ACLU Defends Representation of NRA Before SCOTUS

It has been said that politics makes strange bedfellows. 

In the case involving the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Rifle Association, the Bill of Rights, specifically, the First Amendment, has them joining together before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ACLU is joining the NRA's case at SCOTUS over violations of their First Amendment rights, which has caused a backlash by radical leftist gun control groups.

Mediate reported:

The ACLU announced on Saturday its decision to represent the NRA in a major First Amendment case before the United States Supreme Court, and offered defense on social media for doing so after backlash from gun control advocates and even its own New York chapter.

The American Civil Liberties Union shared on X (formerly Twitter) the breaking news on Saturday that it will be representing the National Rifle Association in a First Amendment case at the Supreme Court.

BREAKING: We’re representing the NRA at the Supreme Court in their case against New York’s Department of Financial Services for abusing its regulatory power to violate the NRA’s First Amendment rights.

The government can’t blacklist an advocacy group because of its viewpoint.

— ACLU (@ACLU) December 9, 2023

To read more, go here. 

Reports of Voter Intimidation In Otero County

Above, graphic by the ACLU.

Some election officials are already pulling some shenanigans (I could use a stronger term) during early voting in New Mexico. The following is allegedly happening in Otero County.

According to an article in the Piñon Post:

Tuesday is Election Day, and there are some reports already of voter intimidation during early voting that concluded on Saturday. 

According to elections expert Erin Clements, Otero County Clerk Robin Holmes “is telling her poll workers that if voters want to use their own blue pen to fill out their ballots… to WRITE DOWN THEIR NAMES AND REFER THEM TO THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY,” adding, “That’s  VOTER INTIMIDATION from a public official!”

According to NMSA 1-12-57, “After marking and preparing a paper ballot in a polling place, the voter: A. shall not show it to any person in the polling place in such a way as to reveal its contents; And B. shall feed the paper ballot into the electronic vote tabulator.” 

Therefore, the poll workers should not be able even to know if the individual used a blue or black pen to fill in the ballot.

Let's get one thing straight, voter intimidation is illegal, no matter who is doing it!

To read more, go here. 

UPDATE:

Since I blogged this article earlier today. I looked further into this. One has to wonder just who were the ones complaining. Robin Holmes is a Republican, so it seems odd that she would be trying to intimidate anyone. Intimidation is the Democrat modus operandi, not Republican. Maybe Democrat plants? Just be extra cautious when voting.

California Has The Most Comprehensive US Gun Confiscation Rules

Californians lost a great opportunity to be rid of radical leftist Gov. Gavin Newsom during the recent recall election.

Newsom signed 15-gun related laws, including one that expands the state's restraining order "red flag" law. It is so bad that even the ACLU opposes it and ex-Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed it twice.

Well, that's what happens when a state becomes a one-party state comprised of radical leftists. I'm glad I left.

The Shepherd of the Hills Gazette reported:

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – California Governor Gavin Newsom signed law Friday that will allow the state to be the first to allow employers, employees and teachers to seek injunctions against gun violence against other people.

The bill has been twice opposed by former Democratic Governor Jerry Brown, and goes beyond a measure he signed that only allows law enforcement officers and immediate family members to order judges to temporarily take away people’s guns if they pose a threat to themselves be viewed, or others.

Newsom is also a Democrat and has signed an accompanying law allowing gun violence to be extended for one to five years, although gun owners could request to end those restrictions sooner.

The new laws are among the 15 gun-related laws Newsom approved as the state strengthens the nation’s toughest restrictions named the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.  

The measure was opposed by gun owners’ rights groups and the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU said the bill “poses a significant threat to civil liberties” as orders can be requested before gun owners have a chance to appeal.

 To read the full article, go here.

Biden Administration In Talks To Pay $450,000 To Illegals

The Looney Left Report

There is hardly a day that goes by these past ten months that something new and ridiculous is conjured up by the Biden Administration and the Democrat Party.

The latest is paying illegal aliens hundreds of thousands of dollars (or even millions) for families separated at the border. And, sure as manure (I had to clean that up a bit), the ACLU is involved.

The New York Post reported:

The Biden administration is discussing paying out hundreds of millions of dollars to illegal immigrant families who were separated at the US-Mexico border under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy in 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

According to the Journal, the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering the payments in order to settle lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and others on behalf of families who crossed into the US from Mexico illegally to seek asylum.

The paper reports that the average demand in each lawsuit adds up to approximately $3.4 million per family, while the settlement offer being mooted by the Biden administration amounts to around $450,000 per person and close to $1 million per family.

This, of course, are our tax dollars! 

Now, do you see why leftist Democrats should never be put in charge of our tax dollars?

To read more, go here.

American Rifleman March Issue Has Arrived

Above, the March 2021 issue of American Rifleman.

The other day, I was thinking that the latest issue of American Rifleman should be arriving at any time.

Well, sure enough, the March issue arrived in today's mail.

As usual, the magazine was chock-full of interesting articles. During my initial perusal, one that caught my immediate attention was "America's Ammo Shortage: When Will It End?"

The writer checked with several ammunition manufacturers and each thinks the shortage would be ending soon, despite several have expanded their plants and added new facilities. The main cause was/is people's reactions to the coronavirus, election, riots and other reasons of last year. Like the toilet paper hoarding of last year, many are reacting by hoarding ammunition.

Another article that caught my eye was Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's write-up on the NRA's reincorporating in the state of Texas since the New York attorney general (the NRA is currently incorporated in New York), Letitia James began "investigating" the NRA. Her actions in weaponizing legal and regulatory power are nothing less than an attack on the organization for political purposes. It is so bad that even the American Civil Liberties Union National Legal Director David Cole called it "overreach" and "no precedent for such extreme action." So, the NRA is reincorporating to the much friendlier state of Texas.

So, if you are a NRA member, keep an eye out in your mailbox.

ACLU Agrees: Red Flag Laws Violate Civil Rights

Who'd have thunk?

According to an article in the American Gun News, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) agrees that "red flag" gun laws violate civil rights.

The article states (in part):

The primary tool anti-gunners have found to get around the Second Amendment is the most controversial – red flag laws. Red flag laws enable ex-girlfriends, neighbors, old bosses, and distant family relatives to get local police to confiscate your firearms without you doing one thing wrong. All they have to do is say they fear you are a danger to yourself and/or others, and you own firearms. 

There is no due process. Armed police will enter your home and take your firearms – just like in Nazi Germany. 

The totalitarian measure has a singular source: Far-left anti-gunners. Many of them are funded by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his billions via Everytown for Gun Safety and political funding. Bloomberg and other anti-gunners like him want to disarm civilized society, much like New York City does its most to disarm its law-abiding residents. 

While there is a singular source backing extremist laws like red flag laws, a diverse group opposes them. The one uniting principle is a simple and very potent one: Red flag laws violate civil rights. Specifically, they violate the rights to due process, self-defense, and the Second Amendment. 

The ACLU cautions against red flag laws and their “impact on civil liberties, and the precedent it sets for the use of coercive measures against individuals, not because they are alleged to have committed any crime, but because somebody believes they might, someday, commit one.” 

The ACLU says red flag laws enable a court to violate civil rights without any real evidence someone is an “imminent threat.” The simple, unfounded fear that someone might cause harm to others without any evidence of prior history or overt threats of firearms violence is all it takes to violate civil rights under red flag laws.

To read more, go here.