guns Archives - The Minnesota Sun

Commentary: Don’t Jail Parents for School Shootings – Arm Teachers

September 14, 2024 RealClearWire

Understandably, we want to blame someone besides the 14-year-old who murdered four people last week at Apalachee High School in Georgia. People are shocked and upset that the father taught the boy to shoot and hunt and bought the boy a rifle for Christmas. But that doesn’t mean it made any sense for police to arrest the father the day after the school shooting on two counts of second-degree murder, four counts of involuntary manslaughter, and eight counts of cruelty to children.

This isn’t the first time that parents are being held liable for their children’s actions. Jennifer and James Crumbley were sentenced to prison for 10 to 15 years after their son perpetrated the 2021 Oxford High School shootings in Michigan. Their crime? Letting their son have access to the father’s pistol, which was used in the murders.

Commentary: Banning Guns Is Not the Answer to School Shootings

September 7, 2024 American Greatness

As a mother, I’m horrified by the notion that a child could be placed on a school bus and never come back home. Losing a child is a parent’s worst nightmare, and I’ve had too many friends who’ve walked through that darkness. As a member of a school board, I’m burdened that the decisions I make with my one vote of eleven could impact the safety of 64,000 children. I take those decisions very seriously, but I fear the root causes of this violence that are beyond my control.

The physical structures of schools are more secure than they have ever been. There are now school resource officers (SROs), stricter requirements on who can enter schools, and locked doors to keep the bad guys out. Students are encouraged to speak up: “If you see something, say something.” Yet I don’t believe anything school board members or administrators do can guarantee the safety of children without addressing the underlying cause of these senseless acts of violence—our country’s moral decay.

Over 5 Million Guns Have Been Purchased in America During First Four Months of 2024: Report

June 30, 2024 Just the News

Americans purchased roughly 5.5 million guns in the first four months of 2024, according to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The data shows that roughly 1.3 million guns were purchased each of the months of January through April of this year.

Commentary: More Defensive Gun Uses Undermine Government Claims About Armed Civilians

May 21, 2024 Minnesota Sun Staff

It should be painfully obvious to anyone paying attention that the Biden administration distrusts an armed civilian population and is willing to fudge the truth time and again to defend its untenable positions. But for those living blissfully unaware of the Biden administration’s animosity toward gun owners, it once again demonstrated its animosity in clear terms.

Earlier this month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security accidentally said the quiet part out loud: It thinks that only the government really can be trusted with firearms, even when the government at issue is notoriously corrupt.

Bill Would Alert Immigration When Non-Citizen Tries to Buy Guns

May 4, 2024 The Center Square

Nearly 15 million people living in or entering the country illegally are on an FBI list prohibiting purchase of firearms.

However, the National Instant Criminal Background Check system isn’t required to let immigration authorities know if one of those 14.8 million is an applicant and in America. Legislation is proposed to change it.

Commentary: 11 More Examples of Defensive Gun Use to Fend Off Criminals

December 27, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

As cities across the country reel from explosive crime rates, many politicians at the local, state, and federal levels are too preoccupied with disarming peaceable American gun owners to identify, arrest, and prosecute actual criminals adequately.

Two masked attackers met their match last month when they attacked Los Angeles resident Vince Ricci as he walked toward the front door of his house. The pair brandished a firearm at Ricci, who pulled out his own gun and shot at the thugs, who ran away.

Commentary: Five Stupid Things the Left Would Have You Believe

November 23, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

I was on a media panel talking about what the Left has done to the Fourth Estate in America and how that damage might ultimately be repaired. And afterward, I spent a lot of time interacting with sponsors and attendees, and a common thread seemed to run through those conversations.

Namely, the multiplicity of utterly indefensible, absurd propositions that make up the narratives and constructs by which our left-wing current ruling class seeks to base its power over us.

Commentary: The Left Would Grab Your Guns in a Minute If Patriots Stopped Defending the Constitution

October 11, 2023October 10, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Left constantly reassures Americans that they do not want to take away firearms, but actions speak louder than words.

In September, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) used an emergency public health order to suspend the Second Amendment for 30 days in Albuquerque and the surrounding Bernalillo County. Grisham knew fully well that she was violating the Constitution (in fact, she happily admitted so). A handful of gun control advocates quickly condemned her unprecedented decision, but not because they respect the Constitution.

Two Foreign Countries Join Forces in $10 Billion Lawsuit Against U.S. Gun Manufacturers

March 23, 2023 Minnesota Sun Staff

The Bahamas joined Mexico Wednesday to appeal a federal judge’s November decision to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit against U.S. gun manufacturers for deaths caused by firearms, according to EyeWitness News.

Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis announced the decision, saying the firearms used to commit violent acts in his country are manufactured by American firearm companies and illegally trafficked across borders, according to EyeWitness News. The appeal follows a November ruling in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts where a federal judge dismissed Mexico’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson Brands Inc. and Sturm, Ruger & Co.

Commentary: More Federal Bureaucrats than U.S. Marines Are Authorized to Pack Heat

October 7, 2022October 6, 2022 RealClearWire

When Congress authorized $80 billion this year to beef up Internal Revenue Service enforcement and staffing, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy invoked the language of war to warn that “Democrats’ new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you.”

Commentary: Yes, They’re Coming for Your Guns

June 4, 2022June 3, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

Perhaps, like me, you’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that the un-American Left is ignorant of many things. But then they open their mouths and remove all doubt.

The most recent example comes from the gaping maw of Elie Mystal on MSNBC, where he claimed that, like everything else in this country apparently, the Second Amendment is the creation of long-dead, racist white supremacists who supported it for the sole purpose of putting down slave revolts keeping the enslaved populations in bondage. Of course, there is as much “truth” to that as there is in the 1619 Project. Progressives use such revisionist history to discredit the founders so that they can dismantle the founders’ republic.

Dozens of Firearms Stolen from Trains in Los Angeles

February 1, 2022January 31, 2022 Minnesota Sun Staff

In the latest train robbery in the city of Los Angeles, dozens of firearms, including handguns and shotguns, were stolen from a cargo train in a massive raid.

As reported by ABC News, three suspects arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) last summer were found to be in possession of some of the new .22-caliber handguns from the stolen cache. The guns were found to match the larger batch of 36 handguns stolen from the train that had been bound for Tennessee, according to police.

One of the suspects admitted that the guns were stolen while the train was in the Lincoln Heights rail yard, which has become a prime target for train robberies in recent months. Later, two more suspects were arrested with shotguns that were found to have come from a larger batch of 46 shotguns that had also been stolen from the train.

Missouri Legislators Want to End Sales Tax On Guns, Food, Diapers in 2022 Session

December 29, 2021December 28, 2021 The Center Square

If the number of bills submitted in the Missouri House of Representatives and the Senate is any indication, lots of time will be devoted to debating taxes during the next legislative session starting Jan. 5, 2022.

Approximately 10% of the 1,020 bills filed contain the word “tax” in the description. Senators filed about 40 bills and joint resolutions while representatives filed approximately 60.

More than 50 bills cover taxation and general revenue.

Biden Administration Collecting Information on Millions of American Gun Owners

November 10, 2021November 9, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

In just one year, the Biden Administration has collected records of over 54 million legal gun-owners in the United States, for the purpose of increased surveillance of such citizens by the federal government, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

As shown in internal documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the ATF processed approximately 54.7 million records in fiscal year 2021. These documents were obtained by the gun rights advocacy group Gun Owners of America (GOA). The records in question are “out-of-business” documents, which consist of all firearms-related transactions made by a particular gun store after the store has gone out of business, at which point those records become property of the ATF.

In the year 2021, the ATF used this method to collect 53.8 million paper records, and roughly 887,000 electronic records. Gun stores are currently allowed to destroy records that are 20 years old or older; the Biden Administration is actively pursuing avenues to ensure that such records are made permanent and cannot be destroyed.

Commentary: The Media Doesn’t Accurately Cover Defensive Gun Usage in America

September 23, 2021 RealClearWire

While Americans know that guns take many innocent lives every year, many don’t know that firearms also save them.

On May 15, an attacker at an apartment complex in Fort Smith, Ark., fatally shot a woman and then fired 93 rounds at other people before a man killed him with a bolt-action rifle. Police said he “likely saved a number of lives in the process.”

Commentary: I Need an AR-15

June 10, 2021June 9, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

I don’t need an AR-15 for hunting: It’s not even legal to take a deer with one in my state—the caliber is too small. I also don’t need an AR-15 for self-defense, though I’d want to have one if someone broke into my house. And I certainly don’t need one just because it’s a beautiful piece of engineering. I need an AR-15 because the government doesn’t want me to have one.

Commentary: ‘No Evidence’ That Gun Buyback Programs Reduce Gun Violence, New Economic Study Finds

May 16, 2021May 15, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

Shortly before Christmas in 2018, a woman named Darlene voluntarily turned in a 9mm pistol to the Baltimore Police Department. It was just one of about 500 firearms the department collected that day as part of the city’s gun buyback program, which paid citizens somewhere between $25 and $500 in exchange for their firearms and high-capacity magazines.

Darlene, however, had a confession. She was turning in her 9mm, she told a local news reporter, so she could “upgrade to a better weapon.”

Like what? the reporter asked.

“I don’t know,” Darlene said. “I haven’t quite decided.”

2020 Marks New Record for Number of Minnesotans Carrying Guns

March 5, 2021March 4, 2021 Minnesota Sun Staff

As crime skyrocketed and police response times increased in the Twin Cities, a record number of Minnesotans took protection into their own hands.

2020 clocked in a 53% year-on-year increase in the number of permits to carry issued in Minnesota, according to newly released data from the Department of Public Safety (DPS). Almost 100,000 new permits were authorized.

With New Administration, Record Number of People Bought Guns in January

February 5, 2021February 4, 2021 The Center Square

Concerns about President Joe Biden’s potential restrictions on firearm purchases sent sales soaring in January, industry insiders said. More than 4.3 million people purchased guns in the first month of 2021, the highest number on record.

The 4.3 million purchases represent legal applications through the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS); it excludes illegally purchased firearms.

Biden’s Gun Registration Tax Could Cost Firearms Owners Billions

November 20, 2020November 19, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed firearm tax could cost gun owners upwards of $30 billion to keep the weapons they already possess, according to The Washington Free Beacon.

Biden plans to mandate both taxation and registration of so-called “assault weapons” and high-capacity magazines under the National Firearms Act (NFA), which requires a $200 fee per item, according to the former vice president’s campaign website. Around 20 million rifles and 150 million magazines would be taxable, leading to a total cost to U.S. gun owners of over $34 billion, according to the Free Beacon.

Walmart Returns Guns and Ammunition to U.S. Store Displays

November 1, 2020October 31, 2020 The Associated Press

Walmart has reversed course, announcing it is returning ammunition and firearms to their displays in its U.S. stores.

On Thursday the nation’s largest retailer said it had removed the items from displays due to “civil unrest” in some areas of the country. Guns and ammunition, however, had remained for sale at the stores, just not visible to shoppers.

Remington Files for Bankruptcy Amid Nationwide Unrest, Surge in Gun Purchases

July 30, 2020July 29, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

Remington Arms Co. filed for bankruptcy amid nationwide unrest and surging gun sales.

The firearm company filed for chapter 11 protection, or reorganization bankruptcy, for the second time since 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Remington has been in business for over 200 years, according to its webpage.

Background Checks, a Metric for Gun Sales, Hit All-Time High

July 2, 2020July 1, 2020 The Associated Press

Historic numbers of background checks to purchase or possess a firearm were done in June, a trend in a year marked by uncertainty over the coronavirus pandemic, a subsequent economic recession, protests over racial injustice and calls to reduce police funding.

FBI numbers released Wednesday show that 3.9 million background checks were conducted last month, the most since the system was created in November 1998 to ensure felons and other prohibited people could not buy or possess a firearm. The previous monthly record came in March, when 3.7 million checks were done. Each week in June is now in the top 10 weeks for background checks.

Commentary: Joe Biden Is Full of It, He Is Coming for Your Guns

March 12, 2020March 11, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

Former Vice President Joe Biden used a profane expression to deny that he is against the Second Amendment when pressed by a Michigan voter on the issue. He told the worker he would confiscate his guns: “we’ll take your AR-14s away.” He meant AR-15, which if you own one or other legal to own semi-automatic firearms on the ban list, Biden is in fact coming for your guns.

Analysis: Twelve Times Gun Owners Defended Themselves and Others in January

February 23, 2020February 22, 2020 Minnesota Sun Staff

Many lawmakers around the country welcomed in the new year by pursuing legislation that would severely curtail the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.

Commentary: Virginia’s Would-Be Gun Grabbers Likely to Face Blowback

December 31, 2019December 30, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam apologized for his medical school blackface stunt, but he will have much more to apologize for if he signs into law a bill that attacks Virginia residents’ Second Amendment rights.

Commentary: Bloomberg Isn’t a ‘Moderate’ on Abortion, Religious Liberty and Guns

December 4, 2019December 3, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

As soon as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg entered the race for President as a “moderate” Democrat he began to abandon any pretense of being a moderate, even going so far as to disavow his one apparent success; continuing his predecessor Rudy Giuliani’s stop and frisk crime prevention program.

Commentary: Bernie Will Confiscate Your Money, But Fortunately Not Your Guns

November 14, 2019November 13, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

Vermont’s Socialist Senator and top-tier Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is one of the true disruptors in American politics. His unconventional ideas defy easy categorization as he campaigns around the country on his own idiosyncratic brand of Democratic Socialism.

These Gun Owners Were Able to Confront Criminals in September

October 13, 2019October 12, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

When the Virginia State Crime Commission and the House Judiciary Committee held hearings earlier this fall regarding firearm policies, it was striking how little many gun control advocates and policymakers know about basic facts related to guns and gun violence.

Analysis: Lawful Gun Owners Defended Their Lives and Livelihoods in August

September 29, 2019September 28, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

It seems as though every day another celebrity or politician demands that we place more severe restrictions on the ability of law-abiding citizens to exercise their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.

Commentary: What Do You Mean, ‘We’?

September 15, 2019September 14, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas who couldn’t beat Ted Cruz in a U.S. Senate race but who nevertheless believes he can win the presidency, said a curious thing at the Democrats’ third primary debate in Houston on Thursday night.

Beto’s Newest Gun Control Idea Involves Controlling What Americans Can Buy With a Credit Card

September 13, 2019September 12, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

Former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas suggested pushing financial institutions into refusing service to Americans who are seeking to purchase semi-automatic rifles, among other forms of artillery.

Commentary: Guns Prevent Thousands of Crimes Every Day, Research Shows

August 25, 2019August 24, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

It never fails. A split-second after a mass shooting occurs, grandstanders and ideologues issue statements demanding new gun controls—even if the laws already on the books failed or the laws they want would have made no difference. Case in point: the tragic incidents in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, in early August 2019.

A Pro-Gun Ruling Will Inflame Court-Packing Push, Dem Senator Warns Supreme Court

August 14, 2019August 13, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island filed a legal brief before the Supreme Court in a challenge to New York City’s gun transportation regulations, advancing a broad indictment of the Roberts Court itself as he urged the justices to turn away the NRA-backed case.

The Second Amendment Saved These Gun Owners’ Lives in April

May 12, 2019May 11, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

by Amy Swearer The right to keep and bear arms is based on the natural, immutable right to defend oneself and one’s liberties from crime and tyranny. Unfortunately, too many well-intentioned people today advocate severely restricting the ability of law-abiding Americans to defend themselves and others with the most…

1,000 Guns Seized From Los Angeles Mansion

May 10, 2019May 9, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

More than 1,000 rifles and handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition were seized Wednesday at a mansion in a posh area not far from the Playboy Mansion. Acting on a tip regarding illegal firearms sales, police and federal agents served a search warrant around 4 a.m. at the…

Latest News of Self-Defense With Firearms Contradicts Gun Control Rhetoric

April 11, 2019April 10, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

by Amy Swearer Gun control advocates long have controlled the narrative about defensive uses of firearms, calling the “good guy with a gun” scenario a “myth meant to scare people into buying guns for self-defense.” This is a false narrative that does not reflect reality. Despite a backdrop of…

Parents File Suit Against School District That Wants to Allow Teachers to Carry Guns

January 9, 2019January 8, 2019 Minnesota Sun Staff

by Neetu Chandak Parents and a grandparent filed a lawsuit against a Pennsylvania school district on Thursday over a policy allowing teachers to carry guns in school. Tamaqua Area School District in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, approved the policy in September 2018, according The Associated Press reported Friday. The policy allows…

Police Officer Deaths on Duty Increased in 2018, Report Finds

December 29, 2018December 28, 2018 Minnesota Sun Staff

by Neetu Chandak A preliminary report released Thursday found U.S. police officer deaths on duty increased by 12 percent in 2018 from 2017. The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a non-profit dedicated to making police officers’ work safer, found 144 police officers died between Jan. 1 and Dec.…