California got the highest marks from the Brady Campaign, followed by New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and New York.

The state receiving the lowest grade in the survey was Utah.

This entire exercise is a farce, as going by the criteria of the Brady Bunch, only California and New Jersey received what they consider passing grades.

Try telling a gun owner in New York that the state doesn’t have tough enough laws restricting firearms ownership.

The report also makes no mention of the fact that the murder rate has been dropping in the U.S. since 1991, nor does it make a comparison of violent crime rates in the cities of the states it views favorably.

Many consider Utah to be a more “rural” state, but an examination of violent crime rates in some major cities reveals some facts that the Brady Bunch gun-grabbers would prefer you didn’t know.

Using data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report, let’s do a comparison:

Reports of violent crimes submitted to law for the first six months of 2009 (Latest  available):

• Berkeley, California (pop. 101,170): 310
  West Jordan, Utah (pop. 105,772): 72
• Elizabeth, New Jersey (pop. 124,823): 599
  West Valley, Utah (pop. 124,128): 256
• Lowell, Massachusetts (pop. 110,136): 553
  Provo, Utah (pop 119,189): 76

I could keep going with this, however, I think you get the idea.

And for those of you wanting to accuse me of hand-picking numers to promote my own agenda, consider this:

If you dig deep enough into the Uniform Crime Report and do an analysis of the data, you will find that the state at the top of the Brady Campaign’s “good” list, California, has a violent crime rate that averages 13% higher than the rest of America.

While the state at the bottom of their list, the one that they claim has the least restricive gun control laws, Utah, has a violent crime rate that is 56% lower than Utah’s.

The Brady Campaign To Prevent Gun Violence puts California at the top of their list.

Call me crazy, but I’d feel much safer living in Utah.

Also on The Freedom Medium

I stand by my original conclusions.

In one of the biggest acts of hypocrisy I’ve seen in a while, a member of Congress, Russ Carnahan, representative from Missouri’s Third Congressional District, recently staged a photo op with the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

In an obvious election year puff piece, the story mentions that while touring his district singing the praises of stimulus spending, Congressman Carnahan also did a demonstration of his best Dirty Harry impression.

There are a number of things wrong with this staged photo op.

First and foremost on the list is that this entire thing seems pretty strange coming from an anti-gun Congressman who has been given an “F” rating by the NRA.

And proving that he is as comfortable with firearms as were Al Gore and John Kerry when they put on some cammies and pretended to go duck hunting, as the photo shows, Carnahan is the last person I would want to be near if he were handling a gun.

Even people with no knowledge of firearms should have the common sense to be able to see that rather than being a true supporter of Second Amendment rights, the photo proves that Carnahan is simply another anti-gun politican attempting to imply that he is a supporter of a person’s basic right to self-defense.

1. Always wear protection for your eyes and ears. A gun shot is a very loud noise, and permanent hearing damage can be sustained firing a pistol indoors and so close to other people.
2. Never point a gun inside your office. Only use in or at an approved range. This prevents senior police officers standing next to you from being hit in the face by hot steel casings and losing an eye.
3. If you’re going to shoot a firearm, don’t close both eyes. It’s going to make a loud noise. It might even jump in your hand. But if you’re afraid of it, don’t shoot it.
4. Never point a weapon at a photographer. It is a very bad idea to shoot downrange with a photographer in the line of fire. Even if the photographer is using a zoom lens, mistakes happen, and it is the height of irresponsibility to point in the direction of a human being you do not want dead.

This is a prime example of why groups such as the Tea Party Nation are making inroads into politics.

If you are a politican who is against firearms ownership, then at least have the moral courage of your convictions, don’t try and fool the voters into believing that you support the right to keep and bear arms, and then go and prove that you know as much about guns as I know about rocket science.

Source: 24th State

Photo source: stltoday

Also on The Freedom Medium

Recently decided tenth amendment cases support constitutional challenges to ObamaCare. Here is evidence that my battle in Printz v. United States was not in vain, as so many liberals would have you believe! From FOXNews — An Obamacare Shocker:

….there’s another key provision in Obamacare that probably violates the Tenth Amendment: the state exchanges.

The Tenth Amendment went for so many years without being used to strike down any law that it came to be regarded as what is called a “dead letter” in the Constitution, meaning a provision that says some sort of obvious statement, but that isn’t actually used by the courts for anything.

Then, in the 1990s, the Supreme Court shocked the legal world by striking down two laws for violating the Tenth Amendment. The first was New York v. United States in 1992, where the Court struck down a federal law requiring states to pass state laws for the disposal of radioactive waste, and to issue regulations for implementing those laws. Then in Printz v. United States in 1997, the Court struck down a provision of the Brady Act—a federal gun-control law—that required state and local law enforcement to run background checks on handgun purchasers.

From these two cases emerged the anti-commandeering principle, holding that the Tenth Amendment forbids the federal government from commandeering—or ordering—any branch of state government to do anything. The states are sovereign and answer only to their voters, not to Washington, D.C.

Therein lies the problem for the Senate’s Obamacare bill. It requires each state to pass laws setting up a statewide non-profit insurance exchanges. It then requires the states to pass regulations for implementing those laws. And it further requires the states to dedicate staff and spend state money to administer those programs.

In most respects, this is a straight-out repeat of those 1992 and 1997 cases. The main difference is that Obamacare violates the anti-commandeering principle in a far more severe and egregious way than those previous laws ever did.

This is really stunning. If New York and Printz had been decided as far back as 1910, then maybe you could imagine Congress deciding to roll the dice with a completely new Supreme Court a century later. But these are recent cases with conservative outcomes, and the only difference is that the Court has become a bit more conservative then it was in the 1990s when it decided those two cases….

The only way the Dems can get around this is to drag out the constitutional challenges until Obama, in a second term as president, may have a chance to replace two conservative Supreme Court justices with liberals.

The American public must deny Obama a second term, and the certain destruction of states’ rights.

Jay Printz is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association; a 26-year veteran Montana Sheriff, retired in 1999; U.S. Marine and Vietnam combat veteran. He spent a dangerous year in Iraq in 2004-2005, serving as an advisor to Iraqi national security forces. He brought a successful U.S. Supreme Court challenge against the “Brady Law” in the landmark case, Printz v. United States.

The intruder had a criminal past. Our prayers are with Donna and her family as they deal with the aftermath of this trauma.

She took a page from the Conservative belief manual and asked the pro gun, 2d Amendment advocate “What would Jesus Do?” The man answered that they didn’t have guns back then but he is sure that Jesus would have carried a sword.

Actually I don’t think Jesus would have carried any weapon, today he would fall into the category of a “conscientious objector” but he would have served. We are very aware that Jesus’ disciples carried swords and that they used them.  Much more learned men than me have debated and philosophized about Jesus and his use of the word “sword” in His teachings.

My personal beliefs are that Jesus is the sword in the battle of good versus evil on the spiritual plane. You have to remember that Jesus Himself separated actions into the worldly and the spiritual. He advocated to his disciples that they stand up for themselves against tyranny and that they protect others. And I believe that that is the purpose of the 2d Amendment.

Owning and carrying a firearm is not “living by the sword” in my opinion. That phrase means living for violence not protecting yourself or others. If you own and/or carry a firearm you have a great responsibility. Knowing when and how to apply deadly force is not easy, it requires training and the proper mind-set.

When I had to pull the trigger I relied on three things, in this order, God, my gun and my training. Our forefathers understood human nature and knew that if the populace was disarmed that only tyranny would rule. That is why we have the 2d Amendment. The 2d Amendment gives us not only the right to bear arms but the responsibility to bear arms in order to prevent oppression. Carrying a weapon to protect yourself and others is not only a right but it is the patriotic thing to do.

None of us is perfect. The last perfect person on Earth was Jesus and we all know what the politicians did to Him.

If you prefer some lighter reading why not try…

Ghost Ranger, Tex’s first novel, is now available on Lulu and Amazon.

Reporting for TIME Magazine, Cary G. Stemle said that when asked what weapon she had with her, Smith had to stop and think about which gun she’d brought but finally said it was a Beretta .25 automatic. Her husband, Michael Houston, wore a Browning .380 in a holster. Their friends, Ted and Barbara Grant, were also carrying weapons.

Barbara, wearing a NYPD baseball cap, had a Ruger .38 revolver, while Ted, who wore a ball cap with the National Rifle Association logo on the side and “Silver Bullet Brigade” on the front, had a Taurus .40 caliber automatic.

TIME said that the unusual gathering was entirely legal and acceptable to the leaders of New Bethel, an Assemblies of God church in Louisville, Kentucky, that invited people to bring their unloaded guns to this first-ever event. Neither of the two couples in the front row are New Bethel members.

A statement on the church’s web site about the event said that gun ownership is not part of the gospel message, which is Jesus Christ, His life, death, burial and resurrection.

The statement continued, “Gun ownership falls under the scope of Christian liberty. One may either choose to own or not own a firearm. But as soon as someone yells ‘foul,’ or that this event or activity is not something that one may do as a Christian, the matter now becomes inextricably linked with the gospel.”

The web site continued, “We recognize that some will disagree with us about this event, and we respect their right to do so. Yet, in the words of one of the greatest theologians ever to come from the Christian faith, ‘To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.’ (St. Thomas Aquinas).

A disclaimer on the web page referring to the event said, “All visitors to New Bethel Church Property enter at their own risk. New Bethel Church will not be held responsible for injuries to you or damage to your personal property.”

Smith told TIME she read about the service in the Louisville Courier-Journal and came “to see what was going on.”

All four are longtime NRA members, she said, and all are deeply worried that the federal government will mount an effort to take away the right to bear arms they believe is enshrined in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

TIME said that generalized concern was expressed in various ways by various people at the service, which became an international media sensation when it hit Louisville’s mainstream press early this month. Pastor Ken Pagano, a former Marine and a volunteer chaplain with the Louisville Metro Police Department, suggested the idea more than a year ago when the church board was brainstorming ways to expand its outreach.

Just after five o’clock, Pastor Ken Pagano stepped to the microphone, welcomed the crowd of about 175 and summarized the ground rules.

“All arms are to be holstered,” TIME reported he said. “It’s a cold-range carry as a show of support for the Second Amendment and First Amendment.”

TIME said Pagano focused on a number of issues he has dealt with before while being interviewed by journalists from Australia to Ireland.

They are that pacifism is optional for Christians; society faces more risks from texting and Twittering drivers on the highway than from guns; and “we’re not doing anything illegal, immoral or unconstitutional, so why apologize?”

TIME said he promised to keep the event (it was not a worship service) to about an hour, though it lasted 90 minutes.

The relaxed program was built largely around music and talking points interspersed with a series of videos downloaded from YouTube.

TIME said the audience sang a verse each of “America, the Beautiful,” “My Country ’tis of Thee,” and “God Bless America.”

They then watched a watched a video clip from the late comedian Red Skelton in which he invokes one of his former teachers who broke down the Pledge of Allegiance word by word. Pagano then asked the crowd to stand and led them in reciting the Pledge.

TIME said two videos featured the magicians Penn and Teller, who support gun rights. In one, they stuff a folded American flag inside a rolled-up copy of the Bill of Rights before seemingly setting it (and only it) on fire; the magicians then challenge the audience to embrace the ambiguity of the illusion and to understand that, regardless, the Bill of Rights remains.

Later, on another video, they parsed the language of the Second Amendment and quibble with those who quibble over punctuation around the word “people” and their right to bear arms.

TIME reported that Pagano related how the church’s insurance carrier refused to cover the event and his efforts to find a one-day rider. Only one agent in the country was willing to underwrite the event, he said – for $2,600. That, he said, illustrates how insurance companies have too much control over regular people. Those remarks, and others from Pagano, drew spontaneous bursts of “that’s right” and “amen.” The church eventually found coverage for $700.

After more videos there was a raffle with prizes of a free NRA membership, gun range time and a pistol.

There was also another video, this time of Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA,” and an invitation to hang out for hot dogs, chips and bottled water.
Afterward, Kevin Terrell, who was among a group of attendees dressed in camouflage, told TIME that his militia group, the Ohio Valley Freedom Fighters, is closely watching various gun legislation in Congress.

He said that former President George Bush’s expansion of presidential power is a problem because he believes the current president has used it to his advantage.

“I used to think I was a right-wing Republican until Bush,” he said. “Now that absolute power has been passed to a left-winger.”

The church didn’t know what to expect from the first-time event, said member Charles Hinckley, a former pastor who carried a Smith & Wesson .380, but it went off smoothly.

TIME said that video cameras were prohibited on church grounds, forcing news crews to do stand-ups beyond the entrance to the church’s long parking lot, and still photos were restricted to one pool photographer.

TIME reported that Pagano, who said church members have a responsibility to stress safe gun usage, would like to make the open-carry service an annual event annual leading to the Fourth of July. And he said he had no problem with an alternative rally, “Bring Your Peaceful Heart … Leave Your Gun at Home,” that coincided with the gun service.

Terry Taylor, who heads Interfaith Paths to Peace, which organized the counter-rally, said there was no need to protest at the New Bethel event. “That’s not how we do things,” TIME reported he said. “We wanted to hold our own event and give something to people that we think is better.”

For more information go to New Bethel Church.

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org He has a master’s degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is “The Face of Homelessness.” Additional details are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com. Reynalds’ latest book is “We All Need a Little Help.” It was released on October 3 2008. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“The spread of small arms creates a serious global problem and requires an equally urgent response because the lives and futures of children are at stake. These weapons have extinguished more young lives than they have protected.” – Carol Bellamy, Executive Director, UNICEF

The vast majority of Americans, regardless of their opinions on the increasing scope of international law, agree with the proposition that children should not be used as soldiers. Accordingly, much of the UN literature that addresses children and guns deals with this military-related issue.

However, a second theme is quickly found in virtually all UN pronouncements about child soldiers and weapons. UN child’s rights advocates believe, teach, and promote the idea that all private gun-ownership is dangerous for children, and that children have the right to grow up in a community that is free from all guns.

As the campaign to seek ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child intensifies, it is important for all Americans to understand the application of this children’s rights treaty to the issue of private gun ownership by American citizens.

Limiting the rights of gun-ownership is not some secret agenda of the UN, but is open for all to see. UNICEF, the official UN agency charged with the worldwide advancement of children’s rights, has published a four-color brochure entitled: “No Guns Please, We Are Children.” The quotation given at the opening of this paper is taken from the front cover of this UNICEF brochure.

Inside this brochure we find the following assertions about guns and children…[Continue reading on ParentalRights.org >>]

(This came to us by e-mail from Okie Campaigns – We don’t know the original source of the photo.)

• Do you believe in the Constitution?
• Do you believe in the 2nd Amendment?
• Do you believe in the 10th amendment?
• Do you believe in supporting Veterans?
• Do you believe in the Law?
• Do you believe the Federal Government should serve the voter not the other way around?
• Are you against illegal immigration?
• Are you supportive of “TEA Parties”?
• Are you a Conservative?

US DHS: Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, 7 Apr 2009

If you have been following TEA Parties on blogs you will notice that they have come under attack as a “sponsored” organization. Many trolls are blaming Fox News, some are blaming Rush Limbaugh, some blame the GOP and some are blaming Bush.

Do we really need any further proof that this Administration is Anti-American? If you believe in the document that this great Country was founded on you are an extremist and must be dealt with. God help anyone who believes in personal freedoms, the Constitution or State’s Rights.

They are already talking amnesty for all 20 million (or more) illegal immigrants. They want to pad the voter roles for the future. You would think that ACORN was able to do enough of that with all the Federal funds that have been poured into their coffers.

The AG Eric Holder has lied about weapons being smuggled into Mexico. The Homeland Security Secretary is dragging her feet on protecting our borders.The Pretender is throwing pizza parties and his press secretary is force feeding the media news about a dog while Somali Pirates thumbed their noses at America. It was amazing the dog hadn’t even arrived at the White House yet but you wouldn’t know that from the media feeding frenzy. The dog isn’t scheduled to arrive until today, April 13th, but it was enough news to divert the attention from Obama being caught on video bowing subserviently to the Saudi King.

Obama sycophants were quick to claim credit for the outstanding job done by the Navy Seals and the Naval Commander on the scene but in reality they were facing an untenable fight with the rules of engagement that they were given. If the pirates hadn’t threatened Captain Phillips’ life so directly the situation would still be unresolved while the media would be reporting about Bo piddling on the grass of the White House. (More on this at How Obama actually delayed pirate rescue, remember you read about this first here)

Also see:

• DHS ignored civil-liberties lawyers’ warnings on report; Update: Senators demand data, explanation
• Jim Khouri: Congressman demands investigation of Secretary Napolitano’s controversial report
• JUDGE ANDREW NAPOLITANO: Six Things You Should Know About the Homeland Security Report on ‘Rightwing Extremism’
• Press Release from DHS on ‘Right-Wing Extremism’ Report
• Michelle Malkin: You might be a radicalized rightwing extremist if… and Confirmed: The Obama DHS hit job on conservatives is real
• Homeland Security on guard for ‘right-wing extremists’
• Disagree with Obama? Gov’t has eyes on you

Ghost Ranger, Tex’s first novel, is now available on Lulu and Amazon.

• Iran missile experts in North Korea ‘to help with rocket launch’
• A Missile Shot for Iran

It amazes me that the International Press sees the problem with Obama’s spinelessness yet the American media still fawns over the empty suit and praises him.

It is said the tested missile traveled about 1200 miles before splashing into the ocean. It is no coincidence that this is about the same distance from Iran to Israel!

Obama’s response is let’s give up all our nuclear weapons. He is now demonstrating the mediocre intelligence that he had at Columbia University instead of the alleged high intelligence he supposedly demonstrated at Harvard.

Since the days of the caveman, homo sapiens have had violent tendencies. There will always be mad power hungry leaders who will try to expand their influence with any means possible. Deterrents will always be necessary yet Obama would have us disarm. His administration is stopping research and development on new programs and abandoning those in the pipeline. He is putting America and Americans at risk. He is trying to disarm the citizens. The danger is clear and present yet some Americans choose to ignore the facts.

The UN is already waffling on what do about North Korea just like they have over Iran since 1979 and we now have a President who genuflects to the Saudi King and kowtows to the madman who rules North Korea.

Does America have the spine to stand up to anyone?

Ghost Ranger, Tex’s first novel, is now available on Lulu and Amazon.

“…There’s just one problem with the 90 percent ‘statistic’ and it’s a big one:

“It’s just not true.

“In fact, it’s not even close. The fact is, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.

“What’s true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency’s assistant director, ‘is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S.’

“But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S….(more)”

Get more news about border security on LaFontera, and about preserving our Second Amendment rights on The Aresenal.

The Supreme Court this morning struck down the District`s 32-year-old ban on handguns, ruling that the right to bear arms as guaranteed in the Second Amendment applies to individuals and not only to militias.

From the Washington Times:

The Supreme Court this morning struck down the District’s 32-year-old ban on handguns, ruling that the right to bear arms as guaranteed in the Second Amendment applies to individuals and not only to militias.

In a 5-4 decision, the justices’ landmark ruling affirmed a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in March of last year that gutted much of the District’s stringent gun statutes. Justice Antonin G. Scalia wrote the court’s majority opinion….(more)

(hat-tip: Okie Campaigns)

Also see:

• Nikitas: Gun Rights Upheld!
• Leslie Carbone-The Second Amendment Survives

See also: FHK “Gun” Archive