Reps. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX) are pushing the “Mass Shooter Prosecution Act,” which would open mass shooters and their “support networks” up to terrorism charges in the event the shooters use guns Democrats typically label “assault weapons.”
Yahoo News quoted Moulton addressing mass shooters, saying, “They are terrorists and they should be prosecuted as terrorists.”
He added, “[The bill] also allows prosecutors to go after the material support networks. Networks that provide aid, perhaps its guidance, instructions maps. Whatever helps these attackers carry out these vicious assaults.”
Escobar said, “My community of El Paso was forever changed by the actions of a domestic terrorist fueled by white supremacy theories. With this legislation, we’re giving law enforcement the tools they need to follow through with investigations into terrorist networks and any individual responsible for attacks against our communities.”
The text of the “Mass Shooter Prosecution Act” defines a mass shooter as “whoever kills 3 or more people in a single incident using a machinegun or a covered semiautomatic weapon in a circumstance described in subsection (b).”
The semiautomatic weapons that qualify under the heading of “mass shooting” are the same types of weapons House Democrats voted to ban last week. Firearms outside those apparently fall outside the parameters of proposed terrorism charges.
The punishment for those who meet the definition of “mass shooter” is imprisonment for “any term of years or for life. ”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News 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 and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
Murder, electronic monitoring, Chicago’s top cop, an acquittal, guns, pot, a viral video, Lollapalooza, questions about prosecutorial decisions, and a dumbfounded judge. This story has it all.
Torrence Reese (inset), a CPD photo of the alleged contraband, and a frame from a viral video showing Reese being tackled near Lollapalooza. | CPD; @ChicagoCritter
It’s difficult to imagine a story that better captures the state of law enforcement in Chicago than this one.
A man who was singled out by the Chicago police superintendent as an example of an alleged murderer who should not have been released on electronic monitoring, only to be found not guilty six months later, allegedly ran from a crashed car in the Loop on Thursday evening, leaving behind a bag containing $8,000 in marijuana and a loaded handgun with an auto-fire switch and an extended magazine attached.
Chicago police posted pictures of the crash scene and contraband on Twitter. A witness recorded now-viral video of the man being tripped and tackled by a bystander as Chicago cops moved in to make the arrest near Lolapalooza.
And prosecutors charged him with the pot that was in the bag. But they did not charge him with the gun that allegedly had an auto-switch and extended magazine attached, leaving a Cook County judge dumbfounded.
“I’m having a hard time understanding how he’s charged with some contents of the bag but not all,” Judge Mary Marubio said during a Friday afternoon bail hearing.
A prosecutor told her that the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office considered filing gun charges but “decisions were made.”
An example and an acquittal
Torrence Reese, then 18, was charged in March 2017 with killing two people and injuring a third during a shootout that authorities said was the result of an attempt to steal marijuana. Reese was also shot during the incident.
A judge initially held him without bail, but he was later released on electronic monitoring to await trial on 140 felony counts.
Almost exactly one year ago, after July ended with more than 100 people murdered in Chicago, CPD Supt. David Brown identified Reese by name as an example of someone who should not be on electronic monitoring.
“If you release Mr. Reese, who was charged with two murders and an attempted murder, and continued to commit crime while in jail, we’re going to run in place as a city,” said Brown. “Too many violent, repeat offenders are being released back into these communities, creating a sense of lawlessness and no consequences for their behavior, making for a dangerous environment.”
Prosecutors dropped 110 of the 140 charges against Reese in January, a routine move to focus the allegations for trial.
After the state put on its case in February, Reese’s attorney, Michael Clancy, ripped their entire presentation in a memorandum to Judge Diana Kenworthy.
“To be blunt, the civilian witnesses called by the State were all liars,” Clancy wrote in the February 22 filing. They “all took an oath to tell the truth, then proceeded to prevaricate time and again. They contradicted each other on details big and small … It is plain that a murder scene was tampered with by two and likely three individuals in this case.”
On February 28, Kenworthy found Reese not guilty on every charge, including eight counts of murder.
New allegations
On Thursday evening, Chicago police tried to pull over a white Jeep in the Loop. Prosecutors say the Jeep drove onto the sidewalk and ran red lights before it crashed into two cars that were stopped for a traffic signal near Michigan Avenue and Harrison Street, not far from the Lollapalooza festival.
The Jeep’s driver bailed out and Reese ran from its front passenger seat, Assistant State’s Attorney Steven Haamid said Friday.
This video shows what happened next. A man wearing a tie-dye shirt stuck his leg out and tripped Reese, who fell to the sidewalk. He got back up and started running, only to be pushed into a pole by the same bystander as cops approached. Watch:
Cops found a blue bookbag on the front passenger seat where Reese had been, Haamid said. Inside, officers found the loaded handgun with the auto-fire switch and extended magazine along with three bottles of promethazine and $8,100 worth of pot, according to Haamid. Another bag, located behind the driver’s seat, contained another $8,100 worth of marijuana, he continued.
The Chicago Police Department posted photos of the crash scene and the alleged contraband on Twitter.
Prosecutors charged the driver, Darius Sanford, with aggravated fleeing, possession of cannabis, and driving on a suspended license. The cannabis charge is linked to the bag that police allegedly found behind the driver’s seat.
They charged Reese with possession of cannabis and possessing a controlled substance for the pot and promethazine that was allegedly inside the blue bag.
“Why isn’t this gun charged?” asked Judge Marubio. “40-caliber handgun with an extended magazine and auto switch.”
“The gun charge was reviewed, and decisions were made at that time to not charge that gun,” Haamid replied.
“But is he then charged with the drugs in that bag?” Marubio countered.
“That is my understanding,” Hammid affirmed.
After a long silence, Marubio offered a confounded, “Okay.”
Reese only has two misdemeanor convictions in his background, including a mob action charge, which Brown was apparently referring to when he said Reese “continued to commit crime while in jail.”
Marubio ordered him to pay a $1,000 bail deposit to go home, where he must observe a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.
Sanford, convicted of two gun felonies and felony misuse of a credit card in 2011, according to Haamid, was ordered to pay a $2,500 deposit and then observe the same curfew. Marubio said his bail is higher because of the fleeing allegations.
According to the sheriff’s office online inmate search, neither man was in custody as of Saturday morning.
On Tuesday, Project Veritas dropped a bombshell document that shows the FBI making disturbing judgments in identifying “violent extremists.”
[WASHINGTON, D.C. – Aug. 2, 2022] Project Veritas released a newly leaked document today provided by an FBI whistleblower, which shows how the Bureau classifies American citizens it deems to be potential “Militia Violent Extremists” [MVEs].
In the document, the FBI cites symbols, images, phrases, events, and individuals that agents should look out for when identifying alleged domestic terrorists.
Some of the examples of “red flags” used in the documents are truly shocking.
Of note, under the “Symbols” section, is a prominent citation of the Second Amendment, where it explains that “MVEs justify their existence with the Second Amendment, due to the mention of a ‘well regulated Militia,’ as well as the right to bear arms.”
Right below that, under the “Commonly Referenced Historical Imagery and Quotes” section, Revolutionary War images such as the Gadsden Flag and the Betsy Ross Flag are listed. Each flag displayed in the document comes with a brief description of what it means.
Under the “Common Phrases and References” section of the leaked document, Ashli Babbitt is cited as a person that MVEs consider to be a Martyr.
Incredibly, the document also ties things like Ruby Ridge, Waco and Timothy McVeigh with traditional American symbols.
Other disturbing “red flags” identified in the document were “All enemies, foreign and domestic” and, shockingly, “I will not comply.”
It is extremely alarming to learn the FBI is so casually conflating common, basic American terminology and Americana with violent extremists. It seems they are genuinely setting up Americans for punishment based on the most basic, common expressions of totally average patriotism.
Project Veritas indicated the document was not for public consumption.
The “Unclassified/Law Enforcement Sensitive” document says it is for “FBI Internal Use Only.”
Kira is a freelance writer and Editor-at-large for RedState. She has appeared on Fox News, OANN, The Blaze and The Dr. Phil Show. Kira is also a regular guest host at KABC radio in Los Angeles. Her podcasts “Just Listen to Yourself” and The Kira Davis Show are heard by hundreds of thousands of listeners across the country and the globe. Kira lives in Southern California with her husband and two children. She is a dog person but has been known to tolerate cats from time to time.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon is…special.
What I mean is that he’s someone who can screw up nine ways to Sunday, yet still tell himself the problem has absolutely nothing to do with him.
The latest example? Amid his own failures, including the release of a convicted murderer, he’s still blaming guns.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon praised California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push for more gun control as he faces criticism over releasing criminals who have gone on to commit violent crimes.
“Thank you, @cagovernor Newsom, for signing several important bills to protect Californians from #gunviolence including four bills supported by my office,” Gascon’s office tweeted Friday in response to Newsom signing four bills that Gascon says will ‘help limit the availability of firearms and take on the growing menace of unlicensed ghost guns.’”
…
“Easy accessibility of firearms, precursor parts, and ammunition has compounded this nation’s gun violence crisis,” Gascon’s office tweeted. “These sensible measures will help stop this deadly #epidemic.”
…
Gascon’s tweet comes at the same time he faces heated criticism over releasing a California murderer 6 years into a 50-year sentence who was re-arrested this week on gun and DUI charges after a car chase.
The report also notes that most of the responses to Gascon’s office’s tweet were negative, with at least one calling it “virtue signaling.”
Regardless, Gascon is in a particularly tough position. I mean, he’s releasing criminals and refusing to prosecute others, which isn’t really going to do much to reduce violent crime, yet he’s beholden to liberal donors who wanted just that.
So, he’s got to do something else, such as jump up and down about gun control.
However, I want to know if Gascon honestly believes that if you remove guns from the equation, people will just stop killing one another.
I mean, look at the convicted killer he’s in so much heat over. This is someone with a felony conviction–one of the big boy felonies at that–and who lives in a universal background check state, yet he got a handgun despite all of that.
Seriously?
I mean, you’re going to push for gun control when confronted with evidence like that? How? Just what new gun control can the state pass that will remotely address something like that?
The answer, of course, is nothing. Newsom’s new bill won’t do anything about that and neither will anything else Gascon is supporting here.
What might, though, is stepping up and prosecuting criminals.
In other words, if Gascon did his job, Los Angeles might not be in such a tough spot right about now. However, Gascon is one of a handful of uber-progressive prosecutors who seem determined to make lives in our cities untenable, even as the rest of their progressive buddies try to usher more people into them.
If there’s an upside to this, it’s that it’s unlikely that even folks in Los Angeles aren’t dumb enough to look at Gascon’s record and think that the real problem is not enough gun control. Then again, this is LA we’re talking about, so I could well be wrong.
The Los Angeles Police Department has stopped enforcing California’s state law banning “high capacity” magazines, according to an internal LAPD email obtained by the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project.
The email was sent Wednesday morning to all LAPD personnel by Commander Ernest Eskridge, assistant commanding officer of the department’s Detective Bureau.
Because of this ruling, Eskridge said in the email, all sworn LAPD personnel shall not “investigate, detain or arrest” anyone for possessing a magazine capable of holding more than 10 rounds, unless they are already legally barred from possession ammunition in the state.
There were three issues in Duncan v. Bonta: whether a law prohibiting law-abiding citizens from possessing magazines in common use violates the Second Amendment; whether confiscating legally obtained magazines violated the Fifth Amendment’s “takings clause;” and whether the “two-step” approach the 9th Circuit and other courts applied to Second Amendment cases is constitutional and meets Supreme Court precedents.
In its Bruen decision, the Supreme Court held that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home and that New York’s “special need” requirement for a concealed-carry permit violates those protections. It also ruled that the two-step rights balancing method by which many gun control laws have been upheld since Heller violates the Second Amendment.
Please check back throughout the day for more on this breaking story.
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