by Lee Williams

The New York Police Department has lost its collective mind, especially at its 115^th Precinct, which is responsible for keeping a portion of Queens and LaGuardia Airport safe, sane and secure.

The commanding officer, Deputy Inspector David Cordano, recently posted a photo of two shotguns and about 60 shells on his precinct’s X page. The guns are nothing special: a semi-auto and an over-under. The shells include birdshot and slugs. But it’s Cordano’s caption that has me scratching my head.

“Today, our patrol officers responded to a radio run and removed these illegal firearms from our streets,” Cordano posted on X. “Great work by our officers for their quick response and commitment to keeping our community safe!”

Even though I haven’t had a badge in my billfold for quite a while, I still need to say this to Deputy Inspector Cordano: If you truly believe your community is actually put at risk by guns like these, you, sir, are ready for the rubber-gun squad.

His X post certainly raises more than a few questions:

• Why are these shotguns considered illegal?

• Why were they seized?

• How did these two shotguns make an entire precinct unsafe?

• How does someone like Cordano earn more than $212,000 per year and command an entire NYPD precinct?

Unfortunately, we may never get answers to these questions. Cordano did not respond to calls or messages left at his precinct seeking an interview.

Too blue

NYPD’s infamous CompStat report shows that the 115^th Precinct is a safe place to live or run a business. The precinct hasn’t had a recent murder. Robberies and burglaries are down too, as are grand larcenies.

Why, then, is NYPD so freaked out about a couple of shotguns? The answer is simple. The NYPD is the bluest police department in the bluest city of one of our bluest states.

I would bet that the vast majority of all NYPD officers never even touched a real firearm until after they joined the department and were sent to the range. After all, guns and gun owners are bad, right?

Look at the extreme lengths one had to take, in addition to all the money one needed to spend, just to obtain a permit to simply possess a firearm within city limits. For decades that hassle trebled or quadrupled if a civilian actually wanted to carry a concealed firearm legally.

This too-blue-flu has infected all the cops and especially their top brass. They are scared of modern firearms and modern firearm owners—petrified of them, in fact.

While things have only recently improved somewhat, when compared to a free city of a free state, New York City remains far below the curve. In fact, NYPD’s extreme anti-gun attitude only benefits the bad guys, because they have never once worried about permits or any other legal nicety. Not having to worry about whether their victims may be armed only empowers and benefits these criminals.

If you need proof, compare crime in the Big Apple to any free state. For example, look at Florida, where we’re still celebrating constitutional carry. We certainly have crime in Florida, and at times it can be bad. However, unlike New York City, law-abiding Floridians have the right and ability to fight back.

Besides, cops in a free state would never post pics of a couple shotguns. They’d be too busy returning them to their rightful owner.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Iran had some of the strictest and most repressive gun-control laws in the world, under the Ayatollah.

Since they lack a constitution, Iranians have no right to own firearms.

Civilian firearms were regulated by the legislature, which took orders directly and indirectly from the Ayatollah.

For an Iranian civilian to legally purchase a handgun, a license was needed from the Iranian government. Officially, the process included a permit from local police, a criminal records check, military service checks, a psychological exam and successful completion of state safety training and testing. It was estimated that only 3% to 7% of all applications were approved.

Only this small number of licensees were legally allowed to purchase and possess ammunition.

In May 2025, longtime Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered even harsher criminal sentences for unlicensed firearm possession and for the use of digital platforms to arrange private sales.

Pezeshkian, it should be noted, was a member of a three-man council that tried, at least technically, to govern Iran. Earlier this month, Pezeshkian told his country that “bloodshed and revenge are Iran’s legitimate right and duty.” His current status is not known.

Pezeshkian’s most recent anti-gun laws threatened anyone involved with an “illegal” firearm, not just the owner. They targeted gun dealers, gunsmiths and anyone who offered training in firearm tactics. Penalties were severe—up to 15 years in an Iranian prison. Military weapons drew the stiffest penalties. The government could also seize the personal property of anyone that was accused.

Pezeshkian even targeted air guns with his new laws. Air gun owners were forced to turn in their arms or face severe sentences.

Online gun sales

Last year, Iran International, a London-based Iranian news agency, which covers the country with “fearless journalism,” investigated online firearm sales, which are thriving in Iran.

“In one 17,000-member channel, a vendor offered a Glock 17 pistol for 280 million rials ($340), a Makarov for 240 million ($290), and a Turkish-made Colt .45 for 360 million ($440). For higher-end buyers, a Kalashnikov was listed at 1.7 billion rials ($2,070), including a video showing it wrapped in cloth beside two full magazines,” the online magazine reported.

Security was tight on the websites. Payments were made via cryptocurrency, and purchased firearms were left in hidden locations. One seller used a shopping mall. After payment was made, the buyer had two hours to retrieve their purchases.

“The dealers who actually deliver have networks,” a source in Tehran told the website. “They use trusted people. Some even have police protection.”

The website found that while some of the sellers were questionable, there were enough legitimate ones to keep gun sales thriving.

Takeaways

Iranian civilians certainly have a legitimate need to arm themselves. It is difficult to understand the horrors they face under the current Islamic regime. They can be arrested, jailed and tortured on mere suspicion. Their security forces can shoot them dead on the street for no reason without any fear of a legal response.

While a $440 Turkish-made Colt .45 doesn’t provide the firepower required to save its owner from dozens of Iranian security forces armed with AKs, at least it offers the owner the ability to take a few with them.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

I doubt anyone inside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden, which is located near the University of Texas—Austin campus, knew they would become part of the war on terror, Sunday night. Senegalese immigrant-turned Islamic terrorist Ndiaga Diagne changed all of that.

Diagne, 53, wore a “Property of Allah” sweatshirt and had a copy of the Koran inside his vehicle, when he started killing innocent Americans.

Austin Police officers confronted him less than a minute after he fired his first round. Still, he was able to kill two innocent Americans and wound too many more before he was shot and killed by officers.

It’s unlikely any of the victims were armed. Texas state law prohibits patrons from carrying a handgun if a bar obtains more than 51% of its income from on-premises alcohol sales. It’s called the “51% rule,” and it’s probably the very reason Diagne chose to attack patrons inside a bar.

The law may have worked fine during peacetime, but now during a war against Iran—the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world? Should any state law that disarms the public still be followed or even allowed?

The FBI wouldn’t say exactly why Diagne started shooting, even though nearly every American already knew the answer.

“Obviously it’s still way too early in the process to determine the exact motivation, but there were indicators on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate a potential nexus to terrorism,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Alex Doran told the media.

A nexus to terrorism?

Sure.

At a press conference Monday morning, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was asked about Diagne’s killings. He, too, didn’t say much in his response.

“It doesn’t change the operation at all,” Hegseth said during a press conference. “I know authorities are investigating.”

Secretary Hegseth was technically correct. Diagne’s murders will not affect any ongoing Department of War operations. However, those of us living within the continental United States have more than a few valid reasons to be concerned, especially after Joe Biden allowed thousands of hardcore terrorists to make America their new home.

The big question is whether Diagne was just a lone wolf or the first of many terrorist attackers. This, friends, is something our elected officials will likely not answer, at least not yet.

Therefore, until we know exactly what is coming, I believe it’s time to prepare for the worst. Many of us living in red states have already done so, but those in blue states have some major decisions to make.

These are not minor decisions, either. They could save your life and your family’s lives or lead to criminal charges, if you’re ever caught with a real gun or a real mag.

Fortunately, there is a third option, which is 100% legal: Move.

Vacate the blue states and move somewhere that allows you to prepare for the Diagnes and his loathsome ilk. Get somewhere that doesn’t penalize law-abiding Americans for having magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. Live where you can own ARs and AKs, so you have at least a chance against any terrorist stupid enough to attempt an American jihad.

Bottom line: Live where you can defend yourself and your family extremely well, with modern arms that haven’t been downgraded by asinine state laws.

Diagne’s massacre should be a wake-up call for every blue state politician, who made it difficult for their residents to defend themselves, while making it easier for the terrorists to conduct their sick operations.

I literally pray that Diagne’s murders were an isolated event, something that will not be repeated by the thousands of other terrorists Biden allowed to enter this country. However, I’ve never been one to take chances, especially when the stakes are so high.

Best of luck in your decision making, friends.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Gannett’s flagship, USA TODAY, actually warned its shrinking readership that gun owners may call out its staffers for using fake mass-shooting data in their reporting.

In a story published Monday, reporter C. A. Bridges, who writes for the USA TODAY NETWORK, first claimed there have been six mass shootings in Florida this year, “double the number in the state last year at this time.”

Bridges then admitted he got his mass-shooting data from the Gun Violence Archive, or GVA, and he warned that the GVA data could be challenged.

“The GVA numbers, which have been disputed by pro-firearm organizations, may differ from the FBI or CDC as they collect data from more than 5,000 law enforcement, government and media sources,” Bridges wrote.

To be clear, the Gun Violence Archive has been debunked dozens of times for its fake mass-shooting data. Anytime four or more people are even slightly wounded with a firearm the GVA calls it a mass shooting—even if the incident is gang, drug or domestic-dispute related. Initially, politicians, gun control activists and the mainstream media treated the GVA’s reports as if they were gospel, but most now see the ridiculousness of the group’s claims.

In 2023, for example, the GVA claimed there were 656 mass shooting, which equates to 1.79 mass shootings per day. Not even USA TODAY with its once vast resources could have covered all of the mass shootings.

Even the Trace, the propaganda arm of former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun empire, appears to have stopped using GVA data. Trace staffers turned toward the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, for a story published in 2024. They did not rely upon GVA data.

As to Bridges’ wild claims about the source of GVA’s data, the “5,000 law enforcement, government and media sources,” nothing could be further from the truth.

When I interviewed GVA co-founder and executive director Mark Bryant in 2021, he said his researchers consult a mass of about 7,500 sources, including: law enforcement Twitter, law enforcement Facebook, law enforcement police blotters and media sources. But he admitted that the easiest is to grab were the media sources. Law enforcement is clinical. The media looks more subjectively at an incident.

Bryant deflected blame for the media’s overhyping and misuse of his data.

“If the numbers are misleading, the journalist didn’t do their homework, you could make that argument,” Bryant said during the previous interview. “The media zeroes in on it, not us. At one point we wanted to take mass shootings out of the loop, but the phone started ringing on a daily basis. It’s important to me that we’re not misinterpreted.”

USA TODAY is not the only national media source that still uses GVA’s faulty numbers. CNN maintains the “Mass Shootings in the US Fast Facts,” a webpage where the GVA data is updated, and CNN anchors frequently cite GVA’s numbers.

CNN defines a mass shooting just like the GVA, as “one that injured or killed four or more people, not including the shooter.”

The GVA’s all-inclusive definition is magic for CNN and any other member of the anti-gun media, because it creates much bigger numbers. For example, according to the GVA, there were 417 mass shootings in 2019. The FBI says there were 30, because it uses a much narrower and more realistic definition.

As a result, USA TODAY, CNN and other media outlets who use the GVA data are hooked, because once they publish the false numbers, there is no going back to the truth without a lot of explaining.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

The United States Congress still retains full authority to issue Letters of Marque, although none have been issued for more than a hundred years.

A Letter of Marque was actually a simple concept. They allowed private citizens in private warships to attack enemy vessels during wartime. These privateers could then take ownership of whatever plunder they seized—gold, weapons or the captured ships—after an admiralty court ruled in their favor and took a percentage of the profits.

Letters of Marque were used for hundreds of years across the globe, because they allowed a country to enlarge the size of their navy very quickly and cheaply.

The authority to issue Letters of Marque can still be found in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution: “The Congress shall have Power ... to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.”

Congressman Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee, and Senator Mike Lee, a Republican of Utah, who both have extremely solid Second-Amendment credentials, have drafted bills that would revitalize the Letters of Marque, in order to target Mexican drug cartels.

Congressman Burchett described the bill in a phone call Monday morning:

Senator Lee’s bill is titled “S. 3567: Cartel Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025.”

It is described as: “A bill to authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque and reprisal with respect to acts of aggression against the United States by a member of a cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization, or any conspirator associated with a cartel, and for other purposes.”

It was introduced before the latest outbreak of cartel violence, which has targeted American tourists in Mexico.

It specifies that cartels “present an unusual and extraordinary threat to national security and foreign policy of the United States.”

Senator Lee’s bill would allow “privately armed and equipped persons” to use “all means reasonably necessary” to operate outside our borders and seize any individual and their property who the President has determined to be a member of a drug cartel, or a member of a cartel-linked organization, “who is responsible for an act of aggression against the United States.”

Congressman Burchett was asked if he has discussed his bill with President Trump.

“I have not yet, but I put it out there,” he said. “It is constitutionally sound. We live in dangerous times, and we’ve got American people who need it.”

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Christopher Morgan was convicted in Pennsylvania in 2007 after he was caught carrying a firearm without a state license. Fifteen years later, he was stopped by a Florida officer, whom he told of a pistol in the center console of his car. Morgan was charged in Florida with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He has no other criminal history.

Before his trial in Florida, Morgan’s defense team made a motion that the state firearm law, 790.23, is “unconstitutional both facially and as applied to him.” However, the trial court denied his motion. Morgan then pleaded no contest to the felon in possession Florida charges but appealed his conviction. He was sentenced to two days in jail and court costs.

Last week, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier issued a response to Morgan’s appeal, which said that his conviction for possessing a firearm by a felon violates the Second Amendment.

AG Uthmeier actually agreed with Morgan’s legal team.

“On studied reflection, the Attorney General has concluded that the conviction does indeed infringe Morgan’s right, as a nondangerous felon, to keep and bear arms,” Uthmeier wrote. “The state must therefore confess error and urge this Court to reverse.”

In the court document, Uthmeier spells out that he is Florida’s “Chief Legal Officer,” and that he swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution.

“It is thus the Attorney General’s duty to admit when he believes the State has obtained a conviction in violation of the Constitution,” he wrote.

If the court permits him to file a brief for this case, Uthmeier’s team wrote, he will “discuss the lack of historical evidence supporting the dispossession of all felons as distinct from the strong historical evidence supporting the dispossession of dangerous felons.”

Solid Second Amendment history

This is not the first pro-gun move Florida’s Attorney General has made. In fact, the list is getting long.

Uthmeier recently intervened in a teen’s criminal case by asking a state appeals court to uphold the defendant’s right to carry—a move that even the anti-gun media admitted was a victory for Floridians’ gun rights. The issue involved a 1987 state law, which bars 18, 19 and 20-year-olds from carrying concealed firearms.

In September of last year, Uthmeier ended a Florida state law that criminalized open carry. He did it with a single post on X.

Once Florida’s First District Court of Appeals ruled the state’s open carry ban was unconstitutional in McDaniels v. State of Florida, Uthmeier posted an important announcement.

Uthmeier first joined Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as deputy general counsel in 2019. Within a year he became general counsel. One year later, DeSantis appointed him chief of staff. Last year, when DeSantis appointed Attorney General Ashely Moody to replace Senator Marco Rubio, he appointed Uthmeier to replace Moody as the state’s 30^th Attorney General.

Reaction

Eric Friday is general counsel for Florida Carry, Inc. He has been a pro-gun attorney in Florida for more than 20 years.

“James Uthmeier is the most intellectually honest Attorney General we’ve ever had in Florida, while I have practiced law in the state,” Friday said Thursday morning. “The real question going forward will be a process for people who want a determination of whether their prior conviction is still problematic.”

Florida’s clemency process, Friday said, has been broken for years. There are long delays after applications are submitted. Many states have a judicial restoration process, but Florida does not.

“That is the only path we have in Florida currently to restore felons in their right to bear arms,” he said. “New York has a better restoration process for felons to be able to bear arms than Florida.”

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Federal inmate #95252-509, Patrick “Tate” Adamiak, is starting the third year of his 20-year sentence behind bars at a decrepit prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Despite his lengthy federal sentence, Adamiak did nothing wrong. He broke no laws or ATF regulations. The more than 30 stories we have written about his federal charges have proven that.

Adamiak’s appellate attorney, Matt Larosiere, is enraged.

“Tate did absolutely nothing wrong, aside from exercising his rights, and not even his Second Amendment rights,” Larosiere said Monday. “Apparently, the Biden administration and now the Trump administration ratifies punishing people for engaging in lawful commerce.”

Adamiak has a resentencing hearing scheduled in June.

“Nothing is happening there,” Larosiere said. “The government is still holding fast to their ‘We want to kill this guy’ attitude. We still need to file a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, and within 45 days it will be filed.”

Larosiere does not think much of the government’s subtle, behind-the-scenes interest in Adamiak’s case.

“It was really disruptive,” he said. “Words without action really took a lot of effort away from preparing the actual case—chasing empty promises.”

Biden-era ATF arrest

Adamiak, who at the time was an active-duty Navy E-6, was arrested and charged by the ATF during the height of the Biden Administration’s war on guns, gun owners, gun rights and the Second Amendment.

After ATF agents kicked down his doors, they found nothing illegal or even suspected of being illegal. As a result, the ATF brought in a specialist, ATF Firearm Enforcement Officer Jeffrey R. Bodell, who discombobulated the actual items that the agents had found—all of which are still sold legally online, most do not even require an ID—and turned them into machineguns and destructive devices.

For example, Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing a machinegun for a toy STEN submachinegun found during the search warrant. He paid $75 for the non-firing Spanish replica—or toy—which was made by Denix and is still sold online. Bodell inserted a real STEN barrel and receiver, neither Bodell nor his assistant could make it fire more than one round at a time. Despite their hard work, the toy STEN would not even accept a real magazine. Still, Bodell officially ruled that the toy was a machinegun.

Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing two destructive devices, two inert RPGs that had holes drilled into their receivers and were stripped of internal parts. ATF’s “expert” added parts from real RPGs until they would fire a single subcaliber 7.62x39mm round. As a result, he classified the RPGs as destructive devices. The judge who oversaw Adamiak’s trial actually wrote that Adamiak “did not possess all parts of destructive devices,” which should have killed the charges. The fake RPGs are still legally sold today without an FFL or any other paperwork.

Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing four machineguns for possessing four legal and highly sought after “pre-ban” open-bolt semi-auto pistols and carbines, which are still legally sold today.

Adamiak was charged with illegally possessing 977 machineguns or MAC flats, which were nothing more than flat pieces of metal. Fortunately, former ATF senior official Daniel G. O’Kelly testified about these charges and explained the federal rules as they applied to the case. O’Kelly was able to prove that the pieces of stamped metal did not legally qualify as firearm receivers. His testimony saved Adamiak from an additional 10 years in prison. O’Kelly strongly believes Adamiak should be a free man. The flats are still legally sold today without an FFL or any other paperwork.

Adamiak’s current plight

Adamiak had been accepted to attend BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training) and would likely be leading a Navy SEAL platoon, if the ATF had just left him alone or admitted they found nothing illegal in his home. That alone is a massive loss for this country.

It also needs to be stressed that today’s ATF agents under President Donald J. Trump have stopped these types of arrests. ATF technicians no longer convert commonly sold legal items into machineguns or rocket launchers. However, even though today’s ATF agents are 100% aware of Adamiak’s horrific legal situation that their own agency caused, he remains behind bars.

Adamiak spends his days like any other federal inmate. However, there’s one massive difference. The entire prison system knows he’s not guilty of committing any crime.

His imprisonment hasn’t really affected his attitude, at least not yet. He remains incredibly polite and keeps himself in high spirits, or at least that’s how he wants to be perceived, especially by his dad and brother. His mother died shortly after his arrest.

He had hoped that President Trump or those he put in charge of federal agencies like the ATF would notice his innocence and act, but so far, nothing substantive has materialized. Adamiak remains federal inmate #95252-509.

There have been some changes at ATF since President Trump was elected. The agency has taken some positive, albeit small, steps. Unfortunately, none of it matters because Adamiak remains behind bars.

If ATF’s new leadership wants their agency to be viewed as a real federal law enforcement agency, they must clean up the mess left by the previous administration. Its victims, like Adamiak, cannot be left to rot in prison, and they most certainly cannot be ignored.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is under intense fire from anti-gun politicians, the legacy media and even a Parkland parent for defending gun rights, this time for 18-20-year-old Floridians.

Uthmeier has a demonstrable history of taking strong steps to ensure that the Second Amendment protects all Floridians.

The Attorney General recently intervened in a teen’s criminal case by asking a state appeals court to uphold the defendant’s right to carry—a move that even the anti-gun media already admits constitutes a victory for Floridians’ gun rights.

The issue is a 1987 state law, which bars 18, 19 and 20-year-olds from carrying concealed firearms.

Uthmeier actually opposed state prosecutors, which mystified Florida’s anti-gun community, like Broward County State Attorney Harold Pryor, who asked Uthmeier for permission to get involved in the case. Pryor, who was elected in 2020, frequently mentions “gun violence” whenever he speaks publicly.

Uthmeier refused Pryor’s request, which further blew the anti-gunners’ minds. They, of course, quickly turned to the media to strike back.

Several media stories were soon published, which included interviews with Pryor, who attacked Uthmeier’s decision for a host of frivolous reasons, none of which made any legal sense.

One Democratic state representative even asked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to intervene, but DeSantis has given no sign he disagrees or opposes his AG’s decision.

Parkland parent Fred Guttenberg—an anti-gun advocate and frequent Second Amendment critic—accused Uthmeier of “undermining public safety efforts.”

I contacted Attorney General Uthmeier’s office this week and received the following statement from his press secretary, Jae Williams:

“As Attorney General Uthmeier said, this office will not defend a law that prevents men and women who are old enough to fight and die for our country from defending themselves and their families. We recently filed a brief on behalf of the State that takes the position the Attorney General said we would.

At the time of the offense, Florida’s open carry ban was still the law of the state, so the defendant had no legal means of carrying a firearm at all—either openly or concealed. Per the U.S. Supreme Court, state laws are unconstitutional when they entirely foreclose ‘general right to public carry’ as ‘guarantee[d]’ by the Second Amendment.

We have a duty to enforce Florida law and don’t make these decisions lightly. However, our first duty is to protect the God-given rights of Floridians as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution,” Press Secretary Williams said in the written statement.

Uthmeier first joined Gov. DeSantis as deputy general counsel in 2019. Within a year he became general counsel. One year later, DeSantis appointed him chief of staff. Last year, when DeSantis appointed Attorney General Ashely Moody to replace Senator Marco Rubio, he appointed Uthmeier to replace her.

Uthmeier recently oversaw a redesign of the AG’s seal, which now mentions the “Free State of Florida.”

Open Carry

In September of last year, Uthmeier ended a Florida state law that criminalized open carry. He did it with a single post on X.

Once Florida’s First District Court of Appeals ruled the state’s open carry ban was unconstitutional in McDaniels v. State of Florida, Uthmeier posted an important announcement.

“I’m issuing guidance to Florida’s prosecutors and law enforcement in light of the 1st DCA’s decision in McDaniels v. State,” Uthmeier posted on X. “Because no other appellate court has considered the constitutionality of Florida’s open carry ban since the SCOTUS decision in Bruen, the 1st DCA’s decision is binding on all Florida’s trial courts. Meaning that as of last week, open carry is the law of the state.”

Everytown did some pretty interesting reporting of the decision.

“Attorney General Uthmeier is refusing to defend a critical law, going against the advice of state law enforcement and ultimately, putting our lives at risk,” Jennifer Massey, a volunteer with the Florida chapter of Moms Demand Action, said in an Everytown story. “This is a complete dereliction of duty and at the end of the day, our kids, communities and law enforcement will pay the price while we strip a decades-old law from the books meant to help keep us all safe.”

If the Demanding Moms accuse you of “dereliction of duty,” you must be doing something right.

This is certain: Florida Attorney General Uthmeier is a true Second Amendment champion. He is certainly one to watch.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Once anti-gun billionaires Laura and John Arnold sent another check to the RAND Corporation for its annual report, “The Science of Gun Policy,” there was little doubt about what RAND researchers would find, since the Arnolds pay all the bills.

The annual report is part of a larger anti-gun initiative, which RAND has labeled “Guns in America.”

Before 2018, RAND funded the entire initiative themselves, through “unrestricted gifts from RAND supporters and income from operations.”

After 2018, however, the Arnolds pay for all of it through their left-wing philanthropy foundation called Arnold Ventures.

And for the fifth year in a row, the billionaire couple certainly got what they paid for.

Six RAND researchers needed more than 440 pages to claim that guns are bad, and that more anti-gun laws are needed.

Here are their major findings:

• The government should be able to order you to lock up your guns.

• Stand-your-ground laws are dangerous.

• The country needs to raise the minimum age to purchase a firearm.

• Waiting periods reduce homicides and suicides.

• Background checks for even private sales reduce homicides.

• Laws barring gun rights to those subject to a domestic violence restraining order decrease homicides.

Here are their recommendations:

• All states should order you to lock up your guns.

• All states should repeal stand-your-ground laws.

• All states should ban concealed carry and permitless carry.

• All states should raise the minimum age to purchase firearms and ammunition.

• All states should ban gun ownership by anyone subject to a restraining order.

• All states should require background checks, even for private sales.

RAND states that its report is cited by mainstream media 75-100 times a year.

They did offer some good news. This is the last edition of the report, which RAND says is still needed.

“In the United States, gun policies of every kind are being reconsidered and relitigated in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, which fundamentally altered the standards used to assess the constitutionality of firearm laws,” RAND states.

Most gun owners should strongly disagree with this comment, regardless of the numbers of PhDs held by its authors.

Bruen, did not fundamentally alter the standard used to assess the constitutionality of gun laws. Bruen simply returned it to normal, away from all of the confusing legal mess the anti-gunners had created and used for decades.

The Arnolds

On August 5, 2024, we published a special report about the Arnolds and their anti-gun activities titled “Billionaire anti-gun philanthropists backing biased anti-gun research.”

The story revealed how the Arnolds are a major part—the first step—of producing anti-gun information, which is then circulated across the country.

“An investigation by the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project reveals how a former Enron trader and his wife are quietly paying millions of dollars every year to colleges, universities, think tanks and other groups for biased anti-gun research, which is then cited as gospel by the corporate media and used as propaganda by anyone who wants to infringe upon law-abiding Americans’ Second Amendment rights,” the story states.

Most disturbing was the vast amount of money the couple paid for anti-gun “research,” which was conducted by RAND and other groups.

According to their nonprofit’s 2022 IRS form 990, the couple paid RAND at total of $2.8 million, of which $1.7 million was for anti-gun research. That same year, the couple paid more than $1.8 million for anti-gun research from other groups.

The couple remains very active in the anti-gun community. Recently, they awarded more than one-half million dollars for a study in Chicago, New York City, Texas and Washington D.C., which evaluates “the impact of prosecutor-led diversion programs for non-violent gun offenses.”

Takeaways

As we said just a year ago, the Arnolds have created a pipeline of sorts. Cash goes in one end and anti-gun propaganda emerges from the other, and given its storied 80-year history, it’s sad that RAND is playing along.

What their researchers presented was overwritten nonsense, of course, and given that it took them more than 440 pages, it may be the most overwritten anti-gun document ever produced. In fact, I’ve seen basically the same false claims on one-page brochures from very poorly funded anti-gun groups.

When the first story ran, Second Amendment Foundation founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, pointed out that we don’t have anything as elaborate as this anti-gun pipeline process, adding “We don’t need it. We simply rely upon the truth.”

That, friends, remains very true.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Share The Gun Writer

by Lee Williams

New York native turned Floridian Robert Cekada spent just over two hours Wednesday along with four judicial candidates testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.

By all accounts, Cekada passed the test, and he will likely become the next Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“Mr. Cekada has had an extensive career protecting Americans at the state and federal level,” Grassley said. “He served a decade as a police officer, receiving numerous awards. He has also spent two decades at the ATF. He knows how to lead the Bureau because he’s worked tirelessly throughout the chain of command.”

Grassley noted that his committee has received dozens of letters endorsing Cekada for the ATF leadership position, and that Cekada worked closely with his office after an ATF whistleblower revealed ATF’s misclassification scheme and other improper practices.

“Mr. Cekada worked closely with my staff to bring this resolution forward, to make sure no more taxpayer dollars were wasted,” Grassley said. “I commend his fine leadership and aggressive actions to find a solution for this brave whistleblower, and I encourage him to allow more whistleblowers to come forward, to help him understand what’s going on in the Bureau.”

Cekada started his law enforcement career in 1992 as a cadet for the New York City Police Department, where in 1999 he became a detective assigned to the department’s Organized Crime Control Bureau. He has also worked as an officer in Florida, until he joined the ATF in 2005, as a special agent in the Baltimore Field Division. His rise up ATF’s chain of command was swift. In May of last year, he became the ATF’s Deputy Director—it’s number two position.

Cekada’s testimony

Senator Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, introduced Cekada to the committee.

“I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Rob, who is in my view the consummate lawman,” Moran said. “He’s worked beats in New York City, rose through the ranks, and believes in enforcement of law and public safety.”

Moran testified that the ATF is now an agency that insures violent criminals are jailed. He quoted former Attorney General William Barr, who described the ATF as a “can-do agency,” which is worthy of support.

“Robert Cekada is a great nominee to be the next director of the ATF,” Moran said. “I hope you find him favorable to serve in this capacity.”

Cekada testified that his parents fled from communist Yugoslavia in 1966 and became American citizens in 1973.

“They are no longer with us,” Cekada said. “They believed deeply in what this country represents.”

He told the Senate committee that his entire career has focused on “keeping people safe.”

“ATF’s dire mission is public safety. If confirmed, my foremost concern will be making sure ATF supports President Trump’s mandate to make America safer by remaining relentlessly focused on violent crime.”

Legitimate gun owners, Cekada stressed, can stop worrying about the ATF.

“ATF’s mission is not a burden to lawful gun owners or to undermine the Second Amendment,” he said. “The right to keep and bear arms is a constitutional guarantee, and I am committed to protecting and preserving it. Effective law enforcement and respect for civil liberties are not competing goals. They are inseparable obligations. I am equally committed to supporting the men and women of the ATF. They deserve clear mission focus and strong leadership.”

Senators’ questions

Senator Grassley led the committee in questioning Cekada.

“What are your top priorities for the Bureau, if confirmed?” he asked.

“The top priorities for the ATF will remain violent crime, illegal use of firearms, explosives and the illegal use of arson,” Cekada said in response. “We will modernize critical systems, forms and licensing systems, which are over 25 years old and unnecessarily burden people, and we will follow President Trump’s Second Amendment order to review all of ATF’s rules to make sure we don’t infringe upon Americans unnecessarily.”

Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois told Cekada he had heard that two-thirds of ATF agents, 1,178 of 2,500, had been assigned to enforce immigration.

Cekada said the actual number was around 75 to 100.

“The remainder focus of fighting violent crime throughout the country on a daily basis,” Cekada said. “I support using agents to fight violent crime, specifically fighting gangs.”

Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah asked about restrictions in place on suppressors, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns.

“From the ATF’s perspective, the ATF is bound by law,” Cekada said. “If Congress moves suppressors out of the (Gun Control Act), the ATF would be supportive of that decision.”

Senator Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, brought up the Memphis Safe Task Force, which has cut crime in the city by 50-percent.

“ATF is a proud partner of the Memphis Safe Task Force,” Cekada said. “Our small team is a significant contributor. We have the ability to use crime gun intelligence. ATF is not driving around neighborhoods or going through people’s homes looking to burden families with our enforcement actions.”

Senator Corey Booker, D-New Jersey, like Senator Durbin, falsely believed that most of Cekada’s ATF agents were assigned to the Department of Homeland Security to enforce immigration.

As proof, Booker mentioned a news article he had read in the Trace—a notoriously anti-gun online group paid for by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Booker said the Trace story quoted a former ATF agent named Hamilton. He had the story placed into the Senate record.

“I have no clue about who this Mr. Hamilton is, but I challenge his statement,” Cekada said. “We do have only about 100 people working immigration enforcement.”

California’s Democratic Senator Adam Schiff asked if ATF is seeing a trend with “ghost guns,” which Cekada said the ATF now refers to as “privately made firearms.”

Cekada said his agents have seen privately made firearms and auto-sears, but they are primarily found in jurisdictions with strict firearm restrictions. ATF’s laboratory located in Maryland has found a way to identify them based on their polymers.

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley touted some of the country’s strongest Second Amendment protections found in his home state, which came under fire during the Biden Administration.

“Biden’s DOJ asked a sheriff for a list of his CCW holders,” Hawley said. “Why do you need records of CCW holders in Missouri? Can you commit that under your leadership ATF will go in a different direction than the last administration? That you’ll focus your law enforcement resources on criminals? As opposed to law abiding citizens who have rights under both the federal and state constitutions?”

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

It appears the anti-gun nonprofit 97Percent has returned, although there have been massive internal changes and it is much less now than it used to be.

We haven’t heard much from them since they plagiarized photos of top female shooters to gaslight the public into believing they were not an anti-gun group.

97Percent’s one time executive director, Elizabeth Troye—once a senior advisor to Vice President Mike Pence—has been scrubbed from the group’s website.

In her place is Christopher Carita, an ex-cop who just last year was denied a disability pension by Fort Lauderdale’s Police and Firefighter Pension Board by a 4-3 vote. Apparently, a majority of the board members didn’t believe Carita was suffering from PTSD, because his application did not meet the criteria for being “service connected, permanent and total.”

Carita’s takeover appears to be solely to increase support for his current work, which is holding classes on “red flag” laws, which he calls Extreme Risk Protection Orders, or ERPOs.

Carita, it should be pointed out, is a huge ERPO proponent, even though they are only law in 21 states.

Other than advocating for Carita’s classes and workshops, 97Percent’s website has, for now, remained mostly the same.

97Percent took its name from a long debunked Quinnipiac poll that falsely claimed 97% of Americans supported mandatory background checks. The group calls the remaining 3-percent “loud voices who have crowded out conversation and prevented collaboration between gun owners and non-gun owners.”

97Percent has never addressed the problems associated with polling gun owners, including our unwillingness to tell strangers there are firearms in our homes—especially over the phone. Instead, the group claimed it focuses on policies that both gun owners and non-gun owners support. Both sides, the group says, share the common goal of keeping our communities safe.

But even despite its new executive director, research has shown that 97Percent is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill anti-gun organization, overseen by a board of hardcore anti-gun zealots.

Here are some of 97Percent’s activities:

1. 97Percent has supported an “assault weapon” ban.

2. 97Percent has supported a standard-capacity magazine ban.

3. 97Percent has supported a bump-stock ban.

4. 97Percent has supported expanded red-flag laws.

5. 97Percent has supported permits to carry firearms.

6. 97Percent has supported permits to purchase firearms.

7. 97Percent has supported permits to possess firearms.

8. 97Percent has supported the loss of Second Amendment rights upon conviction of a “violent misdemeanor.”

9. 97Percent has supported mandatory storage laws, which would lead to mandatory home inspections by police.

10. 97Percent has supported mandatory background checks, without acknowledging they would lead to mandatory firearm registration and the creation of a national gun registry.

11. 97Percent claims the Second Amendment is “overprotected.”

12. 97Percent claims “rapid fire guns” are not used for hunting or home defense but doesn’t define the term.

13. 97Percent claims popular semi-automatic firearms are “weapons of war.”

14. 97Percent claims constitutional carry results in increased homicide rates.

15. 97Percent’s advisory board is stocked with radical anti-gun extremists, including a former president of the Brady campaign.

Carita in charge

According to his group’s website, Carita claims he has “six years of experience in Threat Response and Extreme Risk Protection Order Implementation, and 10 years in Criminal Investigations in his 20-year law enforcement career.”

“Christopher earned his Master of Public Health with a focus on violence prevention as a BAHI Fellow at Johns Hopkins University and currently advises at the National ERPO Center on implementation. He is also a DHS Master Trainer for Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management,” the website states.

During one of his training videos, Carita claimed his group has a “strong focus on bringing gun owners into policy discussions.”

However, Carita did not respond to phone calls, texts or emails sent via his website, so there’s at least one gun owner he doesn’t want to bring into any policy discussion. Also, his website’s “contact us” and “media inquiries” buttons have both been disconnected.

“Most gun owners agree ERPOs are good,” he said in the video. “An ERPO is a valuable tool—a court order that prevents someone from possessing or purchasing firearms.”

Most gun owners view them as just another way for the government to unconstitutionally seize their firearms. I don’t know one gun owner who actually believes “ERPOs are good.”

Carita addressed how ERPOs can change law enforcement’s longstanding traditional role.

“An ERPO is a shift for law enforcement, from pure enforcement to prevention,” he said in the video.

One Florida lawmaker recently proposed a bill that would repeal the Parkland-era red-flag laws throughout the state.

Carita has already written several anti-gun stories, which the traditional media has picked up. Just last year, he wrote how Florida’s open-carry ruling “put Florida law enforcement in a tough spot.”

He created a Florida Risk Protection Order working group on LinkedIn. Currently, it has nine members, including Carita.

Anti-gun board of directors

Anyone who believes 97Percent is not an anti-gun group need only look at their board of directors, which has not changed much.

Board member Richard Aborn served as president of the Center to Prevent Handgun Violence and as president of Handgun Control Inc., which became the Brady Campaign. According to Aborn’s bio, “He was a principal strategist behind the passing of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act as well as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban.”

Board members John Goodwin and Abra Belke were both federal lobbyists for the National Rifle Association, until they broke with the NRA. Goodwin has since become an anti-gun resource for the legacy media.

An official with the National Shooting Sports Foundation said board members Congressmen Steve Israel and Seth Moulton, “never stood to protect the Second Amendment rights. Just the opposite.”

Board member Ketch Secor, founder of the Old Crow Medicine Show band, published a guest essay in The New York Times titled: “Country Music Can Lead America Out of its Obsession with Guns.”

“It’s time for country music makers to use their platforms to speak candidly to their conservative audiences,” Secor wrote. “Our outrage needs to move from the green room to center stage.”

Board member Michael Wear served in the White House during President Barack Obama’s first term and was in charge of religious outreach for Obama’s re-election campaign. He is extremely anti-gun.

In 2021, after the Texas House passed a constitutional carry bill, board member Mark McKinnon took to Twitter.

“It’s not The Onion. The Texas House of Representatives just passed a legislation that allows people to carry guns WITHOUT a permit/license. So, they think it should be easier to carry a gun and harder to vote,” McKinnon posted.

In 2022, McKinnon coauthored a guest column that was published by The Hill, which actually claimed gun owners want more gun control.

Takeaways

As we said in a previous story, 97Percent leadership will never have a conversation with gun owners they claim they want as long as the group advocates for “assault weapon” bans, magazine bans, bump-stock bans, expanded red-flag laws, mandatory permits to purchase, carry and possess firearms, mandatory storage laws or expanded background checks.

As a result, 97Percent remains nothing but a second-rate anti-gun group, regardless of who’s in charge.

Larry Keane is the senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearm industry’s trade association.

He and the NSSF are well aware of the group.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this

Share

Share The Gun Writer

by Lee Williams

President Donald L. Trump was very clear Tuesday when addressing a gaggle of reporters who were asking questions about ongoing problems in Minneapolis, including the shooting death of Alex Pretti, an armed protester.

“You can’t have guns. You can’t walk in with guns,” President Trump said, which caused a reporter to question him about the Second Amendment.

“You can’t walk in with guns,” Trump said in response.

Those two comments caused a stir among the country’s Second Amendment supporters, because the president was very clear in his response, and it wasn’t off-the-cuff. He had plenty of time to consider his answer.

Legally, of course, the president was wrong. Pretti, who was shot and killed by federal agents, had a valid Minnesota concealed-carry permit, even though he did not have any ID. He was absolutely entitled to carry his concealed 9mm Sig P320 during the protest, if that’s what he wanted to do.

So, somehow President Trump got bad information, which he repeated several times. However, rather than focusing on what the president said, we should focus on who actually caused Pretti’s death. That, friends, is definitely not President Trump. A large portion of responsibility for Alex Pretti’s death can be laid squarely at the feet of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

The reason is simple: If local Minneapolis cops had accompanied the federal agents as they were making arrests, Pretti would likely never have been killed.

Local cops have never really understood why federal agents do what they do, especially the way they do it, and the feds probably don’t understand how local law enforcement works either. But one thing is certain: Local cops are infinitely better at using or not using force than any federal agent. It’s all because they use force far more frequently—occasionally multiple times during just one shift. Compare this to your average FBI agent. Some will go their entire career without a single use of force.

This doesn’t mean that federal agents erred during their use-of-force encounter. It’s best to leave that call to the experts, not the millions of anti-gunners who became use-of-force experts overnight. Besides, anyone who has ever been the subject of a use-of-force investigation knows exactly what it’s like to have one or two seconds of your life turned into hours, days and even weeks of negative coverage.

Instead, we should look at Mayor Frey and Police Chief O’Hara, who told their police officers to sit this one out. The feds were on their own in a city they didn’t really know. One thing is almost certain, if Minneapolis Police officers had been at the scene in sufficient numbers, it’s doubtful deadly force would ever have been needed, much less used.

Wide-ranging reaction

Those who oversee the federal agents involved in the shooting should have said they were unable to comment because of the ongoing shooting investigation. Instead, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and others took a different tact.

“This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement,” Noem told the media.

She was not alone.

Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said, “The suspect also had two loaded magazines and no assessable ID. This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.”

By the next day, Bovino had calmed down, somewhat.

“We respect that Second Amendment right, but those rights don’t count when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct and impede law enforcement officers and, most especially, when you mean to do that beforehand,” Bovino said on CNN.

During an interview on FOX, FBI Director Kash Patel said, “No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines.”

Trump’s Homeland Security Advisor Stephan Miller described Pretti as “an assassin.”

The worst comments, by far, were from by Bill Essayli, acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California.

“If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you,” Essayli posted on X.

Those who objected to his post, Essayli said, were “Antifa pro-2A accounts working overtime to justify violence against law enforcement.”

Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, was concerned about the agents involved, who he hoped would be placed on leave, but he also questioned the comments he was hearing.

“Local police routinely put officers involved in deadly shootings on administrative leave until an independent investigation is concluded. That should happen immediately. I can’t recall ever hearing a police chief immediately describing the victim as a ‘domestic terrorist’ or a ‘would-be assassin,’” Paul posted.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis blamed Joe Biden’s border policy, which he said caused federal agents to “ratchet up enforcement efforts so significantly.”

DeSantis, too, held local leaders responsible for the shooting.

“That is not appropriate, for a state Governor to be inciting, a mayor to be inciting,” he said. “If you don’t like the fact that we have immigration laws, then you should have done a better job when you were in power to try to convince the public that what you wanted to do is right.”

Takeaways

Despite all the political blather, the Second Amendment gave Pretti the right to carry his handgun in public, and the Fourth Amendment should have stopped the government from killing him for it.

So, why was he killed?

None of the major news networks have mentioned how well the opposition is organized. They use secure communications, maps and charts. Members are organized into specific teams and are armed with cellphone cameras and whistles. They confront and harass federal agents constantly, wherever they go. Observers even watch where the agents park overnight, and they record the license plates of their vehicles when they depart the next morning.

There is little doubt these actions played a role in Pretti’s death.

Ultimately, Trump wants to see the post-shooting investigation. He will personally examine whatever federal investigators conclude.

“I’m going to be watching over, and I want a very honorable and honest investigation,” he told the media this week. “I have to see it myself.”

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

There is no doubt that FBI Director Kash Patel is doing a good job leading America’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

In just one year, his agents have arrested six of the FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted suspects.

The agents who conspired against presidential candidate Donald L. Trump are now looking for work.

Patel, who is only 45 years old, has been on the ground whenever and wherever his agents need help, including Minnesota.

His energy has paid off.

Nationally, there has been a 20% drop in the murder rate, and a 100% increase in violent crime arrests.

More than 1,800 gangs and drug crews have been broken up—an increase of more than 210%.

Most importantly, more than 6,000 missing children have been located and are being returned home, and 1,700 child predators and now behind bars. That alone is absolutely stunning work.

Which brings us to Minnesota and the hell federal agents are facing on an hourly basis.

After federal agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, who was very well armed, Patel said this:

Respectfully, Director Patel, millions of law-abiding American gun owners strongly disagree.

The Second Amendment guarantees our right to be armed—period—full stop. There is no “protest clause,” which cancels it out, or any ammunition limit.

Even uber-liberal Minnesota allows private citizens with a concealed-carry permit to be armed, including at a protest.

I understand Director Patel may still be pumped full of negative emotion caused by what’s occurring almost hourly in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, but the country’s gun owners are not responsible for any of the protests or the mayhem.

And as to the man’s magazines, how many mags, sir, can law-abiding American gun owners carry? If I carry my normal two guns and four magazines, am I at risk for arrest? Will FBI agents begin targeting me here in Florida?

The liberal mainstream media is strongly opposed to all federal law enforcement. More than 93% of their stories about ICE, for example, are negative. If you add in comments from the inane Tim Walz and other liberal Minnesota politicians, we can see what the Trump Administration is facing. However, the Second Amendment cannot ever be ignored, belittled or bent to suit any political need or purpose, regardless of what the current President and his team are facing.

The Second Amendment is sacrosanct. It applies to protesters, even those whom we do or do not support.

We gun owners have a lot to thank Director Patel for, such as when he was also acting ATF Director and he repealed Joe Biden’s insane Zero Tolerance Policy. However, the comments Patel made this weekend about the shooting sound exactly like something Biden would say, and the Good Lord surely knows we don’t need another Biden.

I sincerely hope Director Patel will recognize the importance of the Second Amendment. It is not a right that the FBI or any other federal agency can revoke or temporarily suspend.

As to the good director’s comment, in which he said no one who wants to be peaceful shows up armed, most everyone I know is always armed. And to a man, or woman, we are all extremely peaceful.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

By Lee Williams

Every police officer in the country knows what to do if they’re ever at a school and some madman starts killing children: Run toward the danger and shoot the murderer until he’s very, very dead.

Tactically, it’s pretty simple. It’s what police are trained to do.

Nowadays, officers no longer wait for SWAT to arrive if some maniac is shooting kids. It becomes an individual officer’s responsibility, because every second that tics by means another innocent child could be shot and killed.

If you can’t handle this responsibility, don’t ever raise your hand, take an oath and pin on a badge.

Former Uvalde school police officer Adrian Gonzales should have known all this.

You’ll remember Gonzales from one of the school’s heartbreaking security videos, which was taken during the 2022 mass murder. He waited for more than three minutes outside the school as the maniac inside shot and killed 19 students, two teachers and wounded many more.

To be clear, Gonzales was there long before any other police officer arrived. The school was his responsibility. Any action he took could have saved lives. Instead, he waited outside, before entering while the maniac inside was murdering children.

Texas recently tried to hold him somewhat accountable for his misdeeds. Gonzales was charged with 29 counts of child abandonment or endangerment. The charges were for the 21 Texans who were murdered and the others who survived their wounds. Gonzales pleaded not guilty to every single charge.

Prosecutor took no pity on him during his two-week trial, which ended last week.

“If you have a duty to act, you can’t stand by while the child is in imminent danger. If you have a duty to protect the child, you can’t stand by and allow it to happen,” special prosecutor Bill Turner told the jury during his closing argument.

After deliberating for only seven hours, the jury found Gonzales not guilty of all charges. He hugged his lawyers and left the courtroom a free man.

There is only one more trial stemming from the 2022 mass murder.

Gonzales’ former police chief, Pete Arredondo, faces 10 counts of abandoning or endangering a child. Arredondo was the one who called in SWAT and gave the mass shooter 77 minutes to commit his horrific acts.

Law enforcement has learned much from the Uvalde mass shooting. The horrific murders reinforced the need to take immediate action rather than waiting for SWAT.

I hope this point is well learned by every single police officer in the country who is ever assigned to a school.

It’s a job for our best cops. We used to call them meat-eaters. They definitely won’t wait outside while children are victimized. They will run to the bad guy and shoot him dead.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Just to legally own a firearm in Canada, citizens must first pass government-approved firearms training. They can then apply in writing for a federal gun license, which has its own hazards. The application process requires citizens to list every “conjugal relationship” they have had in the past two years. Of course, any previous sexual partner can stop the entire firearm application cold. And then there’s a massive and invasive background check.

Any American gun owner would scream just at this, but for gun-owning Canadians, things may soon get a whole lot worse.

The Canadian government has been struggling to implement a complex and convoluted national gun confiscation plan, which only one of its 10 provinces and three territories—Quebec—actually supports.

The confiscation plan was first announced in 2020 by Canada’s famously flamboyant former prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who quickly divorced his wife after leaving office last year and started dating American songstress Katy Perry.

Trudeau’s “plan,” for lack of a better word, is a crazy amalgamation of liberal ideals—there were once more than a dozen government websites both touting and trying to explain the ban.

As it stands now, the Canadian government calls their national confiscation plan a gun buyback, but of course they don’t guarantee any Canadian dollars for anyone who participates and actually turns in their arms.

“Please note that submitting a declaration does not guarantee you will receive compensation,” one of the government’s websites actually states.

It’s not too difficult to guess exactly what Canada’s liberal government wants to ban. Since 2020, they’ve compiled a list of 2,500 specific firearms they are seeking to make illegal. ARs of all types, of course, top the list.

Canadians have until March 31^st to file their firearm declarations via a government website, but if they wait, they will lose amnesty for possessing banned firearm on Oct. 30^th, the website states.

The Canadian government actually tested a pilot program last fall in a small area of Nova Scotia. They expected that residents would turn in around 200 banned firearms. Instead, only 16 people took part and surrendered only 25 guns.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, who has been overseeing the new gun-ban program, has a habit of not watching his mouth.

At a news conference last week, Anandasangaree warned the public that “the compensation program is voluntary, but compliance with the law is not.”

However, during a radio interview just four months ago, Anandasangaree told a friend that he “shouldn’t worry about being arrested for refusing to turn in a banned firearm because municipal police have few resources to devote to such matters.”

The minister quickly sent out a press release, which described his own comments as “misguided.”

Canadian gun owners are somewhat optimistic because their government’s gun ban plan is so complex and confusing.

One pro-gun Canadian website— TheGunBlog.ca—believes they may be in the clear, and that the gun ban may not even happen.

“After more than five years of work, all they have is a website,” the site published.

Compensation

The Canadian government needs 52 pages to list the firearms they have banned and the individual amounts they will supposedly pay if the guns are turned in.

Quite frankly, the list is a mess. Evidently, its authors have never heard of alphabetical order. The firearms are listed in order of what the government will supposedly pay for the guns when they’re turned in. If anyone actually wants to see what the government will pay for their own firearms, good luck. You likely won’t find it on their confusing list.

The compensation, which even the Canadian government says is not guaranteed, starts low at $150 Canadian dollars offered for a full-auto submachinegun known as a GM-16. It ends at $9,945 with a list of CheyTac and other precision rifles, which cost much more.

Hundreds of firearms have no government price listed. Instead, users are told to call the program’s contact center for information about what the government will pay. This unpriced list includes bolt-action rifles such as the Weatherby Mark V and even Smith & Wesson’s M&P 15-22.

Takeaways

One thing about the Canadian gun ban is crystal clear: No one who knows anything about firearms participated in creating the program.

While we in the States may giggle about what the Canadian gun owners are going though, it’s certainly not recommended.

Our Second Amendment needs continuous safeguarding and constant oversight, or we too could someday be told to turn in our firearms. Four years of the Biden regime made this crystal clear.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Share The Gun Writer

by Lee Williams

Indie Guns owner Lawrence Michael DeStefano was picked up from Florida’s Orange County Jail by New York detectives this week after serving nearly 90 days in custody and flown to New York City aboard a private jet.

When they landed, the officers took a group photo and then rushed DeStefano to an NYPD precinct to be booked, and then to a quick court hearing in Queens. Afterward, he was taken to Rikers Island, a notorious 413-acre state prison located in the East River near the Bronx, where he remains incarcerated.

At the court hearing, a New York State prosecutor tried to portray him as an “evil gun runner,” DeStefano said, but the judge cut her off.

“The judge looked at her and said, ‘I have a 65-year-old man with no criminal record and you’re saying all these bad things about him.’ Then he turned to me and said, ‘You’ve got some real serious charges against you. If you’ve got somewhere to stay, I will let you out on bail,’” DeStefano said over a jail phone Friday morning. “This is going to be a fight and the gloves are off. I am going balls-to-the-wall on this. It’s going to get ugly.”

DeStefano’s court-appointed defense attorney was of little help. She showed up just seconds before the hearing began.

“She had no idea what was going on,” he said.

He will appear in court for a bail hearing in two weeks, DeStefano said.

“I need to figure out how to get a message to the gun community,” he said. “If I am out on bail, I could win this. I know what I need to do to win this. I need to do research, but they’re seizing it for evidence. They already deleted my Telegram account after they got my password,” he said.

Throughout the trip, the detectives were talking furiously with the New York State Attorney General’s Office about whether to issue a press release, DeStefano said.

“It was chaos. Everyone was on their phones. They decided to issue a press release,” he said. “You guys really think you’re doing a press release? You’re helping me. The gun culture is a tight-knit family.”

New York State Attorney General Letitia James issued a massive press release late Wednesday, titled, “Attorney General James and NYPD Commissioner Tisch Announce Indictment of Florida Man for Illegally Shipping Firearms and Ghost Guns to New York.”

It contains a link to a 42-page indictment that charges DeStefano with 71 felonies, which could see him jailed for a total of 521 years.

“Lawrence Destefano and his company Indie Guns are accused of flooding New York with illegal firearms, and we are determined to bring him to justice,” James said in the press release. “I will not tolerate illegal and dangerous weapons in our communities, and I thank our partners in law enforcement for their work to shut down this ghost gun supplier.”

Despite the allegation and the centuries behind bars DeStefano faces, the press release indicates that only a dozen actual firearms were recovered, along with “two ghost gun kits, 28 high-capacity magazines, and over 1,400 rounds of ammunition, which were mailed to locations in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County.”

The press release also mentions the default judgement James won in a civil suit against DeStefano, which he ignored.

“In March 2024, Attorney General James secured a $7.8 million judgment and court order against Indie Guns prohibiting it from selling firearms in New York,” the press release states.

The lengthy press release even includes quotes from NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, HSI New York Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel and USPIS Inspector in Charge Ketty Larco-Ward of the New York Division. All strongly supported James for “disrupting the dangerous illicit weapons pipeline,” and for “dismantling gun trafficking networks.”

DeStefano knows he will be severely outgunned in court.

“I am ready for the fight,” he said.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment

by Lee Williams

Sixty-five-year-old Lawrence Michael DeStefano’s freedom ended abruptly Wednesday, as prison officials took him from a jail cell in the Free State of Florida to the hellhole of Rikers Island in New York.

DeStefano, who had never committed any crime in his home state of Florida, could now spend the rest of his life behind bars in a New York State prison.

If you’re one of the 50,000 New Yorkers who bought Polymer 80 pistol kits from DeStefano and his firm Indie Guns over the years, rest easy. He promised he will never reveal your name. You are 100% safe. He is willing to give up all of his rights and personal freedoms and spend the rest of his life as an inmate in order to safeguard your freedom. The Second Amendment truly means that much to him.

If you want someone to blame, look no further than New York State Attorney General Leticia James. She is the sole reason why DeStefano is facing 521 years behind bars. The more than five centuries of potential prison time he faces are on par with James’ crazy and overzealous course.

You’ll recall that James first tried to get DeStefano to turn over his New York customer list through a civil suit, which he ignored. Nine other firms that sold pistol kits complied with James’ demands, and their owners remain free. DeStefano ignored the lawsuit that James won, of course, but her lengthy press release never mentions that her opponent never showed up. It does, of course, mention the $7.8 million default judgement against DeStefano and his firm, Indie Guns.

DeStefano got little help from Florida officials. After New York Gov. Kathy Hochul sent a letter to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, charging DeStefano with 71 New York state crimes, DeSantis sent a letter last month to all Florida sheriffs and peace officers, commanding them to arrest DeStefano, who was already in custody.

DeStefano never broke any Florida laws, it should be pointed out. Unserialized pistol kits are perfectly legal in the Sunshine State. I have assembled several myself.

What’s crystal clear is that DeStefano will never receive a fair trial in New York, especially with James overseeing their final legal bout. Nearly everything he offered his customers is illegal in that horrible state, but DeStefano truly didn’t care about New York laws. He was governed solely by the Second Amendment, which unfortunately does not exist under James and her cronies.

True heroism has, for me, always been somewhat difficult to define. However, anyone who forgoes their right to remain free so 50,000 New Yorkers have the ability to protect themselves and their families inside their homes truly qualifies.

That’s what Letitia James and her ilk will never understand. DeStefano never got rich selling gun parts. He estimated he earned around $200,000 per year, which isn’t a lot given all that he had to watch out for. He sold his parts kits to anyone who wanted one so they could feel safe.

That, friends, is truly heroic. He will certainly be missed.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share The Gun Writer

Share

by Lee Williams

Orlando, Florida resident and Indie Guns owner Lawrence Michael DeStefano wants his 50,000 New York customers to know he will never give up their names, even though New York State Attorney General Leticia James has threatened to put him in prison for more than 500 years if he doesn’t comply immediately and furnish their personal information and purchase history.

As we first reported last week, DeStefano has been held in Florida’s Orange County Jail for nearly 90 days. He could be taken to New York’s infamous Rikers Island any day.

“I will never tell Letitia James who bought my guns,” DeStefano said Sunday night from the Orange County jail. “I care about my customers. They should know I will never turn over their customer data. That’s why James went criminal, but I will never give them up. They are law abiding citizens and do not need to worry.”

DeStefano’s firm Indie Guns was one of 10 self-built arms dealers James targeted because they allegedly shipped gun parts kits to New York. The other nine firms handed over their customer data to James, DeStefano said, but he refused. Instead, he decided to fight James and her unconstitutional out-of-state requests.

Two New York State detectives accompanied ATF agents in October, when they executed search warrants of DeStefano’s home and rental properties. The ATF agents seized 68 items from DeStefano’s home—including $500,0000 worth of gold Krugerrands and $110,000 in cash—but took thousands of gun-parts kits from his rental properties. More than 100 typed pages were needed to list all of the items seized from DeStefano. Most were Polymer 80 kits.

DeStefano has sold his “self-built arms” kits to customers in all 50 states, but New York is the only state where he ever encountered legal problems.

On Nov. 12, 2025, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a letter and sent it to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, charging DeStefano with 71 state crimes, which total 521 years behind bars.

They included:

• 1 count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree

• 2 counts of Sale of a Criminal Firearm in the First Degree

• 39 counts of Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the Third Degree

• 28 counts of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition and Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Appliances

• 1 count of Criminal Sale of a Frame or Receiver in the Second Degree

On December 5, 2025, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded with a letter sent to all Florida Sheriffs and other peace officers in the state, commanding them to arrest DeStefano, who was already in custody.

DeSantis did not respond to calls or emails seeking to know why he ordered DeStefano’s arrest.

This is certainly not the first time DeStefano and James have battled publicly.

After James won a $7.8 million civil lawsuit against him—DeStefano did not go to New York for the case—he expressed his outrage over social media.

“I had around 15,000 followers on Instagram, but a few days after my posts I had a quarter-million followers,” DeStefano said. “They quickly shut down my Instagram account.”

He expects to be extradited to New York within the coming days, but he is more concerned about his customers, who he said may be worrying about what will happen next.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Share The Gun Writer

by Lee Williams

Orlando resident Lawrence Michael DeStefano is 65-year-old, has no criminal record and reveres the Second Amendment more than nearly anything else.

DeStefano’s website, Indie Guns, is still active, at least for now, even though he cannot fill any orders. The site contains his business motto, which is simple but very true: “Guns are Normal and Normal People Build Guns.”

DeStefano has been held without bond in the Orange County Jail for nearly 90 days, awaiting a trip to New York’s infamous Rikers Island—a violent 400-acre prison island in the East River near the Bronx—from which he may never return.

“I am in jail for telling the truth. I was one of the largest dealers of self-built arms. I hate the term ghost guns,” he said last week on a jail telephone.

DeStefano’s firm was one of 10 self-built arms dealers targeted by New York State Attorney General Leticia James, because they allegedly shipped gun kits to New York.

“She made a deal with the other companies,” DeStefano said. “They turned over all their customer data. I have more than 50,000 customers just in New York. My attorney even told me to turn over all my customer data, but I thought this isn’t about me. I am going to fight this.”

DeStefano posted one of James’ letters on social media, which demanded that he comply and turn over his customers’ names and addresses. His reply was also posted.

“I addressed Leticia James and the mayor,” he said. “I was very vulgar and extremely angry.”

DeStefano has sold gun parts kits to people in all 50 states and has never had a problem other than in New York.

“I promise you this is very true: Every government wants registration, then confiscation, then genocide,” he said.

Seventy-one felonies

DeStefano was arrested October 10, 2025, by a dozen Florida Highway Patrol troopers, who were ready for a fight. His arrest report states he had “an outstanding warrant out of New York.” He complied fully during the traffic stop and no force was needed.

The arrest report raises questions. It states that DeStefano had made terroristic threats in New York—state offenses—and that firearms were involved. He strongly denies making any threats and was never in New York.

Regardless of the error, Florida State Troopers took him to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department jail, where he remains.

While in custody, Circuit Court Judge Leticia Marquez shot down two of DeStefano’s motions for more information about the charges he faces. On November 11, 2025, she issued an order striking his demand for discovery. On the same day, the judge denied a motion for a free attorney.

“The motion to Appoint a Conflict Free Attorney is hereby DENIED. As this is a civil matter, there is no legal right to counsel. Counsel was appointed in this case as a courtesy,” Judge Marques wrote in her order.

Since he was sitting in jail, it is now known why the judge viewed his charges as a civil matter, rather than a criminal case.

Search warrants

ATF and other federal agents first searched DeStefano’s home on October 22, 2025. Two weeks later they searched his rental properties, and two New York investigators were present during the search.

Agents seized 68 items from his home, mostly handguns, gun parts and ammunition. However, they seized thousands of firearms and parts kits from his storage areas—more than 100 typed pages were needed to list everything agents seized. Most were Polymer 80 kits.

The federal agents seized far more than just his guns. Agents also took tools, electronics, repair items, toolboxes, gun oil, computers, phones, $500,000 worth of gold bars, $110,000 in cash, and even a lawn mower.

On Nov. 12, 2025, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a letter and sent it to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, charging DeStefano with 71 state crimes.

They included:

• 1 count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree

• 2 counts of Sale of a Criminal Firearm in the First Degree

• 39 counts of Criminal Sale of a Firearm in the Third Degree

• 28 counts of Manufacture, Transport, Disposition and Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Appliances

• 1 count of Criminal Sale of a Frame or Receiver in the Second Degree

On December 5, 2025, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis responded with a letter to all Florida Sheriffs and other peace officers in the state, commanding them to arrest DeStefano, who was already in custody.

The New York State charges he is facing could see him sentenced to a total of 521 years in prison.

Officials could move him to New York at any time, DeStefano said.

Civil lawsuit

DeStefano’s criminal charges came after a civil suit was filed by Attorney General James in New York, in which DeStefano did not participate. James brought a lawsuit against DeStefano and nine other national “ghost gun” dealers.

On March 6, 2024, James’ office released a massive press release touting its victory against DeStefano and his firm, Indie Guns.

“New York Attorney General Letitia James secured a $7.8 million judgment and permanent injunction against gun retailer Indie Guns, LLC (Indie Guns) for illegally selling ghost gun components in New York,” the press release states. “The Florida-based company specializing in selling the parts used to make ghost guns will also be permanently banned from selling unfinished frames and receivers in New York.”

Nowhere in her lengthy press release did James mention that DeStefano never showed up for the trial, or that the $7.8 million judgement she obtained against him occurred as a result of a default judgement.

Satisfied customers

Bill has purchased dozens of gun parts kits from DeStefano. He asked that his last name not be used in this story.

Bill knows DeStefano well. The two men have been friends for more than 10 years.

“Lawrence is the most truly patriotic person I know, and that involves the Second Amendment and our right to bear arms,” Bill said. “Am I happy with his products? A million percent! When you buy from Lawrence, he has the best quality parts available, or at least he did have them until the ATF took them all.”

DeStefano’s pistols, Bill said, are far better than Glock’s original guns.

“They’re far better than Milspec. His RMR cuts are fantastic—he builds out your slide for you, even putting the sights on,” he said. “He makes sure everything is perfect. Everything I’ve gotten from him is perfect—far above what even Glock has.”

His commitment to privacy is one of the main reasons why Bill bought DeStefano’s pistols.

“His prices were fair, but a little bit higher than your average Joe, but this comes with you knowing your customer data would not be given out to anyone who asked him for it,” Bill said. “If Leticia James wants to know what I bought from Lawrence, I know he’s not going to give her the data, because she has no right to know my business or what I do in my own home.”

As to DeStefano’s possible criminal sentence, Bill was very clear.

“That’s a hard bill to swallow—521 years,” he said. “In fact, it’s ridiculous. A law-abiding citizen of Florida faces 500-plus years imprisonment because he doesn’t want to turn over his customer data is proof positive there’s an overreach from the government.”

Not Guilty

Florida attorney Matthew Larosiere has experience defending those accused of violating nonsensical gun laws and is known as a fighter within the country’s tight Second Amendment legal community.

He’s a true gun lawyer, after all.

Larosiere does not believe Attorney General James has a provable case against DeStefano.

“New York does not get to say that your actions in Florida violated New York law and get to drag you in. That’s settled,” he said. “In any event, he should under no circumstances be extradited out of state.”

Takeaways

Joseph Story served as a U.S. Supreme Court Justice from 1812 to 1845. DeStefano’s Indie Guns website features one of Justice Story’s best-known quotes.

“One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms,” Justice Story said.

DeStephano has another citation on his website, which he wrote himself.

“Real freedom isn’t bought. It’s a self-built AK,” he wrote. “No dealers. No forms. No registry.”

He is proud of the guns he produced and sold, stating they were “high end guns with German steel that was heat-treated properly.”

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Share The Gun Writer

by Lee Williams

The Good Men Project claims it hosts “the conversation no one else is having.” Without any doubt, that much is very true.

The headline of a story the Project published January 1^st is itself somewhat defamatory: “Guns Don’t Kill, Gun Owners Do.”

The story features a picture of a man pointing a handgun directly at the reader. However, that’s just the beginning of a long list of problems.

The untruths (and misspellings) continue in the story’s sub-headline, or subhed, which states: “Let’s concede that 2nd Amendment enthusiasts have won the never-ending argument over fire arms [sic].”

Fire arms?

Really?

The New Year’s Day story was written by Jude Folly, who according to his short bio, “explores politics, art & the human condition. Featured in Sensual Enchantment, Politics: Fast & Slow, Inky Blue Allusions, & The Innovation.”

This isn’t Mr. Folly’s first anti-gun story. About a month earlier, he wrote “Legacy of Slavery Is Why U.S. Remains Bound by Insane Gun Policy.” In this story he asks one of the most idiotic questions: “If slavery had never taken root in the U.S., would there have been a need for a 2nd Amendment to this nation’s constitution?”

In his most recent story, the author wrote one of the most horrific statements I’ve ever read.

“Let us concede that gun rights advocates have won the argument: guns don’t kill people, people do. However, there is a certain class of people that merit a greater share of the blame for the mass casualty events our communities have endured. For lack of a more encompassing term let’s call them, “gun owners,” Folly actually wrote.

In other words, anyone who legally owns a firearm can be blamed for “mass casualty events.” Exactly how many deaths are we responsible for?

Thankfully, Folly provides that data too.

As well, we must acknowledge that gun owners are largely responsible (by commission and omission) for the constant blood letting [sic] since Sandy Hook (as of 16 Aug. 2025 41,023 people have perished since the 14 Dec. 2012 Newtown, Conn. massacre),” he wrote.

The link takes readers to Folly’s data source, which is the Gun Violence Archive, of course.

We have written dozens of stories about the Gun Violence Archive and its fake data, which is frequently used by fake journalists to support their fake claims.

The Gun Violence Archive, or GVA, has been debunked dozens of times for its fake mass-shooting data. Anytime four or more people are even slightly wounded with a firearm the GVA calls it a mass shooting—even if the incident is gang and/or drug related. In 2023, for example, the GVA claimed there were 656 mass shooting, which equates to 1.79 mass shootings per day. Initially, politicians, anti-gun activists and the mainstream media treated the GVA’s reports as if were gospel, but many now see the ridiculousness of the GVA’s claims.

Still, CNN has recently cited GVA data, as have MSNBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today and FOX News.

The GVA quickly became one of Joe Biden’s favorite weapons in his war against law-abiding gun owners. He cited its data in dozens of speeches.

The only good thing about the Gun Violence Archive is that once you see its data cited in a story, you can stop reading. The article is a work of fiction. The GVA has become the ultimate red-flag for discerning readers.

About the Project

I tried to contact anyone at the Good Men Project for their comments, but it doesn’t publish any phone numbers. It only offers a “contact us” email page. I sent an email Monday morning and received a quick automated response.

“Thank you for getting in touch. We have received your inquiry and will get back to you within one business day,” the response states.

I didn’t know anything about the Good Man Project until I wrote this story. I’d never heard of them.

They claim to be leading the conversation about “modern masculinity,” and they offer DEI training for those “grappling daily with issues that range from gender roles in the home and workplace, racism, sexism, LGBTQ+ inclusion, mental health and wellness, social change, and the #MeToo movement.”

Takeaways

Twenty-year-old Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and six adult staffers on December 14, 2012, at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

For Folly to state that all gun owners are responsible for these 26 murders “by commission and omission,” and for the “constant blood letting” [sic] since the horrors of Sandy Hook, is far beyond what anyone with even half a brain should ever claim.

Clearly, Folly hates guns and everyone who owns one, and he considers each of us as guilty as Adam Lanza.

This is hate speech, pure and simple. Folly’s writing is reckless and dangerous. There is no other way to describe it.

As stated, the Good Men Project claims it hosts “the conversation no one else is having.”

I truly thank God for that.

The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

Share

Leave a comment