Gun Rights Archives - The Florida Capital Star

Commentary: More Defensive Gun Uses Undermine Government Claims About Armed Civilians

May 21, 2024 Florida Capital Star Staff

It should be painfully obvious to anyone paying attention that the Biden administration distrusts an armed civilian population and is willing to fudge the truth time and again to defend its untenable positions. But for those living blissfully unaware of the Biden administration’s animosity toward gun owners, it once again demonstrated its animosity in clear terms.

Earlier this month, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security accidentally said the quiet part out loud: It thinks that only the government really can be trusted with firearms, even when the government at issue is notoriously corrupt.

Mike Pence Booed at NRA Convention, Noem Steals the Show

April 15, 2023April 14, 2023 M.D. Kittle

It was a tough start for the old Hoosier and presumptive presidential candidate in Indianapolis.

Former Vice President Mike Pence stepped on stage at the National Rifle Association-Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum Friday afternoon to a small chorus of boos.

GOP Struggled with Voters 18-29 in 2022 Election over Abortion, Gun Rights, Climate Change

November 26, 2022November 25, 2022 Just the News

The Republican Party struggled with young voters ages 18-29 in the 2022 midterm election, largely due to issues such as abortion, gun rights, and climate change, according to an analysis from Look Ahead Strategies.

CNN found that House Democratic candidates “won voters under 30 by 28 points,” which was a two-point increase over the 2020 election data for that age group.

The FBI Secretly Pressured Americans to Waive Away Their Gun Rights

September 8, 2022September 7, 2022 Florida Capital Star Staff

The FBI secretly pressured Americans into signing forms that relinquish their rights to own, purchase or even use firearms, according to a trove of internal documents and communications obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The forms were presented by the FBI to people at their homes and in other undisclosed locations, according to bureau documents unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act by the firearm rights group Gun Owners of America (GOA) and shared with the DCNF. At least 15 people between 2016 and 2019 signed the secret forms, which ask signatories to declare themselves as either a “danger” to themselves or others or lacking “mental capacity adequately to contract or manage” their lives.

Florida Democrat Lawmakers Seeking to Expand Red Flag Law

June 1, 2022May 31, 2022 Grant Holcomb

Florida’s Democrat lawmakers are pushing gun control legislation through the Florida legislature. Specifically, they are seeking to expand Florida’s red flag law that currently allows law enforcement officers to seek a court order to confiscate a person’s firearms if they court decides that person is a threat to themselves or others.

Florida Officials React to Texas School Shooting

May 27, 2022May 26, 2022 Grant Holcomb

In the wake of the tragic shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex. earlier this week, Florida politicians are reacting to the tragedy and offering their solutions to the issue of school shootings. Markedly, Florida’s Democrat and Republican politicians had very different approaches to solving the crisis.

DeSantis Hints at Special Session for Constitutional Carry

May 3, 2022May 2, 2022 Grant Holcomb

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), once again, made a plea for the Florida Legislature to get a constitutional carry bill to his desk. He made the promise to get the policy push done by the time he is no longer governor and even floated the idea of a special session to get it done.

Mark Walters Tells The Star News Network: Georgia Is ‘Light Years Ahead’ on Gun Rights

March 12, 2022 Julie Carr

The Star News Network National Political Editor, Neil W. McCabe talked with Armed in America host Mark Walters about how far gun rights have come in the state of Georgia. TRANSCRIPT: McCabe: Georgia is about to become the next state with a constitutional carry law, which means Georgians no longer…

Constitutional Carry Gaining Traction in Florida Legislature

January 21, 2022January 20, 2022 Grant Holcomb

Earlier this week, Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-FL-10) indicated he would support a constitutional carry bill if the Senate were to take up that kind of legislation. Historically, Florida Republicans have been hesitant to take up expanding gun rights during the legislative session.

Biden Administration Collecting Information on Millions of American Gun Owners

November 10, 2021November 9, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

In just one year, the Biden Administration has collected records of over 54 million legal gun-owners in the United States, for the purpose of increased surveillance of such citizens by the federal government, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

As shown in internal documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), the ATF processed approximately 54.7 million records in fiscal year 2021. These documents were obtained by the gun rights advocacy group Gun Owners of America (GOA). The records in question are “out-of-business” documents, which consist of all firearms-related transactions made by a particular gun store after the store has gone out of business, at which point those records become property of the ATF.

In the year 2021, the ATF used this method to collect 53.8 million paper records, and roughly 887,000 electronic records. Gun stores are currently allowed to destroy records that are 20 years old or older; the Biden Administration is actively pursuing avenues to ensure that such records are made permanent and cannot be destroyed.

Biden, Congress Seek to Chip Away at Gun Rights with United Nations Arms Treaty, Military Red Flag Law

October 4, 2021October 4, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Congressional Democrats and the Biden administration are attempting to nibble away at the Second Amendment from both within and without the U.S., gun rights advocates warn, as Congress seeks to pass a red flag law for military members and the president eyes signing on to a United Nations arms treaty.

Red flag laws that would apply to military members were slipped into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by the House of Representatives last week with the help of 135 Republicans.

Red flag laws are “essentially bypassing due process,” Gun Owners of America’s Director of Outreach Antonia Okafor told the John Solomon Reports podcast on Wednesday. “It is going from one person who says they accuse you of being a danger to yourself, or to somebody else, and then going to a judge that then gets reasonable suspicion, right, that you are a danger to yourself or somebody else.”

Florida Supreme Court to Hear Contentious Gun-Rights Case

September 11, 2021 Grant Holcomb

The Florida Supreme Court is taking up a gun-rights case related to a 2011 state law which implements penalties on local governments if they pass stricter gun-control laws.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and a group of municipal governments brought the case to Florida’s high court. Before Fried was elected in November 2018, a coalition of local officials filed suit against the law after the February 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Petition Urges North Dakota County to Ban Sanctuary Cities, Illegal Immigrants, and Refugees

July 11, 2021July 10, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

A petition urging officials in a North Dakota county to ban sanctuary cities, illegal immigrants, and refugees gained around 5,000 signatures as of Tuesday, the Minot Daily News reported.

The Ward County Commission said they would uphold laws prohibiting illegal immigration and those supporting Second Amendment rights, though they asked petitioners to provide more specific language to be considered, according to the Minot Daily News. The petition asked the commission to ban illegal immigration and refugees from the county and to establish the region as a “gun sanctuary.”

Residents in Ward County started the petition “to ban sanctuary cities, illegal immigrants, aliens, refugees in Ward County, North Dakota, and add Ward County, North Dakota, as a Second Amendment gun sanctuary county,” the Minot Daily News reported.

Record High 300,000 Gun Sales Blocked by Background Checks in 2020

June 24, 2021June 23, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

The U.S. background check system prevented over 300,000 gun sales in 2020, a record high, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

Background checks blocked almost double the number of sales in 2020 compared to the year before, with 42% of rejections due to felony convictions, according to FBI data obtained by the AP. The data also shows that the rate of barred would-be gun owners increased from 0.6% to 0.8% over the past two years.

The rate increase could be because a number of people buying guns for the first time did not realize they were unable to purchase a gun, Adam Winkler, a UCLA Law professor specializing in gun policy, told the AP. “Some may have a felony conviction on their record and not think about it,” he said.

Court Backs Concealed Weapons Applicant over Florida Dept. of Agriculture

June 19, 2021June 18, 2021 Grant Holcomb

The 1st District Court of Appeals has ruled Nikki Fried’s Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services improperly denied a concealed weapons license to a man who was previously convicted in 1969 in Illinois.

The man, only identified as R.C., said his rights were restored in 1971, two years after his conviction for stealing an eight-track tape player, and even was approved for a concealed weapons license in Illinois before moving to Florida.

Gov. Lee’s Signature Makes Tennessee a Second Amendment Sanctuary

May 31, 2021May 30, 2021 The Center Square

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill Wednesday that makes the state a Second Amendment sanctuary.

Senate Bill 1335 prevents any “law, treaty, executive order, rule, or regulation of the United States government” that violates the Tennessee Constitution or the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution from being enforced in the state.

That violation would have to be determined by either the Tennessee or U.S. Supreme Court. The stipulation was added during debate of the bill in the Tennessee House, and the Senate concurred.

Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Against Warrantless Gun Seizures

May 19, 2021May 18, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Disassembled Glock G43X (barrel, guide rod, and slide removed), loaded magazine, and 9mm round.

On Monday, in a rare unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the Biden Administration in a case regarding the legality of warrantless searches and seizures of firearms, The Epoch Times reports.

The case, Caniglia v. Strom, began oral arguments roughly two months ago. The case stems from an incident in Cranston, Rhode Island, back in August of 2015, where a man named Edward Caniglia had an argument with his wife of 22 years. Eventually, Caniglia withdrew an unloaded gun and suggested that his wife shoot him and “get me out of my misery.” His wife then called the police asking them to carry out a welfare check, where Caniglia was taken to the hospital.

Despite the police’s assurance that his guns would not be confiscated, they ultimately did seize his firearms without a warrant after he had been hospitalized, and refused to return them to him after he was discharged. Caniglia subsequently sued, claiming that the exception for community caretaking, which is what the police claimed to have used in this case, should not apply inside his home.

Analysis: Progressive Myths About Mass Shootings and Weapons of War

April 2, 2021April 1, 2021 Florida Capital Star Staff

Within a week of blaming “white supremacy” for the murder of six Asian and two white women by a white man in Georgia, progressives are now blaming “assault weapons” for a mass shooting in which a Trump-hating Muslim immigrant with a history of violence, mental illness, and racial animus gunned down 10 white people in a Boulder, Colorado supermarket.

Beyond the duplicity of highlighting race only when the killer is white and the victims are not, progressive lawmakers, activists, and journalists are using a litany of falsehoods in an attempt to ban common semi-automatic guns used for home defense and hunting.