Open Carry for CWL Holders passes the Florida House

Brushfyre | By James Menendez | February 4, 2016

HB-163 Open Carry/CW License Holders by Rep. Matt Gaetz PASSED THE HOUSE 80-38  under the strong leadership of Rep. Matt Gaetz and outstanding floor debate by Representatives Dennis Baxley, Neil Combee, Dane Eagle, Julio Gonzalez, Shawn Harrison, Michelle Rehwinkle-Vasilinda, Jimmie Smith and John Wood.

       
HB-163 is a bill to allow persons with a Concealed Weapons & Firearms License to carry firearms concealed or openly which will prevent CW license holders from being charged with the crime of violating the "Open Carry" law because a concealed firearm, being legally carried, becomes visible to the sight of another person. Terms like inadvertently, accidentally, unintentionally, not deliberate, briefly, etc., are subjective, arbitrary and capricious and will not protect license holders.

Full Open Carry is the ONLY way to protect law-abiding license holders. The Senate companion bill, SB-300 by Sen. Don Gaetz, is currently awaiting a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

U.S. eyes ways to toughen fight against domestic extremists

Reuters | By Julia Harte, Julia Edwards and Andy Sullivan | February 4, 2016

Department of Justice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department is considering legal changes to combat what it sees as a rising threat from domestic anti-government extremists, senior officials told Reuters, even as it steps up efforts to stop Islamic State-inspired attacks at home.

Extremist groups motivated by a range of U.S.-born philosophies present a "clear and present danger," John Carlin, the Justice Department's chief of national security, told Reuters in an interview. “Based on recent reports and the cases we are seeing, it seems like we’re in a heightened environment.”

Over the past year, the Justice Department has brought charges against domestic extremist suspects accused of attempting to bomb U.S. military bases, kill police officers and fire bomb a school and other buildings in a predominantly Muslim town in New York state.

But federal prosecutors tackling domestic extremists still lack an important legal tool they have used extensively in dozens of prosecutions against Islamic State-inspired suspects: a law that prohibits supporting designated terrorist groups.

Carlin and other Justice Department officials declined to say if they would ask Congress for a comparable domestic extremist statute, or comment on what other changes they might pursue to toughen the fight against anti-government extremists.

The U.S. State Department designates international terrorist organizations to which it is illegal to provide "material support." No domestic groups have that designation, helping to create a disparity in charges faced by international extremist suspects compared to domestic ones.

A Reuters analysis of more than 100 federal cases found that domestic terrorism suspects collectively have faced less severe charges than those accused of acting on behalf of Islamic State since prosecutors began targeting that group in early 2014.

Over the past two years, 27 defendants have been charged with plotting or inciting attacks within the United States in the name of Islamic State. They have faced charges that carried a median prison sentence of 53 years - half of the defendants faced more, and half faced less.

In the same period, 27 adherents of U.S.-based anti-government ideologies have been charged with similar activity. They faced charges that carried a median prison sentence of 20 years.

Carlin said his counter-terrorism team, including a recently hired counsel, is taking a “thoughtful look at the nature and scope of the domestic terrorism threat” and helping to analyze “potential legal improvements and enhancements to better combat those threats.”

The counsel, who was appointed last October and has not been named publicly, will identify cases being prosecuted at the state level that “could arguably meet the federal definition of domestic terrorism," a Justice Department official said.

That would give the department a direct role in more domestic extremism cases.

Recognizing that domestic threats were “rapidly evolving, and had the potential to grow,” the department in March 2015 rated disrupting such terrorists as a key component of its broader counter-terrorism efforts, officials said.

THE THREAT PENDULUM

The Justice Department aggressively pursued domestic extremists after Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.

The government shifted its focus to international terrorism after al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.

But in recent years anti-government activists, like those who occupied a wildlife preserve in eastern Oregon last month, have regained prominence.

As law enforcement experts confront domestic militia groups, "sovereign citizens" who do not recognize government authority, and other anti-government extremists, they also face a heightened threat from Islamic extremists like the couple who carried out the Dec. 2 shootings in San Bernardino, California.

"A new development we're seeing is that when it comes to ISIL investigations, the flash-to-bang time from radicalization to action appears to be happening faster than with other types of terrorists," said Michael Steinbach, the head of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division.

As a result, government agents are quick to investigate people who appear sympathetic toward Islamic State, current and former officials say. But some say the government has been overzealous in its pursuit of Islamic State suspects.

Similar actions by extremist suspects have yielded sharply disparate sentences.

Eight Islamic State-related defendants have been sentenced so far, to prison terms that range from three to 20 years, the Reuters review found. Over the same period, 18 domestic extremists have been sentenced to terms from one day to 12 years.

Prosecutors say Harlem Suarez, 23, of Key West, Florida, tried to buy a bomb last year from an undercover FBI agent as he plotted attacks on behalf of Islamic State. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison and has pleaded not guilty.

Michael Sibley, 67, left two unexploded pipe bombs and a Koran in a park in Roswell, Georgia in 2014 in what he later told police was an attempt to highlight the danger of Islamic terrorism. He pleaded guilty and faces a maximum of five years in prison.

"A different standard is being applied to Muslims than to other people," said Daryl Johnson, a former counterterrorism expert at the Department of Homeland Security who now works as a law enforcement consultant.

"SPRING-LOADED"

Steinbach said that the FBI can never open up any type of investigation “just on the basis of race, creed, or religion,”

But he added that federal agents are "spring-loaded" to open investigations into Americans who support groups on the State Department list of designated terrorist organizations.

The maximum penalty for supporting one of these groups has been raised from 10 years to 20 years in prison since 2001.

It has been applied in 58 of the government's 79 Islamic State cases since 2014 against defendants who engaged in a wide range of activity, from traveling to Syria to fight alongside Islamic State to raising money for a friend who wished to do so.

Judges usually issue sentences below the maximum, but some charges trigger sentencing "enhancements" that raise the baseline sentence a judge can issue – and the material support charge raises it more than most.

Domestic groups enjoy greater constitutional protections because being a member of those groups, no matter how extreme their rhetoric, is not a crime.

Prosecutors can bring “material support” terrorism charges against defendants who aren't linked to groups on the State Department's list, but they have only done so twice against non-jihadist suspects since the law was enacted in 1994. The law, which prohibits supporting people who have been deemed to be terrorists by their actions, carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Current and former federal prosecutors say they rarely consider that statute in domestic terrorism cases because it is often hard to convince a jury that someone who is not affiliated with a foreign group can be guilty of terrorism.

William Wilmoth, a former federal prosecutor who invoked that law in a 1996 case against a West Virginia militia member, said he was surprised to hear that it isn't used more often.

"These guys have every right to have off-center political views," he said. "But when they made affirmative steps to blow up an actual federal facility... we thought it was an important place for us to go and prosecute."



(Reporting by Julia Harte, Julia Edwards and Andy Sullivan; editing by Stuart Grudgings)

UNDERCOVER VIDEO: COMEDIAN DEBUNKS GUN SHOW ‘LOOPHOLE’

Adan Salazar | Infowars | JANUARY 28, 2016

IMAGE SOURCE: INFOWARS, LOUDER WITH CROWDER

Despite claims that gun shows facilitate easy access to guns, it’s impossible to purchase a firearm at a gun show or gun store without a background check, comedian and political commentator Steven Crowder proved in a recent stunt.

In an undercover video compilation produced for his web series Louder with Crowder, the prankster visited multiple gun stores and inquired about purchasing “automatic weapons,” which the media and politicians such as President Obama regularly confuse for semi-automatics.


“Fully automatic? Oh, no. I don’t have a class three license,” one gun store vendor tells Crowder.

Another vendor says he doesn’t sell automatic weapons because doing so would require a “super crazy license.”


When Crowder does find a vendor selling Title II weapons, the dealer tells him ATF regulations require “paperwork signed off by your chief local law enforcement officer,” as well as proper identification and a host of other documentation.

“You could come in with a million dollars cash and I still wouldn’t give it to you,” the vendor says.

Crowder also approaches several firearms dealers at various gun shows and stores inquiring about purchasing a gun without having to undergo an FBI National Instant Criminal Background check, to which all vendors refuse.

“I was told that I could go to a gun show and there would be no background check,” Crowder tells a vendor who proceeds to laugh at him.

“I was told by the president that I could go here,” Crowder tells the vendor.

“You believe him?” the man asks.

The stunt shows how politicians blatantly misconstrue the facts to manipulate the American public into supporting legislation and executive actions that will only make it harder for law-abiding citizens to obtain firearms.

“We’ve already covered how the gun show loophole was a giant myth and a distraction, but this realllly puts it into perspective,” notes Crowder. “Guns are not easy to buy. Guns are so difficult to buy, we nearly got arrested for trying to buy guns the way Obama says people by guns. Which means, Obama is, as we already knew, a giant liar. He hates your Second Amendment rights almost as much as he hates people who work for a living.”

Active shooter reported at San Diego Navy medical center

LA Times | Veronica Rocha and Joseph Serna | January 26, 2016



Watch live video: The scene at the San Diego naval hospital

An active shooter was reported at the Naval Medical Center San Diego, where occupants were advised to “run, hide or fight.”

The hospital reported the active shooter at about 8:22 a.m., prompting staff to advise all non-emergency personnel to stay away from the compound in the 34800 block of Bob Wilson Drive in San Diego.

“**!ATTENTION!** An active shooter has just been been reported in building #26 at Naval Medical Center San Diego. All occupants are advised to run, hide or fight,” the hospital wrote on Facebook.

A U.S. Navy spokesperson said authorities were currently searching center buildings. Law enforcement was preparing to search the hospital with a K9 unit just before 9:30 a.m., according to John Nylander, a spokesman for the base.


The San Diego Fire Department confirmed that military police on the base are investigating an active shooter report, said Joseph Amandor, a department spokesman.

Firefighters have not been called to the scene and there was no other information available, Amandor said.

The Naval Base San Diego on Facebook said the active shooter report was at the Balboa medical center Building 26.

“If you are in the vicinity, shelter in place. If in immediate danger, hide or seek shelter in secure space. Barricade the door and dial 911. Silence phones and other devices. Stay away from doors and windows. Remain calm and quiet.”

The U.S. Marshals, the Chula Vista Police Department and the CHP are assisting, authorities said.

The medical center posted an update shortly after 9 a.m. saying that all childcare facilities were secured:

"!UPDATE! For all concerned, the childcare facilities at NMC are currently secured. All children are accounted for and safe. The entire complex is secured, there is no access to the facilities at this time. "

Militia in Flint join calls for justice in water crisis

Daniel Bethencourt | Detroit Free Press | 7:36 p.m. EST January 24, 2016

(Photo: REGINA H. BOONE/Detroit Free Press)

Flint may have seen multiple rallies in recent weeks that called attention to the city's water crisis — but few if any were as surprising as a rally held by the Genesee County Volunteer Militia.

On Sunday afternoon, about 30 militia supporters clad in camouflage gear and bearing “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, gathered outside of City Hall to demand accountability amid a national discussion over how the city’s water supply became contaminated.

“We’re here to defend this community," said Matthew Krol, the militia's executive officer, addressing the crowd in a full camouflage outfit with a handgun strapped to his hip. “We’re not going to allow (the government) to step on the people of Flint any longer.”

He added: “If it means having to take up arms in defense ... we will do that as well.”

Politically, the militia may not seem to have much in common with past leaders who have called attention to the crisis, including filmmaker Michael Moore or civil rights leader Jesse Jackson. The militia's Facebook page is filled with proclamations of gun rights, and also bears posts favorable to the armed militia that have been occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge. A handful of people in the Flint crowd on Sunday were open-carrying pistols.

Some of those disagreements became obvious when Krol told the group: “This is not a racial issue, unlike some people last week tried to say. It’s a human issue.”

Yet, Dave McKellar said his group was lending their support to a cause that has sparked a national outcry and become the subject of international headlines. Militia members have spent the last week or so delivering non-contaminated water door-to-door with the American Red Cross, and McKellar said that about 50 more militia members would have come to the rally except that he instructed them to help distribute bottled water instead.

Krol echoed Moore’s previous comments when he said local and state leaders knowingly lied to the people. As he spoke, onlookers cried: “They knew!” and “Unacceptable!”

The water supply became contaminated with lead in April 2014 while the city was under the control of a state-appointed emergency manager. The state Department of Environmental Quality admitted that it failed to require corrosion-control chemicals in the water when the city switched its source to the Flint River. Other critics also blamed local officials and federal environmental experts for their roles.

For months, local and state officials failed to answer alarm bells sounded by outraged citizens who complained of discolored and foul-smelling tap water.

As for when the water may ever be safe to drink again, early test results show lead levels in Flint's drinking water appear to be falling — but experts warn it's too early to stop using bottled water and tap filters.

McKellar, a militia liaison who helped organize the rally, told the crowd that “What happened here is a crime.”

But, he added: “The only color that was involved is green.”

Contact Daniel Bethencourt: dbethencourt@freepress.com or 313-223-4531. Follow on Twitter at @_dbethencourt. Free Press Staff Writers John Wisely, Robert Allen and Matthew Dolan contributed to this report.

SMART GUNS: DUMB & DUMBER

David Knight | Infowars.com - JANUARY 20, 2016

Why have gun owners rejected and boycotted smart guns? Why does Obama want them so badly that he will use your tax money to create them and shove them down your throat?

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which just ended in Las Vegas, a vendor wanted to demonstrate his Smart Gun Lock saying it “Answers President Obama’s Call for a Smart Gun.”

But the CES wouldn’t allow him to bring an unloaded gun into the show, not even an imitation gun — not even for Obama.

There’s an important lesson in that. They don’t really want better tech. In their fear and ignorance they just want to get rid of guns. Obama doesn’t want to make you safe, he wants to take away your liberty to own guns and protect yourself.

Smart guns will add several layers of complexity to firearms (electronics, software and more cumbersome operation) that will make them less reliable, more expensive and more difficult to use. But smart gun technology will also allow government to track and disable firearms.

Perhaps that’s why Obama will spend any amount to create something no one wants.