Mediaboss Marketing

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WCYB) A Johnson City church gained quite a bit of attention after announcing it was giving away an AR-15 to celebrate Independence Day.

Todd Holmes, pastor of The River of Tri-Cities Church, said the giveaway was in honor of the U.S. Constitution and the Second Amendment.

Holmes believes the church is taking appropriate precautions by making sure the winner passes a background check.

"I know what our rights are as citizens of the United States and I know what are rights are as citizens of Heaven also, and I'm not an American nationalist or whatever people want to try to label me as," Holmes said. "I'm a Christian and I happen to own firearms and I like to be able to have them. I like them for hunting. I like them for self-defense and so that's the reason we are doing what we are doing."

The church has had several raffles in the past, giving away cars, boats, and tickets to NASCAR events.

Continued here:
Church gives away AR-15 in raffle to celebrate Independence Day - WFXL FOX 31

After President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, was convicted of three federal gun charges for lying about his drug use on an official form, people on both sides of the political aisle were concerned about how the ruling might impact Second Amendment rights.

Former Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine was sentenced to 15 months in jail in 2010 on similar charges when he admitted to recreational marijuana use while in possession of a firearm. Unlike Hunter Biden, who filled out a form, Nodine said he was unaware of a law that could bar him from owning a gun for what he described as occasional pot use.

Even with more states legalizing cannabis and Alabamas efforts to create a medical marijuana market, cannabis is still a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act, meaning its illegal federally the same as heroin and other hard drugs.

Nodine and others have pointed out that the conflict between state and federal laws could unknowingly make criminals of otherwise law-abiding gun owners.

"Now that marijuana is legal in 27 states, what are you going to do? You going to go prosecute all the people with guns?" Nodine told 1819 News. "It's a law that is certainly intended for bad felons who have in their possession firearms. I don't think it was meant for every day addicted drug users because we'd be locking up everybody, or a large percent of those."

Vince Schilleci, chief legal officer of dispensary license awardee CCS of Alabama, said the state-federal tension has already led to competing court rulings. He gave the example of U.S. vs. Harrison, where Oklahoma resident Jarad Michael Harrison was indicted in 2022 for possessing a firearm while being an unlawful cannabis user in violation of 18. U.S.Code Section 922(g)(3). The federal district judge in that case ultimately held that Harrison's mere status as a user of marijuana was insufficient to infringe on his right to bear arms.

RELATED: Marijuana experts slam companies suing AMCC for delaying medical cannabis program 'The system is being hijacked'

However, in U.S. vs. Bird, a case with facts similar to Harrisons, Schilleci said a federal judge upheld 18. U.S.C. Section 922(g)(3), finding the defendant, Ethan Blue Bird, could be prosecuted for possession of a gun while being an illegal marijuana user.

I believe in both cases, neither of the defendants possessed a valid medical cannabis card, Schilleci told 1819 News in an email. Things get even more squirrely when you review the FBI Memo from 2019 discussing 922(g)(3). Per the memo, possessing a medical cannabis card alone is enough to establish an inference of use. However, a medical cannabis license holder (i.e., integrated, dispensary, cultivator, processor, secured transport and testing) would not disqualify an individual under 922(g)(3).

Lets take it even further, he continued. Suppose I have surgery and Im prescribed an opioid (like Percocet or OxyContin). I dont believe that the prescription would prohibit me from purchasing a gun. If thats the case, why should medical cannabis used to treat qualifying conditions be any different?

In a previous interview, Marshall County Sheriff Phil Sims told 1819 News he was less concerned with federal regulations than with what his deputies would have to deal with if and when medical cannabis hits dispensary shelves in Alabama.

"People say, 'Well, it's against federal law.' Well, it may be. Get me a federal agent down here to do the arrest and see how that works out. You aren't going to get one," he said.

Schilleci said the simplest solution to the legal confusion would be to reschedule marijuana, like President Joe Biden has hinted at doing since he asked federal agencies to look into the issue in October 2022.

This is why rescheduling is so important, Schilleci said. Whenever you have patchwork laws, unintended consequences emerge, and the wrong regulators can take advantage.

To connect with the story's author or comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com or find him on Twitter and Facebook.

Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.

See the rest here:
Could medical cannabis users lose their Second Amendment rights? | - 1819 News

Claim:

Thomas Jefferson said, "The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it."

In June 2024, Snopes received an email from a reader asking abouta quote purportedly originating from Founding Father and third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson. The reader's email displayed a quote meme posted on X by @SunIslandMusic in November 2023 claiming Jefferson once said, "The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it." The meme displayed a watermark for an online user with the handle @ChristiChat.

A June 2024 search of Facebook and X found numerous usersrecentlyrepostingthe samequotewith Jefferson's name.Former U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn also reposted the quote on X in 2021, at a time when he was serving the state of North Carolina's11th Congressional District.

However,no documentary evidence exists of Jefferson saying or writing the words in the quote.

On Oct. 14, 2010, Anna Berkes,a manager for public services and collections development with the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, published a page about the quote on the foundation's website,Monticello.org. Berkes wrote, "We currently have no evidence that Thomas Jefferson said or wrote, 'The beauty of the Second Amendment is that it will not be needed until they try to take it' or any of its listed variations."

The only variation of the quote Berkes mentioned on the page read, "The people will not understand the importance of the Second Amendment until it is too late." We located other similar variations in several sources but none of them credibly linked the quote to Jefferson.

The oldest mention of the exact quote in a search performed on the newspaper-archiving website Newspapers.com displayed a result from 1994 in the South Carolina newspaper The Greenville News.

OnApril 12, 1994, The Greenville News printed a letter from a reader named Gregg Styles. At the end of his letter, Styles wrote, in part, "If the American people allow our Constitutionally protected freedoms to be stolen behind the disguise of a 'Crime Emergency,' we will live to regret it. The warning bell is ringing. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, 'The beauty of the Second Amendment is, it will not be needed until they try to take it.'"

In other words, it's possible the quote simply originated in a "letters from readers" newspaper column as a supposed paraphrase of an unknown and unconfirmed Jefferson writing. We were unsuccessful in our attempt to find a way to contact Styles.

For further reading, we previously published a report looking at another fake Jefferson quote about firearms. We also reported the factsbehind a popular meme about other purported quotes from three Founding Fathers Jefferson included andauthor Thomas Paine,titled, "Damn Those Pesky Facts."

See the rest here:
Jefferson Said 'Beauty of 2nd Amendment' Is It's Not Needed 'Until They Try To Take It'? - Snopes.com

State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada

Zip Code

Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe

The rest is here:
BOB BARR: When It Comes To The Second Amendment, The More Things Change The More They Remain The Same - MDJOnline.com

Today the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal rule banning bump stocks, ruling that a bump stock does not transform a firearm into an automatic weapon.

Project 21 Ambassador Craig DeLuz, a Second Amendment expert, discussed this case last week with NTD News Steve Lance, highlighting the implications that the decision would have both for the Second Amendment and separation of powers.

Craig DeLuz

On Capitol Report, Craig told Steve:

I think its an interesting decision for this reason: In this case, you have an administration thats decided that they are going to take something thats defined in statute and theyre going to try to redefine it in order to ban a firearm or a firearm part that they dont like.

Now when it comes to, for example, bump stocks: Not a lot of people own bump stocks. Not a lot of people are interested in owning bump stocks. So a lot of people decided, well were not even gonna really pay attention to that.

The problem with that is: What happens when you have an administration come along who starts to then say, well Im gonna redefine firearms or firearm parts that people do like? Right? Weve already allowed them to violate the separation of powers by trying to legislate from the executive branch. Believe it or not, the ATF does not get to make the law. They get to enforce the law.

I think thats probably the biggest part of what were going to be seeing in this decision. Its not just about the Second Amendment. Its a direct attack on the Second Amendment, but its really also about protecting the rest of the Constitution and separation of powers. I believe that this Supreme Court in particular recognizes the overreach that many in the executive branch at all levels of government sadly have undertaken.

The implication is going to be, number one, whether or not executive offices or executive departments have the ability to basically legislate from their departments. Part of it is going to be that.

The other part is going to be whether or not it is going to further the folks who dont support the Second Amendment in their belief that OK, so you have a right to keep and bear arms; you have the right to own a gun. But you dont have a right to the firearm parts that you want. You dont have a right to the gun that you want. You dont have a right to build your own firearm. You dont have a right to sell firearms.All of these things are now in question.

And theyre realizing that they cant take away the Second Amendment, but they can nibble away at all the things around the Second Amendment such that it becomes too cumbersome or too expensive to be able to exercise that right.

Theres always pressure on Congress to revisit the Second Amendment. The challenge is that most of the people who are applying that pressure, and most of the folks in Congress, have little to no understanding of firearms or firearms technology. So oftentimes what happens is that when they start to push solutions, those solutions dont actually solve the problem.

Thats also, quite frankly, been the issue in the courts. In many cases you have judges adjudicating over some of these court cases and they have very little understanding, once again, of firearm technology. For example, what is the definition of a gun? What is, in this case, a machine gun, when were talking about bump stocks? And when you look at the actual technology, you find out that in many cases the things that they are offering as solutions are not solutions.

Its smoke and mirrors. Its this Ive got to do something mentality.

And I always go back on that, and I always say, You know what? My car wont start, so I need to rotate the tires because, you know, Ive gotta do something.

Read the rest here:
Craig DeLuz: What the Supreme Court's Bump Stocks Ruling Means for the Second Amendment and Separation of ... - National Center for Public Policy...