Mediaboss Marketing

The restoration of Second Amendment-protected rights in the states is happening so quickly that its hard to keep up. On Friday, the Georgia legislature sent a bill to Governor Nathan Deal that would allow concealed handguns on public college campuses, with some exceptions built in to appease Deal, who vetoed a similar but stronger measure last year. Jerry Henry, executive director of GeorgiaCarry.org, a pro-gun rights group, was realistic: Its not the bill that we wanted but its the bill we got. It gives [us] a foot in the door. If Deal signs the bill, Georgia would become the 11th state with this kind of campus-carry law.

Georgia legislators also sent to Deals desk a bill that improved a number of the states existing gun laws, including giving individuals moving to the state from reciprocal carry agreement states a 90-day grace period to obtain a Georgia Weapons License (GWL) while continuing to carry legally using their previous states license. That bill also explicitly prohibits any probate judge from suspending, extending, delaying, or avoiding the process of approving a GWL application made by a citizen of the state.

In addition, it would protect firearms instructors from civil liability for any injuries caused by the failure of one of their students to use a firearm safely.

A third bill sent to Georgia Governor Beal would allow Virginia concealed handgun permit holders to enjoy permit reciprocity with Georgia.

The next day, multiple pro-gun and pro-hunting bills moved ahead in Virginia, including a measure that would allow any law-abiding person to carry a firearm in any state, county, or municipal park or other recreation area. Another bill would allow law-abiding Virginians to carry a firearm onto school property while dropping off or picking up students. Still another would protect shooting ranges from frivolous lawsuits and noise complaints as long as they are operating lawfully. This bill is a direct pushback against anti-gun groups that have filed such lawsuits and complaints in attempts to shut those ranges down.

Last week, North Dakota became the 14th state to allow constitutional carry, just weeks after New Hampshire passed similar legislation. Other constitutional-carry bills are pending in Alabama, Louisiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

A Michael Bloomberg-funded move in New Mexico to set up a gun registration system was rejected last week, following voter rejection of such a proposal in Maine last November.

On the national level, gun owners are celebrating House Speaker Paul Ryans withdrawal of his anti-gun ObamaCare Lite bill because of its hidden potential to invade Second Amendment-protected rights. Gun Owners of America (GOA) refused to back the bill unless it contained language that prohibited insurance companies from discriminating against gun owners, doctors from entering patients gun ownership information in any federal database, and federal agencies from trolling Medicaid and other federal health databases in order to add names to the NICS background-check database. GOAs demands were ignored, and so the group rallied its members against the passage of Ryans bill.

Also on the national level, Second Amendment supporters are still celebrating the move by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on his first day in office, which revoked a last-second move by former President Obama to phase out the use of lead ammunition for bird hunting on federal land. Under normal circumstances, such a directive wouldnt have rated a footnote, but in the present environment it showed that President Trump was not only determined to respect the Second Amendment but to put people in place in his cabinet with a similar determination.

And, just days later, President Trump himself repealed the so-called Social Security gun ban, under which certain Social Security beneficiaries would have had their Second Amendment-protected rights arbitrarily revoked without due process.

Another hopeful sign at the federal level is Trumps nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. After reviewing the available background of Gorsuch, 30-year defense attorney Andrew Branca, writing in National Review, stated:

As a strong Second Amendment advocate and someone who has concealed-carried a firearm for pretty much every day of my adult life I, for one, welcome Judge Gorsuchs nomination to the Supreme Court, with great optimism for the Courts future Second Amendment jurisprudence.

Restoring Second Amendment-protected rights after decades of efforts to abrogate them is an inch-by-inch process, and that process is being helped along greatly by a president who is determined to keep his promises in this area. On the importance of the Second Amendment, Trump wrote:

The Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right that belongs to all law-abiding Americans. The Constitution doesnt create that right it ensures that the government cant take it away. Our Founding Fathers knew, and our Supreme Court has upheld, that the Second Amendments purpose is to guarantee our right to defend ourselves and our families. Law-abiding people should be allowed to own the firearm of their choice. The government has no business dictating what types of firearms good, honest people are allowed to own.

These victories, taken one at a time, dont appear to amount to much. Taken together, however, they indicate not only the momentum shift in favor of the Second Amendment, but a better understanding of it. The language does confuse some: A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The following statement concerning the importance of books in a well-educated culture, offered by Stephen Halbrook, a senior fellow at The Independent Institute, is instructive in clarifying the Founders meaning: A well-educated citizenry, being necessary to the culture of a free state, the right of the people to keep and read books shall not be infringed.

An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

See the article here:
Second Amendment Victories Continue to Pile Up - The New American

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

Italys interior ministry said the 60 tribal leaders notably the Tuareg of the southwest, the Toubou of the southeast, and the Arab tribe of Awlad Suleiman had reached the 12-point deal after 72 hours of secret talks in Rome.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

A representative from Libyas UN-backed Government of National Accord, which is based in Tripoli and controls western Libya, was also present.

A Libyan border patrol unit will be operational to monitor Libyas southern border of 5,000 kilometres (3,100 miles), Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti told Italys La Stampa newspaper, one of several Italian media outlets reporting on the deal Sunday.

Securing Libyas southern border means securing Europes southern border, Minniti said.

Southern Libya is criss-crossed by smuggling routes for people, drugs and weapons. Since the 2011 uprising that ousted Moamer Kadhafi, a mosaic of tribal and ethnic forces is fighting for control of illicit trade and oil fields in the region.

Tuaregs control the border with southern Algeria, while further east, the Toubou operate along the borders with Chad and Sudan.

Arab tribes in the region have supported the authorities in western Libya, but they also maintain ties with a rival administration that holds sway in the east and regularly clash with the Toubou.

Fayez al-Sarraj, chief of the fragile GNA, has struggled to impose the governments authority, despite its backing by many political and military leaders.

The accord, whose details have not yet been released, is the latest in a series of deals European countries have sought to reduce migration from Libya, which has increased sharply in recent months.

The deal aims to combat an economy based on illicit drugs, which causes hundreds of deaths in the Mediterranean, thousands of desperate people looking for a better life, a populist push (in Europe) and a jihadist threat in the desert, according to the text of the agreement, quoted in the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

It also calls for job training programmes to keep young people from criminal activities.

Some 24,200 people have been rescued from the Mediterranean and registered at Italian ports so far this year, according to the Interior Ministry.

As part of an earlier agreement with the European Union, about 90 members of the Libyan coastguard are currently completing training under the EU, and Italy is preparing to return 10 coastguard boats to Libya that it seized in 2011. They are expected to be operational by the end of April or in early May.

In March, interior ministers from several EU and North African countries reached a deal with the GNA to stem flow of migrant and human smuggling, which included pledges of money, coastguard training and equipment for Libya.

View original post here:
Italy Brokers Deal Between Dozens of Rival Libyan Tribes To Stem Migrant Crisis - Breitbart News

GETTY

And officials are getting set to send 1.39billion (1.2billion) to countries outside the European Union (EU) as they try to stem migrant flows and increase security.

At a meeting of the Budgets Committee in Brussels on Monday, the parliament agreed to earmark the money which it will attempt to achieve using funds from member states including Britain.

The EU maintains that the UK will have to pay for commitments the EU has made up until the triggering of Article 50.

Unprecedented crises such as the migration crisis required a verification of policies and an adjustment of the budgetary system

Rapporteur Jan Olbrycht

Brussels officials say that commitments Britain made as part of the Multi-annual Financial Framework, which began in 2014 and runs until 2020, will have to be honoured.

But they voted in Brussels on Monday as part of an extraordinary meeting the first stage before sending it for the consent of the full house before the Council can formally adopt it by a unanimous vote.

Rapporteur Jan Olbrycht (EPP, PL) said: Parliament demanded this revision of the Multiannual Financial Framework because it considered it highly necessary due to a change of circumstances in Europe.

"And the Parliament was right.

"Unprecedented crises such as the migration crisis required a verification of policies and an adjustment of the budgetary system.

GETTY

"The enhanced flexibility we agreed to means more possibilities of action in European policies.

"This is the first step towards enabling the EU budgetary system more to adapt faster to needs within the seven-year period, which should be also one of the main mottos of the next financial framework.

But UKIP Home Affairs spokeswoman Jane Collins MEP said the EU is not being clear with member states on where the money will go.

GETTY

She said: "It looks like the EU is giving 1.39billion of taxpayers' money to third countries hoping they will stop migrants from coming into the EU.

"This policy of paying other countries to compensate for the EU's weak external border and open door policy for anyone saying they are from Syria has already failed with Turkey.

"What's more, I suspect that the money will be given to overseas organisations and we won't have any audited details of what happened to it - it could well go into the hands of people traffickers who already make millions trading in human lives.

"There is one policy which will stop another summer of misery and that is turning back boats filled with migrants in the Mediterranean. Frontex's policy of rescuing boats at sea is doing the trafficker's work for them.

"It demonstrates that the EU's external border policy and their new coastguard doesn't work.

"The Government needs to confirm that not one penny of UK money goes into this scheme. We need investment in our own border forces and coastal patrol."

GETTY

In January the European Border and Coast Guard became fully operational creating rapid reaction pools for 1,500 border guards and equipment and new pools for return intervention teams.

They also agreed to allow member states to maintain temporary controls for another three months.

In February they approved a facility for refugees in Turkey, handing more than 270million for the education of 70,000 Syrian refugee children.

EPA

1 of 10

Firemen try to extinguish fire set by leftist demonstrators who burned trash bins during a protest march over the police raid of a squat in the area of Zografou in Athens, Greece

They also allocated 2.2billion out of the 3billion foreseen for 2016/17 allocated, 1.46billion contracted and 750million disbursed so far.

While earlier this month the Commission presented a new Action Plan on Return and a Recommendation to Member States on the efficient implementation of return procedures.

Go here to see the original:
EU announces 3.9 BILLION to tackle migration crisis and Britain could be FORCED to pay - Express.co.uk

Many illegal immigrants may have a serious misunderstanding of the word "sanctuary" when it comes to the controversial issue of so-called sanctuary cities. One expert says the misunderstanding means some immigrants may have placed too much faith in their city's elected leaders who make sweeping declarations of "sanctuary" with the net result being more friction between local police and the immigrant community.

According to an email obtained from the Seattle mayor's office through an open records request, many illegal immigrants there apparently think that 'sanctuary' means that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is completely powerless within the jurisdiction of a city that has given itself the "sanctuary" label.

In the email, sent just days after the 2016 election, a local immigration activist warned some in the mayor's office about the confusion.

"I attended a community event tonight and several people expressed that they were happy that ICE could not take action within City limits. I had to later clarify that this is not what was meant by 'sanctuary' and people were really confused about this," the activist said. Later in the email, the author concluded that, "I am worried that some community members may be getting a false sense of security that ICE won't be able to conduct enforcement actions"

In the most general sense, a sanctuary city is one that does not cooperate with detainer requests from federal ICE agents when a suspected illegal immigrant is already in custody for some other criminal justice issue.

Jessica Vaughn, the director of policy studies for the Center For Immigration Studies, a conservative think-tank that describes itself as "low-immigration, pro-immigrant," says this deep misunderstanding of the word, "could lead people to have unrealistic expectations" about their ability to avoid detection or interaction of any kind with ICE.

"It leads to tension sometimes between the public and advocacy groups and lawmakers and police in some situations," when ICE still conducts deportation activities. Or in some cases, the city selectively breaks their policy of non-cooperation with ICE.

One current example of that can be found in Santa Fe, N.M.

A recent report by New Mexico In-Depth said that despite the city's sanctuary declaration, "during the past two-plus years, (Santa Fe Police Department) has tipped off Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at least three times about suspected undocumented immigrants." The story adds later, "the case represents a rare but not unheard of practice for a police department that reports to a mayor who has become a prominent figure in the national "sanctuary city" movement."

Also from the Washington Examiner

"We had a great day with the president," Paul said. "We talked about a little bit of healthcare."

04/02/17 5:29 PM

An immigration activist in Santa Fe remarked, "But when I read a quote from the new police chief saying, 'We're not going to turn anyone over to ICE unless they're a criminal,' well, he just said what Donald Trump said. And we all know that's bullst," illustrating how the misunderstanding of the word seeps down to mistrust at the local level.

The sanctuary issue moved back into the forefront this week, with Attorney General Jeff Sessions saying the Trump administration would "claw back" federal funds from local governments that didn't cooperate with federal instructions on immigration enforcement. Days after that, a group of mayors met with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to insist that their cities' policies were not against federal law.

Complicating the issue between the cites and the administration is the fact that the term "sanctuary city" still remains something of a nebulous term. DHS said a definition of the term is coming soon.

Meanwhile, some cities have been trying to change the messaging, calling themselves "welcoming cities," but the change in branding doesn't seem to have taken hold anywhere yet, especially where the national debate is concerned.

"They realize 'sanctuary' has become something of a pejorative now," Vaughn said.

Also from the Washington Examiner

Owen Hill says that the state needs a new voice in Washington

04/02/17 4:51 PM

See the article here:
Term 'sanctuary city' is misleading to illegal immigrants - Washington Examiner

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) -- Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Corey Stewart held a rally on the steps of the Rockingham Circuit Courthouse Saturday, April 1, to voice his opposition to illegal immigration in the United States.

"It's a beautiful day and we're on the court steps, so I think it probably turned out for the better," said the Republican.

Earlier in the week, Stewart proposed stricter rules to tackle illegal entry into the country, including forcing law enforcement to determine the immigration status of all inmates and stripping state funding from sanctuary cities.

"He's a very good man. I think he's very true to what he says," said Alma Bible, who was in attendance.

"My husband immigrated to this country when he was four from Peru. It's an incredibly emotional topic," Elizabeth Ochoa said.

The change of location to Court Square was made after two city restaurants refused to host his event, due to miscommunication over its nature.

Stewart claimed this was the result of a conspiracy from "liberal activists" with ties to multi-billionaire George Soros.

"This indivisible group [...] has been calling around to these restaurants, trying to get them to pull the location which they were successful in doing in Harrisonburg," said Stewart.

Harrisonburg Indivisible, a community activist group, said they did place calls to the restaurants.

"We felt it would be better for Corey Stewart to hold his rally in a neutral public space rather than in a restaurant where some of the patrons and some of the employees are immigrants," said organizer John Schaldach. "Today we saw peaceful protests. We saw a direct action type of behavior with the restaurants this week, and Corey Stewart got to get his message out there. This is what democracy looks like."

Even after the events this week, Stewart said he has optimism moving forward.

"The gain for me is to push out the voters on June 13 right here in the Valley, because this is where we're getting a lot of our support," he said.

It appears Stewart has a steep hill to climb before June. In a recent poll from Christopher Newport University, the fired Trump campaign state chairman trailed more than 25 points behind Ed Gillespie for the nomination, with 38-percent of Republicans questioned still undecided.

A local organizer said this was not Stewart's last stop in the Valley. He will make several more appearances here in the coming weeks before the primary on June 13.

View original post here:
GOP gubernatorial hopeful holds rally against illegal immigration - WHSV