Gun Rights

SACRAMENTO — California bans guns for domestic violence offenders. It bans them for people deemed a danger to others or themselves. There is a ban on large-capacity magazines, and a ban on noise-muffling silencers. Semiautomatic guns of the sort colloquially known as “assault weapons” are, famously, banned.

More than 100 gun laws — the most of any state — are on the books in California. They have saved lives, policymakers say: Californians have among the lowest rates of gun death in the United States.

Yet this month, those laws failed to stop the massacres of at least 19 people in back-to-back mass shootings. The tragedies in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay have confounded Americans who regard California as a best-case bastion of gun safety in a nation awash with firearms.

No law will stop a criminal or a madman.

I moved to Santa Clarita, California from Phoenix, Arizona, when I was 12 years old. Instantly, I loved it. In my opinion, the suburbs of Los Angeles County are much nicer than the city itself—it felt like the type of safe community you would see on a television show. At such a young age I didn’t really have any political views. I knew my dad owned guns, but I never thought much of it.

Lefty gat-snatchers screech about “gun violence” when a shooting helps their narrative but go radio-silent when guns are used to protect the property — and lives — of innocent Americans.

It doesn’t really make sense to ban guns, because in reality what that means is that you are actually trying to ban effective self-defense. Despite the constant hammering by a news media with an agenda, guns are used in America far more often to stop crime than to cause crime.

I’ve seen several different sets of numbers about how many times guns are used in self-defense every year. The problem with keeping track of this stat is that the vast majority of the time, when a gun is used in a legal self-defense situation, no shots are fired. The mere presence of the gun is enough to cause the criminal to stop. Notable firearms instructor Clint Smith had a saying: “If you look like food, you will be eaten.” Regular criminals are looking for prey. They want easy victims. If they wanted to work hard for a living, they’d get a job.

Last September, Myles Sanderson stabbed and killed 11 people and injured 18 in several locations in Saskatchewan. Then in October Shaelyn Yang, an RCMP officer, was fatally stabbed in Burnaby , British Columbia. Reading about these tragic events, I found myself wondering whether stabbings in Canada are taking the place of shootings as ever more legislation and enforcement make guns more difficult to own and buy.

OTTAWA — Deep into preparations to compete next month in the Netherlands, Canadian elite-level pistol shooter Kim Britton can’t help but worry for the future.

“I envision a point where to me, even though I love it, it’ll be too challenging to pursue,” she said.

The federal government’s plan to start its firearms buyback program on Prince Edward Island as a pilot project is not going ahead, according to a news report.

The information was first reported by Maritimes media group Saltwire Network on Jan. 12, and was commented on by Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro.

“Just two days after [Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino’s] plans to use PEI as a training ground for their firearms confiscation program were exposed – the federal Liberals have already backed down,” Shandro tweeted on Jan. 12.

The North Stokes High School baseball team in Danbury, N.C. is once again raffling off seven very nice guns in a fundraising effort, sold through Betty’s Outdoors.  The drawing will be held on March 10, 2023.  Keep in mind that the prizes can be picked up or traded for actual cash value for other items from Betty’s Outdoors, Inc.  And since they are an FFL, all applicable laws will be strictly followed.

You would be correct in saying, “So what?,” or “Where can I buy a ticket?”

Authorities in Houston, Texas say they’ve now spoken with the man who shot and killed a robber at a Houston taqueria last Thursday evening, and have not taken him into custody or arrested him. Instead, police say they’ll refer the results of their investigation to a grand jury, who will determine whether the armed patron should face any charges in connection with the incident.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has not released many details about his proposed mandatory gun buyback program, which was announced nearly three years ago. Despite the silence, government documents hint at an expensive program with too much administrative overhead for what it’s worth.

DOCUMENTS: Feds' gun buyback is to start in #PEI this year on a trial & error basis with final costs unknown: "Prince Edward Island will be used as a pilot." https://t.co/uKtbqZ6wng #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/h6T9uo82Bo

— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) January 9, 2023

h/t Mauser

A curious mutation in gun control activism occurred during the last few decades, whence began a fixation on something dubbed the “assault rifle.”

Never mind that an assault rifle, insofar as the designation was ever at all valid, had always referenced a weapon with a “select fire” feature allowing three types of operation: semi-automatic, fully-automatic or in three-shot bursts.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says the federal government is “looking at a variety of options” to carry out a planned buyback of banned firearms — including enlisting outside help.

Canadian police chiefs have urged the Liberal government not to rely on resource-strapped police forces to deliver the coming gun buyback.