Guns

Report: Nearly 5 Million First-Time Gun Buyers in 2020

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reported that there have been nearly five million first time gun buyers thus far in 2020. On August 24, 2020, NSSF contrasted the number of National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks from January 1, 2020, through July, 2020, with the number of checks from January 1, 2019, through July 2019. After adjusting for checks that were tied to concealed carry permits or other ends, other than sales, they ascertained that the number of checks for sales was 12.1 million. NSSF then surveyed retailers and found that “40 percent of sales were conducted to purchasers who have never previously owned a firearm.” Forty percent of 12.1 million is 4,840,000, or nearly five million sales. NSSF senior vice president of general counsel Larry Keane commented on the new gun buyers, saying: This is a tectonic shift in the firearm and ammunition industry marketplace and complete transformation of today’s gun-owning community. These first-time buyers represent a group of people who, until now, were agnostic regarding firearm ownership. “That’s rapidly changing, and these Americans are taking hold of their God-given right to keep and bear arms and protect themselves and their loved ones,” Keane said.

This is great news!  Good for these folks exercising their 2nd Amendment rights to protect themselves and their families from all the craziness going on out there.  For more, click on the text above.

Missouri governor says pardon likely if St. Louis homeowners charged

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson says he is prepared to exercise his pardon powers if prosecutors bring criminal charges in the case of a St. Louis couple who brandished firearms at a group of protesters outside their home. Parson, a Republican, told a St. Louis radio station Friday that he thinks a pardon is “exactly what would happen” if Mark and Patricia McCloskey are hit with charges in the June 28 incident captured on video and seen by millions. He later added that based on what he knows about the case, “I don’t think they’re going to spend any time in jail.” The McCloskeys, who are both attorneys, displayed guns as Black Lives Matter protesters walked onto the private street where they live. The protesters were headed to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson. State prosecutor Kim Gardner launched an investigation, saying, “we will not tolerate the use of force against those exercising their First Amendment rights.” St. Louis police seized a rifle from the couple’s home pursuant to a search warrant. Parson told 97.1 FM the McCloskeys “did what they legally should do,” according to The Hill newspaper. “A mob does not have the right to charge your property,” he said, according to the paper. “They had every right to protect themselves.” Parson linked to the interview on Twitter and added the comment, “We will not allow law-abiding citizens to be targeted for exercising their constitutional rights.” Gardner has not disclosed whether she intends to file charges, but several leading Republicans — including President Trump, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Parson — have criticized her for even deciding to investigate the couple. Parson cited Missouri’s “castle doctrine” law that justifies lethal force for those protecting their homes. Hawley is seeking a U.S. Department of Justice investigation of Gardner. A spokeswoman for Gardner declined comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

This is playing out exactly as we predicted.  This self-serving, anti-gun, pro-criminal, liberal Democrat St. Louis City prosecutor Kim Gardner (D) has bitten off more than she can chew.  Sure, she’s getting her 15 mins of fame, and adoration from the criminal community.  But, she’s failing at her job.  So, kudos to Gov. Mike Parson (R-MO) for basically saying he’ll pardon the McCloskeys if any charges are brought against them, and to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) for asking the DOJ to investigate Ms. Gardner.  After all, she FAILED to do her job when cops arrested 35 rioters during the post-George Floyd riots in St. Louis.  She just let them all go, without bringing any charges….which is her flipping job!  Instead, she’s going after law-abiding gun owners who were rightfully exercising their 2nd Amendment rights in protecting their home from the mob.

Gregg Jarrett: Armed couple who defended St. Louis home when threatened shouldn’t be prosecuted

Malcolm X once observed: “I don’t even call it violence when it’s in self-defense; I call it intelligence.” A St. Louis couple — Mark and Patricia McCloskey — recently chose to arm themselves for self-defense after a mob entered their property and allegedly threatened their lives. They insist they were acting justifiably and … yes … intelligently. They were also acting lawfully — as long as they were in fear and reasonably believed that the force of weapons they displayed was necessary to defend themselves from an imminent threat of harm. That is the law. As a logical extension of the Second Amendment right to bear arms, Missouri embraces a well-known common-law principle called the Castle Doctrine. The state’s expansive interpretation permitted the McCloskeys to use physical force to defend themselves and their home while on their own property, without requiring them to first retreat. There is some case law in Missouri that suggests that the couple would not have been permitted to shoot solely in defense of their property. However, the McCloskeys neither fired their weapons nor claimed they were protecting merely their land. Indeed, they say that several members of the mob were armed and vowed to set their home ablaze and murder them. If true, the couple was completely entitled under the law to brandish (and potentially use) physical force in self-defense. Patricia McCloskey told Sean Hannity on his Fox News show: “[They said] they were going to kill us. They were going to come in there. They were going to burn down the house. They were going to be living in our house after I was dead.” The McCloskeys explained that they first called 911 but no police arrived. They were left to defend themselves. Mark McCloskey told KSDK-TV that “the only thing that stopped the crowd was my rifle.” How is it possible, then, that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner is investigating the McCloskeys but not the mob that allegedly knocked down a wrought-iron gate and knowingly trespassed (signs were posted) on the McCloskey’s property? This is backward. Repeated threats of physical harm uttered by the mob would constitute an assault under the law. Yet, Gardner appears to be poised to charge the homeowners with assault over their right to defend against an alleged assault. Legally, this is not just senseless, but insane. It is well-established that a person is allowed to threaten force if he or she is threatened. The perpetrators do not suddenly become helpless victims when they are averted. The idiocy of Gardner’s reasoning was explained to Fox News by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, who stated that Gardner “has a record of making politically motivated decisions not based on the law.” No kidding. Schmitt called Gardner’s record in prosecuting violent crime “abysmal.” As chief prosecutor, Gardner cares more about defending criminals than helping victims. To her, justice is an antiquated bromide. This should come as no surprise, since Gardner’s 2016 election was funded, in part, by considerable cash funneled through a Super PAC backed financially by far-left billionaire George Soros. Gardner’s tenure has been notable only for the slew of lawsuits against her for allegedly ignoring public records requests. (Gardner appears to believe that the public is not allowed to read public records.) Her low conviction rate in prosecutions has brought solace and smiles to criminals. In a statement, Gardner called the mob “peaceful protestors who were met by guns and a violent assault.” There are two inconvenient problems with her remarks. First, Gardner has completely ignored or dismissed the evidence of the trespass and the McCloskey’s chilling account of the mob’s threats of arson and murder. Second, by publicly declaring the couple guilty of assault, she has demolished any presumption of innocence for the accused. The Constitution protects free speech, assembly and peaceful protests. These are cherished rights. But the First Amendment does not give license to demonstrators to transform themselves into criminals who engage in acts of threatened violence or other lawless conduct. The riots, looting, assaults, and murders that have escalated out of control in many cities across America in the aftermath of the George Floyd tragedy are not an excuse under the law to victimize innocent people and destroy property. Late last week, authorities armed with a search warrant seized the rifle that Mark McCloskey was shown holding the night of June 28. His wife’s pistol was already in the possession of their attorney. The seizure, together with Gardner’s statement, leaves little doubt that the McCloskeys will soon be facing criminal charges by an elected prosecutor who seems determined to abuse her power by capitulating to the demands of the mob. Gardner can’t possibly prevail if charges are brought. But I suspect that is not her objective. Prosecution of the McCloskeys serves a political nostrum. It would conform perfectly to the prevailing orthodoxy of liberal outrage that no one is now permitted to question without being condemned and/or canceled. We are told we must all recognize and affirm that disagreement, however well-reasoned, is no longer tolerated. Ideological purity must be elevated, as dissent is suffocated, we are told. The civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was a legendary proponent of nonviolence. But he was not an absolutist. King well understood the moral and legal necessity of self-defense in a society that is not always civilized. King made this clear when he wrote: “The principle of self-defense, even involving weapons and bloodshed, has never been condemned, even by Gandhi.” Kimberly Gardner is not condemning self-defense as much as she is canceling it for purely political reasons driven by self-interest and self-promotion. She has no business being a government prosecutor if she harbors such contempt for the law.

Agreed 100%!!  Thanks to Gregg Jarrett for that spot-on legal analysis.  Gregg is a former defense attorney and adjunct law professor. He is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book “The Russia Hoax: The Illicit Scheme to Clear Hillary Clinton and Frame Donald Trump.” His latest book is the New York Times bestseller “Witch Hunt: The Story of the Greatest Mass Delusion in American Political History“

Trump may intervene in case of St. Louis couple wielding guns at protesters, Missouri governor said

The governor of Missouri says President Trump has promised to “do everything he could within his powers” to shield a St. Louis couple who wielded guns at protesters in their gated community from prosecution, even as an attorney for the client says charges are imminent. Gov. Mike Parson said he spoke to Trump Tuesday and was reassured that the president– who previously has retweeted a photo of the couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey holding up guns in front of their house in the June 28 incident–“understands the situation in Missouri.” “He understands the situation in St. Louis and how out of control it is for a prosecutor to let violent criminals off and not do their job and try to attack law-abiding citizens,” Parson said at a press conference. “The conversation I had with the President, said that he would do everything he could within his powers to help with this situation,” Parson added. Parson and Trump’s conversation comes days after police served a search warrant at the McCloskey’s home in the upscale Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, in the same area where the city’s Democratic mayor, Lyda Krewson, lives. Nearly 500 protesters marching for racial equality and against police brutality were headed towards Krewson’s residence during the June 28 incident, after she read off the names and addresses of individuals petitioning to defund the police. Mark and Patricia McCloskey came out of their house, brandished their guns, and demanded the protesters leave because they were trespassing. The couple later told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that they were fearful that the protesters would “kill us” and “burn down the house.” Police seized the rifle that Mark was holding in the now-viral video of the incident, while a handgun that Patricia was holding was turned over to St. Louis Police Saturday by the couple’s attorney Albert Watkins. The handgun had been in Watkins’s possession as evidence that it was inoperable when she pointed it at protesters “in defense of themselves and their home at [the] time of the march,” Watkins told Fox News. Watkins says he anticipates state charges against the couple “as early as today,” he said on Wednesday, but views Trump’s interest in the case as a positive. “The President has been restrained to date and has been kept up to date in virtually real time,” Watkins said, “His support behind the scenes was vital to permitting local police to step back from prior directives to be ‘hands off’ protesters. “The support of the Executive Office appears to have motivated The Governor to garner a heightened degree of appreciation for implications and rights at risk in this situation,” Watkins said. Parson shared an article about the McCloskeys on Facebook Tuesday with the caption “Missourians have the right to protect their homes.” In a separate post, Parson lambasted city prosecutors, saying it’s “appalling” that they are “targeting the McCloskey’s for defending their home.”

Exactly! And well said, Governor.  This is what happens when you have anti-gun, liberal Democrat nazis like this local St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner (D) in power.  They go after law-abiding gun owners, like the McCloskeys, who are just trying to protect their family and their home.  Instead, Ms. Gardner should be going after these protestors who, by contrast, BROKE the law and jumped the gate (almost tore it down) of this gated community and harassed homeowners, etc.  But, don’t hold your breath, folks.  This is the same city attorney who, after the riots in St. Louis following the George Floyd death, released the 35 or so rioters.  The cops arrested them for violence and vandalism, etc..and she just turned them loose.  In case you’re wondering..  Yes, she’s a black, Democrat female.  We’ll let you decide if that’s relevant in today’s racially charged environment.

Virginia’s new gun control laws will cause firearms sales to plummet, stores say

Virginia’s new gun control laws passed by the Democrat-controlled state legislature go into effect Wednesday. The measures includes background checks on all gun sales in the state, a civil penalty for failing to report a lost or stolen gun within 48 hours and a limit on handgun purchases to one per month. That last measure may take away business from gun stores, Steve Garriss, who has worked as a sales clerk at Clark Brother Gun Shop in Warrenton, Virginia, since 2008, he told FOX Business. Virginia Democrats brought back a law limiting gun buyers to one handgun a month that was repealed in 2012. “The one handgun a month thing, they had that when I first started working here. They discontinued it. … You do lose sales from it,” Garriss said. “Some people come in, they bought one two weeks ago. Two weeks later, they may not be interested.” A lawsuit against Virginia State Police Superintendent Gary Settle claiming the law took away residents’ “constitutionally protected right to obtain firearms” was defeated in Goochland Circuit Court, WAMU reported. “I don’t believe they should infringe on any Second Amendment rights,” Garriss said. “It won’t stop any robberies.” Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, signed the gun control measures in April. The new laws include: A red flag law allowing law enforcement to take away residents’ guns if they’re determined to be dangerous to themselves. Raising the penalty for leaving an unsecured firearm in the presence of children to a Class 1 misdemeanor. Local governments can regulate guns in public buildings. In January, pro-Second Amendment activists demonstrated in January to protest Democrats’ gun control agenda.

Our condolences to those of you in Virginia..   Awful..

Intrusion Suspect Shot Dead While Allegedly Trying to Enter Home

An intrusion suspect who allegedly tried to make entry into a Springfield, Missouri, home Friday night died after being shot by the homeowner. Ozarks First reports that the incident occurred around 11:00 p.m. Friday night. Springfield Police Lieutenant Chad McIntyre indicates that the suspect was allegedly breaking into the home when he was shot. KY3 identified the deceased suspect as 36-year-old Kenneth L. Clay. He was shot by homeowner David R. Jones, who says Clay allegedly shot first, striking him in the foot. Jones then returned fire, killing Clay.

Yet another great example of the need to own a firearm!

Gun sales surge 80% in May, says research firm

Gun sales surged in May as shops reported an uptick in interest and demand amid national protests after the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd and as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc and stoke fear across the country. “Almost, you couldn’t even keep up with it. That’s how crazy it was,” said Joe Hawk, owner of Guns & Roses in New Jersey. “After Memorial Day, it spiked again. It just went crazy again.” Small Arms Analytics & Forecasting, a private research firm, estimated that more than 1.7 million guns were sold in May, an 80% jump from May 2019. “Yet again, firearms sales have surged in unprecedented ways,” said Jurgen Brauer, the group’s chief economist. The stock prices for several gunmaking companies, including Sturm, Ruger & Co., jumped Monday. Larry Hyatt, owner of Hyatt Guns in Charlotte, North Carolina, said the gun demand prompted by COVID-19 was already straining suppliers. “Then you have this looting and rioting causing another demand, and it’s really putting pressure on inventory,” Mr. Hyatt said. Gun sales typically increase during presidential election years and during periods of national unrest, including after mass shootings, but Mr. Hyatt said the confluence of factors is unique.

Indeed..  For more, click on the text above.

Florida man shoots, kills home intruder who was attacking his wife, police say

A Florida man in his 70s fatally shot a home intruder who busted through the glass front door and began attacking his wife on Tuesday, investigators said. Deputies arrived at the Panama City home around 6:05 a.m. and found 31-year-old Nathan Jerrell Edwards laying on the floor dead and a handgun on the counter, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office said. “The husband stated he felt he could not physically stop the intruder, so he went upstairs to get his firearm,” the sheriff’s office said. “He shot the firearm multiple times, ending the threat.” The husband, whom deputies did not name, said he was standing outside when Edwards walked up to his driveway and approached him in a threatening manner. Witnesses told deputies that Edwards was “acting erratically,” screaming and swearing. He went into his home through the garage to get away from Edwards, according to deputies, but Edwards followed and pounded on the door to the house. He shattered the large glass panel in the front door and entered the house. Edwards then knocked the man’s wife to the floor, got on top of her and was beating her, the husband told deputies. The husband said he shot Edwards, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The man’s wife was treated at a local hospital for her injuries. Edwards, who was from Georgia, was staying nearby in a short-term rental residence.

Just another story showing the importance of owning a firearm for personal protection.  This poor man was no match for the younger thug beating his wife.  And, if he had called 911, the cops wouldn’t have made it in time.  So, he did what he had to do, and earned the praise of the local sheriff, as well he should.

Appeals court reinstates California law requiring background checks for ammo purchases

A federal appeals court reinstated a California background-check requirement for ammunition purchases this week after another court had deemed the law unconstitutional and a violation of the Second Amendment. U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez in San Diego called the regulations “onerous and convoluted,” but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco disagreed and granted the state’s request to stay the order, according to the National Rifle Association (NRA). “This means that the same restrictions that have been previously in effect regarding ammunition in California are back for the time being,” the NRA said in a statement. California became the first state in the U.S. to require background checks for ammunition purchases when the law took effect in July 2019. Ammunition sales jumped 300 percent last June before the regulations took effect. Voters originally approved the measure in 2016. Benitez had ruled in favor of the California Rifle & Pistol Association, which asked him to halt the background checks with a preliminary injunction. “The experiment has been tried. The casualties have been counted. California’s new ammunition background-check law misfires and the Second Amendment rights of California citizens have been gravely injured,” Benitez wrote in his 120-page opinion.

Alyssa Milano Says ‘Stop the Coronavirus Gun Surge’ After Admitting to Owning Guns for Self-Defense

Actress and left-wing activist Alyssa Milano is telling people to stop buying up firearms during the coronavirus pandemic, saying that the “coronavirus gun surge” must come to an end. Her warning comes just a few months after the former Charmed star admitted that she owns two guns for self-defense purposes. Alyssa Milano posted a video on Twitter late Thursday in which she admonished gun owners for stockpiling weapons and ammunition during a time of crisis — and while criminals in states across the country are being freed from prison. “I know that we are all scared and stressed out during these really uncertain times. But that is exactly why stockpiling weapons , you know, could have dire consequences for our own personal safety and those around us,” the actress said. “The weapons that people are buying today could end up being used in households, schools, churches, bars, and on our streets in the future. So we all have to look out for each other. Milano concluded: “We can’t lose anymore lives to guns during this pandemic, or after it’s over.” But the Hollywood star admitted in a debate with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in September that she personally owns firearms. “I have two guns in my household for self-defense, just so you know,” she said. Do as I say, not as I do. Milano has proposed universal background checks, restricting access to AR-15s, and background checks for bullet purchases. At the same time, she has insisted that she is a defender of the Second Amendment. Breitbart News has reported that gun sales are surging during the Chinese conronavirus pandemic, overwhelming both state and federal background check systems. Alyssa Milano has recently come under fire for downplaying a sexual harassment allegation against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, who has been accused by a former staffer of using his fingers to penetrate her against her will. Milano has been a major supporter of the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements, even attending the Supreme Court confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh and declaring that women must be believed. But she recently said on Twitter that accusations against men must now be investigated “with due process.”

Alyssa is a nauseating, self-righteous, elitist, liberal hypocrite.  She wants you to do as she says, but not as she does herself.  She thinks its ok for her to have multiple weapons in her house…but not ok for you to do the same.  Why?  Because she thinks shes better than the rest of us peasants…and that we don’t “need” them.   And, then her duplicitous handling of Joe Biden’s sexual harassment allegations versus how she sat right behind Justice Brent Kavanaugh during his Senate confirmation hearings and said that women needed to be believed first…and yet Joe Biden should have “due process?”  Really?  Why is that, Alyssa?  Because he’s a Democrat?  Hmm?  Alyssa is the poster child for HollyWEIRD, self-righteous, entitlement-mined, arrogant, liberal elitists who look down at the rest of us and tell us how to live, while they do just the opposite.  Ironically, she was ripped by conservatives for the video, including by actor James Woods, who thanked her for the “reminder” to stock up.  “Thank you for the reminder,” he tweeted.   “When the looting starts, always be prepared. Buy more ammo!”  Agreed!!  Thanks James!      🙂