From the minds of Blue State Senators:
Washington (January 11, 2024) – Following the anniversary of the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) introduced the Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act, legislation that would create a federal prohibition on paramilitary groups through civil and criminal enforcement. The prohibition would hold individuals liable who directly engage in certain types of conduct, including intimidating state and local officials, interfering with government proceedings, pretending to be law enforcement, and violating people’s constitutional rights, while armed and acting as part of a private paramilitary organization.
The legislation creates different tiers of criminal penalties based on whether violations result in injury or property damage; provides harsher penalties for repeat offenders; and allows for a probationary sentence for first-time offenders. It also creates civil remedies by authorizing the Department of Justice to seek injunctive relief against paramilitary activity, and by creating a private right of action for individuals harmed by paramilitary activity to seek injunctive relief and/or damages. The legislation contains clear exceptions for activities such as historic reenactments, state-sanctioned trainings, and veterans’ parades.
Specifically, the legislation would prohibit the following dangerous conduct:
- publicly patrolling, drilling, or engaging in harmful or deadly paramilitary techniques
- interfering with or interrupting government proceedings
- interfering with the exercise of someone else’s constitutional rights
- falsely assuming the functions of law enforcement and asserting authority over others
- training to engage in such behavior
Note the bolded text.
Who doesn’t believe that IDPA, USPSA, 3-Gun, Tactical 2-Gun, PSCL, Service Rifle, or any other action or precision shooting competitions wouldn’t be considered “training to engage in such behavior” by certain politicians and law enforcement.
Did you go to Gunsite Academy, Thunder Ranch, The SIG Academy? Clearly you were training in paramilitary activity.
The potential for abuse of this law is ridiculously high.
They’ve used J6 as an excuse to do so many tyrannical and unconstitutional activities, using it as an excuse to shut down practical firearms training and competition seems like something they would absolutely do.
and like so many other “laws” these asshats want, We the People just need to ignore them and live life. remember the “michigan militia “ fiasco? gubmint was all fired up to squash these “right wing militias “ before they take over…. and it fizzled and died… jan 6 is like racism, its all the democrats have to distract the masses with.. politics has finally devolved to its gutter level best.. a poorly written circus of distraction.look at all the “conservatives”on line who are featuring the latest celebrities idiotic antics..do you really care about that click bait bullshiite??the democrats can point the finger at citizens with guns and some will cower in fear. remember- liberals are 26% of the population, We the People need to start acting like they are. look at the minorities that are going to vote Trump now because they realize democrats don’t care about them.
This happened in Germany with IPSC. They initially regulated and the clubs bent a knee to regulations till it became a joke and then got outright banned for “paramilitary” training.
Call me when they go after the Leftists who engage in similar behavior such as when “protecting” a drag show. Sigh.
That’s pretty much already the mindset of the federal government and regulatory agencies.
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Back what seems like a lifetime ago, there were discussions about banning Saiga shotguns from import. During the comment period a lot of people referenced the use of Saigas in multi gun competition as a sporting use/purpose and, therefore, they were legitimate for import.
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ATF, basically, came back and said, “Those activities are martial in nature and are, therefore, not a legitimate sporting purpose.“ [SIDE NOTE: This ties in to a reminder that your Sleepy Joe approved home defense shotgun is always one pen stroke away from being classified as a Destructive Device.]
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The government doesn’t like anyone being good at shooting. Especially when you’re not one of their agents and are really good at shooting.
-interfering with the exercise of someone else’s constitutional rights-
Doesn’t this law violate itself?
When has that stopped them?
So if this passes, can we use this part:
interfering with the exercise of someone else’s constitutional rights
To have all the anti-gun group activists and anti-gun politicians arrested?
How about the Gov’t agents coordinating w/ social media to restrict people?
Oh right, that’s ‘different’.
Ed Markey is continuing to work hard to demonstrate to the world that he is possibly the stupidest person ever elected to the Senate. And he’s now also working to demonstrate that he may be the most evil person ever elected to the Senate.
There is some very stiff competition for those titles
So… can anyone point to a member/participant in IDPA, USPSA, 3-Gun, Tactical 2-Gun, PSCL, Service Rifle, or any other action or precision shooting competition that has been a threat to the US Government or even a murderer?
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I am not seeing any justification for this restriction aside from the Government wants a monopoly on the ability to commit violence.
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As a general rule (I am sure there are exceptions), the people involved in shooting sports, competitions, and training, are the most law abiding and responsible individuals out there. But, that scares those that desire unlimited power and control. So, they must demonize them, accuse them of future crimes, etc… in order to ensure no one is capable of fighting back when they make their move.
My experience is that every such event includes multiple law enforcement personnel. If they are hotbeds of insurrection, they’ve already been “infiltrated” openly.
Excellent point.
Then again… they may be agent provocateurs…
All but the last is already illegal. They just never prosecute leftists who do it, and want to intimidate non-leftists who dare stand against them.
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The last is ridiculous. What is “training” for those things?
1A is clearly understood to protect five freedoms.
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For most of my life, 2A was understood only to protect the right to *keep* (some) arms.
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It’s now clear that 2A protects the right to *bear* (some) arms, with various permit restrictions and configurations of arms being argued in the courts.
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Being it on. All this bill will do is trigger the oft ignored militia clause, and enshrine into case law that practice and free association for the purpose of practice is also protected by 2A.
What militia clause? The one about Congress setting the rules for its training? Or the preamble of the 2nd Amendment?
The latter is usually misconstrued deliberately, and using it as you suggest reinforces that dishonesty. It is nothing more than a (partial) justification for the right to keep and bear arms — it isn’t, as the bad guys like to pretend, a limitation.
I think he’s referring to the Militia Act, which named all able-bodied men age 17 to 45 (or 54, as amended) as part of the irregular/unorganized militia and requires members to equip themselves properly (according to the times).
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The downside is, every Militia Act (there are a few) and every amendment to said Acts has a provision that allows them to be brought under federal control by the President. What do you do when the President invokes the clause that gives him control of your militia group, and he orders you to stand down and go home?
I’m saying the preamble supports a separate right to assemble while bearing arms.
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Keeping and beating arms is all good and well for self defense. But useless for communal defense if it’s forbidden to muster a paramilitary exercise.
Give me 4 seconds notice and I will bake you all a cake.
Why do I think that, if this passes, it will be (ab)used to shut down Gunsite and Thunder Ranch (among others), outlaw shooting competitions, and harass and threaten gun ranges, but BLM/Antifa will still be allowed to muster, build their makeshift armories, and train to combat police in the streets, attack and assault private citizens and journalists, and burn down homes and businesses?
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“Rules for thee, not for me,” is the motto of every busybody tyrant throughout history.
Wait a second here.
Aren’t these the very same people who say you should be trained before owning a firearm?
And, now they are fighting against training?
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Subtle as a Mack truck.
@CBMTTek: Whatever it takes to discourage firearms ownership.
To quote Les Nessman, winner of the Buckeye News Hawk award: Think about it.