Keep and Bear Arms - Gun Owners Home Page

TX: Taser Laws in Texas: What You Need To Know
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Yes, tasers are entirely legal in Texas. In fact, tasers are barely regulated at all.

They�re not categorized in the same way as firearms and other weapons, and accordingly have basically no restrictions concerning possession, carry and ownership.

It�s no exaggeration to say that tasers are not weapons according to the Texas state statutes, unless they are used as such for self-defense or in the commission of a crime.

IA: Fatal Shooting In Garage Break-In Ruled Self-Defense Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
In May, a Fort Dodge individual, Bryan Gambill, 44, was fatally shot during an alleged garage break-in. The person who pulled the trigger reported the incident to the police. After a thorough review of the evidence by local authorities and the Webster County Attorney�s office, it was determined the homeowner acted in self-defense. Consequently, no charges will be pursued.

HI: Court cuts down Hawaii knife ban in controversial Second Amendment case
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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A panel of federal judges ruled a Hawaii law banning butterfly knives violates the Second Amendment under the Supreme Court's new history-and-tradition standard.

"Hawaii has not demonstrated that its ban on butterfly knives is consistent with this Nation�s historical tradition of regulating arms," Judge Carlos Bea, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, wrote in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion on Teter v. Lopez, which was released Monday.

"We conclude that section 134-53(a) violates Plaintiffs� Second Amendment rights. We reverse and remand."

TX: Texans do not need a license to carry, but some gun owners still want one
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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If their stances are uneven, if their thumbs are not aligned, Cargill pauses to adjust each student�s positioning. This is the purpose of Cargill�s license-to-carry class: to ensure that the gun owners leave more informed than they came.

Texas is coming up on two years since permitless carry passed in the Texas Legislature, which has allowed Texans to carry handguns without a license since September 2021. Although they don�t need a permit to carry a handgun, over 200,000 people in Texas still obtained licenses in 2022.

TN: East Tennessee lawmakers weigh in on upcoming special public safety session
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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East Tennessee lawmakers weighed in Wednesday after Governor Bill Lee formally announced a special session focusing on public safety.

Over 20,000 Tennesseans wrote to the governor's office through an online form, requesting comments and concerns for the upcoming special session. Since the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville many of those responses, including in East Tennessee, were for stronger gun laws.

"I don't think it was ever going to be all about guns," said Sen. Becky Duncan Massey (R - Knoxville). "I think that was just the governor had thrown out just to kind of get people talking about the extreme risk protection order."

Fifth Circuit's Holds That People Who Use Marijuana Don't Lose Second Amendment Rights (At Least When Sober)
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Title 18 U.S.C. � 922(g)(3) bans gun possession by anyone "who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance," including marijuana; the ban applies not just while a person is intoxicated, but also while the person is sober. Today's decision in U.S. v. Daniels, written by Judge Jerry Smith and joined by Judges Stephen Higginson and Don Willett, holds that this violates the Second Amendment:

IL: Illinois to ban advertising for guns allegedly marketed to kids and militants
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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llinois will soon outlaw advertising for firearms that officials determine produces a public safety threat or appeals to children, militants or others who might later use the weapons illegally, as the state continues its quest to curb mass shootings.

Gun-rights advocates say the plan, which Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pledged to sign into law, is an unreasonably vague decree that violates not only the constitutionally protected right to own guns, but also free speech.

WV: West Virginia should adopt red flag laws, save lives
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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It should be to our remorse that about 300 West Virginians die from gun violence every year, and nearly three out of four people in West Virginia who end their own lives do so with a gun, giving the state a suicide rate roughly 20 percent higher than it is nationally.

It is a stunning statistic, and yet, without trampling on Second Amendment rights, there are simple and effective answers that can quell the violence, boost access to mental health and help people reclaim their lives.

But we need legislators with courage to lead the way.

To reduce the number of firearm deaths in a state whose residents are more likely to be killed by guns than people in most other states, red flag laws offer a solution.

TX: Police: Wednesday Morning Texarkana Shooting Was 'Self Defense'
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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According to the report, an unnamed woman was approaching her car about to head to work when she noticed that her former boyfriend, Brandon Webb, was standing nearby across the parking lot. The woman stated she tried to get in her car before he could get to her, but he managed to push the door back open. Webb reportedly argued with the woman and then attacked her in the vehicle, trying to shave her head with a pair of electric clippers. During the attack, she managed to obtain her pistol from the console of the vehicle and was able to fire one shot in his direction.

MI: Weapons in Capitol: Should the Commission decide?
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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A group of GOP pro-gun lawmakers is considering legislation to prohibit the State Capitol Commission from banning weapons in the state Capitol building, including concealed weapons that some lawmakers want to carry onto the House and Senate floors.

About 25 members of the House and Senate Second Amendment Caucus held a private Zoom session last night. They believe the Michigan State Capitol Commission overstepped its authority by proposing a weapons ban in the Capitol building.

Drug user cannot be barred from owning guns, US court rules
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled that a decades-old law prohibiting users of illegal drugs from owning firearms was unconstitutional as applied to the case of a marijuana user, the latest fallout from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that expanded gun rights.

A three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the federal law violated a Mississippi man's right to "keep and bear arms" under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

The man, Patrick Daniels, had been convicted under that law after law enforcement found a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle in his vehicle during a traffic stop along with marijuana cigarette butts.

CA: California�s strong gun laws need better enforcement. AB 732 could help
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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California law imposes a lifetime ban on any felon (and anyone convicted of specified misdemeanors) from buying, owning, possessing or receiving a gun. Defendants who are not in custody have to turn over their firearms within five days of conviction. It�s one of the nation�s strongest gun restrictions.

But enforcement is cumbersome and spotty. Courts too often close criminal cases without first confirming that all guns have been relinquished. Every year, about 5,000 names are added to the state�s Armed and Prohibited Persons System, an only-in-California database that cross-references registered gun owners with people who have lost the right to possess firearms because of felony convictions or other restrictions.

HI: Hawaii cannot ban guns on beaches, US judge rules
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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A federal judge has blocked the state of Hawaii from enforcing a recently enacted ban on firearms on its prized beaches and in other areas including banks, bars and parks, citing last year's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling expanding gun rights.

U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi in Honolulu on Tuesday concluded that the prohibitions likely infringed on the rights of permit-carrying gun owners to carry firearms in public under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.

UT: Gun sales to women and minorities are on the rise
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Gun sales across the United States have been on the rise. A study from the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center at Rutgers University claims sales to women and minorities are also increasing.

The study seems to show those groups are purchasing weapons for self-defense.

Chris Bertram, retired deputy chief with the Unified Police Department, tells KSL NewsRadio that gun sales often increase when people feel insecure.

5 Mistakes Firearms Instructors Should Avoid
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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It should go without saying that firearms instructors must put their students first when conducting shooting classes. Toward this goal, there are five common mistakes instructors should avoid: failing to learn the common makes, models, and calibers of current firearms; failing to continue their firearms training and education; failing to recognize their business as a small business: failing to be professional: and failing to make their class all about the student.

HI: Hawaii cannot prevent gun owners from carrying in many public areas � for now
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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For now, Hawaii cannot enforce parts of a new state law that bans firearms in public places � such as on the islands' world-famous beaches, and in restaurants that serve alcohol.

U.S. District Judge Leslie Kobayashi has ruled to grant a partial temporary restraining order on the ban, after both sides spoke at a July 31 hearing to demand a temporary hold on the law.

�The public has an interest in preventing constitutional violations, and the state has not established a factual basis for the public safety concerns regarding permit-carrying gun owners who wish to exercise their Second Amendment right to carry a firearm in public,� Kobayashi said.

The Biden Administration�s Newest Front in the War on Guns: Youth Hunting
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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In his latest attack on the Second Amendment, gun owners and the firearm industry, President Biden, through his Department of Education, decided to block federal funding from scholastic programs that benefit youth hunting and archery programs.

President Joe Biden�s campaign was widely recognized as the most anti-Second Amendment presidential ticket in American history. Turns out that wasn�t hyperbole.

NC: NC officials want more oversight on concealed-carry training. Gun-rights advocates are suspicious
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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For that reason the state commission in charge of setting rules for concealed-carry permits now wants instructors to keep more paperwork that will make it easier for state investigators to audit concealed-carry classes, or track down class attendees if needed as witnesses.

Many of the concealed-carry instructors and other pro-gun activists who showed up Wednesday were clear that they opposed giving the government more ability to investigate them � especially if it meant they'd have to keep a list of the people who take their classes, which one of the new rules proposes.

Senator Collins Blasts Biden Admin for Withholding Funds from Schools with Hunting and Archery Programs
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Maine�s Republican U.S. Senator Susan Collins sent a letter Tuesday to the Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona expressing her concern over the agency interpreting the 2022 �Bipartisan Safer Communities Act� (BSCA) to withhold federal funds from schools with hunting or archery programs in their curriculum.

Sen. Collins was among 15 Republican Senators who voted in favor of the bill, which was spurred on by calls for gun control legislation following the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and at a school in Uvalde, Texas.

Supreme Court Lets Biden's 'Ghost Gun' Regulations Stand Pending Ongoing Lawsuit
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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Yesterday, the Supreme Court, in a one-page order with no analysis, decided that the District Court opinion stopping the enforcement of those anti-"ghost gun" regulations (specifically, "the Final Rule, Definition of 'Frame or Receiver' and Identification of Firearms�codified at 27 C.F.R. pts. 447, 478, and 479 (2022)") is "stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari, if such a writ is timely sought."

CO: State's school safety failures is all of our mess
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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State policy failures relate to Second Amendment rights. While the legislature has added restrictions on firearms during the last five years, it�s obviously not gone far enough to control gun access by juveniles. This problem is compounded by the ease of making �ghost guns,� or guns available from blueprints on websites and produced by 3D printers. Children with access to both the internet and a 3D printer can make as many guns without a serial number as they want. Now a judge has ruled there should be no age limit on gun purchases. That�s stunningly horrible for school safety and safe society.

How to safely store firearms and ammo in your home Submitted by: Mark A. Taff Website: www.marktaff.com	There are no comments on this story Post Comments \| Read Comments
I would recommend keeping your firearm loaded while at home. Even if you don�t want to keep one in the chamber, keeping your firearm loaded will allow you to get that gun online quicker than if didn�t. Multiple firearms don�t have to be loaded - just the one you�re using for home defense.

UT: Neighbors speak about the Provo man killed by the FBI
Submitted by: Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com

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On Wednesday morning, Provo resident Craig Robertson was shot and killed by the FBI after allegedly threatening to kill President Biden. ABC4 spoke with his neighbors to get a closer look at how neighbors and friends perceived him.

Robertson was described by neighbors as an older church-going man. He was reportedly in his late 70s, and barely mobile. According to neighbors, Robertson used a hand-carved walking stick just to get out of a chair and move around.

Ed.: FBI apparently trying to 'Make Ruby Ridge Great Again'