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2nd Amendment Tag

Last week Idaho’s Governor Butch Otter allowed a substantive change to the state’s self-defense law to take effect, albeit without his own signature, reports the Idaho Spokesman-Review and other sources. Although Senate Bill 1313 (embedded below) mostly just summarized in statute form Idaho’s already existing self-defense law, one provision, in particular, troubled the Governor enough that he withheld signing the bill.

The Constitution bars the government from passing laws that prevent us from exercising our natural right to bear arms. Knowing they don't have a chance of outrightly banning guns, the anti-gun crowd drafted a bill that would require a background check to buy ammunition.

After anticipating a crowd of 500k, March for Our Lives organizers reported attendance estimated at between 800,000 and 850,000 thousand.  The media gobbled this up and headlines splashed with variations on "Largest crowd EVAH" flooded the internet. The problem?  The real estimate, provided by an independent company, is 200,000, give or take two or three thousand.

Friday, the Trump administration announced new regulations that ban bump stocks (attachments that alter the firing speed of certain guns) and like devices for firearms. Attorney General Sessions said the DOJ is proposing amending rules that define machine guns. These changes will effectively ban bump stocks.

Last month, Kemberlee asked, What in the world is going on with the Broward County Sheriff’s Department?, and this week we learn that Broward Country school officials and at least one sheriff's deputy recommended in September 2016 that the Stoneman Douglas High School shooter be involuntarily committed. In an almost unbelievable twist, the sheriff's deputy who recommended Nikolas Cruz be committed for psychological evaluation under the Baker Act is none other than school safety officer Scot Peterson.  That's right, the same Scot Peterson who was forced to resign after reports surfaced that he hid outside the school while Cruz carried out his bloody rampage unhindered.

Earlier today Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law gun control measures meant to address concerns after the Parkland school shooting. One provision provides that all firearm sales are limited to persons at least 21 years old. Previously that age minimum only applied to handguns.

Earlier this week, Dick's Sporting Goods announced that it will no longer sell AR-15 style and semi-automatic rifles.  This announcement seems a bit cynical given that Dick's stopped selling AR-15 style and semi-automatic rifles six years ago, though its affiliate Field & Stream had returned to selling them five years ago.  As of this week's announcement, Field & Stream's 35 stores will no longer carry these rifles. Dick's did announce something new, though:  they are imposing their own age limit on gun purchasers.  Regardless of state or federal law, Dick's set its own age requirement for the purchase of firearms at 21.  Not to be outdone, Walmart soon followed suit, as did Kroger's.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reminded the ladies on The View of the importance of the Second Amendment. Her father and neighbors used guns to protect themselves against the KKK and racists while growing up in the deep south. From The Blaze:
“I was a little girl growing up in Birmingham, Alabama, in the late fifties, early sixties,” she explained. “There was no way that Bull Connor and the Birmingham Police were going to protect you.”