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‘Enforce or resign’ said New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to sheriffs regarding the state’s 2020 red flag law.Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
The New Mexico legislature kicked off the 2024 session following Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s State of the State address. At the top of her agenda, like the Biden administration, is punishing the firearm industry with unconstitutional gun control measures.
Gov. Lujan Grisham is vowing to go further than she did last year when she infamously made an emergency order denying Second Amendment rights in parts of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County. She’s got a limited window, as the state’s legislative session is short.
New Year, Same Ideas
In 2023, Gov. Grisham revealed her “imperial ambitions.” She created a Constitutional crisis after publishing a 30-day emergency public health order banning the carrying of firearms in Bernalillo County on public property. The governor’s edict ordered the state’s Regulation and Licensing Division to conduct monthly inspections of licensed firearm retailers to ensure compliance with all sales and storage laws despite there being no New Mexico statute, nor any state regulations, granting the state authority over compliance or storage requirements.
National and state bipartisan backlash was swift, forcefully and roundly criticized the governor’s overreach. A judge placed a temporary restraining order on the concealed and public carry provisions of the public health order and Gov. Lujan Grisham was forced to recalibrate. She hasn’t learned.
During her State of the State address, she spoke out of both sides of her mouth.
“No responsible gun owner should be punished or prevented from exercising their rights – and no child should ever be put in danger by a weapon of war, especially one wielded by a person who can’t pass a background check, or can’t wait two weeks to get a firearm,” Gov. Lujan Grisham said. She added, “Preventing gun violence is the most important work we’re going to do.”
Industry Attacks Ahead
The New Mexico legislature session this year is just 30 legislative days. In a short session like this, the legislative business must be focused on budget issues. That is, of course, unless you’re the governor who gets to add her own “related or germane” pet issues.
Her so-called “gun safety” wish list is long. She wants to ban commonly-owned Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), or “weapons of war” as the governor misleadingly calls them. NSSF released updated data showing there are over 28 million MSRs in circulation since 1990, used daily for lawful purposes. The governor also wants to impose a 14-day waiting period on all firearm purchases before the owner – who has passed an FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) verification – can take their firearm home.
She also wants to enact age-based gun bans by raising the minimum age to purchase all firearms up to 21, meaning adults over 18 could no longer purchase shotguns or rifles. Gov. Lujan Grisham also wants to expand prohibited spaces where law-abiding and licensed gun owners could carry their firearms, to exclude public playgrounds and parks, as well as impose other restrictions. An additional 11 percent excise tax on all firearms, accessories and ammunition is on deck to feed a “gun violence victims reparation fund.” That’s a government imposed “sin tax” blaming the firearm industry for the criminal misuse of firearms that would only increase the cost to law-abiding gun purchasers, assuming the industry doesn’t abandon the New Mexico market entirely to avoid crushing liability.
All those restrictions are not followed by criminals who commit violent crimes.
Crushing the Firearm Industry
In addition to all of those restrictions, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s most consequential proposal would sound the death knell for the firearm industry in the Land of Enchantment. House Bill 114, introduced by New Mexico state Representative and House Judiciary Chair Christine Chandler, targets the already heavily-regulated firearm industry by opening the floodgates for potential litigation intended to make it impossible to remain in business in New Mexico.
HB 114 is the governor’s attempt to pass a firearm industry liability law that directly conflicts with the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which prevents frivolous lawsuits against the firearm industry from the damages caused by the criminal acts of remote third parties. The New Mexico industry liability proposal would make it nearly impossible for firearm manufacturers or retailers to stay in business.
The governor’s anti-industry liability proposal creates the unique crime of “falsely advertising” a firearm product, which is not the same as “an unconscionable or unfair trade practice” that is already law in the state. This could be applied to an industry member claiming a firearm is effective for home defense, despite evidence of millions of incidents of annual defensive gun use and the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Heller that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep a firearm in one’s home for self-defense.
Additionally, HB 114 creates a “harming the public” civil violation applicable only to the firearms industry, establishes duplicative state requirements for practices and protocols that firearm industry members already have in place and authorizes the New Mexico Attorney General or a district attorney to bring an action against any member of the firearm industry by alleging violations (or potential violations) of these new, vague provisions of law. This includes allowing any person “likely to be harmed” by the actions of a firearm industry member to request equitable relief from a court.
If there were any doubts about whether Gov. Lujan Grisham was acting in bad faith to completely demolish the firearm industry, HB 114 puts them to rest and confirms beyond question her anti-Second Amendment goals.
With less than 30 legislative days remaining, the work on the governor’s gun control agenda has already begun. The firearm industry in New Mexico must stay vigilant and speak out against Gov. Lujan Grisham’s unconstitutional aims. Her proposals would not increase public safety and instead would only embolden criminals bent on ignoring laws from the get-go.
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On 19 July 1966, the Wolfhounds of A Company, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry, were fighting for their lives near Trang Bang, Vietnam. They had air-assaulted into a smoking hot LZ in the Tay Ninh Province and immediately realized they had dropped checks they couldn’t cash. The VC pummeled their positions with B40 rockets along with suffocating AK and SKS rifle fire. The medics were overwhelmed, and they were down to their last few magazines. Fear spread like a contagion.
Amidst the chaos and the panic, the survivors could just make out the distinctive sound of CH47 cargo helicopters. With a little experience, it’s not hard to identify a military helicopter in seconds at a great distance. Apparently some rocket surgeon had foolishly sent a couple of big, fat Chinooks into the middle of a full-bore gunfight. Then the entire world exploded.
Two enormous experimental twin-rotor gunships roared in at treetop level. They opened up with fast-firing 20mm autocannon, screaming 2.75-inch rockets, explosive 40mm automatic grenade launcher rounds, and a veritable hurricane of .50-caliber pain. The attacking VC had just received their rude introduction to Guns-A-Go-Go.
The two A/ACH-47A (later designated ACH-47A) Chinook gunships that broke the back of that VC assault in 1966 were modified versions of the standard CH-47 Chinook. A/ACH-47A stood for Armored/Attack Cargo Helicopter. There’s never been anything like them before or since.
Origin Story
This curious live fire experiment saw four standard A-model CH-47 heavy lift Chinooks converted into gunships. They always worked in pairs and were based at Vung Tau and An Khe. The Army referred to this merry mob as the 53d Aviation Detachment. The earth pigs knew them as Guns-A-Go-Go.
Three aircraft operated in country while a fourth remained behind in the States for further testing at Edwards Air Force Base. The first three were titled “Easy Money,” “Stump Jumper,” and “Birth Control.” The fourth was christened “Co$t of Living.” These massive warplanes absolutely bristled with weapons.
Details
Each ACH-47A carried 3,000 pounds of expendable ordnance along with extra applique armor protecting the crew and vital mechanical components. This spare boron carbide allowed these hulking aircraft to take a beating while operating in close proximity to supported ground troops. Each aircraft carried five fast-firing AN/M3 .50-caliber machineguns, the aircraft version of John Moses Browning’s legendary Ma Deuce.
The AN/M3 was the same weapon used on WW2 fighter planes like the Mustang, Lightning, Thunderbolt, and Corsair. They each cycled at around 1,100 rounds per minute. There were two per side of the A/ACH-47 firing through the windows and a fifth gun fitted in a stinger mount on the aft ramp.
A fixed XM34 M24A1 20mm automatic cannon rode on each side of the aircraft. An evolutionary development of the HS.404 Hispano-Suiza 20mm cannon, each of these recoil-operated guns fired 20x100mm high explosive rounds at 700 rounds per minute. Similar weapons served in deck mounts for antiaircraft defense on Navy warships.
Sponsons built into each side of the aircraft included mounting points for either 19-shot XM159 2.75-inch rocket launchers or M18 7.62x51mm Minigun pods. 2.75-inch FFAR (Folding Fin Aerial Rockets) typically carried either ten or seventeen-pound high explosive warheads. White phosphorus or flechette loads were also on the menu.
The M5 40mm automatic grenade launcher rode in a bulbous chin mount and fired high-velocity 40x53mm HE grenades. These rounds were not interchangeable with the 40x46mm grenades fired by the M79 and M203 launchers. The M5 was an air-cooled, electrically-driven gun system that featured a 225rpm rate of fire and a maximum effective range of 1,870 meters. The gun gimbled and could therefore be fired off-axis from the aircraft. Everyone knew it as the “Chunker.”
Practical Tactical
In August of 1966, “Stump Jumper” was involved in a ground taxi accident with another Chinook and burned. As a result, the Army fetched “Co$t of Living” from California and deployed it to Vietnam as a replacement. The following Spring, one of the M24A1 20mm guns on “Co$t of Living” vibrated loose on its mount during a fire support mission. The big cannon pivoted upward and discharged into the rotor system. High explosive rounds struck the forward rotors and blew them to pieces. All eight crewmembers perished.
A year later, “Birth Control” was badly shot up during a gun run and autorotated into a dry rice paddy near Hue. The crew of “Easy Money” immediately positioned themselves between the disabled gunship and attacking enemy, providing ample cover fire so that the crew of “Birth Control” could extricate themselves.
NVA mortars ultimately found the range and destroyed “Birth Control” before it could be salvaged. With only the single airframe remaining intact, the Guns-A-Go-Go project was no more. AH-1G Cobras rightfully stepped in to fill that role.
Epilogue
After the Vietnam War, “Easy Money” relocated to Fort Eustis in Virginia to be used as a sheet metal trainer. In the late 1990s, “Easy Money” was restored to her wartime configuration. In 2000 she went on permanent display at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.
The idea of a massive gun truck that could slather hellfire across the countryside for literally hours on end had merit back in 1966. Given the proliferation of shoulder-fired MANPADS (Man-Portable Air Defense Systems) missiles, these enormous testosterone-charged monsters would be easy meat nowadays.
Regardless, “Easy Money” stands in Huntsville, Alabama, today in mute tribute to the era when Army innovators took a cargo helicopter, strapped on as much ordnance as the thing could carry, and then unleashed it on the VC and NVA. As a former Chinook pilot myself, I think Guns-A-Go-Go might just be the sexiest aircraft ever made.
“Marxists’ ‘love’ of democratic institutions was a stratagem only, a pious fraud for the deception of the masses. Within a socialist community, there is no room left for freedom.” ~ Ludwig Von Mises.
“Guaranteed Chaos,” the currency of leftists:
As NY’s Democrat governor, with a bigoted sneer, crows about “reducing gun violence,” by making it ever more difficult and onerous for law-abiding New Yorkers even to acquire, much less carry, guns of any kind, she simultaneously institutes her “Raise-the-Age Law”.
This new law diverts gun-bearing, violent criminals who are under the age of twenty-one from regular Criminal Court to “Family Court,” putting them out of reach of local prosecutors.
Thus, youths who are illegally carrying guns and even actively using them in the commission of violent felonies will never confront a tempestuous prosecutor in a court of law to answer for their crime(s).
Instead, they now go to “Family Court,” where they get nothing more than a slap on the wrist and are subsequently sent home, and then (to the surprise of no one) promptly re-offend with guns! This will happen over and over, so long as they are under the age of twenty-one.
Thus, in NY, youthful offenders can commit violent crimes using illegal guns with impunity!
Simultaneously, as this (ever-growing) criminal element is thus empowered, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens are sternly told (from the mouths of heavily armed Democrat political hypocrites) that they shouldn’t own guns
NYS early-released 3,900 prison inmates (including many violent offenders) from prison, ostensibly due to COVID-19.
NJ released 5,300, supposedly for the same reason.
As anyone could have predicted, a large percentage of these convicts re-offended almost immediately!
In order to manufacture “guaranteed chaos,” Democrat politicians don’t want violent criminals locked up. They want them out, actively committing crimes, because chaos (that they cynically manufacture, as we see) is always their convenient pretext for taking away our rights and liberties as American citizens.
While piously scolding law-abiding citizens for wanting to own and carry guns (for the personal protection that they refuse to provide), leftist politicians actively empower, promote, and apologize for violent criminals who do their dirty work for them.
Guaranteed chaos is thus their cynical way of “growing government.”
Marxists (currently masquerading as “Democrats”) are all alike, and they are not good people.
Leftist politics does not attract good people
Never has!
Have we forgotten the way both Stalin and Mao, adhering to this identical leftist philosophy and identical rationalizations, ruthlessly murdered millions?
“Movements associated with Freud and Marx both claimed foundations in rationality and scientific understanding of the world. Both perceived themselves to be at war with weird, manipulative fantasies of religions. And yet both invented their own fantasies, that are just as weird.” ~ Jaron Lanier.
/John
About John Farnam & Defense Training International, Inc
As a defensive weapons and tactics instructor, John Farnam will urge you, based on your beliefs, to make up your mind about what you would do when faced with an imminent lethal threat. You should, of course, also decide what preparations you should make in advance if any. Defense Training International wants to ensure that its students fully understand the physical, legal, psychological, and societal consequences of their actions or in-actions.
It is our duty to make you aware of certain unpleasant physical realities intrinsic to Planet Earth. Mr. Farnam is happy to be your counselor and advisor. Visit: www.defense-training.com