MacGyver

5 words that my 18 year-old self never thought I’d hear my 43 year-old self say, “these heated seats are amazing.”

This one runs on a 6.8SPC bolt, right? While I can see the appeal, I bet it’s hard on brass.

I’d argue that both parties are just as dependent on Wickard at this point - as they’re two sides of the same coin - both serving their own interests over the people’s Wickard may be one of those rulings that we’ve simply moved too far to go back. It would take justices willing to set the whole system on fire to decide it was wrongly decided in ‘42. As much as we decry the loss of freedom - the states have willingly ceded authority to the federal government. What was originally a few bucks here and there has turned into a lot of states that wouldn’t be able to support basic services for its people if that happened. A lot of states here in the south would be at the top of that list.

In 1942 when Wickard was decided, global GDP was about $3 trillion dollars. Today it’s a little north of $80 trillion dollars. Mind you, there are a lot of things at work here - but the foundation for most of that growth has been built on a stable, predictable American economy. The growth has happened in a short time historically - basically in a few generations. Think about that. Until 1942, the collective value of every effort of man to that point in history was about $3 trillion dollars. In a lifetime, we’ve grown to 25x that. We could go back. But it would mean a global reset. All bets are off if that happened. It would be painful.

In the long run it might work out. But, empire is hard. And so is freedom. We’ve ceded way too much to the federal government. Put another way - all of us depend on the government for too much. It could very well lead to a break up of the Union. In the near to midterm if would be quite painful - likely causing a depressions nationally and globally. It would affect every man, woman, and child in America.

I added the last sentence to add some levity to the first. Since 1789, the federal government has been working to consolidate power. It’s a long game, and each of the three branches have played a part. But, Wickard vs. Filburn is certainly one of the Judicial Branches most significant contributions. If you’ll remember the various firearms freedom acts from a few years ago - arguing that Wickard vs. Filburn was wrongly decided was one of its key arguments.

Wickard vs. Filburn gets overturned and this whole show falls apart. That’s why they offed him

South Korea went from a third world country to a first world economy in a generation. I suspect they became pretty adept at “borrowing” their share of good ideas.

She's 85, so it's certainly a possibility. But, she's had both colon cancer and pancreatic cancer and is still going strong - so she's about as tough as they come. Heller and McDonald would be hard to undue - especially the longer they are on the books. But, the Supreme Court has signaled that it is open to reasonable restrictions. I hate to poke the hornet's nest when it doesn't need poking.

Don't underestimate the Koreans. When Hyundai and Kia first moved over here, they were definitely lower priced budget cars - and that 10 year warranty was a necessary item. But, as they've iterated through their manufacturing process refining as they go, they're turning out some decent competition these days. I've recently driven several rentals more than 1500 miles over a couple of days and was impressed by all of them.

Folks would love for him to retire to make another Supreme Court appointment a midterm issue - getting out some who are likely to stay home otherwise. Kennedy more or less dismissed it earlier this year. That’s not to say he couldn’t change his mind - or you could have another older justice pass away or retire.

Democracy favors participation. Nice job.

The PD35 is a known good light. It would be tough to beat it.

I'm afraid rationality is probably out when it comes to a discussion with them - or at least most of them. Most of them are just as entrenched as most of us. Therein lies the problem.

Stevens wrote the primary dissenting opinion in Heller. It's worth noting however that Stevens was a Republican, who was first nominated to the bench by a Republican (Richard Nixon), and was later nominated to the Supreme Court by a Republican (Gerald Ford).

What I wouldn't give for a few manufacturers to go back to salt bluing and Grade A walnut...

You're probably not too far off. Cerberus had been trying since Sandy Hook to find someone to buy it and couldn't. Private equity can be really dangerous. As an old mentor told me once, "debt magnifies the consequences of bad decisions." A lot of money came into the gun business for a while thinking gun owners were an easy sell. And for the most part, for a while they were right. How many shops did we have open in middle Tennessee that weren't owned by gun people at all - rather they were owned by bankers. But then times changed - and your business fundamentals actually had to prove sound. At least now we know that this experiment didn't work any better with the giant companies than it did the little gun shops.

Wall Street doubled down on this one. Cerberus has been trying to get out of this for a couple of years. JP Morgan and Franklin Templeton Investments basically took this on for .25 on the dollar. They had already negotiated a haircut with lenders. Basically the billion dollars of debt the hedge fund saddled them with in the various buyouts sank them when revenues sank over the last few years. But note, that the billion dollars didn’t just vaporize - it went into someone’s pockets. Some brands could go away here. Bushmaster and DPMS are at risk. AAC and Tapco are owned by the brand as well. They own Marlin, too.

Seems like they could have the convention somewhere nearby headquarters in Virginia and supply a steady stream of buses down to the mall. Ask vendors to support water stations / hot dog tents / whatever in addition to their booth at the show. Provide firearm literacy, education, talk with some representatives. Plus, you’d get to see some memorials to boot...

The thing about democracy is - and you learn this very quickly in Washington - is that participation matters. Theres a reason that Congress passed the omnibus spending bill without debate and then got the heck out of town - because not a one of them wanted to be there yesterday. Those kids weren’t just protesting Republicans. They were angry at all of them. Regardless, participation matters. And, you better believe Congress was watching. Heck, Marco Rubio is already touting that he voted to fund the CDC doing research on gun violence (snuck into the omnibus bill.) I’m increasingly convinced that there has to be another path aside from this zero sum proxy fight in the culture wars that could lead to another civil war. But, the opposition is looking increasingly united in a way that they haven’t in a long time. And, politicians respond to united - especially when that group can potentially vote for a lot more years than a bunch of us angry old white guys. We’ve got some work ahead of us.

It’s probably worth noting that the folks in pictures like this aren’t spending a lot of time arguing about the ideological purity of the others in the group. I’m supportive of a bunch of different advocacy organizations - and encourage folks to find one that fits them. But we’ve got to stop eating our own. We’re about to need as many people as we can get.

Dick Heller talks about the NRA’s support when he speaks about the case. He certainly wasn’t the plaintiff the NRA or Cato or anyone else wanted - but he had standing. The Supreme Court only hears arguments in so many cases. It makes for interesting bedfellows sometimes.

The NRA may be far from perfect. And, I question whether or not they’re ready for this next fight. But have no doubt. If you carry a concealed firearm in the United States today, you owe the NRA a debt of gratitude. They’ve been involved in every piece of carry legislation that’s passed in a statehouse in the last 30 years Without their financial backing in cases like Dick Heller’s - we wouldn’t have the rights we do. And, a lot of those victories set precedents that will be hard to overturn. They’re far from perfect. But they’ve moved the ball a long way down the field.

The sad part of it is, they don’t have to give it up. When you look at the average American’s spending habits - if they have money they’re going to spend it. So, the banks look at it as potentially delayed income that they’re still going to get sooner or later. Sure, a few people are going to save it or bury it in their backyard or whatever. Most people will just buy something else.

We're a lot more worried - because we're hearing a lot more chatter upstream from the Citi's of the world - with Visa, MasterCard and Amex all talking about the logistics of refusing the transactions associated with ARs. They've already generally decided the optics of it are okay. Basically, they're looking at it and saying, "if Congress is unwilling to act, we are going to use our clout to do something about it." There would of course be a ton of lawsuits - but it takes a bunch of money to litigate - especially against groups that have as much money as the card networks have. The pragmatic reality of the matter is that places like Palmetto State Armory and Primary Arms - and even higher end boutique shops like Daniel Defense, Larue, Noveske, etc. are dead in the water in about 45 days if sales go away. Yes, there will be groups that try to bring alternative payments to the front - but if the cannabis industry offers any lesson - that's a hard problem for a variety of reasons - and you've got to have banks willing to deposit your money at the end of the day. Were I ranking threats to the second amendment, right now I rank Congressional Republicans number one, active state legislatures number two, and this would be a close third.