On Monday, FBI Director Kash Patel was reportedly <a href="//65D74AA4-6479-4E36-8531-55EAA603B36D/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sworn in</a> as acting chief of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi fired ATF chief counsel Pamela Hicks, <a href="//65D74AA4-6479-4E36-8531-55EAA603B36D/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">saying</a>, “These people were targeting gun owners. Not going to happen under this administration.”
In March 2023, the Oversight Committee’s Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs and the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance discussed with expert witnesses how the ATF under the Biden administration <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/joint-hearing-wrap-up-biden-administration-has-weaponized-the-atf-to-target-law-abiding-americans-turn-them-into-criminals%EF%BF%BC/#:~:text=The%20Biden%20Administration%20has%20weaponized,by%20the%20Administration%20guiding%20them." target="_blank" rel="noopener">reversed guidance</a> that protected gun owners. The committee said the ATF was “potentially subjecting individuals and small businesses to felony prison sentences and exorbitant fines if they do not comply with a new final rule.”
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) pointed out that the ATF’s final rule targeted law-abiding gun owners while violent criminals who never registered their illegally obtained firearms were not targeted. He asked attorney Matthew Larosiere, “Do folks that kill other people apply for permits when getting a gun?”
“Certainly not in my experience,” Larosiere responded.
“Do criminals go out to their local gun shop and fill out the paperwork, and pray to the good lord that they’re not found out to be criminals when they purchase a gun,” Perry pressed. “I think it would be odd for them to do that, so no,” Larosiere answered.
In May 2024, over 20 states sued the Biden Department of Justice and the Biden administration ATF, accusing them of rewriting the definition of which people were required to become a federal firearms licensee. “Until now, only those who repetitively purchased and sold firearms as a regular course of business had to become a licensee,” they <a href="https://arkansasag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024-05-01-Kansas-Arkansas-Iowa-Montana-Filemarked-ATF-Complaint.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “But through the Final Rule, defendants will now presume that anyone who sells or resells even one firearm with the intent to profit (no matter how little), combined with other (nebulously defined) evidence, is a firearms dealer who must become a licensee. This would put innocent firearms sales between law-abiding friends and family members within the reach of federal regulation. Such innocent sales between friends and family would constitute a felony if the seller did not in fact obtain a federal firearms license and perform a background check.”

Kash Patel’s Judiciary Hearing in Washington DC

Kash Patel Reportedly Sworn In As Acting ATF Chief

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)

Executive

kash patel

Politics

Trump Administration

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday fired Pamela Hicks, the general counsel for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
&#8220;Earlier today, I was served official notice from the Attorney General of the United States that I was being removed from my position as the Chief Counsel of ATF and my employment with the Department of Justice terminated,&#8221; Hicks said in a statement on social media confirming the news.
&#8220;I have had the privilege of serving in the federal civil service for almost 28 years, including 23 as an attorney for the Department of Justice,&#8221; Hicks continued. &#8220;Serving as ATF Chief Counsel has been the highest honor of my career and working with the people at ATF and throughout the Department has been a pleasure.&#8221;
Gun Owners of America said that Hicks &#8220;oversaw the enforcement of every Biden infringement of the Second Amendment since taking the position in 2021.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨BREAKING🚨
ATF’s Chief Counsel Pamela Hicks has been fired and escorted out of the Washington, D.C. headquarters.
Hicks oversaw the enforcement of every Biden infringement of the Second Amendment since taking the position in 2021. <a href="https://t.co/Cvg8HN2gvP">pic.twitter.com/Cvg8HN2gvP</a>
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) <a href="https://twitter.com/GunOwners/status/1892680302876574208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2025</a></blockquote>
The news comes after the FBI&#8217;s general counsel resigned earlier this month as the Trump administration seeks fresh faces to serve in key positions over the next four years, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/20/atf-general-counsel-fired-pam-hicks/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
The firing comes after President Donald Trump ordered this week that all remaining Biden-era United States Attorneys be fired — a move that is common when a new administration takes over.
“Over the past four years, the Department of Justice has been politicized like never before,” Trump wrote on social media. “Therefore, I have instructed the termination of ALL remaining ‘Biden Era’ U.S. Attorneys. We must ‘clean house’ IMMEDIATELY, and restore confidence. America’s Golden Age must have a fair Justice System — THAT BEGINS TODAY!”

US-POLITICS-CPAC

Pam Bondi Fires Top ATF Official As Trump Admin Guts Biden Officials Throughout Government

Biden Administration

Pam Bondi

For those who are fans of DEI, yesterday will go down in infamy. It was, you might say, the DEI Pearl Harbor. At 5:00pm, all DEI offices within the federal government closed down. Employees were put on leave, as the first step towards mass-layoffs. The DEI section of every major federal website went offline. The heads of every DEI office in the federal government were rounded up, chained to giant boulders, and tossed into the sea. That last part didn’t happen, but a man can dream.
Back in reality, however, the Office of Personnel Management sent out a notice to the head of every federal agency, instructing them to ask employees, &#8220;if they know of any efforts to disguise&#8221; DEI programs or personnel in the federal government. Employees have 10 days to disclose any disguised DEI programs or personnel that they&#8217;re aware of. Almost immediately, one of these disguises became pretty apparent. It was visible to anyone who checked out the Leadership page of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Specifically, there was an unusual change to the title of one senior official at the ATF. Here&#8217;s how the bureau’s leadership page looked at the beginning of the week:
<div id="attachment_864589" style="width: 471px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864589" class="wp-image-864589 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P-461x576.jpeg" alt="Screenshot: ATF" width="461" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P-461x576.jpeg 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P-240x300.jpeg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErWcAEkt6P.jpeg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" />Screenshot: ATF</div>
As you can see, a woman named &#8220;Lisa T. Boykin&#8221; is listed as the Chief Diversity Officer at the ATF. Why does the ATF need a Chief Diversity Officer? What was this person doing every day? Well, who knows. She was collecting a paycheck, at least. We know that. Now that’s supposed to change. But the only change the ATF actually made was in the meaningless title they gave this person. Sometime in the last 48 hours, the page changed. Here&#8217;s what the ATF&#8217;s Leadership Page looks like now:
<div id="attachment_864591" style="width: 471px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-864591" class="wp-image-864591 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh-461x576.jpeg" alt="Screenshot: ATF" width="461" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh-461x576.jpeg 461w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh-240x300.jpeg 240w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/01/Gh7UsErW0AABmhh.jpeg 720w" sizes="(max-width: 461px) 100vw, 461px" />Screenshot: ATF</div>
Now Lisa Boykin is merely a, &#8220;Senior executive.&#8221; She&#8217;s no longer the &#8220;Chief Diversity Officer.&#8221; Overnight, she has been graced with a much more generic, completely inconspicuous title. There was no press release about this. They just changed it. Check back tomorrow and the ATF will probably put fake glasses and a mustache on Lisa Boykin and claim her name is really &#8220;Larry Soykin&#8221; or something. These DEI activists aren&#8217;t completely out of ideas. But very soon, they will be completely out of the federal government — at least, that’s the plan.
As recently as a few months ago, a purge like this seemed very difficult to imagine. And it was particularly hard for people on the Left to imagine. When we filmed &#8220;<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/videos/am-i-racist">Am I Racist?</a>&#8220;, the DEI activists we spoke to — from Robin DiAngelo on down — were overconfident to the point of absurdity. That&#8217;s one of the reasons we were able to make the film. People always ask how we managed to get the race hustlers and DEI scammers in a room with us. The answer is that we used their own egos and false sense of security against them. They just couldn&#8217;t imagine that anyone would ever challenge them or try to embarrass them. That’s the bubble they were in. And now it’s safe to say that the bubble has been pretty well popped.
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/?_gl=1*jtghwp*_gcl_au*ODQ1NjYzNTg2LjE3Mjg5MDk3OTE.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczMDEyMDgwOS40OS4xLjE3MzAxMjA4MzkuMzAuMC4w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; NOW STREAMING ON DAILYWIRE+</a></h3>
Now, in fact, their entire industry is crashing down — and not just in the government. The executive orders that Donald Trump has signed are far broader than that. One of the orders, for example, is <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-illegal-discrimination-and-restoring-merit-based-opportunity/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">entitled,</a> &#8220;ENDING ILLEGAL DISCRIMINATION AND RESTORING MERIT-BASED OPPORTUNITY.&#8221;
And this order explicitly applies to DEI in the private sector.
<blockquote>I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities. &#8230; Each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars.</blockquote>
In other words, the federal government is gearing up to launch investigations into private-sector entities — whether they&#8217;re a university or a hospital or a corporation — that engage in DEI. According to the order, that includes any organization that employs, &#8220;dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences.&#8221;
The order goes on to revoke an executive order signed by President Lyndon Johnson, which required that federal contractors and the federal government take affirmative action to boost certain candidates based on race, color, religion, and national origin. This has been the law of the land for generations, and no Republican president until now has considered the possibility of ending it. But this time around, the second Trump administration came prepared. It&#8217;s one of the first things they got rid of. 

<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1521-the-matt-walsh-show" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
And the importance of that decision can&#8217;t be overstated. For decades, the requirement that federal contractors practice affirmative action has forced companies to compare their workforce with the demographic composition of the surrounding community. And then they had to alter their hiring practices to try to find more so-called minority candidates. It&#8217;s led to an enormous amount of fraud and waste and inefficiency — and that&#8217;s not even getting into how unethical and unconstitutional it was.
But that&#8217;s all gone now, at least at the federal level. Trump&#8217;s order forbids the federal government from, “allowing or encouraging federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.”
Additionally, all federal agencies have to require every grant recipient to, “certify that it does not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.” Within 120 days, the attorney general will also outline requirements for colleges and universities, concerning their DEI programs.
This is obviously a sweeping order — one that affects hundreds of billions of dollars in government spending. It&#8217;s very bad news for universities like Harvard, and other bastions of Left-wing orthodoxy. It&#8217;s the kind of order that you&#8217;d expect would lead to a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth on the Left. And certainly that is happening to some extent. But there’s been an interesting wrinkle. 
As Chris Rufo <a href="https://x.com/realchrisrufo/status/1881929726874521740" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> yesterday: &#8220;Tech executives are telling me that Silicon Valley companies will respect President Trump’s ban on discriminatory DEI. Many feel relieved that they don’t have to pretend anymore. &#8216;Resistance here is basically dead.'&#8221;
In other words, according to Rufo’s reporting, these executives were experiencing a kind of Stockholm Syndrome for the past several years. They knew that DEI was destructive for their business. They wanted it to go away. But they felt they had no choice but to endorse it, because on top of the legal requirements, they didn&#8217;t want to upset Left-wing activists and the corporate media. They lacked the spine to stand up for their own business interests. They felt trapped, so they went along with it. This may sound like convenient excuse-making, but it actually sounds very plausible. After all, tech companies care the most about making money. You don’t become a tech billionaire without understanding how to turn a profit. DEI is obviously and self-evidently bad for business because it forces you to hire people who are not qualified for the job. It actually makes perfect sense that these companies would be relieved to be done with it. It’s not an excuse, though. If anything it just makes them look worse. DEI proliferated not because all of these companies believed in it. But because they were all cowards who didn’t have the gumption to speak out, even for the sake of their own economic self-preservation.
It&#8217;s worth asking whether this response applies to the Left more broadly. One of the most fascinating things about Trump&#8217;s full scale assault on gender ideology and DEI in government is the relative lack of Left-wing hysteria over it. Certainly there has been plenty of whining and scolding about it. But there haven&#8217;t been protests in the street or widespread panic. The outrage — from my vantage point — hasn’t quite reached the fever pitch you would have expected. Even the media, from what I can tell, seems to be relatively muted (by their very low standards) in their reaction. Here for example is a decidedly low-energy segment from MSNBC the other day. You&#8217;d think they&#8217;d be up grabbing their pitchforks because of the return of fascism to America. But instead, this is what they came up with:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="00ff" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/86dK2sQfzn4?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
So they certainly don&#8217;t approve of Trump’s policies. But you wouldn’t call that a hysterical meltdown. The anchor cites that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imLMG7C6oF4">fake McKinsey study</a> about how DEI supposedly improves companies, which we&#8217;ve talked about and debunked many times before. And then the reporter says conservatives want to take us back to colorblind, merit-driven society, as if that&#8217;s a bad thing. But it is, again, a bit low energy. Contrast this with the hysteria in the days after Trump&#8217;s first inauguration, and there&#8217;s really no comparison. Back then, everything Trump did was part of a Russian plot to destroy American democracy. Everything was cause for panic. Everything was a five alarm fire.
This has been the response to pretty much all of Trump&#8217;s executive orders — from his <a href="https://www.cbs42.com/hill-politics/trump-orders-faa-to-terminate-dei-hiring-efforts/">order</a> ending DEI at the FAA, to his order <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTBFEsUfKik&amp;t=1s">declaring</a> that indeed, there are only two genders, and that gender ideology is dead. This is the most far reaching executive assault on Left-wing ideology ever launched by any president. There isn’t a close second. It is truly unprecedented. And yet the Left’s reaction hasn’t matched the moment. Especially by their normal standards of hysteria. Why is that?
The lack of mass protests in the street may be easy enough to explain. It’s very cold. We know that Left-wing activists are very dedicated to their causes, as long as that dedication doesn’t require them to endure even the slightest bit of discomfort. Also you’d probably have to pay the protesters more than their usual rate, given the weather conditions. Maybe it’s more than George Soros is willing to shell out. But that’s not the whole story.
There is also, as we’ve discussed this week, a kind of emotional burnout. The Left has been screaming hysterically about Trump for ten years. It’s just not possible to keep up that level of performative outrage indefinitely. Eventually you lose a bit of steam. On top of that, the Left is in organizational and ideological disarray. They have no clear leader. No clear agenda. No clear political identity. All of that serves to mute the response to these moves by Trump.
But on top of all of those factors, I also have to wonder if at least some on the Left are maybe, to some extent, even if subconsciously, sort of relieved to be done with DEI, gender ideology, and the rest. After all, these things are so absurd on their face that almost no one could have ever really, truly believed in them. Almost no one wants to be in the position of having to defend some crossdressing man who&#8217;s crying because he can&#8217;t disrobe in the women&#8217;s changing room. Almost no one actually thinks it&#8217;s a good idea to prioritize diversity in air traffic control hiring. DEI and gender ideology require a suspension of basic common sense so extreme that few people could ever achieve it. Everyone else was just pretending. We have suffered through an era of American history where millions of people were pretending to believe the most absurd propositions ever put forward. Now that the cultural tide has changed, the pressure to pretend has been greatly lifted. The true believers in DEI and gender ideology now look around to discover that they are without allies. Trans activists and DEI race hustlers were holding all of those people hostage. But the Right’s political and cultural victories have taken away their ammunition. It is hard to keep your hostages in line when they find out that your gun has no bullets. In other words, for some who ostensibly appeared to be “on the Left,” we are their liberators.
That’s just a theory anyway. I believe there’s an element of this, at least for some on the Left. I certainly think it’s the case for business owners and corporate America. But regardless, one thing we know for sure is that this somewhat eerie lull won’t last. The true believers and powers that be on that side of the fence aren’t going to abandon their agenda. They won’t surrender to the Right and call it a day. They’ll regroup and probably come back with something even crazier than DEI and gender ideology. That’s what we can assume, if history is our guide. And it should be.
In the meantime, the fact is that pretty much everyone in this country — including anyone who flies on a plane, who sends a child to college, or applies for a job or a federal contract — is already benefiting from the second Trump administration. This is the swift restoration of sanity that a majority of Americans voted for. Common sense has made a comeback. Team Sanity is winning for the moment. But Team Insanity will be back. And it’s up to us to be ready for them.

Trump Signs Executive Actions Related To Cryptocurrency, AI

Trump Wages All Out War On DEI

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Donald Trump

Federal Government

Matt Walsh

Opinion

President Trump

The deadly wildfire that killed 102 people and caused $5.5 billion in damages last year in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hawaii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hawaii</a> was caused by a downed power line, according to a report released Wednesday from local and federal investigators. 
Officials with the Maui Fire Department and the ATF both <a href="https://www.mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/149693/FI23-0012446-Lahaina-Origin-and-Cause-Report_Plus-Appendix-A-B-C-Redacted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the August 8 fire that blazed through the island was determined to be one fire that arose from a “single origin and cause.” The investigators said the fire had a morning and afternoon phase and ruled it accidental. 
“The cause of the fire was the re-energization of broken utility lines which caused the ejection of molten metallic material (sparks) to fall to the base of pole 25, igniting the unmaintained vegetation below,” the report from the Maui Fire Department said, noting this happened at 6:34 a.m. 
A separate, but similar report from the ATF was attached as an appendix to the Maui Fire Department report. Both reports identified the same cause. 
Investigators added that the firefighters believed the blaze had been extinguished after they responded the morning of August 8. 
“Following the morning phase of the fire, all available indications showed the fire fully contained and extinguished—no flames, no smoke, and no perceptibly combusting material had been observed for hours,” the report said. “Despite the extraordinary diligence of personnel and the significant number of resources at the scene, undetected smoldering material from the morning phase of the fire initiated the afternoon phase of the fire in a gully adjacent to the existing fire area at [2:52 p.m.].”
The report said the surrounding vegetation made up of a variety of local grasses was highly flammable. The fire spread quickly due to “extreme winds” and most severely impacted Lahaina in West Maui. 
Investigators said there was no evidence that the fire was a result of intentional human activity or caused by lightning. 
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1726313279401000&amp;usg=AOvVaw115_qPFFEePDP86-Fvo-Vd">Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!</a>
When commenting on the report, Assistant Maui Fire Chief Jeffrey Giesea said there was no blame for the firefighters who responded to the morning blaze.
“We want to make abundantly clear to the community that our firefighters went above and beyond their due diligence to be as confident as they could be that the fire was completely extinguished before they left the scene,” he <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/10/02/today-report-cause-origin-maui-wildfires-be-released/">said</a>.
State and local officials came under intense scrutiny over their handling of the fire. Some survivors <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maui-fire-survivors-say-authorities-blocked-only-paved-road-out-of-lahaina-as-town-burned-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that police blocked roads leading away from the blaze, causing a traffic jam as people attempted to escape. 
Earlier this year, Hawaii Governor Josh Green <a href="https://governor.hawaii.gov/newsroom/office-of-the-governor-news-release-gov-green-announces-4-billion-global-settlement-in-principle-to-resolve-maui-wildfire-lawsuits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a $4 billion settlement to resolve a host of lawsuits brought by victims of the fire against a number of parties, including the state, county, and Hawaiian Electric company.

Over One Hundred Killed In Maui Wildfire Leaving The Town Of Lahaina Devastated

Investigators Identify Cause Of Deadly Maui Wildfire That Killed More Than 100

General

Hawaii

Maui

U.S.

Wildfires

President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> delivered remarks on Tuesday at gun control advocacy group Everytown&#8217;s annual conference, Gun Sense University — and as is often the case when Biden speaks about guns, critics were quick to point out a series of factual errors.
Biden&#8217;s comments, which came within hours of his embattled son Hunter Biden&#8217;s conviction on several gun-related felonies, included a few of his oft-repeated — and already debunked — claims, in addition to a few new additions.
Greg Price noted several mistakes that Biden whipped through in under a minute — from debunked claims about his alleged history as a professor to the assertion that the Second Amendment was written in a time when individuals were not permitted to own cannons.
&#8220;Joe Biden in less than a minute,&#8221; Price began, adding, &#8220;Claims he was a professor at Penn, which he never was; Claims he taught a constitutional law class on the second amendment, which he never did; Says that you couldn&#8217;t own a cannon when 2A was implemented, which you could; And ends by failing miserably to say the phrase &#8216;the tree of liberty is watered with the blood of patriots.'&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Joe Biden in less than a minute:
&#8211; Claims he was a professor at UPenn, which he never was 
&#8211; Claims he taught a constitutional law class on the second amendment, which he never did 
&#8211; Says that you couldn&#8217;t own a cannon when 2A was implemented, which you could 
&#8211; And ends by… <a href="https://t.co/64nA2qwmW0">pic.twitter.com/64nA2qwmW0</a>
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) <a href="https://twitter.com/greg_price11/status/1800601727789322578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
&#8220;There has never been a time that says you could own anything you want. Never. You couldn’t own a cannon during the Civil War. No, I’m serious. Think about it,&#8221; Biden said — but as the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/06/11/us-news/biden-botches-thomas-jefferson-quote-and-claims-americans-couldnt-own-cannons-during-the-civil-war/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, the few laws passed regarding cannons during the 19th century were primarily focused on &#8220;limiting where they could be discharged, restricting the sale of the weapon to children and regulating how gunpowder could be stored.&#8221;
It is still legal to own Civil War era cannons in the United States.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
A fact check on Biden’s speech today, one I have done many times: You can own a cannon. <a href="https://t.co/LIuLje5bm0">pic.twitter.com/LIuLje5bm0</a>
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) <a href="https://twitter.com/KatiePavlich/status/1800610638357504287?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
And as for the late President Thomas Jefferson&#8217;s quote — &#8220;The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants&#8221; — Biden&#8217;s version was as follows: &#8220;How much have you heard this phrase, ‘the blood of liberty … washes those’ – give me a break.&#8221;
GunOwners of America added a few more infractions to Price&#8217;s list:
&#8220;Oh don&#8217;t forget @JoeBiden also: Said Americans would need F-15s to resist his tyrannical government (You wouldn&#8217;t); Claimed the firearm industry is the only industry with immunity (They aren&#8217;t); Claimed that guns kill more children than car accidents and cancer combined (They don&#8217;t); Got the name of the federal agency responsible for gun control wrong (AFT).&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Oh don&#8217;t forget <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JoeBiden</a> also:
&#8211; Said Americans would need F-15s to resist his tyrannical government (You wouldn&#8217;t) 
&#8211; Claimed the firearm industry is the only industry with immunity (They aren&#8217;t) 
&#8211; Claimed that guns kill more children than car accidents and cancer combined… <a href="https://t.co/r5ERatCJBX">https://t.co/r5ERatCJBX</a>
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) <a href="https://twitter.com/GunOwners/status/1800618321458388997?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
Biden also repeated his call to ban &#8220;assault weapons,&#8221; saying that he did not understand who needed a magazine that could &#8220;hold 200 shells.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Biden (again) calls for a ban on &#8220;assault weapons,&#8221; which he later calls &#8220;weapons of war.&#8221;
&#8220;Who in God&#8217;s name needs a magazine that can hold 200 shells?&#8221; he adds. <a href="https://t.co/SriVyyU1SJ">pic.twitter.com/SriVyyU1SJ</a>
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) <a href="https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1800602416724750430?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2024</a></blockquote>
As Biden spoke, he was briefly interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester who accused him of being &#8220;complicit in a genocide&#8221; because he has continued to support Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas terrorists.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
WATCH: Pro-Hamas protesters interrupt Joe Biden&#8217;s speech on gun control. <a href="https://t.co/RygpzoYm6i">pic.twitter.com/RygpzoYm6i</a>
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1800599234518946085?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2024</a></blockquote>

President Biden Speaks At Everytown’s Gun Sense University

Joe Biden’s Disastrous Gun Control Speech, One Whopper At A Time

Everytown for Gun Safety

Gun Control

Hunter Biden

Joe Biden

President Biden is poised to lose his job. Americans are already frustrated with wide-open borders, crime-infested streets, and unaffordable gas, groceries, and rent. Now, his administration has quietly launched a new war on gun owners — and the lawful gun industry — before his executive authority is stripped away.
In an all-too-typical example of executive overreach, a new <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/30/2024-08813/revision-of-firearms-license-requirements" target="_blank" rel="noopener">interim final rule</a> from Biden’s Department of Commerce will vindictively smother American gun companies with layers of bureaucratic red tape and prevent civilians in other countries from lawfully purchasing American firearms and ammunition. This is not only a clear admission of the Biden administration’s disdain for lawful gun owners, but also a backdoor attempt to villainize and bankrupt domestic manufacturers while pushing the president’s globalist agenda beyond our own borders.
Meanwhile, Biden’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has launched its own crusade against Americans’ right to self-defense. ATF’s <a href="https://www.atf.gov/firearms/final-rule-definition-engaged-business-dealer-firearms#:~:text=The%20final%20rule%20implements%20the,than%20a%20gunsmith%20or%20pawnbroker)." target="_blank" rel="noopener">“Engaged in Business” rule</a> reclassifies gun owners who occasionally sell a firearm as professional dealers, subjecting them to a web of complicated and burdensome regulations with no proven benefits. This rule unconstitutionally expands the agency’s control over ordinary gun owners while also taking another step toward the de facto creation of a national gun owner registry.
Americans have the right — and the responsibility — to fight back.
When the executive branch proposes these restrictions, without the consent of the people’s representatives in Congress, they’re subject to the federal rule-making process. During that process, Americans can submit comments opposing the rule. Those comments must be read by federal officials and should influence the administration’s final decision to move forward with the proposed changes.
While the comment period has closed on the ATF’s business rule, Biden’s ridiculous new firearm export ban is still open for debate. Here’s why you should <a href="https://heritageaction.quorum.us/campaign/61002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">join us in our campaign</a> of opposition:
First, all U.S.-made firearms are already marked with serial numbers, but this rule would require manufacturers to adopt new export control classification numbers (ECCNs) for additional tracking abroad. This would expand the bureaucratic process — increasing compliance costs and lost revenue for American firearm manufacturers — but it would not improve tracking, seeing as any country can already record serial numbers.
Second, while the rule will drastically restrict sales to foreign civilians, it would not impact exports to foreign governments, which reflects the Left’s fundamental belief that only those in power should have weapons, not the people they govern.
The administration has tried to defend this hypocrisy with bad-faith attacks on civilian gun ownership, falsely claiming that firearms legally exported to civilians are more likely to be diverted into black markets than firearms sold to foreign militaries and police agencies. But virtually every credible analysis of international criminal gun trafficking shows that the biggest sources of guns used for crime or terrorism are government stockpiles and illegal imports, not guns legally imported for lawful civilian sales.
Third, as usual, this additional regulation will do nothing to curb crime at home or abroad. The ATF&#8217;s own <a href="https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/report/nfcta-volume-ii-part-iv-crime-guns-recovered-outside-us-and-traced-le/download#:~:text=These%20recovered%20and%20traced%20crime,with%20firearms%20lawfully%20exported%20from" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> of international gun crime tracing found that less than 1% of the firearms lawfully exported out of the U.S. between 2016 and 2020 were used in international crime. Just like in the United States, there’s no reason to believe that ordinary lawful gun owners in other countries are a driving force behind violent crime.
The export ban, along with the massive expansion of power at the ATF, are election-year political games designed to appease the president’s radical base at the expense of our constitutional rights. President Biden has demonstrated time and time again his disdain for gun owners and willingness to subvert the American people to advance his agenda.
Our representatives on the Hill have launched efforts to overturn both rules — and they need our support. Heritage Action launched a new <a href="https://heritageaction.quorum.us/campaign/61002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">campaign</a> to help Americans submit comments in support of protecting the Second Amendment. Together, we can fight Biden’s executive overreach and prevent the suffocation of firearms manufacturers nationwide.
* * * 
Kevin Roberts, Ph.D., is president of Heritage Action for America. Ryan Walker is executive vice president of Heritage Action for America.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and not necessarily those of The Daily Wire.

US-GUNS-ASIANS

Biden’s New Campaign Against America’s Law-Abiding Gun Owners

Gun Laws

Guns

Heritage Action for America

Heritage Foundation

More than two dozen Republican attorneys general announced challenges on Wednesday to the proposed gun control rule from the Biden administration regulating private firearm sales. 
Multiple suits were filed in federal court against the proposal, which would require individuals who &#8220;earn a profit” selling guns to conduct background checks and have a federal firearms license <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/kamala-harris-announces-new-rule-all-gun-dealers-must-conduct-background-checks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">no matter</a> where or how they sell their merchandise. Republicans say that the proposed <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document/ATF-2023-0002-0001#:~:text=921(a)(21)(C)%20as%20%E2%80%9Ca%20person,makes%20occasional%20sales%2C%20exchanges%2C%20or" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regulations</a>, put forth by the Justice Department, infringe on Second Amendment rights and would make it a felony for family members and friends to sell guns to each other without conducting background checks or having a federal license. 
One effort, led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, sued the DOJ and the ATF, arguing that the ATF doesn’t have the statutory authority to enforce the rule and that it violates the Second and Fifth Amendments. 
“Yet again, Joe Biden is weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to rip up the Constitution and destroy our citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” Paxton <a href="https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-leads-multistate-coalition-suing-biden-administration-over-unlawful-ban" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “This is a dramatic escalation of his tyrannical abuse of authority. With today’s lawsuit, it is my great honor to defend our Constitutionally-protected freedoms from the out-of-control federal government.”
The suit was joined by Louisiana, Mississippi, Utah, the Gun Owners of America, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and the Tennessee Firearms Association. 
A separate lawsuit, led by Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, also challenges the DOJ and the ATF. 
“Biden’s latest attempt to strip away the Second Amendment rights of Americans through ATF regulations will make many law-abiding gun owners felons if they sell a firearm or two to family or friends,” Kobach <a href="https://ag.ks.gov/media-center/news-releases/2024/05/01/kobach-leads-21-state-coalition-in-defense-of-second-amendment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “This rule is blatantly unconstitutional. We are suing to defend the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.”
Kansas was joined by Iowa, Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
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Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed A third lawsuit against the DOJ and ATF.
The Biden administration <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-signs-most-expansive-gun-control-bill-in-decades-into-law-following-republican-support" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> it had proposed the rules to implement the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act,” which added background check stipulations and gave grants for states to enact “red flag” laws. The measure, which was backed by 15 Republicans in the Senate and 14 Republicans in the House, was the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-signs-most-expansive-gun-control-bill-in-decades-into-law-following-republican-support" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most expansive</a> gun control law signed into law in decades. 
“The challenged rule, in fact, goes far beyond the plain text of the BSCA,” Florida’s <a href="https://www.myfloridalegal.com/sites/default/files/2024-05/atf-complaint_as-filed.pdf">suit</a> says. “It purports to force thousands of law-abiding gun owners to register as federal firearms dealers and navigate a federal bureaucracy as a precondition to engaging in constitutionally protected activity. The challenged rule is unlawful.”

President Biden Delivers Remarks In The Roosevelt Room Of The White House

Red States Challenge Biden Admin’s ‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’ Regulations On Private Gun Sales

Department of Justice

Florida

Kansas

Texas

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to consider the Biden administration’s appeal of a decision that rejected the administration’s regulation of ghost guns.
In 2022, the Biden administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives broadened the interpretation of the definition of “firearm” in the Gun Control Act of 1968. “The 1968 Gun Control Act, the 1988 Undetectable Firearms Act and other federal laws all govern firearms produced by a 3D printing process or any other process, just as they apply to conventional manufacturing processes using machine tools,” NSSF <a href="https://www.nssf.org/government-relations/factsheets/ghost-guns-undetectable-firearms-explained-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">notes</a>. The Gun Control Act interpreted “firearm” to mean “any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive” and “the frame or receiver of any such weapon.”
The rule claimed that the parts in ghost guns lay under the rubric of “firearm” under the federal Gun Control Act so the federal government could regulate them. It required “manufacturers and sellers to obtain licenses, mark their products with serial numbers and conduct background checks,” The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/us/supreme-court-ghost-guns.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
In August 2023, in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court allowed the Biden administration’s rule to stay in effect despite the fact that it had been challenged. In November, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the Biden administration’s regulation unlawful. “Only Congress may make the deliberate and reasoned decision to enact new or modified legislation regarding firearms,” the court <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/04/22/supreme-court-biden-ghost-gun-background-checks/73280704007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>. “Because Congress has neither authorized the expansion of firearm regulation nor permitted the criminalization of previously lawful conduct, the proposed rule constitutes unlawful agency action, in direct contravention of the legislature’s will,” they <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-decide-biden-administration-can-regulate-ghost-guns-rcna147065" target="_blank" rel="noopener">added</a>.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar countered that if the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision were implemented, “Anyone could buy a kit online and assemble a fully functional gun in minutes — no background check, records, or serial number required. The result would be a flood of untraceable ghost guns into our nation’s communities, endangering the public and thwarting law-enforcement efforts to solve violent crimes.”
“If a state placed a tax on the sale of home goods, such as tables, chairs, couches and bookshelves, Ikea surely could not avoid that tax by claiming that it does not sell any of those items and instead sells ‘furniture parts kits’ that must be assembled by the purchaser,” she argued. “So too with guns: An ordinary speaker of English would recognize that a company in the business of selling kits that can be assembled into firearms in minutes — and that are designed, marketed and used for that express purpose — is in the business of selling firearms.”
A brief for the Supreme Court asserted, “Consistent with Congress’s decision not to interfere with the making of firearms by private citizens, commercial production and sale of other items that may be used by private citizens to make firearms for their own use is outside the scope of the Act.”
Additionally, it offered another perspective, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23A82/274511/20230802162019194_2023-08-02%20VanDerStok%20-%20Resp%20in%20Oppn%20to%20Stay%20vf.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stating</a>:
<blockquote>
A better analogy would be to a “taco kit” sold as a bundle by a grocery store that includes taco shells, seasoning packets, salsa and other toppings, along with a slab of raw beef. No one would call the taco kit a taco. In addition to “assembly,” turning it into one would require cutting or grinding and cooking the meat — and until that was done, it would be nonsensical to treat it as food and the equivalent of a taco.
</blockquote>

OPED-SCOTUS-GHOST-GUNS-EDITORIAL-1-NY

SCOTUS Will Consider Challenge To Biden’s ‘Ghost Gun’ Regulations

firearms

Ghost Guns

Supreme Court

ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, a Democrat, made numerous mistakes when speaking about firearms during an interview that aired over the weekend.
Speaking with Margaret Brennan on CBS News&#8217; &#8220;Face The Nation,&#8221; Dettelbach stood in front of a table that had numerous firearms as he tried what he claimed were loopholes that allow people to get around gun laws.
While speaking about how many rounds some of the AK variant rifles could fire, Dettelbach demonstrated that he did not basic firearm terminology, like the difference between a clip and a magazine.
Moments later he also demonstrated that he did not know what a pistol brace was when he suggested that it was the same thing as a butt stock. Pistol braces allow the person operating the firearm to stick their wrist through the device and use a piece of velcro to tighten the device around their wrist, thus allowing the operator to fire the weapon only using one hand.
The way that Brennan conducted the interview made it clear that the segment was intended to be pro-gun control propaganda as she stood with her arms crossed expressing disgust and promoting the false narrative that the Second Amendment was created for &#8220;hunting.&#8221; The Second Amendment was created for the purposes of self-defense and a check against government tyranny.
Dettelbach also urged gun stores to refuse to sell certain types of weapons, like large caliber rifles, to customers who are paying in cash and to pick up the phone and call the ATF so they can go investigate those people.
&#8220;And for those who aren&#8217;t doing that, I hope and expect that, as Americans, we will do that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But for those who aren&#8217;t, somebody comes into your store, in a border state and plunks down $12,000 cash money for one of these [.50 caliber rifles], so that there&#8217;s no credit card trail, I mean, my word, we hope that people will help us as Americans and continue to help us and not make that sale and protect our safety.&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m just sort of doing a little bit of a commercial, for those who are going to be at the counter, thinking about it, do not let this happen,&#8221; he begged. &#8220;Please help us to stop this. We respect you. We depend on you. Please, as firearms dealers help us to stop this.&#8221;
He said that if a man and a woman walk into a store and the man asks all the questions and then has the woman purchase the firearm that &#8220;all sorts of alarm bells should be going off&#8221; and the gun store should not sell to that couple.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
ATF Director Steven Dettelbach went on CBS&#39;s Face The Nation &amp; displayed a shocking ignorance of firearms while trying to gin up fear to strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
It should scare everyone that Dettelbach doesn&#39;t know the difference between a clip &amp; a magazine. <a href="https://t.co/0cABaCZ2sT">pic.twitter.com/0cABaCZ2sT</a>
&mdash; Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1764420588133626357?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
During the sit down portion of the interview, Dettelbach said that his agency, which has thousands of agents, was &#8220;way, way, way too small.&#8221;
Brennan also teed up a question for Dettelbach on how Congress protecting Americans&#8217; Second Amendment rights and privacy rights by banning the ATF from creating a federal gun registry was an &#8220;impediment&#8221; for the ATF&#8217;s agenda.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
When asked about the impediment to law enforcement as Congress prohibits the ATF from creating a centralized registry of U.S. gun owners, ATF Director Steven Dettalbach says: &quot;It&#39;s a law, and we comply with it. That means that we have to work within that system.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/lHtUcL40tB">pic.twitter.com/lHtUcL40tB</a>
&mdash; Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) <a href="https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1764332493224739059?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

ATF Director Displays Ignorance About Basic Firearm Topics During Pro Gun Control Segment

AK-47

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a Biden administration ATF rule that sought to regulate guns without serial numbers and redefine the term “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/guns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">firearm</a>.”
The court on Thursday said that the ATF had no legal authority to put forth a rule that <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/us/politics/ghost-guns-atf-rule.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">would require</a> gun vendors to treat firearm parts like pistol grips and firing mechanisms as fully completed firearms, meaning they would need to have serial numbers. The rule, which was first rolled out in April 2022, was intended for the ATF to be able track homemade guns.
Judges at the Fifth Circuit unanimously said the ATF had usurped legislative authority and that the ATF was trying to take broader regulatory authority than it actually had.
“Where an executive agency in what is, for all intents and purposes, ‘law making,’ the legislature is deprived of its final function under our Constitution, and our citizens are robbed of their right to fair representation in government. This is especially true when the executive rule-turned-law criminalizes conduct without the say of the people who are subject to its penalties,” Judge Kurt Engelhardt <a href="https://aboutblaw.com/bbpJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a>.
“ATF, in promulgating its Final Rule, attempted to take on the mantle of Congress to ‘do something’ with respect to gun control,” Engelhardt added. “But it is not the province of an executive agency to write laws for our nation. That vital duty, for better or for worse, lies solely with the legislature.”
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The rule had been allowed to stay in place by the Supreme Court during lower court adjudication. The Department of Justice will likely appeal the Fifth Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court.
Judge Andrew Oldham was critical of the ATF’s new rule, saying that it would allow a broad swath of regulations not explicitly spelled out in the rule.
“The Final Rule is limitless. It purports to regulate any piece of metal or plastic that has been machined beyond its primordial state for fear that it might one day be turned into a gun, a gun frame, or a gun receiver,” he wrote. “And it doesn’t stop regulating the metal or plastic until it’s melted back down to ooze.”

US-NEWS-SCOTUS-GHOST-GUNS-NY

Appeals Court Rules Against ‘Limitless’ Biden ATF Rule Changing The Definition Of Firearm

Appeals Court Rules Against 'Limitless' Biden ATF Rule Changing The Definition Of Firearm

Courts

Randy Weaver was a former Army Green Beret who, in the late ’70s, worked in an Iowa factory, providing for his wife, Vicki, and their children. A devout religious family, the Weavers decided to leave Iowa and move to Ruby Ridge in Idaho, just 50 miles from the Canadian border, believing the apocalypse was coming. They built a small cabin on the top of the mountain and lived there for years with little incident.
In 1984, however, a dispute with a neighbor ended with the neighbor being ordered to pay Weaver $2,100. Furious, this neighbor wrote letters to the FBI, Secret Service, and county sheriff claiming Weaver had threatened to kill the pope, President Ronald Reagan, and the Idaho governor.
Charges were never filed, but the investigation led to questions about Weaver’s association with the neo-Nazi group known as Aryan Nations. While Weaver and his family had attended some of their meetings socially, he was never a member.
<div id="attachment_613433" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-613433" class="size-full wp-image-613433" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/weaverfamily300.jpeg" alt="Weaver family photo. Wikicommons." width="300" height="226" />Wikicommons</div>
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) used this connection to entrap Weaver. A confidential ATF informant attended the World Aryan Congress, his first time attending. He had been invited by Frank Kumnick, a known associate of Aryan Nations and a previous ATF target. While at this Congress, the ATF informant started talking to Weaver, and the two would continue to meet several times.
In October 1989, the informant claimed Weaver had sold him two sawed-off shotguns – a federal crime. It is widely believed that Weaver was not a man regularly altering shotguns and selling them, but that he had been coerced into doing so by the ATF informant.
The ATF informant’s handler, Herb Byerly, in June 1990 used the weapon charge as leverage to force Weaver to act as his new informant. Weaver refused to be a “snitch” and was charged for the sawed-off shotguns. The ATF also claimed that Weaver had several criminal convictions and had robbed banks, claims that were later determined to be false by a 1995 Senate investigation into the events of August 1992.
In December 1990, a federal grand jury indicted Weaver for making and possessing illegal firearms. He was not indicted for selling those firearms.
Based on its own false claims, the ATF decided it was too dangerous to arrest Weaver at his home, so they once again tricked him. Agents posing as motorists who had broken down on the side of the road arrested Weaver when he and his wife stopped to help them, putting them face down in the snow. Weaver was released on bail and told his trial would begin on February 19, 1991. Through court maneuvering, the start date moved and Weaver became confused. Weaver didn’t show up, but believing he may have thought the trial date was moved to March 20, the United States Marshals Service (USMS), agreed to wait until after that day before arresting Weaver for failure to appear in court. On March 14, however, the U.S. Attorney’s Office called a grand jury to indict Weaver for not appearing.
Once the case was in the U.S. Marshal’s hands – as Weaver was now considered a fugitive – they were not informed that the ATF had attempted to make Weaver an informant.
Believing that he would not receive a fair trial based on everything that had happened so far, Weaver refused to appear for his trial. At one point, his defense attorney erroneously told him that if he lost at trial he would lose his land, leaving his wife homeless, and the government would take his children.
Weaver’s distrust in the government grew exponentially after this, and he refused to surrender when U.S. Marshals attempted to contact him. Over the next year, U.S. Marshals made numerous attempts to negotiate Weaver’s surrender, using third parties and posing as potential property buyers.
During this time, the Marshals also developed a Threat Source Profile on Weaver that painted him as an anti-government radical who was armed and dangerous. It included a psychological profile completed by someone who had never met Weaver and knew so little about the case that he called him “Mr. Randall.”
Beginning in March of 1992, U.S. Marshals sent surveillance teams to set up cameras around the Weaver’s property to record their activity. Marshals saw that Weaver and his family would take up armed positions whenever a vehicle or visitor arrived on their property – but would lower their weapons once they recognized the person.
On April 18, 1992, a helicopter flew over Weaver’s property after being hired by Geraldo Rivera’s news program at the time, “Now It Can Be Told.” U.S. Marshals claimed they received reports that Weaver shot at the helicopter, but the Marshals’ own surveillance team on the property that day reported no shots. Weaver also denied the reports, and the helicopter pilot told the FBI that Weaver didn’t shoot at his helicopter. But U.S. Marshals and the FBI used these false claims as justification for the rules of engagement it would follow when moving onto Weaver’s property to arrest him.
<div id="attachment_613441" style="width: 878px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-613441" class="size-large wp-image-613441" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/Weavers1992-868x576.jpg" alt="Govt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons" width="868" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/Weavers1992-868x576.jpg 868w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/Weavers1992-300x199.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/Weavers1992-768x510.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/Weavers1992.jpg 1507w" sizes="(max-width: 868px) 100vw, 868px" />Govt, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons</div>
Three months later, after Henry E. Hudson was confirmed as the new head of USMS, six Marshals went to Weaver’s property on August 21, 1992, to scout out places where Weaver could be arrested away from his cabin. The team, dressed in military camouflage and carrying M16 rifles, at one point threw some rocks to test Weaver’s dog’s reaction. The dogs barked, and Weaver’s friend Kevin Harris, as well as Weaver’s 14-year-old son Sammy, followed the dogs to investigate. Weaver took a different route to follow the dogs, all hoping the dogs had found some deer.
At this point, the stories diverge. Weaver and Harris claimed that Harris and Sammy found the heavily armed Marshals, and that their dog, Striker, started barking at the Marshals. The Marshals shot and killed Striker. Sammy then allegedly fired a shot near the Marshals and yelled at them about killing his dog, which prompted the Marshals to begin shooting. Sammy tried to run up the nearby hill and was shot in the back by U.S. Marshal Larry Cooper. He died instantly.
The U.S. Marshals claimed that they gave the Weaver a surrender order and that Harris began firing at them, so they fired back and ended up killing Sammy and Striker. At this time, Harris shot U.S. Marshal William Degan in the chest and killed him.
Weaver and Harris returned to the cabin and told Weaver’s wife Vicki what happened. She and Weaver reportedly went out to get Sammy’s body and bring him back into the cabin, with the family grieving his death. They had to put his body in a shed near the main cabin because they couldn’t leave the property.
Now the Marshals, ATF, and the FBI were involved, with agents sent to the Weavers’ property. Ten FBI snipers were dispatched to surround the property, and the FBI and Marshal Service approved a special rules of engagement draft that allowed agents to use deadly force if any adult on the property is seen with a weapon after they had been told to fire. The draft also said any dog on the property could be shot if any agent is “compromised” by the dog. The draft also noted that if anyone on the property presented the threat of death or grievous bodily harm other than Weaver, Harris, or Vicki, then the FBI’s rules of deadly force would apply meaning they could be killed in order to prevent death or grievous bodily injury to someone else.
Further, agents could kill any “adult male” if they were seen with a weapon and if the shot would not endanger Weaver’s children.
<div id="attachment_613435" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-613435" class="size-large wp-image-613435" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/WEAVER_RUBY_RIDGE_21220829-864x576.webp" alt="Hundreds of federal agents converge on Ruby Ridge during the standoff in August 1992. (File / The Spokesman-Review)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/WEAVER_RUBY_RIDGE_21220829-864x576.webp 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/WEAVER_RUBY_RIDGE_21220829-300x200.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/WEAVER_RUBY_RIDGE_21220829-768x512.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/08/WEAVER_RUBY_RIDGE_21220829.webp 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Hundreds of federal agents converge on Ruby Ridge during the standoff in August 1992. (File / The Spokesman-Review)</div>
For 11 days a standoff ensued. On August 22, before negotiators arrived, FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi opened fire at the Weavers. He shot Weaver in the back while he was lifting the latch on the shed to visit Sam’s body. The bullet exited Weaver’s right armpit. Horiuchi later testified that he had been aiming for Weaver’s spine, but that Weaver moved at the last second.
Weaver had been out with his 16-year-old daughter Sara and Harris when the shot was fired. They ran back to the cabin, and Horiuchi fired another shot, this time striking Harris in the chest. This bullet also killed Vicki Weaver, who had been standing at the cabin door when Harris entered. She was holding her 10-month-old baby Elisheba.
In “American Experience: Ruby Ridge,” a documentary that aired on PBS in 2020, Sara Weaver described the moment her mother was murdered.
“And I felt things hit my face, and Mom dropped next to me,” Sara said, her voice breaking as she held back tears. “It took me a second to comprehend that mom had just died and that it was parts of her that had hit my face.”
Weaver picked up the baby and gave her to one of his other daughters so that he could help pull Vicki’s body into the cabin.
“We were being hunted, that’s how it felt,” Sara added.
Horiuchi was charged with manslaughter for the killing of Vicki, but the charges were later dismissed despite so many people witnessing the shooting.
In the early days of the siege, media outlets were only able to receive information from government sources, so their coverage was skewed as a white supremacist shooting federal agents. The narrative began to shift when the FBI told reporters it had found 14-year-old Sammy Weaver’s body.
Hostage negotiators didn’t know that Vicki had died until days later, so they kept directing their negotiations toward her, believing she would be the one to talk Weaver into surrendering. 
Inside the Weaver household, with Vicki lying dead on the floor, the family believed the government was taunting them when it continued to speak to Vicki. Sara said her father wanted to yell at the negotiators for doing this, but she stopped him because she truly believed agents would shoot her father if he went near a window.
“They had proven that they were there to shoot us,” Sara said.
With no solution in sight, and the FBI finally realizing that the intelligence they had been given about Weaver was inaccurate, they called in James Gordon “Bo” Gritz, a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer who was known to associate with Right-wing militia groups, to talk to Weaver.
After Gritz’s first discussion with the Weavers, he returned to the FBI agents and told them they had really messed things up and that Vicki was dead and Weaver and Harris were wounded. Eventually, Gritz convinced Weaver to send Harris out so that he could get medical attention, and brought a body bag to remove Vicki’s body from the cabin. As Sara Weaver described, the entire family grieved as they took Vicki away.
Weaver became adamant that he and his daughters would not leave the cabin due to the deaths of Sammy and Vicki, but Gritz refused to leave as well, and was eventually able to get Weaver to leave the cabin with his daughters.
Sara said she fully expected to die when they left the cabin, believing she and her sisters would be shot by government agents. When they left, they passed the military encampment that had been set up to handle the Weaver situation, saying it “made no sense” to have such a large presence for their little family.
Weaver and Harris were charged with numerous offenses, with Harris being charged with first-degree murder for the death of U.S. Marshal Bill Degan. Both were acquitted on all charges, except Weaver was found guilty of the original charge for missing his court date and violating his bail conditions. He spent 16 months in prison and was fined $10,000.
In 1995, the Government Accountability Office and the U.S. Senate investigated the siege on the Weavers and presented a report that found numerous errors by law enforcement, including deeming the rules of engagement to be unconstitutional.
Weaver and his daughters sued the federal government for the wrongful death of his wife and 14-year-old son. In August 1995, Weaver settled for $100,000 and each of his three daughters received $1 million. They had asked for $200 million.
Randy Weaver died on May 11, 2022, at the age of 74, just shy of the 30-year anniversary of the siege.

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Ruby Ridge: 31 Years Later, One Of The Worst Examples Of Government-Inflicted Terrorism Against An Innocent U.S. Citizen

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The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Biden</a> administration has rescinded the licenses of hundreds of gun dealers in a crackdown on an industry that law enforcement has previously seen as a key ally.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/bureau-of-alcohol" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ATF</a>) has revoked the licenses of 122 gun dealers so far this fiscal year on top of the 90 licenses it pulled last year. Since 2013, the earliest year for which data is available, the previous record for licenses revoked in a single year was 81. The agency pulled just 27 licenses in fiscal year 2021, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/hundreds-of-gun-dealers-lose-licenses-under-biden-administration-crackdown-da9d6dfb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
The ATF has previously hesitated before pulling a dealer’s license. Gun sellers are helpful to law enforcement in identifying suspicious customers and aiding in investigations into illegal gun selling. The ATF has typically chosen to issue warnings instead of full license revocation.
“The gun dealers were our first line of defense against gun trafficking,” retired ATF deputy assistant director Peter Forcelli told WSJ. “Why are we now beating an ally into submission?”
Other former officials say the Biden administration’s more aggressive approach is warranted. Too many gun dealers took advantage of previous administrations’ more lax approach, and rule-breakers must be reined in.
“The ATF, previous to this administration, had a ‘Let’s see if we can help you’ attitude and some gun dealers took advantage of that,” retired ATF official Rick Vasquez said.
The ATF said in a statement that it is enforcing the law.
“Federal Firearms Licensees are often our first line of defense against gun crime and are often a source of critical enforcement information that helps law enforcement identify straw purchasers and disrupt firearms trafficking schemes,” ATF spokeswoman Kristina Mastropasqua told <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gun-industry-cries-foul-hundreds-gun-dealers-lose-licenses-biden-administration-crackdown" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox News</a>. “FFLs that willfully violate the law, however, must be held accountable. ATF conducts inspections to ensure compliance with applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations and to educate licensees on the specific requirements of those laws and regulations.”
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The ATF’s <a href="https://www.atf.gov/resource-center/fact-sheet/fact-sheet-facts-and-figures-fiscal-year-2022">816</a> &#8220;industry operative investigators&#8221; oversee about 50,000 licensed gun dealers across the country. Some who the ATF’s enforcement actions have targeted say the Biden administration is being overly hostile and acting in bad faith.
In one instance, the ATF targeted a part-time gun dealer in a small town in Oklahoma. Russell Fincher <a href="https://thegunwriter.substack.com/p/atf-swat-team-raids-parttime-gun" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project that the ATF sent seven SUVs full of armed agents to raid his home after he invited them in. In a previous inspection, the agents had identified traces on several of his guns and a paperwork error. Fincher eventually agreed to give up his FFL while the ATF confiscated an estimated $50,000 worth of firearms.
“They have my life in the palm of their hands, and they have very little accountability,” Fincher said. “I’m just trying to make a living and it takes three jobs just to make ends meet. Dealing as little as I have with the ATF, when you ask them a specific question, they’ll tell you it’s a grey area. Well, a grey area can send you to jail. I’m not Hunter Biden. I’m not going to get my weapon charges dropped.”

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Biden’s ATF Has Revoked Hundreds Of Licenses In Crackdown On Gun Dealers

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