Posted on September 17, 2012 by John Pierce

“OpenCarry.org [is a national] gun rights networking hub.”
The Atlantic, May 10, 2011

“There’s even an organization whose raison d’etre is promotion of open carry
. . . OpenCarry.org. These are the shock troops of the gun lobby. And, they are not going away.”
Ceasefire NJ Director Brian Miller, NJ.com, August 20, 2009

“I don’t think [legalizing open carry] change[s] much because it’s not . . . concealed carry . . . and frankly given the choice of the two, open carry is probably less dangerous because we know what we’re dealing with.”
KCTV5 Kansas City, September 24, 2012

“In fact, a surprising number of states even allow open carry of handguns without a license. Contrary to the concerns of some opponents of open carry, such measures have not led to wild-West shootouts or other serious consequences.”
Tulsa World Editorial Board, February 25, 2012

“[G]ang members aren’t known to open carry.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Phelps, San Bernadino Sun, September 6, 2010

“We don’t suggest that people panic,
because there hasn’t been a problem with open-carry demonstrations in other cities.”
Palo Alto, CA police Lt. Sandra Brown, Mercury News, March 5, 2010

“The anti-gun rights lobby’s furor over the presence of guns
near the president . . . is an attempt to somehow reverse the normalization of guns.”
Professor Brandon Denning, Cumberland School of Law (Birmingham, AL),
Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2009

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Arkansas to become the nation’s 45th open carry state on August 15th

Posted on May 16, 2013 by John Pierce

Ark_Carry

Arkansas will become the nation’s 45th open carry state on August 15th of this year.

This result arises from the Arkansas legislature’s enactment of HB 1700, a bill sponsored by Representative Denny Altes (R – Fort Smith) which amended Arkansas Code § 5-73-120 (Carrying a weapon).

The change to § 5-73-120 is straightforward.

For many years § 5-73-120 made it unlawful to generally “possesses a handgun, knife, or club on or about his or her person.”

But in 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled in District of Columbia v. Heller that “the Second Amendment provides a prima facie [and fundamental] right to keep and carry weapons in case of confrontation.”

Read more at Mike Stollenwerk’s DC Gun Rights Examiner column.

Posted in Arkansas, Constitutional Carry, DC Gun Rights Examiner, Open Carry | Leave a comment

Innocent Victims of Gun Control: The Eagle Scout

Posted on May 2, 2013 by John Pierce

Cole_WithrowI would like for you to meet Cole Withrow. In addition to being an Eagle Scout, Cole is an honors student and high school senior in Johnson County North Carolina … at least he was until recently.

Now, he is charged with a felony, expelled from school weeks before graduation, and sees his college plans crumbling since he will not be allowed to graduate.

All of the hard work he has put into becoming a successful member of society is threatened.

Cole is the epitome of what I am talking about when I say that gun control does nothing more than victimize the innocent.

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Campus Carry, Monachus Lex, North Carolina, Zero Tolerance Policies | Leave a comment

A tale of two rallies

Posted on April 30, 2013 by John Pierce

photo-1This morning I was reading the press coverage of last week’s Stop The NRA ‘rally’ in DC.

Despite the fact that it only attracted a whopping 60 attendees, it received quite a bit of positive attention from the mainstream media.

Now … let’s compare that to another rally that took place last week with practically no media attention.

On Tuesday April 23rd, I drove the 430 miles from Bristol Virginia to Harrisburg Pennsylvania for the 8th annual Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally.

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Gun Control, Gun Rights Rallies, Open Carry, Pennsylvania | Leave a comment

When quasi-celebrities attack: Jay Mohr blames Boston attack on the 2nd Amendment

Posted on April 17, 2013 by John Pierce

Jay_MohrAging comedian/actor Jay Mohr managed to generate some publicity for himself on Monday by exploiting the Boston Marathon explosions to push his anti-Second Amendment agenda.

Mohr, who those from my generation might remember from Tom Cruise’s hit 1996 film Jerry Maguire, and younger readers might remember from absolutely nowhere, sent his first clueless tweet Monday night.

“What bothers me most about today is that we’re getting used 2 it. ENOUGH. 2nd amendment must go. Violence has 2 stop. Culture MUST change.”

When questioned on the connection between the Second Amendment and the Boston explosions, he kept digging.

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Celebrities, Hoplophobia, Popular Culture | Leave a comment

What does a traitor look like?

Posted on April 10, 2013 by John Pierce

Pat Toomey“So what does a traitor look like?”

That is a very good question.

After all, a traitor is different than an enemy.  An enemy declares himself and opposes you openly.  But in order to become a traitor, someone first needs to enjoy your trust.

Those of us in the gun rights community have plenty of enemies … people who have openly declared war on the Second Amendment and the Constitution.  Heck … practically every Democrat in the country seems to have signed up for a frontal assault on gun owners.

But to be betrayed by one of our own is not a common occurrence and when it happens, it never fails to hurt.

Today, Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania betrayed gun owners.  He betrayed us by caving in to pressure from Bloomberg and the Obama Administration and putting forward a supposed “compromise” bill with New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Anti-Gun Democrats, Pennsylvania, RINOS, Universal Background Checks | Leave a comment

Innocent Victims of Gun Control: The welterweight champion

Posted on April 10, 2013 by John Pierce

Robert_Guerro_4Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero has beaten many opponents on his way to becoming the WBC Welterweight Champion. He has also beaten back leukemia and is known far and wide for his squeaky-clean lifestyle.

In short, Guerrero is a champion in every meaning of the term. He is truly an American hero and role model.  But once again, we see the gun control trap set by Democrats snap shut on an innocent, law-abiding citizen.

Guerrero is now facing a felony charge that could put him away for 15 years.

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Abuse of Power, Anti-Gun Democrats, Athlete Gun Owners, Flying With a Firearm, FOPA, New York, Travel | Leave a comment

Innocent Victims of Gun Control: The veteran’s pregnant wife

Posted on April 9, 2013 by John Pierce

Beth_FerrirzziI would like for you to meet Beth Ferrizzi of Fargo North Dakota.  She is an average American women who considers herself a law-abiding and even upstanding citizen. She is married to Air Force Master Sergeant Joe Ferrizzi and they are expecting their second child.

Joe, who is deployed to Honduras serving his country, was recently able to meet Beth and their 6 year old daughter in Pennsylvania for a family visit.  He also wanted to show her the Philadelphia neighborhood where he grew up.  It was to be a happy family reunion between a soldier and his girl.  What could be more American than that?

But now, she has an arrest record and is facing a felony charge that could imprison her for up to 15 years.

How could this happen in a supposedly ‘free’ country?

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Flying With a Firearm, FOPA, General Civil Rights, New York, Travel | Leave a comment

Why ‘universal background checks’ will inevitably lead to registration

Posted on April 5, 2013 by John Pierce

Gun_Confiscation

So here we are … answering the question “Is it irrational to fear that the ‘universal background check’ bill will lead to a de-facto registration scheme?”

Let’s just start with the plain text of the bill itself.  Does it say anything about a record-keeping requirement?

Why yes it does!  It says that “[r]egulations … shall include a provision requiring a record of transaction of any transfer that occurred between an unlicensed transfer or and unlicensed transferee.”

Hmm.  I wonder what form such a record would take?

But let’s not stop there.

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Anti-Gun Democrats, Background Checks, Pennsylvania, Registration, Universal Background Checks | Leave a comment

Democrats says the darnedest things

Posted on April 3, 2013 by John Pierce
Rep_Diana_DeGette-244x300

Congresswoman Diana DeGette (D-CO)

The media loves to point out the stupid things that Republicans say … and, being politicians, they do say their share of stupid things.

But if you depend on the mainstream media for your news, then you might think that Democrats are all genius-level intellects whose every word is cherished wisdom designed to send thrills down Chris Matthew’s leg.

But let me assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.  And this is particularly true when Democrats attempt to talk credibly about the firearms that they want so desperately to ban and the constitutional right to keep and bear arms that they wish to destroy.

I thought it would be illustrative to share a few of the more frighteningly egregious comments that Democrats have made.

Read more at John Pierce’s Monachus Lex.

Posted in Anti-Gun Democrats, Assault Weapons Ban, Colorado, High Capacity Magazines, Vice President Biden | Leave a comment

Proposed ATF rule change on NFA transfers

Posted on March 22, 2013 by John Pierce

NFACurrent ATF regulations require individual applicants to get sign-off from their local chief law-enforcment officer (CLEO).  This is known colloquially as the ‘CLEO Sign-off.’

In many jurisdictions, the CLEO will not sign the form and this acts as an effective ban on the acquisition in defiance of the intent of the National Firearms Act (NFA).

This is one of the reason that many people turn to NFA trusts. Trust applicants as well as other non-individual applicants such as corporate entities do not need CLEO Sign-off and this allows those in jurisdictions where the CLEO is anti-gun to still purchase NFA items.

Additionally, under current ATF regulations, trust applicants do not need to be fingerprinted nor do they need to submit photographs.

The ATF however has proposed a rule change that they say would do three things:

Read more at Monachus Lex.

Posted in BATFE, Class III, NFA | Leave a comment