tax stamp backlog will be amazing.
Additionally, one should recall that braces were first designed for handicapped people. This proposed rule would appear to put the ATF in conflict with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Expect to be sued.
We think the Department of Justice will need to hire more lawyers.
This collection of follies could have been avoided by adopting a sane definition of stabilizing brace: “A device designed to aid a user in holding a large pistol with one hand, which extends no further than the user’s forearm when gripping the firearm normally, and which conforms to the user’s forearm.”
The Zelman Partisans also note that once again the ATF has violated the Administrative Procedures Act by opening docket 2021R-08, taking comments on that docket, DELETING it, and opening new docket ATF-2021-0002 without the old docket comments. The ATF does this on such a regular basis that we believe it is a deliberate attempt to discourage public comment on legally dubious proposed rules.
The Epoch Times reports that the ATF’s Notice of Proposed Rule-Making on whether a stabilizing brace turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle has been published in the Federal Register.
However, while they link a DOJ pre-published copy, and provide no link the NPRM on the Register. A search there does not turn it up, nor does it yet appeared on Regulations.gov. The document that ET links to even states that the text of what gets published may differ.
This one differs greatly from the ATF’s previous abortive attempt at rule-making on braces last year. The 2020 fiasco was purely subjective; We’ll know an SBR when we see one. This one at least makes the attempt to appear objective. They will create an evaluation worksheet, a “4999.”
The meat of the NPRM, the 4999, is a checklist, which assigns “points” to a braced firearm on a ranked basis. The more like a brace, the lower the points. More like a buttstock, more points. They would “evaluate” various characteristics. It’s broken down into two testing sections.
Starting with Section I, the firearm must weigh at least 64 ounces, but — as we’ll see — no more than 120 ounces. It must be at least 12 inches long, but no more than 26. If your brace meets those “prerequisites,” you get to proceed to the next part.
Section II looks at “accessory design,” “rear surface area,” “adjustability,” and “stabilizing support.”
If the design accrues 4 or more points in Section II, do not pass go. It’s a short-barreled rifle.
Frankly, about the only design that would pre-qualify as a brace in Section II would be a nonadjustable (for length, one presumes) fabric arm loop/”cuff” with some feature like a rear point to make it specifically uncomfortable to shoulder. I really don’t wants points on a brace, and fixed length brace that’s fine for six-footer me probably won’t fit my four-foot, eleven inch sister.
Rear surface area? It’s purely an arbitrary guessimate by the examiner, No standard is given. Much of the “objective” process is like that.
The subject of “cuff” is interesting. That reminded me of part of my comment on the December NPRM, more reasonable definition of brace.
A device designed to aid a user in holding a large pistol with one hand, which extends no further than the user’s forearm when gripping the firearm normally, and which conforms to the user’s forearm.
Maybe they read it.
If we survived Section II, we get the privilege of advancing to Section III, where the evaluator looks at “length of pull,” “attachment method, “stabilizing brace modification/configuration,” and “peripheral accessories.” Again points are assigned on a sliding basis.
The only way not to get points for length of pull is for it to be less than ten and a half inches. If I were stabilizing an AR pistol, I’d want 13, which would earn me 3 points just on that. And note that even calling “length of pull” implies it’s an SBR unless proven otherwise.
For attachment method, most braced AR pistols I’ve seen would be safe, using a “standard AR-type pistol buffer tube.” Not all, though.
If one accepts that the ATF has any constitutional business regulating rifles, short-barreled or not (I don’t), the the mods/config section more or less makes sense.
The accessories test is bizarre. Some are consistent with other rules (no secondary forward vertical grip), but why the devil bureaucrat does putting flip-up iron sights (think for storage and transport) matter? That alone earns a point, of which you can have no more than 3. Four or more, SBR.
The proposed rule is a mess. It doesn’t allow for the possibility that someone might want to brace anything but an AR pistol. Even the only attachment method mentioned is the buffer tube. And what about this?
It might meet the minimum length prerequisite, but not the weight standard. Does that mean it is good to go, because it’s light, it cannot be an SBR? What about this one?
Or, because it’s light and attaches at other than the nonexistent buffer tube, it’s automatically an SBR? My definition would have settled it. The ATF’s doesn’t.
As usual, the ATF is an incoherent solution in search of a nonexistent problem.
Today is the anniversary of D-day, a day that I believe counts as one of the defining moments of “The Greatest Generation”. And as a culture, we’ve sunk a long ways from that caliber of people. Some have even had common sense depart them completely.
I find these words of President Reagan to be wise, inspiring and prophetic.
And to prove it, we have Russian vs Chinese vs woke American recruitment videos
If you watch only one, choose this amazing presentation.
But you know what? That spirit of freedom, she still flies. Remember the restaurant owner in the lockdown state of Michigan under old Jackboots Whitmer? Marlene Pavlos-Hackney is a Polish immigrant who knows what it is like to live under communism and she fought back against the elitist Whitmer and wound up in jail for her efforts.
And yet, Whitmer, as all elitists, rules for thee, not for me.
Oh, look, pushback! Lawsuit pushback! Arizona is doing an election audit, Georgia wants one, Pennsylvania wants one, North Carolina wants to inspect the voting machines. Some of Fauxci’s emails have been released, sort of. I can not wait for someone to start talking about how in 2012 Fauxci did a paper on the effectiveness of HCQ in treating SARS. That weasel needs to go to jail for the rest of his life, or hang him. I’m good with that. CNN #FakeNews has lost 45% of it’s audience. HGTV ranked higher. RINO republicans are taking heavy pushback. Romney was heckled in a airport, Liz Cheney is openly reviled, Brian Kemp was booed at the GOP state convention. We don’t need moderates and sell outs. The time has come for choosing. Sheriffs are changing from Democrat/Communist to Republican because the Communist party embraces and exemplifies lawlessness.
But each of us has a role we can play in defending an protecting freedom. We may never be a high profile case like Marlene, please G-d may we never have to storm the beaches like D-day, but we can confront hypocrisy, we can think critically and not buy into the lies or make excuses for them. We can support and work for MAGA candidates (ordinary run of the mill Repubs don’t cut it any more). Parents and their children are fighting their school boards over critical race theory which is a racist system that teaches our children to hate others based on the color of their skin. Many of the school boards have been taken over by these Communists. And as parents find out, they are fighting back. Children need to learn what an amazing country America is, and what a unique system of government the Constitutional Republic is. They need to be taught what D-day is, and why D-day happened. If they learn things like that we will hopefully never need another one.
Each of us has a role as a defender of freedom, if we embrace that and do it well, we will see our country come round as we save ourselves from the grip of the communism we are on the brink of. I believe there are more of us, the Patriots than there are of the totalitarian loving communists. Well, there are a lot of useful idiots, but hopefully they will catch on. But this is our country, based on G-d’s laws, and for these many years we have lived through good and bad together as Americans. I believe we will pull together again as we face this threat, as we have many others.
I suspect most of The Zelman Partisan’s readers will not be shocked to find out that I consider Democrat/Communist policies in dealing with crime to be utter abject failures. And we are beginning to see some increasingly large failures of the same genre.
First up the required disclaimer. All my children have either four legs and fur, or two legs and feathers. All were home-schooled and are perfectly well behaved, well adjusted fur-children. For the most part. Usually. They only have occasional lapses. But again, I find it necessary to write some thoughts about Democrat/Communist policies that will affect children, and therefore affect society at large. It goes way back, and has spawned all kinds of additional societal ills that just didn’t need to happen. These are fed and nurtured by corrupt Democrat/Communist politicians with their own agendas to advance.
Let’s start going way back to Skittles and Watermelon Arizona ice tea boy who had been suspected of breaking into houses. He later attacked what the #MSM #FakeNews would label a “White Hispanic” named George Zimmerman. Skittles boy had a history of issues with the law-enforcement. But due to the Obama policy of not relaying information about dangerous students of color to law-enforcement to lower statistics of crime committed by them, he was still walking around, burglarizing, and assaulting freely. As was the Marjory Stoneman Douglas attacker. Because like the Wuhan Flu virus numbers, it doesn’t matter to Democrat/Communists what the outcome will be, only how they can get the #MSM to frame the reports, how they frame the narrative.
BECAUSE THEY LOVE THEIR IDEOLOGY MORE THAN THEY LOVE CHILDREN
Did Lax Obama-Era School-Discipline Policies Enable the Parkland Shooter? Spoiler alert, YES.
That trial and media circus gave rise to Burn Loot and Murder if I’m not mistaken.
Same set of circumstances allowed for the “wayward youth” at Marjory Stoneman Douglas to remain free to slaughter some of his classmates, and allowed the Coward of Broward to become a household name. And then it allowed a self-absorbed, unimportant, attention seeking child, #MoneyHogg to slither his way into the limelight for more than his share of the 15 minutes of fame. A child who wasn’t there when it happened, but jumped on his bicycle as I recall, and pedaled furiously towards the school. Ha! You thought I was heading toward Greta Thunberg didn’t you?
Then there was this in Fl. Florida Judge Clears Student Who Threatened School Shooting And Draws Town’s Wrath
And, what changed? Nothing. There is criminal element of society that can break the law without a worry. It won’t be reported, or it will be covered up. No worries. And this will keep them from being stigmatized. Or forced to get help. Or force their parents to take some responsibility.
And what does that get us? A bunch of 6-11 year olds, I have also heard 7-11 year old “children” who car-jacked a guy running for mayor of Atlanta for those who don’t think Keisha Bottoms is corrupt enough for their liking. Now, this to me, is actually kind of amusing. The councilman voted to defund the police, then lost a fight with a bunch of 6 or 7 to 11 year olds who stole his 2016 Mercedes. He complained it took the police 45 minutes to respond. Apparently a social worker was unavailable. But the carjacking waifs knew a kindred spirit when they jacked one. The Democrat is currently under indictment on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud involving the purchase of a Mercedes C300, as well as a Range Rover.
To Democrat/Communists it’s not important that you be good, moral, decent and competent. It’s important that you fill in the right boxes.
And if you check the right victimhood boxes, you have got yourself a “get out of trouble free” card.
And the idiot councilman? He lives to lie, cheat and steal some more another day. Unlike the poor Uber eats driver that was car jacked and murdered by the 13 and 15 year olds in Washington DC. That poor man wasn’t cheating, defrauding, voting to “Defund the Police”, he was just trying to make a living.
He like many innocent victims, pay the price for the votes of idiots like the Atlanta councilman. And what is the Atlanta councilman going to do to make Atlanta safer for law abiding citizens? Press charges? Oh heck no, he’s going to yammer on and on with excuse after excuse for their behavior, so they should be plenty emboldened to try that again. Maybe next time racking up a murder of their own since there were no consequences. And the idiot councilman? No consequences for his actions putting the citizens of Atlanta at greater risk. But he does get to go full on virtue signal for a news cycle!
Also included in the But It’s For The Children column, is the story about the rabid 16 year old who tried to stab two girls to death in front of a police officer while bystanders did absolutely nothing to stop it. An armed police officer, with his gun out, who warned her multiple times to drop the knife and quit trying to kill other people. Unlike some of the other incidents nothing new really came out of that except the constant reminder that some basketball player that reportedly falls down in agony when he has a hangnail criticized the police officer for saving two black girls lives that day. And a little dog. #LDLM.
Policies on how to deal with juvenile delinquents changed? None. Statements from leading Democrat/Communist party leaders condemning the violence and lack of responsibility from both the parents and the children involved? None. Media investigations into what the heck has happened to our society that we are seeing an increase in the number of serious crimes by juvenile delinquents and an increase in severity of the crimes committed. Ho hum, yawn, none. Unless of course there is a defensive shooting by a white police officer. Where upon the media will canonize the utes, despite the better than good chance the utes would bash the news reader over the head, steal their purse, wallet and jack their car if give the chance.
And, problems not confronted and dealt with tend to grow.
The latest incident I’ve heard of involves a 12 year old boy and a 14 year old girl who attacked a attendant/worker at the Florida United Methodist Children’s home. The news report says the girl hit the worker with a stick. Hmm, why do I suspect this sounds more like a beaten employee?
But it seems there is a policy called juvenile justice, and restorative justice. The results of that policy are that a 14 year old who had been arrested for stealing dogs, was sentenced to teen court. She failed to comply. She then set 5 fires in a wooded lot which came close to several homes. The department of juvenile justice then decides that felony arson isn’t a serious crime and to return her to her mother. Her mother can’t control her, so she’s back in foster care, she runs away several times, and winds up in this Methodist children’s home. Which according to the good Sheriff is totally incapable of dealing with this kind of criminals. In fact, in March of this year, a 15 year old boy at the group home pled no contest to the manslaughter charge of a security guard. The sheriff’s department was called to the group home around 300 times in 2020. I would say something in the juvenile justice and restorative justice plan is a serious failure. To make it more exciting for the citizens of Volusia county, though they may not know it, is that same children’s home that couldn’t control these two criminals is taking in illegal aliens from the border.
These two bottom feeders (they are not children) fired what actually may have been a AK-47 and a pump shotgun along with some sort of pistol at the deputies. Now, while those on the left scream about safe storage of firearms, may I refer you to the couple of lines further up. The 14 year old female attacked a group home worker with a stick (who knows, it’s the media, it may turn out to be a baseball bat) and she tried to burned down a group of homes in April of this year. She didn’t need a gun, she just took advantage. I have no doubt had the homeowners been home, they would have needed their defensive tools quickly to have protected themselves from the thugs. Because obviously life means nothing to the perpetrators. The 12 year old boy had done something called “transient threats”. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Well in this case, it meant the 12 year old in foster care since 2016, had threatened to throw a brick at an administrator and also had 5 days later threatened to kill a student, pee and spread his guts all over the bleachers. For that he was suspended for a whole 3 days.
The Sheriff talked about his team watching as the 14 year old totally destroyed the inside of the home owners nice home. She took a baseball bat and smashed furniture, toilets and anything else she cared to. You think she wouldn’t have smashed people?
The 14 year old told the 12 year old they were going to “roll it down like it was GTA”. I understand that is grand theft auto. A game. I remember hearing Lt Col Dave Grossman talk about this in a class. The effect these violent video games have on children’s brains. They did a series of MRIs showing what was happening. He is co-author of a book about this. Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill : A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence Written in 1999 I might add.
But you know one of the things that struck me as the good Sheriff talked about this, was his compassion for the homeowners who had done nothing wrong, and his team who had done nothing wrong. He had compassion for the innocent parties who were just trying their best to deal with the #Shiff that liberal policies are creating and emboldening. It seems rare these days to hear anyone express compassion for the innocent people that weren’t doing anything wrong, just minding their business and going about their lives not bothering anyone or anything and have their lives turned upside down by scum like these 12 and 14 year olds.
I think the media was really struggling wanting to side with the criminals as is their usual game plan.
There is a pattern here. And it’s not limited to America, it’s a pattern consistent with criminals that have learned how to play the game.
Children and Arabs in Israel, hamass.
Both the juvenile delinquents in America who know nothing is going to happen to them, whether they are blm, antifa, run of the mill thugs and the Arabs in Israel, both (some) Israeli Arabs and Gazans know the #MSM and the #UN will run cover for them. Like Commie-Kamala bleating about “root causes” excuses will be made for criminal behavior, illegal aliens with long rap sheets will be turned loose to murder again. The un-ending swarm of 3rd world dependents the Democrat/Communist regime is importing to skew voting and force us to support them as they take American jobs. These polices haven’t worked, and they aren’t going to work, but then they weren’t meant to work for our benefit, only the benefit of those seeking to conquer and rule.
Murderous arabs will have a room in their house destroyed. There is now a cease fire with hamass in Israel, and the can will be kicked down the road.
Israel needs to finish the war with hamass. This cease fire will allow hamass to get more rockets from Iran paid for with American money, and build more terror tunnels. Ceasefires don’t work with hamass because they don’t seek peace, they too seek to rule and their behavior and atrocities will be excused by the same people that excuse the behavior of the criminals in the US.
The deferral of serious consequences for young criminals, regardless of color, age and sex needs to end. It’s not helping. They aren’t being reformed, they aren’t changing path. Restorative justice isn’t working.
But the Democrat/Communist party will double down on their failed policies. Because it’s not about actual results, it’s about optics and appearances.
Who is responsible? Kamala Harris, openly bailing rioters out of jail, the media making excuses for criminals with lethal doses of fentenyl in their system who pointed a gun at a pregnant woman’s stomach during a robbery, a pair of 13 and 15 year old car jackers who killed a man, the justice system corrupted by Democrat/Communists and George Soros elected Prosecuting attornies who turn these criminals lose encouraged the 12 and 14 year olds in Volusia County to think they could shoot at deputies with no consequences. As I listened to the 14 year old cry on the deputies body cam I really didn’t feel much sympathy for her. She chose this, she chose to attack a group home worker who tried to stop them from running off, she chose to break in to the nice house, she chose to try to kill deputies, and she chose to ignore their many offers to make contact and to surrender. See, they have learned in the Democrat/Communist America of Biden and Harris, crime carries no consequences. These juvenile thugs are the people that the “Defund the Police” crowd would abandon us to face disarmed. As I understand it, many of the new gun buyers are first time gun buyers. And seeing what is roaming the streets and our neighborhoods increasingly barren of law-enforcement, who can blame them? Because with this kind of predator, it is protect yourself against them, or they will try to kill you.
And after the pair had fired massive amounts of rounds trying to kill the deputies, as soon as the scene was secured they sprang into action to try to save her life. Because they’re law-enforcement.
And the proof is in the trauma bandages.
Here is an excellent press conference with the good Sheriff Mike Chitwood. He is quite plain spoken.
