49ers Pledge $500K To Anti-Gun Initiative

The San Francisco 49ers on Thursday announced they would pledge $500,000 toward an initiative meant to forge a “more understanding and safer America.” While this goal seems laudable at first glance, there is nothing in the initiative that has any chance of actually achieving this goal.

Part of the money is dedicated to attempting to repairing tensions between police and certain communities by … running TV commercials. Echoing this PR-laden, hands-off approach is the initiative’s plan to advocate for—but offer no money to fund—increased resources for police responding to mental health calls.

However, most of the focus is on promoting legislation curtailing the rights of law-abiding Americans. “I’m not anti-Second Amendment—this is something that is common sense,” team CEO Jed York said, plucking phrases directly from the anti-gunners’ playbook. But the legislation in question would ban the use of so-called “armor-piercing ammunition” and suppressors—achieving nothing in the case of the former, as no law enforcement officer has ever been killed by such ammunition, and actively making Americans less safe in the case of the latter by outlawing a device that can prevent hearing loss in hunters and sport shooters.

While this news is sure to anger the many pro-freedom sports fans, this is the team that launched Colin Kaepernick—so we probably shouldn’t be too surprised.

Targeting Toepperweins

This feature appears in the November ‘17 issue of NRA America’s 1st Freedom, one of the official journals of the National Rifle Association.

Ad and Elizabeth “Plinky” Toepperwein were renowned exhibition shooters for Winchester ammunition and guns, demonstrating their skills across the country with revolvers, rifles and shotguns. These two inscribed revolvers from this sharpshooting husband-and-wife pair were recently reunited and illustrate the special modifications used by both individuals. Period engraving and custom grip panels of jigged bone made to resemble staghorn characterize both of these Colt target handguns, which are both based on the Officers Model Target revolver and chambered for the .38 Spl. cartridge.

Regularly seen at competitions where they performed before American presidents, world fairs and countless other venues, the Toepperweins set amazing records and dazzled audiences with their aerial shooting performances from 1904 to 1945.

(Editor’s note: Winchester changed the spelling of the couple’s name to the more Americanized “Topperwein” when they began representing the ammunition company. However, Ad’s gravestone reads “Toepperwein.”)

The NRA National Firearms Museum at NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Va.; the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo.; and the Frank Brownell Museum of the Southwest at the NRA Whittington Center in Raton, N.M.; each have fine selections of historic arms on display. Admission to each is free, and donations are gratefully accepted. For more information, visit nramuseums.com, phone (703) 267-1600 or email nfmstaff@nrahq.org.

2A Groups Join California Waiting Period Case

If you’re a resident of California and want to purchase a firearm, state law mandates that you must endure a 10-day waiting period before you can take possession of the gun—even if you’re already a law-abiding gun owner. The law is now being challenged by a growing number of gun-rights groups as a violation of Second Amendment rights.

As reported by Guns.com, three legal briefs were filed last month alone requesting that the Supreme Court overturn the Ninth Circuit of Appeals’ 2016 ruling that upheld the waiting period. Plaintiffs in the first brief were the Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation, Madison Society Foundation and Gun Owners of California. The second brief was filed by John R. Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center, and the third by the Cato Institute.

The case, Silvester v. Becerra, went to the High Court justices in September. California must file a response with the court by December.

Anti-Gun Groups Pour Money Into Washington State Senate Race

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is notable for his massive outsider donations to campaigns in Virginia and other states, and now he’s trying to buy a seat in the Washington state Senate for an anti-gun candidate. What’s more, he’s far from the only gun control advocate pumping money into this campaign.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Bloomberg has given $250,000 to the campaign of Manka Dhingra, who is running on a strongly anti-gun ticket. Another activist billionaire, Tom Steyer, has provided $125,000. Conservative Firing Line reports that a local anti-gun group, Alliance for Gun Responsibility, has donated over $18,000 to Dhingra’s campaign and over $5,000 to attack her Republican opponent, Jinyoung Englund.

Englund is endorsed by the NRA and by the Seattle Times, which called for her election in the pursuit of partisan balance. But anti-gunners see Dhingra as the candidate who can help them dominate Washington politics, and they’re sparing no expense to put her in place.

Armed Woman Stops Burglary Attempt

A resident of Keithville, La., disrupted an attempt by four men to enter her home when she showed up with a gun. She told sheriff’s deputies that the hooded suspects fled at her approach and drove away in an SUV.

According to KEEL, a neighbor had also called the authorities to report the suspicious men on the porch, and deputies were able to locate the getaway vehicle. Inside the SUV they found backpacks, masks, a large knife and some marijuana.

The four young men in the vehicle have been arrested and charged with burglary. This serves as yet another example of how armed citizens can defend against violent crime without ever firing a shot.