Of course I would never suggest that you contact these folks with your opinion about CNN’s vigorous fight to not protect our 2nd Amendment rights. Because that would be wrong!
Category: Anti Civil Rights ideas & “Friends”
A bill requiring 18-20 year olds to hand over or transfer ownership of heretofore legally possessed “assault weapons” is gaining sponsors in the Illinois Senate after passing the House last month.
The bill, HB 1465, was sponsored in the House by Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) and passed by a vote of 64-51 on February 28.
After being introduced in the upper house by Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), the bill has added seven co-sponsors in the last week. Notable among them was Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove), the NRA “A” rated 2014 Republican nominee for U.S. Senate.
The NRA-ILA described the weapons covered by HB 1465 as “commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms.” The bill also requires 18-20-year-olds to forfeit ownership of any magazines that hold more than ten rounds of ammunition.
The guns and magazines remain legal for persons 21 and up, but persons under 21 would have 90 days to give up ownership, should HB 1465 become law.
Fox 2 reports that critics of Mussman’s bill were taken aback by “the idea that the government would confiscate property.” Mussman responded to these concerns by assuring them “authorities will not visit homes to pick up weapons.” Rather, “a first offense for getting caught with prohibited firearms would be a misdemeanor offense.”
The push to force 18-20 year olds to give up the enumerated semiautomatic firearms is now under consideration by the Illinois Senate.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
Walmart’s Decision to Ban Gun, Ammo Sales to Young Adults is Not Surprising At All
Walmart announced that it will no longer sell firearms or ammo to persons under the age of 21. (Photo: Twitter)
You shouldn’t be shocked to learn that Walmart announced this week it would stop selling guns and ammo to adults ages 18, 19, and 20. The multinational corporation with a half a trillion in annual net sales has a history of being a fairweather supporter of the Second Amendment. More on that in a moment. But first the statement on what led Wally World to discriminate against young adults.
“In light of recent events, we’ve taken an opportunity to review our policy on firearm sales,” said the Arkansas-based company in a statement.
“Going forward, we are raising the age restriction for purchase of firearms and ammunition to 21 years of age,” it continued. “We will update our processes as quickly as possible to implement this change.”
My take is good for Walmart. It’s a free country. Businesses can do whatever they like. For example, if Walmart wanted to suddenly stop selling newspapers to gays and lesbians. It could do that no problem whatsoever. Right? Oh, wait, are you saying that would be a problem? Bad example.
How ‘bout if it banned the sale of sugary sweets to fat people, like myself. Now I’m sure no one would raise a stink about that. After all, obesity kills more people than AIDs and firearms combined. Wait, you’re kidding. That, too, would cause rioting in the streets?
Fine. I got it. How ‘bout this. If Walmart prohibited old people — over 60 — from driving to their store locations. Old people can be slow and dangerous behind the wheel. I think everyone would consider that a public service. We can all agree on that. What, we can’t?
Back to being serious. Walmart has a history of being, how shall we say, not exactly a best friend to the 2A. For starters, they stopped selling guns in about two-thirds of their stores in 2006 citing waning “customer demand.” What horrible timing. Had they waited two more years, they would’ve been able to cash in on the Golden Age of Gun Sales spurred by President Barry Obama.
SEE ALSO: Will Walmart’s Self-Defense Policy Get an Employee Killed?
They partnered up with Michael Bloomberg in 2008 to roll out a computerized system to log all purchases as well as video record every over-the-counter sale. Sounds a little 1984-ish to me. If you bought a gun at Walmart over the past decade, “Smile, you’re on Bloomberg camera!”
In 2015, Walmart discontinued selling black rifles; once again citing “customer demand.” In other words, it wasn’t politics. It wasn’t because Walmart finally caved to pressure from anti-gun shareholders, i.e. the Trinity Church, who had demanded that the retail giant stop selling ARs. Nope. It was all about dollars and cents. And better serving the gun community. Right. Don’t believe that for a second.
Then there’s Walmart’s policy on self-defense which instructs employees to “disengage” if the suspect “brandishes or threatens to use a weapon.” The company fired several Utah employees who stopped a knife-wielding shoplifter. Those employees sued and won in court. The judges said essentially that it’s okay to instruct employees to stand down — unless withdrawing is not an option and the use of force is reasonably exercised to prevent great bodily harm. That’s common sense.
Walmart didn’t see it that way. They want their employees to disengage under every circumstance. Even if it’s to protect and defend themselves. Because encouraging employees to take action in those instances sets a “bad precedent.”
Where does this leave us and Wally World? I guess that’s up to you. If you believe that they are good custodians of your 2A rights, by all means, continue to shop there. If you believe they are a soulless enterprise that puts profit over people and panders to anti-gun forces, it might be time to take your business elsewhere. But the choice is yours. Do with this information what you will.
Here are all the brands that have cut ties with the NRA following gun-control activists’ boycotts
- Gun-control activists are organizing boycotts and calling for companies to cut tieswith the National Rifle Association.
- The NRA has partnerships with companies that offer members special deals, such as discounts on car rentals or hotel bookings.
- The car-rental giant Enterprise and the First National Bank of Omaha are among the companies that have cut since ties with the NRA.
Gun-control activists are organizing boycotts of companies with ties to the National Rifle Association — and they’re already producing results.
People on social media are calling for boycotts of companies that offer or have offered special deals to NRA members who, as part of their membership, receive discounts on things like car rentals and prescription drugs.
While companies such as FedEx still offer such discounts, other companies have cut ties.
The NRA, in a statement, said, “some corporations have decided to punish NRA membership in a shameful display of political and civic cowardice. In time, these brands will be replaced.”
Here are all the brands that have cut ties with the gun-rights group after the recent boycotts as well as past efforts by gun-control activists.
Delta
On Saturday, the airline tweeted that it is “reaching out to the NRA to let them know we will be ending their contract for discounted rates through our group travel program. We will be requesting that the NRA remove our information from their website.”
Scott Olson/Getty Images
The airline announced on Saturday that it is cutting ties to the NRA.
“United is notifying the NRA that we will no longer offer a discounted rate to their annual meeting and we are asking that the NRA remove our information from their website,” the company tweeted.
“United is notifying the NRA that we will no longer offer a discounted rate to their annual meeting and we are asking that the NRA remove our information from their website,” the company tweeted.
On Friday, Hertz tweeted, “We have notified the NRA that we are ending the NRA’s rental car discount program with Hertz.”
Allied Van Lines
In a statement to Business Insider, an Allied representative said the moving company is discontinuing its discount program with the NRA immediately. “We have asked them to remove our listing from their benefits site,” the representative said.
Thomson Reuters
MetLife told Business Insider on Friday that it would discontinue its NRA discounts program. “We value all our customers but have decided to end our discount program with the NRA,” a representative said in an emailed statement.
SimpliSafe
On Friday, the home-security company SimpliSafe told Business Insider that it would withdraw from the NRA discount program. “We have discontinued our existing relationship with the NRA,” SimpliSafe CEO Chad Laurans said in a statement.
On Thursday, the bank said it would not renew a contract with the NRA that allowed members to receive an NRA-branded Visa card. “Customer feedback has caused us to review our relationship with the NRA,” the bank said on Twitter in response to a call for a boycott. Previously, First National Bank offered members of the gun-rights organization an NRA Visa card, which offered a$40 cash-back bonus.
Thomson Reuters
On Friday night, Paramount Rx released the following statement to BI: “The prescription discount program that is made available to NRA members is offered through a third-party vendor. We are working with that vendor to discontinue the program and remove the offering.”
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The car-rental giant Enterprise Holdings announced on Thursday that it would end its NRA discount program, effective March 26. The three car-rental brands that Enterprise operates — Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo Rent a Car, and National Car Rental — will stop offering discounts to NRA members.
A representative did not respond to Business Insider’s follow-up questions about why Enterprise was ending the program, though the company has been flooded with boycott threats on social media. Avis Budget Group and Hertz, two rivals of Enterprise, still offered NRA discounts as of Friday morning.
A representative did not respond to Business Insider’s follow-up questions about why Enterprise was ending the program, though the company has been flooded with boycott threats on social media. Avis Budget Group and Hertz, two rivals of Enterprise, still offered NRA discounts as of Friday morning.
Symantec
The cybersecurity company announced on social media Friday that it had “stopped its discount program with the National Rifle Association.”
Best Western has been targeted by boycott efforts because it has offered discounts to NRA members as recently as 2016. In response, the hotel chain has tweeted dozens of times that it “does not have an affiliation with and is not a corporate partner of the National Rifle Association.”
“Best Western ended any association with the NRA in 2014,” a representative said in a statement to Business Insider.
Best Western has been targeted in past NRA boycott efforts.
In 2012, after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the activist group Avaaz organized a boycott of Best Western and Wyndham Hotel Group, calling for them to cut ties with the NRA. At the time, both hotel chains were listed on the gun-rights group’s website as “friends of the NRA” and offered members discounts at hotels.
“Best Western ended any association with the NRA in 2014,” a representative said in a statement to Business Insider.
Best Western has been targeted in past NRA boycott efforts.
In 2012, after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the activist group Avaaz organized a boycott of Best Western and Wyndham Hotel Group, calling for them to cut ties with the NRA. At the time, both hotel chains were listed on the gun-rights group’s website as “friends of the NRA” and offered members discounts at hotels.
Wyndham
While Wyndham Hotel Group previously offered a 10% discount to NRA members, the hotel chaincut ties with the organization late last year. In response to boycott threats this week, the Twitter accounts for Wyndham and its rewards program tweeted dozens of times that the hotel chain was “no longer affiliated with the NRA.”
Republic Bank
“The NRA Prepaid Card program was previously under review. Upon conclusion of this review, we decided to discontinue the offering,” a representative said in a statement.
Getty Images/John Moore
A representative for Avis and Budget told Business Insider that the brands would stop the NRA rewards program, effective March 26, 2018.
On Saturday, Starkey tweeted that it will not renew its discount program with the NRA.
“We will be asking them to remove our information from their website. Our focus remains on bringing better hearing to people around the world in partnership with hearing professionals,” the company said.
“We will be asking them to remove our information from their website. Our focus remains on bringing better hearing to people around the world in partnership with hearing professionals,” the company said.
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SEE ALSO: Two major hotel chains have cut ties with the NRA — and as boycotts loom, they want everyone to know
There are so many varieties of ammo on the market today, but not every type is perceived the same in the eyes of the law. Watch Independent Program Attorney Emily Taylor explain how the type of ammo you use could affect you.
Emily: Choice of ammunition is just about as personal as your choice of carry weapon. Though there aren’t many laws governing your ammunition. There are a couple of things to keep in mind as you decide how to best arm yourself.
Armor piercing ammunition rounds for handguns is illegal. With that said, there are no other restrictions for ammunition on the books in the state of Texas. You want the nastiest hollowpoints you can find? Perfectly legal. That box of ammunition that says law enforcement use only? Go for it. Your own custom reloads? No problem. Outside the realm of armor piercing ammunition, anything goes.
Now, just because it’s legal doesn’t necessarily mean there are not any consequences to your choice. If you have to use your weapon to shoot an attacker in self-defense, could a prosecutor argue your RIP hollow points or your hand loads are evidence that should be used against you? They can twist any and every fact available to try to get the jury to convict. Will it work? If you’ve got a good defense attorney on your side, probably not. So, as long as it isn’t armor piercing use what you think will keep you and your family safest.
Now do not get me wrong on this one. I am a firm supporter of the Law & of the Cops. Who have a really tough, nasty & unpopular job.
But there comes a time when Honor demands that when one fails the unforgiving moment. That one steps down and let someone else have a turn at the bat. Well, It’s time for Sheriff Israel to go and let hopefully somebody better to rebuild that police department.
Sheriff Scott J. Israel (D)
Education
BA degree, political science, Cortland State University, 1977; FBI National Academy, 212th Session; Advanced Tactical Management for Commanders; WMD Incident Management/Unified Command SWAT Manager’s Advanced Course; SWAT Supervisor’s Advanced Tactics and Management; Southern Police Institute; Broward County Institute of Criminal Justice, with honors.
Career
Ft. Lauderdale Police Department: patrol officer, 1979-1980; narcotics detective, 1980-1986; special problems officer, 1986-1991; patrol sergeant, 1991-1993; street level narcotic sergeant, 1993-1995; narcotic unit sergeant, 1995-1996; patrol captain, 1996-1999; community policing captain, SWAT commander, 1999-2004; chief of police, North Bay Village Police Department, 2004-2008; elected Sheriff of Broward County, 2012; re-elected 2016.
“Our success will be measured by the number of kids we keep out of jail, not the number we put in jail.”
~ Sheriff Scott J. Israel
Honors and Affiliations
Dade County PBA “Chief of the Year,” 2005; recognition of appreciation for coordination of LE Response to FTAA, FDLE, 2004; recognition of appreciation, USMS, 2001; Turn Around Fort Lauderdale Citizen’s Award, 1997; recognition of appreciation, USDEA, 1996; Outstanding Recruit in Physical Achievement, Broward Police Academy, 1979; member: Violent Crime and Drug Control Council, Southeast Regional Domestic Security Task Force, Florida Sheriffs Association, National Sheriffs’ Association, Major County Sheriffs’ Association, IACP, NOBLE, Miami-Dade County Chiefs of Police Association, Florida Police Chiefs Association, International Narcotic Enforcement Officers Association, National and Florida Tactical Association, Crime Prevention Coalition of America, F.O.P., South Florida Shomrin Society, Florida Crime Prevention Association, founding member of the Broward SWAT Commander’s Association.
Behind the Badge
Several web sites mischaracterized an October 2017 California law preventing school personnel from carrying guns on campus.
CLAIM
Gov. Jerry Brown of California signed a bill that bans teachers from carrying firearms and shooting back at school shooters.
RATING
MIXTUREORIGIN
In February 2018, as Americans still reeled from a deadly school shooting in Florida and gun lobbying groups floated proposals to arm teachers to defend their classrooms, various web sites posted articles conveying the claim that Gov. Jerry Brown had signed a law in California prohibiting teachers from doing just that.
“Liberals want to ban teachers from having their God-given right to defend the young and innocent from mass shooters,” wrote the author of a 22 February post on the web sites Right Edition and Truth and Action:
Unfortunately for the school-aged children in California, Governor Brown would rather see them dead than allow adults to have the right to take out a mass shooter. This is no joke. In response to the recent shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) introduced bill AB 424.
The catastrophic reach of this bill is appalling and unacceptable in a nation that considers itself to be a democracy.
California Governor Jerry Brown signed a revolting bill banning teachers from being able to shoot back if a mass murder breaks into their school.
This bill, AB 424, comes in reaction to the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in South Florida.
In fact, however, California’s AB 424 was not enacted in reaction to the Florida high school shooting. It had been passed and signed by the state’s governor several months before that event, in October 2017.
Nor is “banning teachers from being able to shoot back” an objective and impartial description of the bill’s content. (A 15 October 2017 article from Breitbart was similarly misleading, alleging that Gov. Brown had signed a bill “ensuring that teachers can’t shoot back if attacked.”)
The main consequence of the bill’s passage is that K-12 school district officials are no longer able to grant special authorization for teachers and other school employees to carry firearms on school grounds — an exception to California’s Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995 that was rarely taken advantage of in the first place.
The official summary of AB 424 reads as follows:
Existing law makes it a crime to possess a firearm in a place that the person knows, or reasonably should know, is a school zone, unless it is with the written permission of the school district superintendent, his or her designee, or equivalent school authority.
This bill would delete the authority of a school district superintendent, his or her designee, or equivalent school authority to provide written permission for a person to possess a firearm within a school zone.
The Gun-Free School Zone Act originally prohibited the possession of firearms on or within 1,000 feet of school grounds, except in two cases: concealed weapons permit holders were permitted to carry firearms in gun-free school zones (a provision that had already been repealed in 2015), and persons granted written permission by school district authorities could do so (the provision that was repealed by AB 424).
Since AB 424 went into effect on 1 January 2018, it has been illegal for anyone besides security guards, law enforcement officers, military personnel engaged in official duties, and armored vehicle guards to possess firearms on or near K-12 school grounds in California. The law does not apply to college campuses.
Only a “handful” of California’s roughly 1,024 school districts had actually initiated programs to grant school employees permission to carry weapons, according to the Sacramento Bee (Associated Press estimated the number at about five). The Wall Street Journal reported that at least eight states currently allowed teachers “in some capacity” to carry guns on K-12 school grounds.
Forty-four percent of Americans surveyed in a CBS News poll taken after the Parkland, Florida, school shootings favored allowing more teachers to carry guns.