NRA Indianapolis 2023
Dan Z. for TTAG

[O]ne would think supporting policies that let Americans carry any type of gun, anywhere, at anytime would be a losing proposition for any politician, much less one who wants to be president.

And yet as I listened to Trump — and the parade of equally craven Oval Office hopefuls who preceded him onstage — I began to realize that he just might be right in his political calculation. Because, far from losing, the NRA seems to be winning. In fact, it might already have won, polls be damned.

Why would I believe such a thing?

It’s not because of the nonsense I heard longtime NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre spout last week, including that the Founding Fathers created the 2nd Amendment so that, from “the day you’re born,” Americans have the “God-given right” to carry a gun for self-defense that cannot be infringed upon.

Nor is it because, as former Vice President Mike Pence told the NRA faithful, “freedom is under attack,” and Americans are determined to not let the government take their guns. I’ll spare you the stories of people I know who think this so fervently that they’ve buried boxes of semiautomatic rifles and ammunition in their backyards.

I believe it because of what I’ve seen and heard in liberal California over the past few years — and how similar it is to what I saw and heard at the NRA convention in the conservative state of Indiana last week.

Consider that the past three years have been the most profitable in modern history for gun manufacturers, even as the country has been plagued by mass shooting after mass shooting. …

Of course, this was the NRA’s grand plan all along, this having America armed to the teeth. It’s a lobbying organization for gun manufacturers, after all. Under the veneer of patriotism is just naked greed.

Aside from the true believers, like the woman in the red, white and blue pants, I have to think most Americans know this by now. We were under no obligation to follow the NRA’s grand plan. LaPierre didn’t force us to buy more guns. Republicans didn’t make people start carrying sidearms to the mall like we’re sidling up to a bar in an old western.

Sure, the NRA has made it easier to do all of this. But I don’t think we can blame the gun lobby for the number of people in coastal California who, as CalMatters reported, are rushing to capitalize on last year’s Supreme Court ruling that made it easier to get a concealed carry license before state lawmakers can close the loophole.

We made these choices. And now it appears we’re stuck in a San Francisco-style “doom loop,” when the sheer number of guns owned by Americans, and the violence and death they cause, is prompting still more Americans to buy more guns, leading to more violence and death, and so on.

So as much as I applaud Gov. Gavin Newsom for taking on the NRA and its political lackeys in his so-called Campaign for Democracy, we’re going to have to fix a lot of this ourselves. Somehow we’re going to have to break our addiction to guns. 

— Erika D. Smith in Trump and the NRA Might Be Right About Guns — And We Mostly Have Ourselves to Blame

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

170 COMMENTS

  1. If anyone has told this whining lib that they’ve “Buried boxes of guns an ammunition in their backyards”, you can bet that they haven’t.

    • From the article:

      “Consider that the past three years have been the most profitable in modern history for gun manufacturers, even as the country has been plagued by mass shooting after mass shooting…”

      I wonder if the author stopped for a moment after writing that and pondered what she had just written, that she had just answered her own questions.

      • “I wonder if the author stopped for a moment after writing that and pondered what she had just written, that she had just answered her own questions.”

        Why would the author do that?

        There is no reason for people to arm-up; no one needs a gun. The police provide security, the trash department provides trash, the fire department provides fire, etc. People taking the law into their own hands are vigilantes. Just be nice to people intending to kill you, and they will be nice to you. If you run away, you won’t be shot.

        Guns kill people. Guns make people want to kill people. No guns, no gun crime. No gun crime, no one killed by guns. People with guns will eventually snap, and start a killing rampage.

        Forget the inner cities; stay away. Leave them to kill one another, but keep guns away from all the nice places I want to go.

        • Tell that to the Chinese who invented gun powder hundreds of years ago, and that was implemented into weapons of war, like cannons and mortars. Eventually those over sized weapons were down sized into handguns and rifle sized weapons for individual safety and protection from thugs and law breakers who would do a body harm.
          As mentioned above, this is not a new phenomenon, but one dating way back in history.

          Everyone who is interested should have experience with firearms.
          They should have instruction on how to safely handle and fire a handgun, rifle or shotgun of their choice. Not to do harm, but to build
          confidence and skill in using a gun. Legitimate target shooting builds skill, discipline and builds self confidence and self esteem, as you master your chosen shooting sport.

          Guns don’t kill anyone; criminals take care of that….no problem.
          The police are spread so thin it takes an inordinate amount of time for them to respond to every 911 call.
          Vigilantes have no place in society as much as vicious criminals do not!
          It’s an individual choice not be be a victim! Learning to protect oneself with a firearm is guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution.
          An armed population, is a friendlier population.
          idpamike

        • Oh, honey. you are so wrong. If someone breaks into my home, it would take tge police at least an hour to get here, if I am even able to get the 911 call made.
          not everyone has trash pickup, we have to find someone to do it and pay them. We have a volunteer fire department, who may or may not get here in time to save our home, so we have fire extinguishers and know how to use them.
          There is no requirement for police to protect anyone. that has alreadt been litigated.
          if we don’t have the ability to protect ourselves, we need our guns.
          and honestly, we don’t need a reason.

        • It is not the gun that kills, but the finger that pulls the trigger.

          There was (much more!) violence before there were guns, and there would still be violence if there were no guns.

          Examine the source of the problem and you quickly see that the tools (e.g. guns) are irrelevant.

          Educate thyself before you wantonly infringe the rights of the law-abiding.

      • As vampires don’t have a reflection many liberals don’t have self reflection. Going to leave other troubling connections be

        • She’s 100 percent correct, we’re in a ‘doom-loop’.

          I’m glad she’s recognized this. Now let’s encourage her and everyone like her to pack their luggage and permanently flee to another country more suitable for them… 🙂

      • If we can ever prevent sexually insane trans activists from killing Christian school kids, we can make real progress. You may notice that the Nashville Transsexual Manifesto is being suppressed by the Liberal Establishment, obviously because it was a planned Trans Terrorist attack on normal people.

        • the longer we wait on that “manifesto”…the more our suspicions are confirmed…they better forget about angry parents and Catholics and start concentrating on the people who are an actual threat….

    • Did you ever have Donkey Balls? They’re not the “delicacy” you might think – “Big Island’s fun and delicious Donkey Balls are huge Macadamia Nuts covered in two layers of milk chocolate and dusted with sea salt …………………… https://salarycash710.blogspot.com

    • Any bets the author is a humanities “academician” who has to publish or perish to gain tenure?

      Mewling quim is probably a better term.

      And it didn’t take long for the anti-Trump and evil capitalists rant and diatribe to start.

    • nice to know they think they’re losing….but obviously every attempt at further restrictions just prompts more buying…the logic of which seems to escape them completely…..

      • “the logic of which seems to escape them completely…..”

        More likely, the more gun purchases, the greater the threat. The greater the threat, the greater the need for more restrictions. And so on.

  2. I love how Erika mentions the “San Fran Cisco doom loop” and likens the situation to it without realizing that maybe just maybe that has something to do with this.

    • erika d. smith you ignorant slut. Until mr. Gun Control bill clintoon came along with his botched Waco TV photo op the NRA was off the radar. Let me educate you…The 3 biggest Gun Salesmen in US History are democRats bill clintoon, b.h. obama and Jim Crow Gun Control joe biden.

      If you want to dive into the defenseless victim pool and rely on odds you won’t be eaten by a criminal that is your choice, just don’t reguritate what is hearsay and try to dupe people into falling for Gun Control…An agenda History Confirms is Rooted in Racism and Genocide.

    • “…and Americans are determined to not let the government take their guns. I’ll spare you the stories of people I know who think this so fervently that they’ve buried boxes of semiautomatic rifles and ammunition in their backyards.”

      Funny she says this. An older gentlemen once told me a story about his father and uncle. This gentleman spoke fluent german, and informed me his father and uncle were Nazis. They didn’t want to be Nazis. They were drafted and when you are drafted in Nazi Germany, you better show up. When the war was over, the governing bodies ordered them to turn in their guns. It was total chaos at the time, and nobody knew who had what. They feared for the worst, didn’t trust who was in charge, and so they buried their rifles and their lugers in preservative in a air tight container under a tree, and claimed they didn’t have any guns. LOL

      • In WW2 SOE dropped thousands of Sten submachine guns to resistance fighters in Europe. Only about 50% were turned in after the war. There’s probably a number of grandchildren who could try some metal detecting in the back-yard garden. Selling any ‘find’ might be something of a problem.

  3. Who is this “we” Erika D. Smith is talking about?

    It sure sounds like she has no addiction to guns to be concerned about.

    What she has an addiction to is government control.

    That is an addiction that if carried too far could prove deadly.

      • Southern,

        IMHO, the fundamental delusion of ALL Leftist/fascists – they are OK with authoritarianism, because they believe THEY are ‘the smart ones’ who will be in control. The funny part is that they are being played, by people who have no interest in their idiot ideology, they just want power. If we use simply Russia and China as examples, the smart money bets that MajorLiar and dacian the demented will be among the first lined up against the wall. “People’s revolutions” have a long history of eating their own.

        • Any bets on how long before Supreme Commissar dacian’s underlings denounce him for being too soft on class enemies?

    • “With an opinion that stupid, I thought Erika would surely have a hyphenated last name.”

      You mean like ‘Smith-she/her/hers’ ?

      Just wait, that type of hyphenated last name thing is probably coming.

    • Never understood the Femi-naughtsee hyphenated last name BS as a “blow against the patriarchy” when all you’re doing is taking TWO male last names instead of the typical ONE.

    • Nah, that’s old school. It’s all about your pronouns, now.

      I like the counter-argument, “If you get to pick your own pronouns, and I have to use them, I get to pick my own adjectives, and YOU have to use them. My adjectives are handsome and brilliant.” If you have a d***, you ain’t a woman. If you cut your d*** off, you STILL ain’t a woman. I think I was taught that in grammar school science . . . but I already knew it.

      I identify as an Apache attack helicopter (some days, a Warthog).

  5. Erika,

    Let me introduce you to the dirty little secret about the Second Amendment: it is not about hunting, sporting, self-defense. The Second Amendment is the founders warning to the federal government that tyranny will be met with armed force, when all other options fail. To ensure that armed force is available, the right of the people to overthrow tyranny by force, if necessary, shall not be limited by the federal government.

    Because all law must stem from government authority delegated by the Constitution, simple legislation to infringe upon the right of the people to overthrow government is unconstitutional. An attempt to evade the Second Amendment via simple legislation is a declaration of government’s intention to disarm the public; tyranny at its finest.

    The Second Amendment has real meaning, whether you and I like it, or not. Whining about guns is just stupid; join a movement to repeal the Second Amendment, or go home and suck your thumb.

    • It’s not a secret. The Left simply attempts to cover up that truth with a lie.

      FIFY

      • “It’s not a secret.”

        Yet, actuality is rarely mentioned on blogs, or organization statements. The vast majority of comments, articles, press releases, law suits are about hunting, sporting and self-defense.

        The issue should not be about legislation that allows govt to “permit” guns, but about the core issue, and interference by government of the basic right of the people to put down a tyrannical government.

        Look at the comments this morning; only two of us have indicated that the issue is controlling govt, the rest are about peripherals. I have been reading this forum/blog since 2013, and can count on one hand the number of times the actual purpose of the Second Amendment is the major theme of any article.

        We keep playing the government’s game, nibbling at the margins, trying to individually (law suits) bat down infringements. Why are “pro-gun” organizations not simply attacking the illogic that a government being controlled by an armed populace gets to determine how that is to be done? A government that declared to itself that nothing in the Constitution is absolute.

    • She rejects this, calling it “nonsense,” but never tells us why she believes this to be true.

      • “She rejects this, calling it “nonsense,” but never tells us why she believes this to be true.”

        Oh, but it is so obvious that “it” is true: the govt would never become tyrannical to the point for using force against peaceful citizens. We don’t need protection from rogue government, but from ever-present deplorables.

    • and the quote attributed to Wayne the Pew Pew is wrong, whether accuratly attributed or not.
      Our Founders did not “give us” the second artile of ammendment. Nope. They drafted that bit of supreme law of the land to confirm and inform govrenment that WE THE PEOPLE have the right to arms, it has come from the God ho also gave us our own breath, and that no one and nothing can restrict or limit or control or subjugate that right.
      Starting with FedGov.

    • Whenever a Lefty type asks me what I need my AR15 for I usually reply with the following.

      “Let’s pretend you are from the government and you come to my house trying to deprive me of my rights….how am I able to efficiently shoot you in the face if I don’t have my AR15?”

      The typical response is a jaw drop and a 180 turn on their heels.

      • “The typical response is a jaw drop and a 180 turn on their heels.”

        As it should be.

        I don’t want anyone to be harmed legally going about their (them?) day, but if Dims, Leftists, communists, authoritarians live everyday in fear of being shot by law-abiding gun owners, can’t see the downside to that.

        (well, yeah, there is a downside…those (they?) same people have no intention of ridding society of gangs and criminals)

    • Sam,

      Personally, I give less than a wet fart whether some coalition of Leftist/fascist idiots can muster enough idiots to repeal the 2A – I have an INHERENT right to defend my life and the lives of my family and friends. Repeal it all you want. I could give a f***. I will defend myself, my family, and my friends, will ye, nil ye. And I will choose HOW I do that.

      • Lamp, if 2A is repealed, a whole lot of people will need to re-think their assumptions. My intention was to point out how attempting to evade the constitution through simple legislation to confiscate property once before resulted in a painful backlash, and in the end, a constitutional amendment was necessary, after all.

        • Sam,

          Agreed. The beginning of our long, slow slide into tyranny was ignoring the basic premise of the DoI, Constitution, and BoR – if the government isn’t SPECIFICALLY granted a power, it doesn’t have it. Period, dot. “Implied powers” or “inherent powers” are legal fictions to justify government overreach.

        • “I am trying to find where they are going to find 37 states ready to ratify such a change.”

          The political landscape is not static. Disregarding Article 5 convention, the states are informed by Congress how voting on an amendment will progress (legislature, or convention). State voting is certified by some official in each state (and it may be possible for the certifying official to certify a result other than the actual voting). Each state will submit their certified vote to the National Archivist. As with any political activity, there is plenty of opportunity for mischief.

          If Congress stipulates that state conventions, not legislatures will be the deciding method of ratification, it could be a real crap shoot.

          The long game can present an unexpected opportunity to strike for repeal of an amendment.

  6. Wah, wah, wah.
    Gloom, despair, and agony on me.
    Deep, dark depression, excessive misery.
    If it weren’t for bad luck I’ve have no luck all.
    Gloom, despair, and agony on me.

  7. Substitute ” carry any type of gun” with “speak in public” and see how their attitudes change. Not that great of a fan of Trump overall myself, but I feel he is the biggest wrench in the toolbox to throw in the spokes of the political machine today… IMHO

    • I’m sure some would go with the speak in public idea because they wouldn’t think it meant them because they are the ones who voted for it.

    • “I feel he is the biggest wrench in the toolbox to throw in the spokes of the political machine today… IMHO”

      He was, but he is no longer.

      He’s a one-trick pony, and he’s un-electable today. He inspires so much hatred by the Leftist Scum ™ that he cannot win next year.

      If he’s the candidate, I will vote for him. But I fear if he doesn’t get the nomination, so many morons will write his name in, we will lose… 🙁

      • Geoff You’ll never convince the true believers no matter what it is that they believe. At this point in time the mere existance of Mr. Trump will give the Democrats the next (several) elections.

  8. Erika is living in the past in her comment about “burying ammo and guns in the backyard”. We ain’t doing that anymore. We’re digging them up, and prepping them for immediate use.

    • Hear that clicking sound from all across the country?? The People are loading magazines.

      • I’ve also noticed that silhouette targets (and photo realistic bad guy targets) have become far more popular than bullseye targets in the last couple of years. So much so, that it’s getting hard to find any these days.

        • “I’ve also noticed that silhouette targets (and photo realistic bad guy targets) have become far more popular than bullseye targets in the last couple of years. So much so, that it’s getting hard to find any these days.”

          https://www.refactortactical.com/collections/range-targets

          I use a lot of these, ordered another 100-pack last friday > Kill Zone Target > https://www.refactortactical.com/collections/range-targets/products/kill-zone-target?variant=39478546038859

        • “small paper plates/ steel.”

          Small metal spinners for .22lr.

          Having a few hundred pounds of bulk .22lr on hand is comforting… 🙂

        • Many ranges prohibit use of human silhouette targets. Here is a workaround. Purchase target sized heavy paper stock and a roll of one inch circular stickers aka dots in a contrasting color. Appy stickers to paper in this pattern:

          T (three dots row 1, 1 dot row 2 centered immediately below row 1)

          I (three dots stacked vertically centered below the “T”)

          Space them so that they represent the T-box zone of the eyes and nose and the center of mass zone of a human torso.

          Also useful is placing one dot on a plain white paper plate. Aim for the dot. Start at seven feet distance and increase the distance as ability to hit the dot improves.

  9. Delicious tears from this writer.

    Remove “diversity” from the “gun violence” statistics, and we’re as safe as merry ol’ England.

    But nobody wants to talk about that. Instead, it’s just gaslighting and grandstanding, slight-of-hand and misdirection, with the ultimate goal of disarming us all, and seizing our property, freedom, and lives. Miss Smith would no doubt call me a paranoid, right-wing fantasist, but …. history is clear. Plus, take a look around at what is happening in the country and the rest of the world, and private firearms ownership looks absolutely rational.

    There is no doubt Miss Smith, like most on the left, sees herself as one of the chosen Platonic philosopher-kings, who’s wisdom is beyond that of the peasantry, and who’s right to rule is divinely ordained. Well, she can go pound sand. She’s actually a useful idiot for those who’s only love is power. And what happens to the useful idiots when the Communist Revolution is triumphant??

    They are the first against the wall.

  10. “But I don’t think we can blame the gun lobby for the number of people in coastal California who, as CalMatters reported, are rushing to capitalize on last year’s Supreme Court ruling that made it easier to get a concealed carry license before state lawmakers can close the loophole.”

    Loophole?

    Its not a ‘loophole’ idiot. Its a constitutional right.

    Maybe we should close the ‘loophole’ that lets idiots like you write such ‘journalistic’ missives as this tripe you wrote.

    Maybe you should need to get the states permission and a permit and training and be told by the state what you can and can not write and what computer you can and can not have to use the first amendment.

  11. The NRA continues to serve a very useful purpose: a target for the leftists to incessantly rail against.

    As the leftists screech about and fight against the NRA “gun lobby”, organizations such as GOA and various state level organizations make significant headway against inept totalitarians.

      • Harvey won’t be bothering anyone for a *long* time.

        He’s now a resident of the infamous ‘Twin Towers’ LA jail, and may he never get out… 🙂

    • demonizing the NRA is part of their narrative….but it just reveals how clueless and out of touch they really are as to what is actually going on….

  12. Here’s more typical left wing propaganda sprinkled with a few morsels of truth. From the article:

    In 2020, with widespread unease over the pandemic, sales to new owners hit an all-time high of 21 million

    110,000 people in the state bought a gun in response to the pandemic that year

    So it’s not at all surprising that deaths from firearms, both by homicide and, more often, by suicide, reached a record high in 2021, up 23% from 2019, before the pandemic and before we had so many guns floating around.

    Got that? People were buying record amounts of guns because of the pandemic, not because of the Left’s push for fiery but mostly peaceful protests. People were suddenly committing suicide in 2021 because of the uh China Virus. Yeah, that’s the ticket!

    Pence tapped into this with some old-fashioned fearmongering during the Leadership Forum: “All across the country, a crime wave is wreaking havoc in our largest Democrat-run cities. Left-wing district attorneys are refusing to prosecute criminals…Even liberals aren’t immune to this rhetoric about crime.”

    Pointing out there’s a crime wave (encouraged by Democrats) is fearmongering or rhetoric. It’s basically a right wing conspiracy theory.

    Democrats wouldn’t be able to survive without constant lying and propaganda. They have zero solutions for anything other than destroying this country while enriching themselves.

  14. So none of the “hell yes we’re gonna take your guns!” shouting from the left is to blame? Or does the left still deny they do that?

    It’s pretty funny they can’t let the NRA go even as so many it’s very own members have cast it aside. Better for us, I guess, that these antis are operating a decade or more behind the curve. Might be worth the cost of Wayne’s suits to keep it propped up as a straw man while other orgs do the real work.

    • They ended the NRA as a big league Republican donor – with help from Wayne. That was the goal.

  15. Where do these idiot authors come from. “Gavin Newsom”??? Is a moron, a liar, and part of corrupt Pelosi family. When he ran for governor a decade ago, he promised to fix the homeless and crime problems. Just look at San Francisco, L.A. and Oakland now. 50 times worse since he got in power with his nutty ideas. Commiefornia is bleeding population and its mostly his fault. Get rid of Newsom, the state general assembly and the gun control laws, and maybe California has a chance to be a desirable place to live again. There are 26 states that think Constitutional carry is a good thing, and it seems to have a positive effect on reducing crime victims.

    • “When he ran for governor…”

      It’s even worse than that. He promised to fix it when he ran for mayor of San Fran two decades ago.

    • “Where do these idiot authors come from.”

      This particular one hails from Cleveland, the so-called “Mistake on the Lake.” Is it true that breeding tells?

  16. Would you rather have people addicted to Drugs and Alcohol. . .apparently we know the answer to that; it’s a large part of the reason there are as many shooting as there are. Territorial (aka gang related) shootings are a large portion of the shooting deaths and injuries. It has nothing to do with the proliferation of firearms sales; it’s about the addiction to drugs to escape the screwed up & lopsided society we live in. It’s about the ability to make an untaxed fortune selling those illegal goods, often to people (or for them) in places that might be the ones making the laws that control our lives, and have created the lopsided society.

    Then there are those addicted or supposedly controlled by legal mind altering drugs. Many of those people are the ones that turn into mass shooters. There are many incidents of people on these drugs carrying out mass shootings, and or people that were in some level of psychiatric care or evaluation. Yet, they were not reported to the proper authorities by the organizations that should’ve done so; or the guardian/parents refuse to acknowledge their relative ro off-spring has a serious problem (pride) and the unthinkable takes place.

    Blame the NRA, blame Firearms, sadly the reality is; it is NOT either of those. It’s a much bigger society altering issue; one that NO politician wants to address.

    • Families often want help for their mentally ill children but deinstitutionalization pretty well killed that. The correlation of mass murderers and medications is often because they have stopped taking them

  17. Okay hon, the “NRA” won (not the massive numbers on both sides of the aisle buying guns in anticipation of the coming shit-storm) and you’re forced to graciously accept defeat, you. know, being from the “High Road” team.
    Now, off with you, find something equally noble to occupy your time with.. hey, maybe genetically engineered offspring with the ability to determine and change gender at will – sort of a new Mr. / Mrs. / Ms./ It. Potatohead for the New Generation

    • …. with extra parts storage !
      I’m quite sure the inventor George Lerner is rolling in his grave just thinking about what is included in the parts catalog

      • …and google (ugh) a picture of dear Ms.Smith, quite sure she has a family of tropical birds living on top of her melon.

        • Pb_fan59,

          Oh, THANK YOU for that disgusting image I will never be able to purge. Being a curious sort, I did the Google (ugh, indeed!) search.

          There is simply not enough eyebleach to erase that hideous visage. The only tern that comes to mind is “fugly”. I bet she owns 10 cats, voted for Senile Joe (only because she couldn’t have Beta O’Dork), and has never known the touch of a man.

  19. Hey Erika, I don’t see you moving your pathetic a** to China, where the serfs have no rights. Where you would feel far more comfortable being unarmed, defenseless, and knowing only the government and criminals are allowed to own the guns. So unless you are packing your bags, sit down and STFU already if you refuse to leave.

    • And where the government and criminals are at best in collusion if they are not one and the same.

  20. Speaking of California, there was an article on RCP yesterday about people in California are about to be paying their utilities based on how much money they make. Ie socialism at its finest. Article was good though, talked about how that is a downward spiral that usually ends in bloodshed.

    • AQ,

      Call a spade a spade – that is full on communism. “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” Written by a failed trust-fund baby, born with a silver spoon, who never did an honest day’s work in his life, this immoral and disgusting premise has inflicted more misery on the world than all religions combined.

  21. how infantile is the mind
    that believes
    that guns cause crime
    i own a lot of guns
    ive had them a long long time
    no crimes
    at all

  22. Of course this twit refuses to understand why people are buying guns. She is a Garcia voting leftist who believes in decarceration and defunding the cops, the two biggest drivers of the crime that sells more guns. So in the end if she wants to blame someone she can just look in the mirror.

  23. As always the cry is “It’s the Guns!” When the idiots can’t comprehend that it’s as always, the person holding the gun. Always the demand for more regulation, restrictions, outright bans and government power over the lives of the citizens being turned into serfs/slaves.
    As for more government, I say not only no but hell no. All of us have the opportunity to do for ourselves. We all have the same rights and opportunities to own property work in whatever field we wish, go to school, and choose who we will associate with. Rather than cry for more government, why not put some effort into building a life and legacy for yourself and your family? Rather than demand government protect you, why not do what you can to protect yourself? Immediate response rather than hoping some government agent shows up and actually does the task requested. While I honor the officers who ran to the sound of the guns in Nashville and Louisville in recent weeks, we also see how it still took several minutes for them to get on scene and see what was happening. A single armed civilian may have been able to stop the shooter in either case before many of the victims were shot.
    Truth is not a single regulation proposed by the anti gun crowd will prevent a single crime/shooting from happening. If anything it will allow the crazed or angry person who has chosen to commit a violent act even more time and more free fire/gun free zones to commit their murders.

  24. if were addicted to buying guns
    its because for years democrats have been addicted to saying stuff like:
    “lets take away everybodys guns” and
    “lets have less police” and
    “lets have no bail” and
    “lets have prosecutors that dont prosecute” and
    “lets start having state governments take children away from their parents so the children can be given drugs and surgery that the parents dont agree with” and
    “lets start calling our political opposition ‘deplorable’ and even worse ‘irredeemable'” and
    “lets lock people up for not getting vaxxed” and
    “lets allow ‘mostly peaceful protests’ to happen” and
    “lets say that antifa is just an idea”
    and most importantly:
    “we wont say that
    shooting up a Christian school
    is a hate crime”

  25. Sounds like nothing more than barely coherent gibberish to me. These people have everything so upside down and backwards that they never seem to be able to see the forest through the trees. So completely divorced from reality.

    • Yup. How sweet to hear the lamentation of da wimmin . . . .

      What’s really going on is that like it has for a lot of the California politicos, it’s now dawned on her that Bruen does indeed mean that California’s disarmament fandango is over, and there’s not a damn thing she can do about it. She sees that reality and like Hilary supporters the morning after the election simply cannot deal with it . . . so “it has to be because the NRA is in the pocket of the gun manufacturers!” Utter tripe and cognitive dissonance.

      It’s going to take some time, and California (and the Ninth Circuit) will drag things out as long as possible, but the writing is on the wall.

      CA’s “Assault weapon” ban? It’s toast, and even AG Bonta knows it. Benitez should have an opinion out shortly, and the appellate record in that case is VERY favorable. The fight will then be over whether a Ninth Circuit stay pending appeal survives the SCOTUS shadow docket. I expect the Benitez opinion in that case will be the basis for gutting the entire CA system (much as MacDonald forced Chicago and Illinois, kicking and screaming, into the present day).

      Microstamping and the “approved handgun” list? Already enjoined and on the way to the Ninth Circuit (uphill battle for the state). And notice that California didn’t even bother to seek a stay of the injunction against enforcing the microstamping law.

      Fee shifting law (designed to make it hugely expensive to challenge CA guns laws)? Toast.

      Local laws requiring liability insurance for gun owners? Dead man walking.

      What I’m hoping to see is that when the Ninth Circuit rules on Benitez’s expected order killing the CA AWB (I expect they will tie themselves in knots to uphold that law), will SCOTUS deal with the cert petition summarily and just enter a GVR order (Grant, Vacate, Reverse).

      If SCOTUS does that, it would be an unambiguous signal to the Ninth Circuit that “playtime is over. If you are channeling the late Judge Reinhardt [a far leftist Ninth Circuit judge who famously laughed off his high reversal rate by SCOTUS by saying “they can’t catch ’em all”], we’ll just start summarily reversing you.”

      • They’ve essentially lost the gun and abortion battles, but those topics tend to rally the troops. Well, that and s e x ual ization of children.

      • “…summarily reversing…”

        This would be lovely. However, half a dozen GVRs would likely really fire up the “amendment to the amendment” folks. 3/4 is a big margin, but throw in some election hijinks and they would bet the farm on it. Not to mention the “pack the court” folks.

      • “…will SCOTUS deal with the cert petition summarily and just enter a GVR order (Grant, Vacate, Reverse).”

        So sweet, to order the 9th to *agree* with Thomas’s ruling.

        I think it’s a real possibility the 9th, out of sheer spite, will refuse, and force an AWB granting of cert.

        Where Thomas will delight in filleting them yet again… 🙂

        • If there is a SCOTUS GVR order reversing a Ninth Circuit order vacating the Benitez final judgment / permanent injunction on the California AWB, it’s over and there’d be nothing for the Ninth Circuit to “refuse” to do.

          Whether by an opinion on a granted cert petition or by a summary GVR order, the mandate (the actual directions to the lower court) would be the same: “Your order vacating the district court’s judgment was wrong and is hereby vacated. The district court final judgment / permanent injunction is upheld and is now binding.” All self-effectuating, no remand for further proceedings needed.

          The Ninth Circuit could bay at the moon until the cows come home and it would not matter a whit: the Benitez injunction will be in effect, and I have little doubt he’d happily entertain contempt proceedings against California officials who attempt to “ignore” his permanent injunction. (Federal judges take a very dim view of people who ignore their orders, especially public officials.)

  26. Erika Smith wrote, “people in coastal California who, as CalMatters reported, are rushing to capitalize on last year’s Supreme Court ruling that made it easier to get a concealed carry license before state lawmakers can close the loophole.”

    Sorry Smith, but freedom is not a “loophole” that must be “closed.”
    Freedom is the birthright of Americans, guaranteed to all Americans by the US Constitution and its Bill of Rights, not a “loophole” that must be “closed.”

  27. The San Fran doom loop is by Democrat failed policies.
    Democrat failed policies like de-fund the police, soft on crime DAs, no cash bail, making the criminals into the victims and the real victims into criminals is the so-called reason why the NRA is winning.
    But Erika seems to ignore that part.

  29. l love reading these good news stories, but I can’t be as optimistic as the author 😉

    Joking aside, I see she is stuck on the NRA the way lame stream meadi is stuck on Faux Snews. I don’t have anything to do with either one and it will be a cold day in he’ll before I do. NRA and Faux Snews are not required to be a gun nut.

    • Yes, she (and they) sure thinks the NRA is running the show. I suppose let ’em tilt away at that windmill (er, windbag?) while the smaller grassroots groups take your unconstitutional laws and policies apart piece by piece.

  30. Consider that the past three years have been the most profitable in modern history for gun manufacturers, even as the country has been plagued by mass shooting after mass shooting. …

  33. “A middle-aged woman named Lynne told me…”

    Want to know how I know she’s lying?

    “…she keeps a double-pump shotgun with an extended clip behind her front door for home defense.”

    Nobody who actually owns a gun talks like that. A double-pump shotgun?

    • Not to mention “extended clip”, really? So is it a pump shotgun with an extended mag tube, a double barrel shotgun that is not a pump and has no “clip” or is it a Standard Mfg DP-12? (anyone else make a double pump gun?)

      I’ve come to the conclusion that much of what antis actually fear is adjectives, colorful names and descriptive terms. (I think that is why they embellish descriptions like double-pump, or fully semi-auto) Tell them you have a revolver and, while they might not like it, they don’t freak out. Tell them you have a .357 Magnum and they screech, “what do you need a *magnum* for?.” Tell them you have a lightweight utility rifle and they shrug. Tell them you have an AR-15 and they start wailing about assault this and extended that and semi-auto the other. Tell them you have a 1911, meh. Say you have a Wilson Combat CQB Elite and they will call you a baby murderer. Terms like magnum, custom, military and police, military grade, combat, super, compact, large, precision, maximum, and on and on, all seem to shatter what little calm the antis have. This in spite of the fact that virtually all of those are little more than marketing terms.

      I once had a woman ask me if I had any “military-grade” guns. I said, “Sure, a couple but, most of mine are nicer than that.” You could almost see the smoke coming out of her ears as the machinery ground to a halt.

        • Not sure if you are referring to me or “them.” If me, I guess I need not take offense because I am, after all, just banging out random thoughts on a keyboard. If “them”, yeah, they say a lot of stupid shit.

  34. @ .40 cal Booger

    Pretty good target selection there. I usually buy local, but might order from that site. Thanks. 🙂

  37. If “everybody in coastal California” is flocking to get a gun now, it sounds like the people have spoken. So shaddup about it already

  38. What Erika doesn’t seem to understand is that Democrat policies are the driver of gun buying. I never thought anybody could sell more guns than the Clintons and then Obama came along. And then I thought nobody could sell more guns than Obama and then Biden came along. He now has the title of Greatest Gun Salesman Of All Time. The NRA and other gun orgs should give him a trophy! Are there any challengers? 😳

    • True dat. I bought my first firearms due to Obama. I’d always planned on getting some but finally got off my rump when i thought a ban was coming.

      My wife will tell you ive got the full fledged fever now

    • Well, Fauci was at least an honorable mention for MVP – Tell people that they can’t go to the grocery store any more and some of them are gonna figure that they might need to learn to hunt and stop other people from stealing their food.

    • Indeed, she gets to work on her apparently-lacking coping skills… 🙂

  40. (from the complete missive of Smith in her/she/hers linked article) “A middle-aged woman named Lynne told me she keeps a double-pump shotgun with an extended clip behind her front door for home defense. She also bought one for her 92-year-old mother.”

    Not only that… but Lynn got one for her 92-year-old mother … gee whiz, no wonder they were out of stock at the store in Diagon Alley when I tried to buy myself some of that double-pomp shotgun goodness. A double-pump shotgun must be doubly-tactical especially with an extended clip. Lynn also probably got the last real Unicorn too and keeps it in the spare bedroom, ’cause they were out of stock on those too when I checked.

    Darn it!

    • Gun Jesus could make a 30 minute episode on such a rare firearm. Othias and May could make the show about an hour and a quarter.

    • When you think about it most front doors open towards the inside of the dwelling therefore making behind the door a pretty poor place to keep a shotgun of any kind or capacity.

  41. “…this was the NRA’s grand plan all along, this having America armed to the teeth.”

    Completely missed the point of everything.

    It was our Founders, not the NRA, nor GOA, SAF, (etc) that wanted Americans to be “armed to the teeth” in order to prevent the citizenry from becoming serfs and slaves yet again.

    • Yup.

      From the OP:

      “[O]ne would think supporting policies that let Americans carry any type of gun, anywhere, at anytime would be a losing proposition for any politician, much less one who wants to be president.”

      Yeah, except for all those politicians who, you know, wrote and/or signed the Constitution. Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Monroe, Madison, Hamilton, Franklin …

      • still think of Madison grabbing his gun and rushing out to join the defense of the city…while Dolly stayed behind and did what she could to save the artwork…

  42. The left “Defund the police and release violent criminals back onto the streets”
    Also the Left “Why is everybody buying guns for protection?”

  43. I know the reason why TTAG does post the opposition articles to the 2nd Amendment and firearm owners is to illustrate what we are up against. It is not an addiction to firearms that are the problem, but it is the repeat criminals that are the problem and the commiecrats that support them. The commiecrats have been good a deflecting the real problem, which has been their support for harden criminals with a revolving justice policies. It used to be an old saying, “Don’t do the crime, if you can’t do the time”, but the commiecrats have eliminated any real punishments for crime.

    It is no surprise that only a few hundred repeat criminals are in each commiecrat controlled city where 90% of the violent crimes are committed daily. When we can break the cycle of the commiecrats crime policies that have been created over past several decades, we can see the light to a safer future, but this is just hopeful wishing. They will never see our side of the story and we just have to accept it, while focusing on ways to take our rights back and correct the mess they have created.

  44. gosh I wonder why everyone is buying guns (h/t to Handwaving Freakoutery)

    They locked down the economy, and everyone bought guns.

    They killed everyone’s jobs, and everyone bought guns.

    They closed the schools, and everyone bought guns.

    They created supply shortages of simple things like toilet paper, and everyone bought guns.

    They tried to crash the meat supply by shutting down central meat packing facilities and not allowing locals to bypass FDA regulations, and everyone bought guns.

    They rioted, and everyone bought guns.

    They burned police stations, and everyone bought guns.

    They said the police were systemically racist, and everyone bought guns.

    They said they were going to defund the police, and everyone bought guns.

    They said not to trust any vaccine developed by Trump, and everyone bought guns.

    They set up autonomous zones where no police were allowed to go, and everyone bought guns.

    They besieged federal buildings, and everyone bought guns.

    They said Trump was Literally Hitler, and everyone bought guns.

    They said the same vaccine which we weren’t supposed to trust a month before would be mandatory or you’d lose your job, and everyone bought guns.

  45. @Michael P Nickoloff
    “Tell that to the Chinese who invented gun powder…”

    You are way over-thinking this.

    • Sam,

      With all due respect, I think Nickoloff had an actual point, there. You CANNOT deprive a thinking human of weapons. I can make ‘black powder’ (it ain’t exactly rocket surgery), and build a functional firearm to use it in, for chump change. All “ban guns” or “disarm civilians” delusions derive from an incurable delusion – they think everyone around them is as stupid and helpless as they are. The only way to “disarm” a thinking human is a 230 grain Hydra-Shock to the melon.

      • “With all due respect, I think Nickoloff had an actual point, there.”

        Yes, but irrelevant to my comment…it was all mockery, ridicule, mimicry, satire; intended for entertainment.

        Thus, Nickoloff over-thought the comment. Sorry I entertain him.

  46. @LKB
    “The Ninth Circuit could bay at the moon until the cows come home and it would not matter a whit:”

    Seems Calif is where it is because the 9th bayed at the moon, and won. What is to prevent the 9th from continuing to defy the SC, and keep things in turmoil until the SC gains another Leftist, or a bunch of them?

    Indeed, what is to prevent municipalities from continuing to defy the SC?

    • Sam,

      Two men (in a bit of delicious irony, two “persons of color”) – Roger Benitez and Clarence Thomas. At first, I was pissed at SCOTUS for remanding the several Benitez decisions for “reconsideration in light of the holding in Bruen”. Then I realized Thomas was just giving the 9th Circus enough rope to hang themselves with. He wants them to either ACKNOWLEDGE the holding in Bruen, or continue to be @$$clowns and ignore it. I suspect he, and the rational majority on SCOTUS, are quite prepared to deal with either outcome.

      Try to picture the SCOTUS opinion he would write if those blithering idiots on the 9th Circus sent back some feeble attempt to breathe life into their idiot “two-tier’ (actually three; they even lied about that) test? Not that I want him to have to, but it would be EPIC reading when the opinion came down. I see lots of online speculation about why Benitez is taking so long to issue his opinions in the current2A cases. Personally, I think he’s trying to wait out the 9th Circus, and see what f***tardery they are going to engage in. Shortly after Bruen was published, I went back through Benitez’ opinions on the 2A, and tried to imagine how he would have crafted those (VERY scholarly) opinions had Bruen been issued before he decided them. As much as I admire Thomas, Benitez is a national treasure.

  47. Enjoy Benitez’s opinions, but he cannot control the 9th, and neither can the SC. By what means would the SC actually prevent Californication, and the 9th, from just continuing to defy the SC? (note Andrew Jackson’s response to an SC ruling of which he was contemptuous)

    Any lower court has the right/privilege of declaring the SC wrongly decided a matter.

  48. “The last three years have had record profits”

    Hmm- wonder why?

    The Fed and many states reveal that they can take your rights away with the wave of a hand.

    Destructive riots are fine- as long as they vote correctly.

    Police are pulled back from enforcing basic laws in most large cities.

    Nope- no reason to own a gun!

  49. “… the NRA’s grand plan all along, this having America armed to the teeth. It’s a lobbying organization for gun manufacturers, after all… ”

    Grace is unable to differentiate between the NRA, and the NSSF; not unusual for a maroon.

  50. Imagine that…manufacturers want to be profitable. WHO would have thought it? Certainly not that commie bozo.

  52. There are [at a minimum] 400 million guns in the USA. If we disbanded the NRA today and closed all gun manufacturing plants next week, there would still be 400 million plus guns in the USA. Good luck in reducing gun violence.

  54. This is like plagiarism. You fully lifted an article and reposted it without adding anything of your own. You’d be suspended from college for this.

  55. Beth Donovan
    “Oh, honey. you are so wrong.”

    Speed reading, and knee jerk reaction are not social skills to be prized. Stand up, take a breath, slow down. Not everything is superficial, nor what it seems on its face.

    Re-read the original comment for the entertainment it provides.

  56. @Michael K
    “Fox Butterfield, is that you?”

    I’m not even sure who I am, so no, I am not Fox Butterfield.

    Should I be?

  57. “An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Beyond This Horizon.

  58. You dumb fool, Grace did not write the above article. it was written by an idiot leftist named Erika Smith. You need to go back to school and learn how to read.

  59. nice to know they think they’re losing….but obviously every attempt at further restrictions just prompts more buying…the logic of which seems to escape them completely…..

  61. So we’ve reached a consensus that Erika Smith is a Fugly Cumb Don’t, who doesn’t know WTF she’s prattling on about.

    To Grace, I appreciate the articles about what the other side is saying Ma’am, so keep ’em coming. At the very least, it serves as an exercise in Debunking their narrative points, and as a source of amusement, when we see that they really don’t know what they’re talking about.
    I keep googling “Double Pump Shotgun with Extended Clips,” and even Google says it doesn’t know WTF the Cupid Stunt is talking about.

    • I appreciate the anti-gun articles that Grace posts as well, Bemused. The way I see it, it is in the “keeping my enemies closer” category. I have been known to perv the “Everytown For Gun Safety” website, just to see what they are up to. I am proud to say my state ranks (according to them) as a solid “F”. I have never been so happy to fail at something-bwa ha ha. I just find it amusing those here who are too lazy to read to the end of an article, and attack Grace, rather than attacking the actual person who wrote said, anti-gun article.

  62. @Peter Franks
    “Educate thyself before you wantonly infringe the rights of the law-abiding.”

    Who, me?

    I was just pulling the noses of the anti-gun mob.

    Speed reading, and knee-jerk reaction can lead to missing all the fun.

  63. What a dumbass . . . never mind he neglects to mention the U.S. is ranked #11 in the world for mass shootings. If one subtracts gang shooting, that number is down around #37, actually one of the safer countries in the world so long as you’re not in Chicago where they just voted in another democrat.

    He also failed to mention the hundreds of millions of firearms that lay around everyday and they shoot nobody or the million plus people that successfully defend themselves every year . . . the problem is the media megaphones the few shootings that deranged individuals commit and sadly, mentally deficit people like the one that wrote this dribble like to believe in order to advance their agenda.

    “To ban guns because criminals use them is to tell the law abiding that their rights and liberties depend not on their own conduct, but on the conduct of the guilty and the lawless.”
    Lysander Spooner, 1808-1887

  64. I like how Trump mentioned the Biden pistol brace changes that he set the precedence for with the TRUMP bumpstock Ban and mentioned companies losing business…. Wow, just like Slide Fire… He is also the one who said “Get the guns first, then goto court” I will only vote for Trump if I have to over a Democrat.

  65. Just another Liberal who believes he is right and everyone else must agree with him. Anyone who applauds Newsom for any reason should just go ahead and move to China where he would be very happy with how the government operates.

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