Sorry, Gun-Grabbers, We’ve All Seen Where Those ‘Common Sense’ Proposals Lead.

khary penebaker tweet

Khary Penebaker describes himself in his X profile as a “Speaker. Advocate. Father. I build things and fight for what matters. Gun violence prevention is personal. Sneakerhead. Round Earther.”

Good to know. 

He also ran as a Democrat — very unsuccessfully against a well-established incumbent — for a congressional seat in Wisconsin back in 2016.

Now, after a string of spectacular defeats for the cause of civilian disarmament in America, he seems to have decided that the best strategy is to go back to gun control default settings first principles, trying to sell whoever will listen to him on just a few basic “common sense” ideas that will obviously save lives and of course everyone can get behind that. Because we all just want to be safe. Right?

What guys like Penebaker seem to forget is that this is 2026. Some of us out here live in states where the “common sense” types have been in full control for years. Decades even. That means we know that what he’s selling is a steaming load of bullshit.

California, for instance, has (and this is just off the top of my head):

1. Bans on most common handguns

2. Bans on common rifles unless they have stupid compliance “features” (and now they want to ban those too)

3. Concealed carry permit application fees as high as $2,000 in total expense…and that’s aside from the significant time investment involved including a police interview, a two-day training course, Livescan fingerprinting, gathering personal references, and sometimes even a psych exam in some counties

4. An 11% tax on sales of guns and ammo

5. A 10-day waiting period to buy a gun, even if you already own other guns

6. Bans on carry in many types of public places, even if you went through all the trouble to get an expensive, time-consuming carry permit

There are tons more restrictions, hurdles, and roadblocks the books. Those are just a few examples.

Maybe those on the gun control side, people like Penebaker, would be a lot more successful selling this stuff in 2026 if it were actually true that all they want is a few things like background checks, safe storage, and red flag laws. Maybe.

Byut that isn’t true. It never was. We’re not stupid. We know what’s down that road. We’ve seen what blue states have done and are still doing, even now. Time to re-think your strategy, Khary.

 

Kostas Moros is Director of Legal Research and Education for the Second Amendment Foundation.

After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community.
It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd.
The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting.
Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
— Alexis de Tocqueville

Don’t DSA the USA, Protect Liberty to Stop Communism

By Larry Keane

There’s a dark mood creeping into American politics that has even the most die-hard gun control politicians worried. Democrats, typically (but not always) aligned with gun control, are facing the prospect of their political party turning their gaze to complete control.

Enter the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

These candidates for political office aren’t your grandfather’s Democrats or even limousine liberals. They can’t even honestly call themselves socialists. They’re cosplaying communists who are shredding any pretense of respect or admiration for the U.S. Constitution.

This is what George Orwell warned of in his novel, “1984.” They want complete and total control of the American government, including openly calling for abolishing of the U.S. Constitution, tearing down the balance of powers between the three branches of government, destroying of Department of War and most ominously, seizing the “resources and production.”

Make no mistake. Controlling the firearm and ammunition industry would be on the top of that list.

Who is the DSA?

The DSA has been making waves by striking out against Democratic candidates in primaries. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Most notably, disgraced former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, Graham Platner, the fabled “oyster farmer” whose scandal-ridden past finally crashed his run for office, is an avowed member of the DSA.

But Platner wasn’t democratic by any means. He was full-on Communist. That was uncovered in his previous online postings, which he attempted to delete. Holding his hand the whole way along was U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). That’s the same Sen. Sanders who honeymooned in Moscow in 1988, while the Communist Soviet Union was still in power.

Platner’s rise and inglorious immolation only emboldened members of the DSA. More candidates are on tickets in New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin. Democrats, who are notoriously anti-Second Amendment, are suddenly finding themselves having to defend against a communist flank in their own party.

That should concern everyone who believes the U.S. Constitution is the founding document that guides America’s form of government and protects Second Amendment rights. The DSA’s party platform essentially calls to tear it all down. They would burn it to rule over the ashes.

DSA Platform

The DSA’s platform includes abolition of the U.S. Senate (sorry, Sen. Sanders for losing your job), replacing the President of the United States and U.S. Supreme Court with an Executive and Judicial Branch that would be subordinate to what’s left of Congress.

That’s not reforming the U.S. Constitution. That’s complete annihilation of it. The first three articles of the U.S. Constitution set up the federal government’s Legislative, Executive and Judicial Branches. Each branch is co-equal and is a check and balance on the other.

The DSA would give their new form of government complete authority, with the Executive and Judiciary subservient to the authority of what’s left of the Legislative Branch. It’s spelled out in their platform where they call for “a new democratic constitution.”

The DSA platform also espouses seizing control of the means of production. The DSA’s Constitution & Bylaws state in Article II that “We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane social order based on popular control of resources and production…”

Further, in 2018, the DSA explicitly called for the repeal of the Second Amendment, stating, “… the only way to guarantee that we will dramatically reduce acts of violence involving guns is to remove guns from society…” The DSA called for adoption of a 28th Amendment, repealing the Second Amendment and the prohibiting of “manufacturing, transportation or importation in or into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of pump-action, semi-automatic or automatic firearms.”

That’s not just ending an individual right to keep and bear commonly-owned firearms (the DSA would “allow” individuals to maintain ownership of single-shot firearms), it means the DSA would seize control of the firearm and ammunition industry, since the DSA platform calls for “popular control of resources and production.”

That’s full-on communism, which is marked by brutal violence.

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“The Constitutions of most of our states assert that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in all cases to which they think themselves competent, (as in electing their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury of themselves, both fact and law, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved) or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are entitled to freedom of person; freedom of religion; freedom of property; and freedom of the press.”
– Thomas Jefferson, Letter to John Cartwright, June 5, 1824

 Crossing a State Line Shouldn’t Cost You Your Right to Self-Defense

Imagine a woman driving across state lines alone at night, fearful that her car might break down and leave her vulnerable. Or picture a truck driver hauling valuable cargo across the country. In states such as California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Oregon – five of the ten states that refuse to recognize concealed handgun permits from other states – these travelers can find themselves defenseless. Nine states also either deny non-residents permits altogether or make them extremely difficult to obtain.

Last week, President Trump again called for passage of national concealed carry reciprocity. The legislation would allow anyone legally permitted to carry a concealed handgun in their home state to carry across state lines, much as Americans use their driver’s licenses nationwide. The legislation would affect millions of law-abiding Americans.

Much of the gun-control debate centers on hypothetical risks. With reciprocity, however, we don’t have to speculate. With 21.5 million concealed handgun permit holders in the United States, we already know how they behave. In addition, most Americans already benefit from reciprocity. The average state recognizes permits from 30 other states, allowing permit holders to travel legally with their firearms.

Last year, when House Judiciary Committee passed national reciprocity along party lines, Democrats also opposed legislation that would allow current and retired law enforcement officers with at least ten years of service to carry firearms in facilities open to the public – including schools – while traveling across the country. Given their fear that allowing experienced current or retired law enforcement officers to carry would endanger public safety, it comes as no surprise that they also oppose allowing civilians to carry across state lines.

Congressional opponents of reciprocity warned that permit holders would commit crimes but cited no evidence to support that claim. The facts point in the opposite direction. Concealed handgun permit holders are extraordinarily law-abiding. States revoke their permits for firearm-related violations at rates measured in thousandths – or even ten-thousandths – of one percent. Police officers rarely commit firearm crimes, yet permit holders lose their permits for firearm offenses at only about one-twelfth the rate that police are convicted of firearm related crimes.

“This legislation is a dramatic infringement on states’ rights,” claimed Emma Brown, executive director of the gun-control group Giffords, echoing a common criticism. Yet those same organizations routinely advocate federal gun-control laws that override state policy choices.

Opponents also claimed that national reciprocity would confuse travelers about which gun laws apply in each state and lead to more arrests. But reciprocity already exists across much of the country, and no evidence shows that out-of-state permit holders create such problems. Indeed, the same situation exists for drivers when they cross state lines: They are required to follow the driving regulations for the state they are in.

Critics also argue that permit standards vary from state to state. Yet no evidence shows that states with less restrictive permitting systems experience higher permit revocation rates.

Despite these fears, more than 86% of police chiefs and sheriffs support national reciprocity, and over 90% of rank-and-file officers support concealed carry laws. These officers see firsthand how concealed carry works in practice. They understand that police deter crime, but they also know they usually arrive after the crime has begun. Victims often must defend themselves first. Consistent with that experience, the overwhelming weight of academic research finds that allowing law-abiding citizens to carry concealed handguns reduces crime.

With tens of millions of Americans legally carrying concealed handguns over many decades, if opponents could identify even dozens of cases in which out-of-state permit holders created serious problems, their concerns would deserve careful consideration. They cannot. Such cases remain exceedingly rare. Americans do not need to guess whether gun-control advocates’ concerns are justified.

Carrying a firearm provides the greatest benefit to those who face the largest physical disadvantages – women and the elderly – and to those who face the highest risk of violent crime, including many poor black residents of high-crime neighborhoods. Not surprisingly, these groups have accounted for the largest percentage growth in permit ownership over the past decade. Between 2015 and 2024, permits held by women grew 112% faster than those held by men, while permits held by black Americans grew 284% faster than those held by whites.

Real life is not the movies. Most women cannot overpower several larger, stronger men, no matter how well trained they are. Men also generally possess greater upper-body strength and speed.

A firearm changes that equation. It gives women a far more effective means of self-defense. If an attacker has already closed the distance enough to seize a woman’s firearm, she is already in grave danger regardless.

Peer-reviewed research finds that allowing concealed carry reduces murder rates for both men and women. The reduction for women, however, is roughly three to four times larger than the reduction for men.

The House will likely pass national reciprocity, but it faces a steeper challenge in the Senate. Breaking the expected Democratic filibuster will require 60 votes, meaning at least seven Democratic senators must cross party lines. Those senators need only examine their own states’ experience. Six states represented by 12 Democratic senators – Arizona, Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Virginia – already recognize concealed handgun permits from every other state. None has seen a problem with reciprocity.

Police play an indispensable role in public safety. But around 700,000 officers cannot protect over 340 million Americans everywhere at once. Congress should ensure that law-abiding Americans do not lose their ability to defend themselves simply by crossing a state line.

John R. Lott Jr. is president of the Crime Prevention Research Center. 

 

New ATF Rule May Finally Stop NY and NJ From Harassing Law-Abiding Travelers With Guns.

Since Congress enacted the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act of 1986, an American has enjoyed the right to travel with firearms “from any place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm to any other place where he may lawfully possess and carry such firearm,” provided he complies with the requirements of the relevant statue.

Well, at least he should have.

Some jurisdictions, mostly the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, have continued to cause trouble for well-meaning gun owners attempting to travel with their firearms.

On February 7, 2025, President Donald Trump signed “Executive Order 14206 – Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” which tasked the U.S. Attorney General to . . .

…examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies (agencies) to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens, and present a proposed plan of action to the President, through the Domestic Policy Advisor, to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.

As part of that effort, on May 6, ATF posted a notice of proposed rulemaking “Clarifying Interstate Transportation of Firearms Under the Gun Control Act,” which reworks the federal regulation implementing 18 U.S.C. § 926A to better reflect Congress’s intent to provide broad protections to traveling gun owners.

The new regulation does this in part by making clear that activity incidental to travel is covered under FOPA’s protection. These include activities such as,

…staying in temporary lodging overnight, transiting between modes of transportation, stopping for food, fuel, vehicle maintenance, an emergency, or medical treatment, picking up or discharging passengers, moving a firearm at the beginning of a journey from a fixed address to a vehicle for transportation or at the end of a journey from a vehicle to a fixed address, and any other activity incidental to the original transportation.

Also to be covered under the rule is “presenting the firearm or ammunition for inspection when required by a common carrier, the Transportation Security Administration, or U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”

The rule also makes clear that transportation of ammunition, magazines, and other firearm components and accessories are covered under FOPA’s protection.

NRA’s comment supports the broad thrust of this rulemaking. It’s clear from the text of the rule that ATF has examined the problems that travelers through New York and New Jersey continue to experience and are seeking to alleviate them in line with Congress’ intent.

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“That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United states who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms.”
– Samuel Adams, in Phila. Independent Gazetteer, August 20, 1789

New Supreme Court Rulings Strengthen TJ Roberts’ Challenge to the NFA

A federal challenge involving longtime Texas Gun Rights ally TJ Roberts has gained new legal support from three recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Texas Gun Rights previously reported that Roberts v. ATF is one of several lawsuits challenging the federal government’s continued registration of suppressors and short-barreled firearms after Congress reduced the related National Firearms Act taxes to zero.

The latest development is not a new lawsuit or a repetition of the original challenge. Instead, attorneys in Roberts v. ATF, Brown v. ATF, and Jensen v. ATF have filed supplemental notices explaining how three Supreme Court rulings issued in June strengthen their existing constitutional arguments.

Those decisions may make it considerably harder for the federal government to defend the registration system Congress left behind.

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Once again, we read the shocked reactions of those people who can’t seem to realize that ‘bad things’ can happen anywhere, anytime.

Man armed with knife shot and killed by customer at Cerritos restaurant, sheriff’s department says

CERRITOS, Calif. (KABC) — A man armed with a knife was shot and killed at a restaurant inside a busy shopping center in Cerritos on Sunday afternoon, authorities say.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, deputies responded to a report of a person armed with a knife at Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que in the 11300 block of South Street at approximately 2:12 p.m.

At the scene, deputies found an adult male with an apparent gunshot wound and lacerations. Deputies initiated life-saving measures, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies said a preliminary investigation found that the armed man entered the restaurant and ran through the kitchen/service areas, “frightening customers and staff.”

A customer who was “lawfully armed and possessed a valid concealed carry permit” confronted the man and ordered him to drop the knife, according to deputies. That’s when the man reportedly charged toward the customer with the knife, and the customer shot him.

A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department source said an off-duty officer was present and witnessed the shooting, but did not fire their weapon. The man with the knife reportedly stabbed himself before walking into the restaurant, according to the source.

Eyewitness News spoke to an employee who described a graphic scene, saying that what he saw was straight out of a horror film.

“I just saw a guy run in the restaurant with his throat slit, and he had a knife. Once he went to the main dining area with all the guests, I guess there was another guest that was sitting down. He pointed a gun at him, told him to put the knife down, the guy kept walking toward him like Michael Myers. He shot him,” the employee recalled.

Investigators believe the incident began before the man reached the restaurant. The sheriff’s department source told Eyewitness News the man had been driving a stolen truck before abandoning it and stabbing himself at a nearby Starbucks on South Street.

Magaly Zacarias said she noticed the driver before he ran toward Lucille’s.

“I noticed a driver driving recklessly into the plaza. He just left the car there, ran off to Lucille’s, and it seemed like he had a knife in his hand, and he was also wounded,” Zacarias said. “I got a closer look at the car, and it seems like there was already blood all over the steering wheel and inside of the car.”

AIR7 video from above the scene showed a large police presence. The restaurant is inside a large shopping center right off the 605 Freeway.

Zacarias, who works nearby, said the violence was shocking for people who work in the area.

“We were really anxious, especially because this plaza is safe, so it was a little shocking for us to hear what was happening,” she said.

Frequent shoppers in the area also said they were shaken by the shooting.

“It’s just crazy to think about, because what if we were, well, knock on wood, but what if we were nearby and something like this happened? And now it’s like, OK, we have to be careful with our surroundings,” said Daniela Reyes of Cerritos.

Javier Reyes said he hopes security is increased.

“Hopefully there’s more security, because this is kind of unacceptable that this happened, and it makes me worried to go out for a nice Sunday dinner,” he said.

Homicide investigators and the sheriff’s department deputies had the restaurant blocked off as the investigation continued. Witnesses and employees were being questioned.

Investigators have not released the name of the man who was shot and killed. They also have not released a possible motive for why he hurt himself and then went to the restaurant.

Deputies said the customer who shot the armed man remained at the scene and is fully cooperating with investigators.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500.