Author Archive: parkercountyblog

A Pair Of Academics Question Gun-Control Orthodoxy

By parkercountyblog on

1st Freedom by A1F Staff – Monday, September 30, 2019

A Pair Of Academics Question Gun-Control Orthodoxy

Given that so much gun-policy research is explicitly funded by individuals hostile to our rights, gun owners are right to be skeptical of many academics. However, there are times when well-respected academics have proven confident enough to challenge the prevailing anti-gun orthodoxies. Such is the case with recent pieces from James Alan Fox, professor of criminology, law, and public policy at Northeastern University, and Thomas Abt, research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

In a July 23 item for USA Today, Fox pondered why a recent mass killing in Kyoto, Japan, did not garner significant attention in the U.S. media. On July 18, a man entered the Kyoto Animation studio and doused parts of the building with an accelerant and screamed “drop dead” or “die!” before setting the building ablaze. The resulting fire killed 34 people and injured more than 30.

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Posted in: Parker County Issues

The Armed Citizen

By parkercountyblog on

NRA/American Rifleman, October, 2019

Read these amazing stories which highlight accounts of law-abiding gun owners in America using their Second Amendment rights for self-defense in this online edition of the Armed Citizen®.

September, 2019 –

An armed robber was shot dead by a 22-year-old man early in the morning on Detroit’s West side. Two men on foot reportedly approached three people, seated inside a vehicle, from behind and attempted to rob them. One robber, armed with a gun, allegedly assaulted the driver and demanded items. The 22-year-old drew his concealed-carry firearm and shot the robber multiple times. The man died at the scene from his injuries. The other man allegedly fled. (detroitnews.com, Detroit, Mich., 8/8/19)

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Posted in: National Issues

The Keefe Report: Colt’s Mfg. and Foolishness

By parkercountyblog on

The American Rifleman, by Mark Keefe, 09/20/19 –

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Internet foolishness has forced a very busy man with a big job, Colt’s Mfg. Co. President and CEO Dennis Veilleux, to step away from making sure guns are produced at the East Hartford, Conn., factory and, instead, focus on the chatroom perception that, somehow, today’s Colt’s is against the consumer sale of AR-15s.

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Posted in: Parker County Issues

Commentary: Dan Patrick, Not Beto, Is the Biggest Threat to Texas Gun Owners

By parkercountyblog on

TexasScoreCard, By |September 20, 2019

This is a sure way to demoralize the GOP base, destroy the Republican brand, and turn Texas blue.

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“Hell yes, we are going to take your AR-15.”

Beto O’Rourke’s proclamation at the third Democratic presidential debate dominated the news last week. Though it was a revealing moment of candor, Beto shouldn’t worry gun owners. He holds no office, is at 1 percent in the polls, and will not be able to affect Texans’ gun rights in any material way in the foreseeable future.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick—not Beto—poses the biggest threat to Texas gun owners. Not only is he pushing a new law that would make greater strides towards Beto’s goal of gun confiscation than anything President Obama was ever able to achieve in eight years in office, but he also has the influence and power to ensure that law is passed.

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Posted in: Parker County Issues, Texas Issues

Why the Right to Bear Arms Is an Individual Right

By parkercountyblog on

THE DAILY SIGNAL, Jarrett Stepman 

Does the Second Amendment protect an individual right to gun ownership, or is it a collective right that can and should be heavily regulated by the state?

In light of recent debates about mass shootings and gun control, that argument—which has been at the heart of many conversations about gun control—was fleshed out by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

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Posted in: National Issues

Why Socialism, and Why Now?

By parkercountyblog on | 1 Comment

“Socialist!” is no longer a McCarthyite slur.

Rather, the fresh celebrity “Squad” of newly elected identity-politics congresswomen – Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) — often either claim to be socialists or embrace socialist ideas. A recent Harris poll showed that about half of so-called millennials would like to live in a socialist country.

Five years ago, septuagenarian Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) was considered an irrelevant lone socialist in the U.S. Senate — Vermont’s trademark contribution to cranky quirkiness. But in 2016, Sanders’ improbable Democratic primary run almost knocked off front-runner Hillary Clinton, even as socialist governments were either imploding or stagnating the world over.

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Posted in: National Issues

Answers to Common Questions About ‘Red Flag’ Gun Laws

By parkercountyblog on

THE DAILY SIGNAL, Amy Swearer / /

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The national gun control conversation often sounds like a broken record, with the same advocates resorting to the same talking points about decades-old proposals, such as banning so-called assault weapons or imposing universal background checks.

But, as we noted in our recent article “Answering Common Gun-Related Questions After Recent Shootings in El Paso and Dayton,” the latest tragedies have added some new, complex layers to the mix—layers that are not always easy to parse through in the midst of all of the background noise.

One of those added layers is the focus on “red flag” laws, also known as “extreme-risk protection orders” or gun violence restraining orders.

What are these laws? What do they accomplish that existing laws don’t already do? What concerns should law-abiding Americans have about them?

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Posted in: National Issues

Skillet’s John Cooper on Apostasy Among Young Christian Leaders

By parkercountyblog on

From COGENT CHRISTIANITY

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by George Brahm

John Cooper, lead singer for the rock band Skillet, responded to the litany of recent apostasies among young Christian leaders. In a Facebook post titled ‘What in God’s Name is Happening in Christianity?’ put up on Tuesday, August 13, Cooper directly addressed the reasons given by Hillsong songwriter Marty Sampson for renouncing his Christian faith, before highlighting the need for Christians to stay grounded in a truth-driven faith over an emotion-driven one. Here is the text of the post in its entirety (not corrected for spelling or punctuation):

“Ok I’m saying it. Because it’s too important not to.

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Posted in: National Issues

If Medicare Is for All, Why Not Chevrolets for All?

By parkercountyblog on | 1 Comment

THE DAILY SIGNAL, by Elad Vaida / /

“Why do we think it would be ridiculous for the government to mandate which cars we must drive, but not which health insurance plans we must choose?” writes Elad Vaida. (Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

America suffers from a grave societal ill that somehow has been totally ignored.

As debate rages about health care (among other hot-button issues), no one is discussing a very alarming statistic: As of 2015, nearly 10% of U.S. households didn’t have a car.

That’s a severe problem, because affordable transportation is a basic human right, and not an issue for car companies to profit from greedily.

Millions of Americans are living without cars, and the only way to remedy that is by implementing a national, government-funded “Chevrolets for All” plan that would put a Chevy in the garage, driveway, or parking lot of every single adult American.

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Posted in: National Issues

How Faulty Assumptions in Climate Predictions Could Mean Big Costs for Americans

By parkercountyblog on

THE DAILY SIGNAL, Kevin Mooney / /

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., speaks about her proposed Green New Deal during a May 13 rally at Howard University in Washington. (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Family incomes will take a severe hit and household electricity prices will jump rapidly if policymakers use the “social cost of carbon” to justify new environmental regulations, a Heritage Foundation statistician warned during a climate change conference in Washington.

Since computer climate models are grounded in assumptions about the impact of carbon dioxide emissions, the results “can be all over the map,” Kevin Dayaratna said at the Heartland Institute’s conference.

These results then can be “rigged by policymakers” to achieve their desired results, Dayaratna said during his presentation.

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Posted in: National Issues