Bullheaded Texan's "Open Thread"

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Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 7:44pm

Shunned By Liberal Corporations, Gun Owners Get Creative.
5/7/18 Source: AAN
On a recent hunting trip, Larry Lopata and three business partners came up with an idea for a new firearms accessory: an ergonomic adjustable-length trigger, so people of different hand sizes could use the same gun comfortably, which also could pay dividends on the competition circuit.
The four put $150,000 into product development when they felt ready to seek additional funding from new investors.
Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo would have been perfect, but they explicitly prohibit users from raising money for any weapons-related projects.
So, in the entrepreneurial spirit that propelled America to greatness, Lopata created his own, gun-friendly crowdfunding site, GunDynamics.com, recently featured on American Action News.
After the Parkland school shooting, many major corporations have sought to disassociate with the gun community.
So far, Bank of America announced it would no longer lend to firearms manufacturers that make "military-style" firearms.
Dick's Sporting Goods has stopped selling assault rifles, while WalMart, L.L. Bean, and other retailers raised the minimum age for firearm purchases to 21.
To counter this growing threat, Lopata and others who make their living in firearms have constructed online businesses designed to cater exclusively to gun enthusiasts.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 7:14pm

SHOCK REPORT! Millenials Are Rapidly SPRINTING Away From The Democratic Party!
In an interesting polling data that has been tracking data over two years, the latest Reuter’s survey found that Democrats are losing their appeal among millennials while Trump’s job approval is slowly ticking upwards! reports Town Hall
“In the last two years, Millennial support for Democrats over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot dropped around 9 percentage points, to 46%. The demographic’s support for Republicans has remained steady at about 28%.
Some Millennials who voted for killary clinton in 2016 are now looking at supporting GOP congressional candidates, the poll found.
And the same young voters are almost evenly split on the question of which party takes better care of the economy, with 34% favoring Democrats compared to 32% favoring Republicans, a twelve-point jump for the GOP since 2016.
White Millennials have turned toward Republicans the most. Support for both parties among young white voters is equal at 39%.
Democrats are still enjoying an 18-point advantage over the GOP among this young demographic, fueled by lopsided numbers among young voters of color, but who knows what time will tell.
But the double-digit swing on the economy is a particularly interesting data point.
The US economy is thriving, and Republicans are in charge.
That hasn’t gone unnoticed by a cohort of voters that isn’t inclined to view the party favorably.
The results of tax reform and deregulation are speaking for themselves, and people are taking note.
Not all are turning up their noses at their “crumbs”, which include more readily-available jobs and boosted take-home pay.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 7:03pm

Some Celebrities You Didn’t Know Are Republican.
Denzel Washington has stuck to his principles and remained a republican.
Caitlyn Jenner is surprisingly a strong republican.
Lindsay Lohan;
Hilary Duff;
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Wrestler)
Kris Jenner is a proud republican!
Stacey Dash may be one of the most notorious republican faces.
Brett Favre;
Vince Vaughn fully supports the 2nd. amendment, a strong advocate for allowing guns in schools.
Melissa Joan Hart proudly stands up for republican values.
Peyton Manning, like quarterback Bret Farve, is a Southern conservative who supports the Rep. Party.
Mel Gibson has conservative views.
Jessica Simpson, dedicated to the Rep. Party.
Drew Carey is a registered republican.
Adam Sandler has donated to New York's Rudy Giuliani.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 6:15pm

April Sets Gun Sales Record Second month in a row with gun sales record as push for new gun control continues.
5/7/18 2:40 pm BY: Stephen Gutowski
April 2018 saw the most gun-related checks run through the Federal Bureau of Investigation's background check system.
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) ran 2,233,213 checks in April, according to an FBI document. That's nearly 90,000 more checks than the previous April record set in 2016. It also represents the second month in a row to set a record with March seeing 2,767,699 checks.
The drop off in background checks between March and April matches the industry's typical sales cycle where more guns are sold in winter months than in summer months. December tends to be the best month for gun sales in any given year. December 2015 holds the record for most checks in a month with 3,314,594.
NICS checks are one of the strongest indicators of gun sales in the United States. While there is no federal registry of firearms, NICS checks are required on nearly all sales conducted by licensed gun dealers. The number of checks does not perfectly correlate with the number of gun sales, though. Most states do not require NICS checks for sales of used firearms between nonlicensed individuals, many states use the checks during the gun-carry permit application process, some states don't require a NICS check during sales to those with gun-carry permits, and multiple guns can be sold during a single NICS check.
"These statistics represent the number of firearm background checks initiated through the NICS," the FBI wrote in its report. "They do not represent the number of firearms sold. Based on varying state laws and purchase scenarios, a one-to-one correlation cannot be made between a firearm background check and a firearm sale."
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the gun industry's trade group, said its analysis of the numbers found that checks related to gun-carry permits may have driven the record NICS numbers more than gun-sales checks.
The record number of NICS checks came as the push for new gun control remained in the public eye, and some states enacted new laws.
Vermont's Republican governor Phil Scott flip flopped and signed a new gun-control package that outlawed magazines of varying sizes and gun ownership for any adult under 21-years-old in April. The town of Deerfield, Ill., also announced its own ban on certain rifles in April.
Both measures are now being challenged in court.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 5:56pm

Oliver North to Become Next President of the NRA.
5/7/18 3:30 pm BY: Paul Crookston
The National Rifle Association announced Monday retired Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North will be its next president, succeeding Pete Brownell.
The NRA’s board of directors said it is starting the process to formally instate Lt. Col. Oliver North, a former Ronald Reagan administration official, in the coming weeks.
"I am honored to have been selected by the NRA Board to soon serve as this great organization’s President," North said. "I appreciate the board initiating a process that affords me a few weeks to set my affairs in order, and I am eager to hit the ground running as the new NRA President."
NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre compared Lt. Col. Oliver North to past president Charlton Heston, the Hollywood star who led the organization from 1998 to 2003 and also had a friendship with President Reagan.
"This is the most exciting news for our members since Charlton Heston became President of our Association," LaPierre said. "Lt. Col. Oliver Oliver North is a legendary warrior for American freedom, a gifted communicator and skilled leader.
In these times, I can think of no one better suited to serve as our N.R.A. President."
Lt. Col. Oliver North was convicted on charges related to the Iran-contra affair during the Reagan administration, but the ruling was reversed in 1991.
He has been a commentator on Fox News, and Monday he announced he was retiring from that position immediately.
Brownell has stepped down from the office to focus on his family business, firearm and accessory retailer Brownells, and he said LaPierre and he had discussed Lt. Col. Oliver North as his successor.
"Discussing this with Wayne LaPierre, he suggested we reach out to a warrior amongst our board members, Lt. Colonel Oliver North, to succeed me," Brownell wrote. "Wayne and I feel that in these extraordinary times, a leader with his history as a communicator and resolute defender of the Second Amendment is precisely what the NRA needs!"
LaPierre thanked Brownell, who became president in 2017, for his service to the organization.
"Pete has served the NRA with great courage and distinction," LaPierre said. "I am grateful that he joined me in enthusiastically recommending Lt. Col. Oliver North to the Board of Directors."
"The board acted quickly and with great vision," LaPierre also said. "Lt. Col. Oliver North is, hands down, the absolute best choice to lead our NRA Board, to fully engage with our members, and to unflinchingly stand and fight for the great freedoms he has defended his entire life."

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 2:32pm

The Danger of Political Party Mobs.
4/26/18 Marina Medvin
Mob mentality is a fascinating aspect of human nature, but a dangerous one.
Mob mentality, group identity, and groupthink describe the same type of human behavior - actions that individuals take when coming under the influence of a group, doing irrational things that are not in their individual best interest, losing their self-awareness.
Mob mentality is so dangerous that states will legislate extra penalties for crimes committed by mobs, in an attempt to dissuade mob crimes. In Virginia, for example, there are about a dozen offenses specifically addressing mob crimes. And every individual who is in a mob is held responsible for the acts of the mob, showing legislative understanding of the mob as a conspiracy and the participants as accomplices.
In the history of politics, humans have used political mobs to commit lynchings of blacks, anti-semitic atrocities throughout Europe, and destruction of businesses in American cities.
Political mobs were responsible for bringing the Nazis to power in Germany, and political mobs were responsible for bringing the Communists to power in Russia.
More recent political mobs included widespread littering of our nations’s capital and publicly burning swastikas in celebration of the political party that caused the war that achieved the most deaths of any war in human history.
Mobs are dangerous! Mobs are bad!
And yet we see political mobs in Congress. We see politicians endorsing ideas not in congruity with their beliefs, but in conformity with their party, with their mob.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 2:32pm

2)
For example, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) recently compared how politicians in US Congress endorsed similar letters warning the President about commencing offensive strikes against Syria without congressional approval.
In 2013, while barry obuma was president, 119 republicans and only 21 democrats signed the letter.
In 2018, during the Trump presidency, 73 democrats and only 15 republicans signed an almost identical letter. “Very few of us signed both,” Amash observed.
Addressing the disparities, Amash noted that “something else is at work at the macro level: double standards, selective outrage, and hypocrisy.”
I agree with him but I add mob mentality to the list.
Surely these politicians would, on an individual basis, believe that congressional approval is either required or not under identical circumstances.
Their ability to all of a sudden distinguish the law on behalf of their party is just what it seems - an excuse, to act in conformity with their party mob.
And we see political mobs in schools.
Consider the school walkouts. Instead of students being taught to help themselves by seeking out protections to solve an immediate danger, they are being politically encouraged by the Democrat party to support a remote resolution, a political objective: gun control.
How does gun control help them tomorrow in school?
After all, a law takes years to implement. A law does not physically manifest itself and magically appear between a shooter and his victim to prevent the shooter from shooting his victim.
A law does not instantaneously defend - it simply creates deterrence.
And we know that deterrence does not eliminate crime.
Why are kids not demanding immediate protection, physical protection from an expectedly non-law-abiding shooter?
Because they are being publicly encouraged not to "think" via rational self-interest, but to support a groupthink cause.
This political mob culture teaches a dangerous precedent to our youth: problem-solving via mob mentality.
Jordan B. Peterson, a clinical psychologist of religious and ideological belief, agrees that political mobs are dangerous and are prevalent in our culture. He highlights the dangers of group identity politics in an upcoming movie about college campus mobs and hysteria.
But rational, individual self interest is not dead in our political society. In fact, it may be on the rise. Consider the following politicians:
Rand Paul, Justin Amash, and Austin Petersen, to name a few. These are the “liberty” politicians. They are a breed of individual-thinking politician that is quickly penetrating the mainstream.
We didn’t have this variety of liberty candidates until recent years. Remember a time when we just had Ron Paul? Political campaign manager Jeff Carson, who manages liberty candidate Austin Petersen for US Senate, agrees that liberty politics are “absolutely” becoming more popular.
Hopefully this past decade is an indicator that independent thinkers are gaining momentum amongst voters.
It is because I fear mob mentality in politics that I prefer these liberty individuals in government.
I son't expect them to jump on the bandwagon.
I expect them to objectively consider whatever problems they will encounter. I do not even agree with them on many issues. But I am more confident in their approach to politics than I am with classic party politicians.
Voting for liberty candidates will help to diminish the political party mobs that are in Congress. We see this happening with proven independent thinkers like both Pauls and Amash.
The danger of political party mobs can be reduced if we pay more attention to our independent reasoning, especially when in groups; and, by increasing liberty representation in Congress.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 2:15pm

NRA Calls For A Boycott Of Its Own During Annual Convention.
1:00 pm 5/7/18 by Micah Rate
Gun control activists and organizations have actively called for boycotts against businesses and companies that have ties to the National Rifle Association, or sell or manufacture firearms.
During its annual convention in Dallas, the NRA engaged in a little boycott of its own!
A restaurant by the name of Ellen’s in Dallas went viral over the weekend after giving customers a message that stood in stark contrast to the NRA’s pro-Second Amendment, anti-gun control convention.
At the bottom of its receipts, the restaurant stated, “A portion of this week’s proceeds will be donated to organizations dedicated to implementing reasonable and effective gun regulations.”
It didn’t take long for the NRA to find out and let its displeasure be known, as it quickly tweeted a picture of one of the receipts to its thousands of pro-Second Amendment followers.
In the tweet, the NRA encouraged convention attendees to find a different place to eat while they were in town.
Gun rights proponents understandably would take issue with the words “reasonable and effective,” as most proposals are not reasonable or effective! When an individual or organization calls for
“reasonable” gun control, it usually means “ban assault-style weapons,” “raise the legal age to purchase a firearm,” and/or “limit high-capacity magazines.”
And when they call for “effective” gun control, it usually means regulations that will do nothing to actually prevent gun violence.
Furthermore, when the restaurant states it will donate to organizations that support these measures, the ones that come to mind for most supporters of the Second Amendment are groups like Everytown for Gun Safety, Shannon Watts’ Moms Demand Action, and the Brady Campaign.
These groups oppose the NRA and the Second Amendment every step of the way.
According to reporting by The Washington Post, the owner of the restaurant made his decision to post the message because, allegedly, attendees of the convention who had dined in his restaurant made racist remarks toward employees.
Joe Groves, the owner of Ellen’s, which serves Southern comfort food and all-day brunch, posted a photo of the receipt on Facebook on Friday, the Dallas Observer reported. He told the Dallas Morning News and Eater that he decided to add the message after convention attendees had insulted some of his employees with racially charged comments, which Groves called “demoralizing.”
“I’m making a list of the vile, racist, moronic conversations overheard from NRA attendees eating at the restaurant,” he reportedly wrote on Facebook. “They don’t even speak softly.”
Customers allegedly asked mexicano servers, “Do you keep your illegals in the back?” Groves told the Dallas Morning News, and said to black employees, “You don’t sound black. Where are you from, India?”
After the NRA sent out its tweet, Ellen’s appeared to change its tune, offering a correction and clarification for its message to customers.
Only about an hour after the NRA posted its tweet, Ellen’s appeared to change its message.

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 2:14pm

2)
“What a day this has been!” Ellen’s posted on Facebook. “We want to give some clarification to an issue that has caused quite a bit of confusion and anxiety.”
The restaurant wrote that it had not expected the two words “reasonable and effective” to be interpreted as support for gun control measures.
“The mistake was an honest one. The opposite is true. We support the Constitution, including the 2nd Amendment, 100%. And like the NRA, we also support finding solutions to the senseless killings that happen much too frequently. We believe those two things are completely compatible.”
Ellen’s wrote that after a “courteous and informative conversation with a customer, we realized how our message could be misconstrued and we moved quickly to clarify. By then, the situation had become viral.”
The restaurant posted a photo of a new variation of the message on its receipts. It changed the wording to say it would be donating to organizations “dedicated to implementing reasonable and effective gun regulations that protect citizens’ 2nd Amendment rights and also help reduce needless gun violence.”
It’s interesting that a “courteous and informative conversation with a customer” resulted in the change. It goes to show that a little dialogue can go a long way.
One can only hope that the restaurant’s change in tone is genuine.
Update:
Thanks to the reporting of Matt Vespa over at Townhall, it looks like the restaurant’s backpedaling ISN'T genuine in the slightest, as the decision to put the message on the checks was well part of Groves’ plan for more than a month.
The NRA tweeted screenshots of Mr. Groves saying he would put a message at the bottom of his establishment’s receipts.
the owner and founder of Ellen’s, did not respond to a request for comment." The reason he is not responding is because he knows he was caught.
Someone did research and found that over a month ago, the owner posted the following on Facebook.
“Take their money. Take as much as you can! Less funding/donations for them,” said one account, whose identity was blurred out.
"I plan to,” Groves reportedly replied. “It’s just painful.”

Comment by Bullheaded Texan on May 7, 2018 at 1:46pm

Illinois Counties Become Pro-Gun ‘Sanctuary’ Counties.
12:00 pm 5/7/18 by Tom Knighton
The phrase “sanctuary cities” is one of those things that’s infuriating to many of our readers. After all, these are cities that are ignoring federal law–and the Constitution–in an effort to protect people who are, essentially, criminals!
They broke immigration laws, and now these cities are trying to circumvent the federal government’s constitutional role in handling the issue.
However, in Illinois, the phrase “sanctuary” is being used by a handful of counties for a very different reason.
Several counties in Illinois have taken gun control matters into their own hands and told the state, guess what? — you’re not stripping us of our Second Amendment rights!
And thus the showdown begins.
The state has no constitutional leg in this fight.
The state, for those who’ve not yet heard, has been engaged in a leftist-pushed campaign to bypass the Constitution and impose even more gun control on the law-abiding citizenry.
The Democrats want a Chicago, statewide!
Some of their pressed-for crackdowns?
Increases in the minimum age for gun purchases. A complete ban on bump stocks.
More punishments for violators. You know, the typical yada yada left-leaners manual of anti-gun provisions.
The ones that don’t reduced crime but make the politicians feel good about themselves — all the while stripping control from the little people.
Some counties in Illinois are saying enough IS enough — we’re declaring ourselves sanctuaries for gun owners!
“It’s a buzzword,” said David Campbell, the vice chairman of the Effingham County Board, in Fox News. “It’s a word that really gets attention.
With all these sanctuary cities, we just decided to turn it around to protect our Second Amendment rights.”
Effingham is one of a handful of counties fighting against the state’s anti-gun stance.
Last month, Bearing Arms had a story about Effingham County. In particular, its stand as a sanctuary county. Now, it’s no longer alone.
This is actually pretty brilliant.
In order to undermine Effingham County and their fellow sanctuary counties’ efforts, gun control opponents will have to undermine the very idea of sanctuary communities as a whole. They’ll have to lash out at sanctuary cities as a concept–which, I suspect, your average gun grabber isn’t going to want to do. The other option is that they just leave these counties alone, which is an obvious win.
Realistically, I don’t see either happening. I figure they’ll try and attack the gun aspect and sniff around and try to find some weakness they can exploit without jeopardizing the concept of sanctuary cities. This makes them far less likely to be successful.
Like I said, pretty brilliant if you think about it.
More importantly, though, it’s the right thing to do.
Regardless of what the courts have argued, any incursion into our Second Amendment rights is unconstitutional.
It’s a moral imperative to oppose unjust and unconstitutional laws, regardless of what level of government issues such decrees.
While I agree with the rule of law, when those laws become tyrannical–and any law infringing on our ability to resist tyranny is tyranny in and of itself–they must be opposed.
I’m glad to see a handful of counties in Illinois agree.

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