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Guess What’s Happening to NRA Members Since Anti-Gun Attacks

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Something peculiar is happening in the wake of the anti-gun rhetoric coming from mainstream media and protesters demanding more gun control: Interest in the National Rifle Association and its memberships is soaring through the roof.

In fact, Google searches for the term “NRA membership” are up 4,900 percent since the Feb. 14 school shooting in Florida that took 17 lives, the London Daily Mail reported.

As WND reported, some student survivors of the Valentine’s Day massacre at a Florida high school are planning March for Our Lives protests in 50 cities on March 24 to demand increased gun-control legislation. The effort has the backing of major left-wing activist groups and celebrities. Organizations such as MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood, the Women’s March LA, Everytown for Gun Safety, Giffords, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and the American Federation of Teachers are fueling the movement.

One of the most outspoken student survivors and anti-gun activists is David Hogg. Some casual gun-rights supporters said attacks by Hogg and the media inspired them to sign up for the NRA.

“Thank you David Hogg for inspiring me,” a woman named Christine tweeted Sunday, along with a snapshot of an NRA confirmation email. “I gifted my husband with an NRA membership. I felt now was an important time to support them.” (Read more from “Guess What’s Happening to NRA Members Since Anti-Gun Attacks” HERE)

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On FIRE: Watch This GOP Senate Candidate Stun Second Amendment Snowflakes Into Recess

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A Virginia lawmaker running in the Republican primary to challenge U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., outraged Democrats in the state legislature Friday with his fiery speech in support of the Second Amendment.

In response to recent attacks from Democrats on pro-gun Republicans, Delegate Nick Freitas, R-Culpeper, asked his fellow lawmakers to have an “open and honest debate” on the factors that lead to mass shootings. Freitas noted that most mass shootings seem to occur in “gun-free zones” and that most mass shooters “come from broken homes.”

“Most of the shooters come from broken homes. What sort of government policies have actually encouraged broken homes?” Freitas asked. He also noted that the presence of firearms can deter violent crime and that there is a natural right to self-defense.

“So when people on this side talk about the importance of the Second Amendment, please understand it’s not just some base philosophical conviction that we all have,” Freitas said. “It is rooted in the idea that while we may be a post-Enlightenment society, the vast majority of horrible atrocities we’ve seen have happened in those post-Enlightenment societies. It’s happened as a result of government systematically disarming citizens and claiming themselves to be the sole responsible party for their security and then turning on those same citizens and punishing them.”

“That’s the most egregious cases, but in the individual cases of self-defense, that’s why people on this side of the aisle hold the Second Amendment in such high esteem. Because we honestly believe that you have an inherent right to defend yourself. And your ability to defend yourself should not be excluded to your size.”

Democrats in the chamber were not pleased with his speech, according to Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Graham Moomaw.

Freitas said that Democrats are making an open debate on gun policy difficult by comparing Republicans to “Nazis” and “segregationists.” He fought back, noting that it was the Democrats who were the party of slavery and segregation.

“I just want to remind everyone very quickly, it was not our [Republican] party that supported slavery, that fought women’s suffrage, that rounded up tens of thousands of Asian-Americans and put them in concentration camps, that supported Jim Crow, that supported segregation, supported mass resistance. That wasn’t our party, that was the Democrat party.”

Democrats were reportedly so upset that they asked for recess, while Freitas received cheers from Republicans.

Freitas has earned a reputation in Virginia politics as an exceptional public speaker. This is not the first passionate speech he’s delivered in the House of Delegates. (For more from the author of “On FIRE: Watch This GOP Senate Candidate Stun Second Amendment Snowflakes Into Recess” please click HERE)

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Democrats to Propose Weapons Ban, Gun Confiscation Powers in Bill Inspired by Trump

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Senate Democrats said they will introduce a gun control bill that would expand background checks, ban certain weapons, and give the courts the power to temporarily take guns away from people who are deemed to be a threat to themselves or others, after President Trump offered support for these goals in a White House discussion Wednesday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the only way to advance the measure in the GOP-led Senate is with the endorsement and help from President Trump. He described a scenario in which the Senate could pass Schumer’s proposal with mostly Democratic support and a few Republicans encouraged by Trump.

“The NRA has had the Republican Party in a headlock for decades,” Schumer said. “Only the president — this president — will have the power to overcome their strength and get his Republican allies on Capitol Hill to move to a place that embraces common sense gun safety policies.”

Schumer acknowledged GOP leaders aren’t likely to simply bring up the proposal for a vote without pressure from the president. He said he has not yet spoken to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., about the bill . . .

Trump on Wednesday upended the stalled gun control legislation debate during a televised meeting with lawmakers in which he appeared to side with Democrats. During the meeting, Trump told lawmakers he endorsed universal background checks, raising the age for gun purchases, and said he would even consider supporting a ban on guns like AR-15 style rifles like the one that was used in the high school shooting in Florida last month. (Read more from “Democrats to Propose Weapons Ban, Gun Confiscation Powers in Bill Inspired by Trump” HERE)

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CNN Analyst: Women Aren’t Able to Carry Guns

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Women can’t carry … There have been a lot of hot takes when it comes to the idea that teachers who have concealed carry weapons permits already should be allowed to carry in classrooms. But this take from CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes on why female teachers can’t carry a gun is just outrageous. Fuentes said on CNN Newsday that women who wear skirts and dresses won’t have a place to carry that gun concealed. Here, you can watch for yourself. Talk about misogyny.

I can’t figure out why … We now know that the Broward County Sheriff’s Office was called to the home of the accused Parkland school shooter multiple times. The FBI was warned about him. We know that at least one and possibly four deputies didn’t enter the school to stop the shooting, and Laura Ingraham reported last night that deputies were ordered not to enter the school unless they had body cameras. There are real, serious reasons why people are calling for Broward County Sheriff Israel to resign.

Enter the Washington Post. In this article about those calls, the authors paint a picture that the calls for Israel to resign are a partisan witch-hunt and purely political in nature. That’s the farthest thing from the truth. The calls for Israel to resign are based upon known facts and Israel’s own blame-shifting.

Fallon turns activist … Since Donald Trump was inaugurated as president, there has been one late-night television host who has tried to steer clear of politics and activism. While Steven Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel have had no trouble jumping into politics, “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon has taken a more neutral tack. That has changed. Fallon will participate in a gun control march with Parkland students. He announced it on his show last night.

(For more from the author of “CNN Analyst: Women Aren’t Able to Carry Guns” please click HERE)

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Child Calling for Gun Control Fails to Realize the Truth Behind Purchasing Guns

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A student survivor of the deadly shooting attack earlier this month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, appeared to claim that an AR-15 can be purchased for $130.

Addressing state lawmakers and members of the media last week, 17-year-old senior Delaney Tarr called for increased gun control regulations in the aftermath of the shooting, which left 17 people dead.

“We know what we want,” she stated. “We want gun reform. We want common-sense gun laws. We want stronger mental health checks and background checks to work in conjunction. We want a better age limit.”

Then, calling for regulations on private gun sales, she made a claim about how much it costs to buy an AR-15.

“We want privatized selling to be completely reformed so you can’t just walk into a building with $130 and walk out with an AR-15,” Tarr stated.

Tarr’s concerns over the AR-15 stem from the fact that the suspected gunman in the Florida school shooting did indeed use that type of semi-automatic firearm to murder his victims.

AR-15s are popular in the United States, and in Florida, there is no waiting period to purchase one. However, Tarr was vastly understating how much they normally cost.

According to Alain Stephens, a military veteran who currently serves as a criminal justice expert for NPR, some AR-15s can cost thousands of dollars. Even if a would-be buyer wanted to purchase a basic model at a local sporting goods store, he or she would be looking at spending at least $800.

As noted by Time magazine, many AR-15s cost less than $1,000. But that doesn’t take into account the hundreds of dollars one might spend on ammunition, extra magazines and additional accessories.

Regardless, it’s difficult to buy any gun for as little as $130, let alone an AR-15.

Though it’s unclear as to where Tarr got her facts regarding AR-15 prices, she admitted during the same speech that the movement to tighten gun control laws in the aftermath of the Florida shooting is “based on emotion.”

“This movement, created by students, led by students, is based on emotion,” she stated. “It is based on passion and it is based on pain. Our biggest flaws — our tendency to be a bit too aggressive, our tendency to lash out, things that you expect from a normal teenager — these are our strengths.”

“The only reason that we’ve gotten so far is that we are not afraid of losing money, we’re not afraid of getting reelected or not getting reelected, we have nothing to lose. The only thing we have to gain at this point is our safety,” she added, according to Quartz Media.

Though Tarr is not yet legally old enough to vote, she warned that she and her fellow students are “coming after” lawmakers who refuse to act.

“To every lawmaker out there: No longer can you take money from the NRA. No longer can you fly under the radar doing whatever it is that you want to do,” she stated, as reported by CNN. “We are coming after every single one of you and demanding that you take action.” (For more from the author of “Child Calling for Gun Control Fails to Realize the Truth Behind Purchasing Guns” please click HERE)

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GOP Governor Infuriates Conservatives With Shock Position on Guns

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Student safety versus Second Amendment rights has been at the center of a heated debate in the wake of the Parkland, Florida school shooting, and it seems Governor Rick Scott is fueling the flames with a proposed plan to reduce the frequency of such tragedies.

More than a week after the fatal shooting that left 17 people dead, the Republican governor of Florida said at a news conference on Friday that the motivation for his plan was to keep students safe.

“We must take care of our kids,” Scott said, according to CNN. “Keeping guns away from dangerous people and people with mental issues is what we need to do.”

Yet, the way Scott intends to go about this, called the “Major Action Plan,” is bound to spark controversy among many conservatives, as it involves the creation of a “Violent Threat Restraining Order.”

The order is similar to the “Gun Violence Restraining Order” in California that is aimed at securing court orders so firearms may be confiscated if a family member complains about the gun owner.

Scott’s proposed restraining order also aims to prohibit unstable individuals from firearm possession or access “when either a family member, community welfare expert or law enforcement officer files a sworn request and presents evidence to the court of a threat of violence involving firearms or other weapons.”

“There would be speedy due process for the accused and any fraudulent or false statements would face criminal penalties,” the plan states.

However, no matter how well-intentioned, it continues to raise questions as to how it would work in cases similar to Cruz’s. The family Cruz had been staying with repeatedly called police on him but refused to file charges after the authorities arrived, according to Breitbart.

At the time, one family member chalked up Cruz’s erratic behavior to him merely “suffering significantly from the loss of his mother.”

Scott is also pushing to ban bump stocks and implement “tougher background checks,” especially when it concerns those who either present as — or have a history of being — mentally ill.

Under the plan, people who wouldn’t be able to get guns include those who are “subject to an injunction for protection against stalking, cyberstalking, dating violence, repeat violence, sexual violence, or domestic violence.”

In line with the pleas of many Democrats and some Republicans, the plan also aims to develop a more advanced mental health initiative and active shooter training. Moreover, it bumps the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 — though none of the plan’s proposals include banning AR-15s, the same gun used in numerous shootings throughout the years.

A member of the National Rifle Association, Scott said he won’t be calling for a ban on all firearms, instead explaining he wants to “really focus on the problem.”

“I know there are some who are advocating a mass takeaway of Second Amendment rights for all Americans. That is not the answer,” Scott said. “Banning specific weapons and punishing law abiding citizens is not going to fix this.”

“What we have to do is we have to really focus on the problem,” he added.

“We’ve got to take all weapons away from people with mental illness, people who are threatening themselves or threatening others.” (For more from the author of “GOP Governor Infuriates Conservatives With Shock Position on Guns” please click HERE)

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A Guaranteed Remedy to Reduce Gun Violence at Schools

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Forgive my forwardness, but I know what could radically reduce gun violence on U.S. school campuses without adding more gun regulations, placing more restrictions on the mentally ill, outlawing guns or even involving Washington, D.C. And I bet it could be enacted sooner than any other proposed remedy . . .

We as a country need to do what Israel did: The Holy Land mandated armed guards at the entrances to all schools in 1995, and those guards are backed by local law enforcement and special police forces. While these school defenses are primarily intended to thwart terrorists, they also deter any would-be criminals who would cause harm to children.

Israeli schools have only suffered from two shootings in the past 40 years: one in 1974 (22 children and three adults) and another in 2008 (eight youth).

True, Israel has fewer guns per capita than the U.S., but it’s also a tiny country with virtually no opportunity for hunting or other recreational use of firearms. Anti-gun advocates love to point out that there are only about 500,000 weapons that are privately owned in Israel, but that’s in a country (area) that is only about one-fifteenth the size of California or one-twenty-fifth the size of Texas.

Twenty-eight years ago, in 1990, then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., introduced the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 into the Senate, and it prohibited “any unauthorized individual from knowingly possessing a loaded or unsecured firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.” It was passed by Congress and signed by President H.W. Bush. (Read more from “A Guaranteed Remedy to Reduce Gun Violence at Schools” HERE)

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D.C. Raises White Flag in 2nd Amendment Battle

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While leftists all over the country, from Hollywood to Hillary Clinton, are hyping gun control in the aftermath of the horrific sniper attack on concert-goers in Las Vegas, the District of Columbia is raising the white flag in a court fight over that very issue, apparently hoping to limit what officials there would consider damage from an adverse ruling.

It was a panel of the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia that rejected the district’s requirement that people prove to police they have a “good reason” to want to carry a firearm, and then rejected the district’s insistence that the full court hear the arguments.

An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was the next possible step for District of Columbia officials, but they have now said they will not do that, giving up their own law apparently in the hope that there won’t soon be a Supreme Court ruling that could take down other, similar, laws in other parts of the country.

It was Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan M. Gottlieb, whose organization handled the Wrenn v. District of Columbia case, who noted the court ruling simply means wider opportunities for those who feel they may need to defend themselves to be prepared.

He said disallowing the demand in the district for people to convince government authorities of their “good reason” to have access to a weapon “represents one more advancement in our effort to win firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.” (Read more from “D.C. Raises White Flag in 2nd Amendment Battle” HERE)

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After Week of Worrying About Police Power, Liberals Now Wants Cops to Take Your Guns

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In a monologue frequently interrupted by the comedy host being on the brink of tears, Kimmel condemned Republican lawmakers for letting the “gun lobby” take over America. He dismissed their offerings of prayers for the Las Vegas victims and suggested, “they should be praying for God to forgive them for letting the gun lobby run this country.”

All of this made for good viral material to influence the current gun debate. Liberals and Democrats are all behind Kimmel’s desire to act immediately on guns — yet, there is no real legislation that would have done a damn thing to stop the deadliest mass shooting in American history.

The current focus is stopping a bill that would remove restrictions on gun suppressors, an item the Las Vegas shooter did not use. Noted firearm expert Hillary Clinton has offered the theory that a silencer would have allowed the shooter to kill dozens with no one hearing him, apparently believing that a suppressor makes one of those dreaded assault rifles completely inaudible.

This notion does more to show liberal ignorance on guns than anything else. But this is the one issue where the Left is wanting immediate action on guns after Las Vegas — at least, as publicly stated.

Behind every liberal reaction to a shooting is the looming specter of gun confiscation. Kimmel even hinted at it with his comment that no one should own an M-16. (Read more from “After Week of Worrying About Police Power, Liberals Now Wants Cops to Take Your Guns” HERE)

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2 Lethal Traits of America’s Deadliest Mass Shooters

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The motive behind the mass shooting in Las Vegas Sunday night has yet to be determined by authorities, though Democrats already are jumping on the gun-control bandwagon.

Over the last 20 years, the perpetrators of nearly all the deadliest mass shooting in the United States have shared one of two traits: Besides killing innocents with firearms, they either were Muslims or were using mind-altering psychiatric drugs.

Stephen Craig Paddock is alleged to have opened fire from a 32nd-floor hotel room on a crowd of more than 22,000 gathered for a country music festival Sunday night, killing at least 59 people and injuring at least 515 others, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

The death toll surpassed the 49 killed last year in Orlando by Omar Mateen at the Pulse nightclub . . .

Paddock’s brother, Eric Paddock, revealed Monday that their father, Patrick Benjamin Paddock, was a bank robber who escaped prison and was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. The elder Paddock was “diagnosed as psychopathic” and “reportedly had suicidal tendencies.” (Read more from “2 Lethal Traits of America’s Deadliest Mass Shooters” HERE)

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