Reader’s Links for February 7, 2025

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Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

For those interested, please check out https://vladtepesblog.substack.com/ as an another avenue of expression. The Substack is a different project in a sense. It is older videos that in the light of subsequent events, look different or of increased importance, Check it out now and again if you like.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

34 Replies to “Reader’s Links for February 7, 2025”

    • Thanks Yucki. What a fantastic, thoughtful comment we were given. There’s gold in them-thar archives.

      Here, a couple of scientists talk about current events. I only wish they didn’t refer to what is going on as a “revolution”.

      After years of suffering from all the components of the collectivist takeover this site has explored, “counter-revolution” brings the fight to better light.

      https://peakprosperity.com/signal-hour-live-at-1030am-et-with-dave-collum/

  2. I should have mentioned about my link above they go into the way Musk and his young helpers are cracking the safe of USAID. They use AI algorithms to crawl through the money chain and to map it. I doubt any of the crooks involved ever imagined this methodology would be applied, and so thought themselves safe in the abstraction. Turns out they aren’t.

  3. Vlad, you should try selling prints of your photos. That new owl shot coming at you is spectacular.

    • Totally agree, I love many of the bird shots, the stairs covered in moss and vines, the moon black and white………..amazing

    • Agree 100%. Probably an easier life than wading through the slurry of human depravities on a daily basis. The opportunity to capture the owl picture referred to does not not come often. Right place right time. I’d buy a print of that picture in a minute.

  5. Univ. Amsterdam to press charges against pro-Palestinian group who cut off minister’s talk
    https://nltimes.nl/2025/02/06/univ-amsterdam-press-charges-pro-palestinian-group-cut-ministers-talk
    The University of Amsterdam (UvA) has announced plans to press charges following the disruption of an interview with Defense Minister Brekelmans. Protesters reportedly assaulted security personnel and prevented the event from proceeding as planned.
    The interview, organized by the discussion platform Room for Discussion, was cut short after demonstrators repeatedly interrupted the minister. According to witnesses, both students and university staff were among the protesters.
    [..]

  6. My friend who owns a store was telling me yesterday about the calls he is receiving, asking about certain products, they only want to buy Canadian made — EVERYTHING is made in China. Surprise, surprise. Wake up little Susie, Ford, Justine, Twitchy, and Carnage will tell you about trade, bad Trump.

    Where have all the diplomats gone? This same Gang of Four called the truckers, you know the patriots who went to Ottawa to speak with the dictator, a threat to Canada.

    • Interesting, we all knew they were working together but this is evidence of prior planning for the protests.

    • The intifada is international, as is the promise of the greater Ummah expanding into Dar al Harb.

      I’m reminded of Fjordman’s earlier essays on Defeating Eurabia.

  8. Asylum Min. wants to monitor troublemakers amid tensions over critical Council of State
    https://nltimes.nl/2025/02/07/asylum-min-wants-monitor-troublemakers-amid-tensions-critical-council-state
    Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber has announced plans for an experiment to keep a close eye on 40 disruptive asylum seekers who have little chance of obtaining refugee status. They’ll be required to check in with the authorities regularly, and if they don’t, they’ll be moved to a location with fewer amenities and stricter supervision. The PVV Minister announced these controversial measures as tensions are mounting in the Cabinet about a Council of State report on her plans for a two-status asylum system and other emergency asylum measures. Sources say the report will be critical.
    In a letter to parliament, Faber said that the new experiment with disruptive asylum seekers will be more voluntary than a previous experiment at Ter Apel, ANP reported. Faber’s predecessor placed asylum seekers under increased supervision at a location in the Ter Apel shelter, but the court ordered the location closed in March last year, ruling that the Dutch government was restricting an asylum seeker too much in his freedom.
    In Faber’s plans, 40 asylum seekers from countries the Netherlands considers safe will be required to report twice a day. The idea is that this will make them available for paperwork and their asylum application can be processed more quickly. If they do not cooperate, they will be placed in a “low stimulus environment” where they will be under “increased supervision.” They won’t be able to access the rest of the Ter Apel asylum registration center, but can still go outside onto the street. They’ll also be offered the opportunity to participate in an intensive program aimed at changing their behavior. The asylum seeker will be strongly advised to participate in this voluntary program, a spokesperson for Faber told ANP.
    [..]

  9. EU Court limits Dutch fines for refugees failing integration exam
    https://nltimes.nl/2025/02/04/eu-court-limits-dutch-fines-refugees-failing-integration-exam
    In most circumstances, the Dutch government is not permitted to financially penalize refugees with residency permits when they fail the national integration exam. It is predominantly not allowed to impose a fine on a status holder who has failed the integration exam, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) wrote in a ruling issued Tuesday.
    The issue was brought before the European high court as the result of a case filed by an Eritrean refugee against the Dutch Cabinet. The EU court ruled that imposing a fine is only permitted in exceptional cases, such as when someone “persistently” puts in little effort to integrate.
    The Eritrean man in this case failed to pass all parts of the integration examinations within four years. He did not take one of the test sections and had attempted other portions of the exam but had not passed them. As a result, he was ordered to repay the 10,000 euros financing he received from the government for the costs of the integration program and was fined 500 euros.
    [..]

    • Eritreans are something else. I heard about their grand adventures in Israel, but found nothing but sewage in 4 different search engines as top picks.
      I took a different route and found this:

      Eritrea pays to free its supporters from Israel’s jails after riots

      After 135 people hurt in violence between waring Eritrean groups Israel late to take steps to deport those responsible

      https://www.ynetnews.com/magazine/article/bjgfomqmye

  10. “Honor killing” behind young Joure woman’s (18) death: report
    https://nltimes.nl/2024/06/05/honor-killing-behind-young-joure-womans-18-death-report
    Ryan Al Najjar, an 18-year-old woman from Joure whose body was found a week ago in Leylstad, was the victim of an “honor killing,” people who know the family told the Telegraaf. According to them, Ryan’s father killed her because the very religious family could not tolerate her lifestyle.
    The young woman’s body was found in the water along Knardijk on May 28. She had last been seen in Joure on May 22. The police have two suspects in custody, a 22-year-old man from Joure and a 24-year-old man from Leeuwarden. According to the Telegraaf’s sources, one of the suspects is a relative of Ryan.
    The sources said that Ryan’s father, Khaled (52), killed her, drove her body to Lelystad, and left her there. He then fled to Germany, where he took a plane to Turkey. From abroad, he informed family members where to find Ryan’s body, the sources said.
    The family lived in Idlib, Syria, until 2012. Khaled worked in a shoe factory in Lebanon, and his wife, Sumaia, took care of the children in Syria. They fled to Turkey when the war broke out and arrived as asylum seekers in the Netherlands two years later. They moved to Joure in 2017.
    In an interview with the Leeuwarder Courant, the family was described as a “model family.” A son told the newspaper that he’d like to tell people uncertain about Muslims to “give us the opportunity to get to know each other.” Khaled said he hoped to return to Syria when there was peace one day. Until then, he wanted his kids to “grow up in freedom.”
    One of Ryan’s sisters wrote about her on social media after her death, according to the Telegraaf. In Arabic, she posted: “My sister is in the protection of Allah. O Allah, forgive her. Have mercy on her and forgive her, for she doesn’t know anything.”

    The victim’s brothers are now in court again. Article in Dutch:
    https://www.nu.nl/misdaad/6344903/broers-in-eerwraakzaak-joure-weer-voor-rechter-om-doden-lievelingszusje.html

  11. Suspect in killing of 11-year-old was in program for dangerous psychiatric patients
    https://nltimes.nl/2025/02/04/suspect-killing-11-year-old-program-dangerous-psychiatric-patients
    The 29-year-old man suspected of fatally stabbing 11-year-old Sohani in Nieuwegein was enrolled in a specialized program for dangerous psychiatric patients, run by the forensic care organization Fivoor. The program provides intensive psychiatric treatment for individuals with a history of disruptive behavior. The suspect was remanded to jail for an extra two weeks while the investigation continues.
    The suspect, Hamza L., was previously known to police and the judiciary. In August 2016, he appeared before a judge in The Hague for allegedly threatening his mother in May of that year. According to court records, he demanded sexual acts from her in crude language and threatened to kill her.
    “Take off your pants,” he reportedly said to his mother, followed by, “I’m going to kill you all.” It is unclear what sentence he received for the incident.
    The murder has led to tensions within parliament. PVV leader Geert Wilders emphasized the suspect’s Moroccan background, this came after he mistakenly said that the suspect was from Syria. “The Netherlands is being broken by this multicultural violence,” said the leader of the largest party in the Netherlands.
    [..]

    Police reviewing warnings before fatal stabbing of 11-year-old girl in Nieuwegein
    https://nltimes.nl/2025/02/02/police-reviewing-warnings-fatal-stabbing-11-year-old-girl-nieuwegein
    Police are investigating whether warnings were issued about the mental state of the 29-year-old man accused of fatally stabbing an 11-year-old girl in Nieuwegein on Saturday. Authorities said Sunday they are checking reports that the suspect displayed erratic behavior in the days before the attack.
    “We have heard indications that the man may have exhibited disturbed behavior earlier in the week and that there were reports about it,” a police spokesperson said Sunday. “We are checking whether that is correct.”
    The 29-year-old suspect was arrested shortly after the attack, which took place in front of other children. It remains unclear whether he and the victim knew each other. “The scenario that they did not know each other is realistic,” police said.
    Police also corrected earlier information about the suspect’s background. He has both Dutch and Moroccan nationality, not Syrian, as was initially reported by the police. He is a resident of Nieuwegein, as was the victim, who was born in Eritrea. Police have not confirmed whether she was also Dutch national.

  13. REAKING NEWS: House Democrats Physically Blocked From Entering Department Of Education Building
    Forbes Breaking News – 1 hour ago

    • Maxine Waters aka the Poverty Pimp, lives in a mansion not in her district Why is she allowed? How many times has she been investigated?

  16. Trying times for Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of World Health Organization. The ship may be sinking. President Trump has abandoned the ship, Italy just passed a bill to leave the WHO. Argentina, India and other countries are reassessing their commitment to the WHO. It seems governments are waking up to the pandemic treaty control nonsense, the lockdowns calamity, vaccine mandates.

    Tedros is now slashing budgets, freezing hiring, and cutting programs. And poor Billy Gates, how trying this must be to the Gates Foundation, the largest private contributor to the WHO by far.

    The boys stood on the burning deck. Justine, Twitchy, Carnage, Singh will likely stay on board

    • Poor Albert Bourala, CEO of Pfizer, took a 35% hit in pay as it fell from $33 million in 2022 to $21.6 million last year. No wonder Gates is telling us another plandemic is coming. MONEY just in case you haven’t figured that out yet.

  18. (Richard; The calls for violence against political opponents are a sign that the left knows they are losing the majority of voters to the freedom side of the argument.. They don’t have enough supporters who are crazy enough to use violence to win the Civil War but they do have enough to start and continue an asymmetric war for a decade or two. Their goal will be to force all of the levels of Government to turn oppressive enough that they will gain enough support to win a Civil War. This strategy has been tried many times and occasionally works. Working against this strategy is the fact that the people in the US include a very large percentage of armed personal many of whom are veterans of the fight against the many color revolutions around the world. Things are going to get scary this summer.)

    Democrats Encouraging Violence & War Against MAGA Supporters
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on February 7, 2025 by David Codrea
    Lenawee County Chairman Bill Swift and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whimer: They both want your guns. He also wants to have you hanged. (Bill Swift/Facebook)

    “Lenawee [Michigan] Dem party chair calls for death penalty for Trump supporters: ‘Hanged by the neck until dead’,” The Midwesterner reports. Leveling accusations of Naziism and fascism typically used by Antifa types the County Chairman Bill Swift left no doubt he wants his political enemies to be executed by the state, arguing that President Trump’s efforts “would be sufficient morally to support his extraconstitutional removal.”

    Think about the word “extraconstitutional” and the type of authority Swift wishes to exert. He either ignorantly or deliberately, ignores “that Hitler and his associates believed they were socialists,” and that Mussolini had said “Do not imagine that by tearing up my membership card in the Socialist Party you can forbid my socialist faith or prevent me from continuing to work for the cause of socialism and the revolution.”

    His affinity for the totalitarianism he projects on others could not be clearer:

    He concluded his comments by highlighting another recent post by the Lenawee County Democrats that calls for the death penalty for Trump’s supporters. “They should be arrested, and they should be facing the death penalty,” he said. “They should be hanged by the neck until dead. I believe this is one of the few areas of the law where I believe the death penalty should be imposed.”

    Over 77 million Americans were “Trump supporters.” Taking him at his word, he wants them executed, that is, he wants them to be victims of genocide. Extraconstitutionally, of course.
    And how does he propose doing that, especially considering that Trump’s supporters include tens of millions of gun owners?

    “Times have changed. Guns have changed. Our gun laws should change with them,” the Lenawee County Democratic Party asserts in a Facebook post featuring an Occupy Democrats graphic comparing muskets to AR-15s. “Simple enough everyone in America should be able to understand.”

    Take a look at their disarmament resolution:

    Approved Firearms Resolution
    Lenawee County Democratic Party
    Fall 2018 County Convention

    Whereas individuals armed with high capacity magazines and military style semi-automatic weapons can kill and maim scores and wound hundreds within minutes;

    Whereas individuals can legally purchase firearms privately without background checks;

    Whereas the right to bear arms exists within a well regulated structure of controls;

    Resolved, that the Lenawee County Democratic Party (LenDems) :

    – recognize and affirm that the existence and creation of pragmatic, effective, common sense gun control laws restricting access to various classification of firearms and firearms accessories do not violate the 2nd Amendment and urge that legislative measures be taken at the State and Federal level to secure and protect the rights, property, and lives of the American people.

    – recognize and affirm that requiring ALL firearm sales to be brokered by a Federally licensed firearms dealer would not violate the 2nd Amendment and urge that legislative measures be taken at the State and Federal level to effect such legislation.

    – recognize and affirm that restricting access to high capacity magazines to special licensees would not violate the 2nd Amendment and urge that legislative measures be taken at the State and Federal level to effect such legislation.

    Left unsaid is how they intend to disarm those of us they want hanged by the neck until dead. It would seem the only thing standing between these genocidal maniacs and their intended victims is the reality that the Second Amendment is still working as intended.

    It’s important to note that these are not just random party extremists. These are connected players, county level activists working to elect Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and mainstream Democrat candidates, all of whom are citizen disarmament proponents. Swift himself is pictured in The Midwesterner article posing with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. And significantly, none of them have disavowed his insane words, condemned him, and expelled him from party leadership. (Note:

    “Sen. Joseph Bellino during Senate session on Thursday expressed his frustration and anger that no legislative Democrat has denounced comments by a local Democratic county party chairman and his county party calling for the death of President Trump supporters,” Michigan Senate Republicans announced.

    They won’t, because such sentiments go all the way to the top.
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    “We’re going to fight it (Trump’s agenda) legislatively, we’re going to fight it the courts,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries declared in a press conference with Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman Yvette D. Clarke. “And we’re going to fight it in the streets.”
    Extraconstitutionally, of course. Imagine the additional criminal charges if Donald Trump had said anything remotely that provocative on J6.

    It should be noted that support for Jeffries signaled a hard left for Democrats, and that he and Clarke are both darlings of maninstream gun prohibitionists. It’s also relevant to point out that, per the National Center for Policy Research, “An overwhelming number of members of the Congressional Black Caucus are also members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. This organization has deep leftist ties and shares a similar agenda to the Communist Party of the United States of America.”

    There’s more.

    Perennial gun-grabber wannabe David Hogg, who insists you have no right to own a gun and thus can be lawfully disarmed (some of us would say “extraconstitutionally” if anyone was bloodthirstily insane enough to try ) was recently “elevated” to a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. He also has equated NRA (and by default anyone belonging to a more hard core organization) to a “terrorist organization.”
    And what does the government do to terrorists? We had some pretty good hints from Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell and Joe Biden, both citizen disarmament zealots fantasizing about deploying “F-15s and nukes” against their countrymen. (And not to wander too far off course, but it’s relevant to recall “Retired Air Force general and former CIA and NSA chief Michael Hayden endorsed sending ‘MAGA wearing unvaxxed to Afghanistan on board empty cargo planes,” that is, sending Americans to a torture camp without due process. It would be a literal death sentence. And with the numbers involved, it would amount, without exaggeration, to genocide.

    It’s almost funny, leaders of the party that criminalized Republican election “deniers” pulling out all the stops trying to overturn the rejection of Democrats by the electorate in November. Except with the Trump administration turning up the heat on their malfeasance through USAID, exposing their weaponizing of law enforcement, deporting future “pathway to citizenship” Democrats, and ridding the federal ranks of DEI incompetents and embedded apparatchiks, powerful politicians and bureaucrats are now feeling very real fear. That makes them desperate, which makes those who feel there’s no escape from being exposed dangerous.

    No less a Democrat political power than gun-grabber extraordinaire and raw cheeseburger aficionado Chuck Schumer was out there with “No justice/No peace” Maxne Waters pumping his fists and raging “in the streets,” leading mob demanding to (extraconstitutionally) “Shut down the Senate.” In other words, he was inciting insurrection and seditious conspiracy while Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged “blow this place up.” Meanwhile Rep. Ayanna Pressley, “liberally” throwing out the “Nazi!” accusation, threatened “We will see you in the court, in Congress, in the streets,” as Rep. LaMonica McIver screamed “WE ARE AT WAR!”
    We are, and not metaphorically. With people who want our guns. People, who as their own words reveal, want us dead.

    And this just in, as I was putting this article to bed:

    ‘Choose violence’: Vice Chair of El Paso County Democratic Party speaks on his Facebook post

    https://www.ammoland.com/2025/02/democrats-encouraging-violence-and-war-against-maga-supporters/

  19. Federal Judge Rules Ban on Machineguns Is Unconstitutional
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on February 7, 2025 by John Crump
    MAC-10 Registered SMG
    This transferrable MAC-10 is a real machine gun. IMG Jim Grant

    A Federal District Court Judge from Mississippi has ruled that the federal prohibition banning private ownership of machineguns made after April 1986 violates Second Amendment Protections of the United States Constitution.

    In 1986, the Hughes Amendment was added to the Gun Owners Protection Act (GOPA) as a poison pill. A poison pill is an amendment added to a bill to guarantee failure, but in the case of the GOPA, the bill passed with the poison pill attached. The Hughes Amendment closed the National Firearms Act (NFA) registry for new machineguns. It amended 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(o) and 924(a)(2) of the federal statute.
    In 2022, Justin Bryce Brown was arrested for owning unregistered machineguns made after 1986. Facing ten years in prison, Mr. Brown’s lawyer filed a motion for dismissal, claiming that the machinegun prohibition law violated their client’s Second Amendment-protected rights. Judge Colton Reeves begrudgingly granted the defense’s request. He cited that he was bound by Supreme Court precedent.

    “Mr. Brown’s argument was once foreclosed by decades of precedent. Not anymore. In 2022, the Supreme Court ‘established a new historical paradigm for analyzing Second Amendment claims.’,” the judge wrote.

    The judge is discussing the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, which states that courts can only use the text, tradition, and history of the Second Amendment to determine whether gun law is constitutional.

    The Second Amendment reads: “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 first question is if Mr. Brown is part of “the people.” He is over 18, the age of majority in the United States. This means he is part of the political class and, therefore, part of “the people.” The next step is to determine if the arm in question is protected. In Heller, SCOTUS said that “dangerous and unusual” weapons could be banned. The judge determined that machineguns are dangerous, but so is every firearm since they can do bodily harm.

    The judge then looked at whether machineguns are “unusual.” Unusual means an arm is not in common use. There are over 744,000 machineguns in private hands. In another case, the courts said 500,000 stun guns in circulations was enough to constitute “in common use.” Lawyers for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tried to argue that only arms in common use during the 1790s were protected. The judge rejected the argument since if he accepted it, the government could ban any firearm that is not a musket or carbine.
    Since the judge determined that Brown was part of the people and that machineguns were protected arms, the man’s actions were presumably constitutional. The burden of proof shifts to the state to provide historical analogues to prove a law is consistent with the history and tradition of the nation’s firearms regulations. SCOTUS said in Rahimi that a law from the founding era doesn’t have to be a historical twin, but it has to be similar. The government failed to provide any laws that the court found useful.
    Judge Reeves had no choice but to dismiss the case. The decision only applies to the defendant since this was a criminal case. Mr. Brown doesn’t get his firearms and ammunition back from the police. Those were taken through the civil forfeiture case, United States of America v. Five (5) Pistols et al.

    https://www.scribd.com/embeds/825239237/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-GDjcBeC3lfJLW7qBTjZf

    https://www.ammoland.com/2025/02/federal-judge-rules-ban-on-machineguns-is-unconstitutional/

  20. Semi-Auto Ban Up for Debate in Colorado Senate
    By Cam Edwards | 10:01 AM | February 07, 2025
    AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty

    SB 3, the bill banning the sale and manufacture of every gas-operated semi-automatic firearm that can accept a detachable magazine, is scheduled to hit the floor of the Colorado State Senate today, and though Democrats appear to have the votes to send the bill to the House for consideration, today’s session is still likely to have a lot of drama… and maybe even a surprise twist or two.
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    In addition to the attempt by Republicans (and a handful of Democrats) to defeat the bill outright, expect to see a flurry of proposed amendments debated alongside the underlying bill. I’m also watching to see if there’ll be any last minute defections… or rather, any more Democrats distancing themselves from SB 3 before a vote is held.

    A Democratic state senator who signed on as a cosponsor of Senate Bill 3, which would ban the manufacture and sale of certain semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and handguns that can accept detachable ammunition magazines, says he will vote against the measure.

    Sen. Marc Snyder of Manitou Springs said he didn’t fully understand its effect when he agreed to attach his name to it.

    Snyder’s reversal doesn’t mean the legislation won’t pass. It still has enough supporters in the Senate to clear the chamber, barring more than one other defection. The bill is scheduled to get a preliminary vote in the Senate on Friday.

    But it highlights the shifting political ground beneath Senate Bill 3, which would represent one of the biggest changes to Colorado gun policy in state history.

    Of the 23 Democrats in the chamber, 19 have either verbally committed to voting “yes” on the bill when asked by The Sun or have signaled they will support it by serving as cosponsors.

    Two Democrats — Snyder and Sen. Nick Hinrichsen of Pueblo — say they can’t vote for the measure as is, while two more — Sens. Dylan Roberts and Kyle Mullica — haven’t said how they will vote on the legislation.

    Advertisement

    Gun owners in Colorado need to keep up the pressure, especially since some cracks are emerging in the anti-gun firewall in the Senate. One of the reasons Snyder gave for his about-face was the fact that his constituents “overwhelmingly oppose” gun bans, so the contacts by Colorado 2A advocates appears to be having an impact.

    Though existing gun owners would be grandfathered in and allowed to keep the gas-operated semi-automatic firearms they currently own, SB 3 would still be the most extreme and extensive gun ban in the country if it becomes law. All gas-operated semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and pistols sold in Colorado would have to come with a magazine permanently attached to the firearm, which would place almost every semi-automatic long gun off-limits to residents going forward.

    The sweeping semi-auto ban is the top priority for the gun control lobby this year, and not just in Colorado. Similar bills are being pushed in New Mexico and Rhode Island as well, and gun control activists rallied in support of the ban at the New Mexico capitol building earlier this week.

    Barring any more last minute defections, SB 3 will probably pass the Senate, but not without a fight. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is also still non-committal about signing SB 3, so gun owners shouldn’t throw in the towel and accept SB 3’s passage as inevitable. There’s a good chance the bill get watered down as it makes its way through the legislature, and its outright defeat still isn’t out of the question.
    Advertisement

    If SB 3 does become law it will face an immediate court challenge, but it’s always better to defeat a bad bill than to try to overturn a bad law, and today might be the best chance of killing the bill before it gets to the governor’s desk.

    https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2025/02/07/semi-auto-ban-up-for-debate-in-colorado-senate-n1227613

  21. A person is killed in Brussels in the fourth shooting in a week linked to drug gangs
    https://apnews.com/article/belgium-shootings-gangland-cocaine-f998f37d7fa50e8a554b2c6afbc4d0c9
    Gunfire in Brussels killed one person Friday in what Belgian officials said was the fourth shooting in the past week believed linked to drug gangs, prompting a government vow to boost police on the city’s streets.
    It was the first fatal shooting in the spate of violence in the Anderlecht and St. Josse neighborhoods. The previous three shootings resulted only in one injury. Officials said they all had the hallmarks of drug-related violence, not terrorism.
    “It is more than likely that the shootings are linked,” Prosecutor General Frédéric Van Leeuw told VRT network.
    Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden said police presence needs to be increased throughout the city.
    “A lot of people work here, visit us. And the reality of the past days forces us to take absolutely good care of Brussels,” Verlinden said. “Criminals are extremely flexible, so if we don’t have (police) everywhere, we will fix nothing because the problem will just move somewhere else.”
    There have been previous shootings in Brussels, but to have four within a week has raised alarm. Citizens’ groups have increasingly complained about lawlessness in several Brussels neighborhoods at night, and have demanded a bigger police presence.
    Belgium’s port in Antwerp, 35 miles (55 kilometers) to the north, has increasingly been the center of European imports of cocaine, and has been hit by grenade explosions linked to gangland fighting. Security officials have said that the violence was bound to trickle into other cities in Belgium.

    Gunmen open fire at train station before escaping into underground
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVPVkyY0huI
    A manhunt is under way in Belgium after several armed men were spotted on the metro in Brussels.
    Police officers are searching for a group of men after shots were fired at 6:15 am local time in front of the Clémenceau station in Anderlecht, in the west of the city.

    ‘UNBELIEVABLE!’ Manhunt underway after gunmen ‘OPEN FIRE’ at commuters in SHOCKING week of violence
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWSFXN9jsSo
    Armed gunmen were hunted across the Brussels transport network after they opened fire outside a metro station, before disappearing into the tunnels.
    This is the latest incident terrorising the people of Europe. in the last week an educational centre in Sweden was the site of the country’s worst-ever mass shooting.
    In the UK, a 15 year old boy was stabbed to death at school.

  23. Federal Judge Rules Ban on Machineguns Is Unconstitutional
    Ammoland Inc. Posted on February 7, 2025 by John Crump
    MAC-10 Registered SMG
    This transferrable MAC-10 is a real machine gun. IMG Jim Grant

    A Federal District Court Judge from Mississippi has ruled that the federal prohibition banning private ownership of machineguns made after April 1986 violates Second Amendment Protections of the United States Constitution.

    In 1986, the Hughes Amendment was added to the Gun Owners Protection Act (GOPA) as a poison pill. A poison pill is an amendment added to a bill to guarantee failure, but in the case of the GOPA, the bill passed with the poison pill attached. The Hughes Amendment closed the National Firearms Act (NFA) registry for new machineguns. It amended 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(o) and 924(a)(2) of the federal statute.
    In 2022, Justin Bryce Brown was arrested for owning unregistered machineguns made after 1986. Facing ten years in prison, Mr. Brown’s lawyer filed a motion for dismissal, claiming that the machinegun prohibition law violated their client’s Second Amendment-protected rights. Judge Colton Reeves begrudgingly granted the defense’s request. He cited that he was bound by Supreme Court precedent.

    “Mr. Brown’s argument was once foreclosed by decades of precedent. Not anymore. In 2022, the Supreme Court ‘established a new historical paradigm for analyzing Second Amendment claims.’,” the judge wrote.

    The judge is discussing the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, which states that courts can only use the text, tradition, and history of the Second Amendment to determine whether gun law is constitutional.

    The Second Amendment reads: “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 first question is if Mr. Brown is part of “the people.” He is over 18, the age of majority in the United States. This means he is part of the political class and, therefore, part of “the people.” The next step is to determine if the arm in question is protected. In Heller, SCOTUS said that “dangerous and unusual” weapons could be banned. The judge determined that machineguns are dangerous, but so is every firearm since they can do bodily harm.

    The judge then looked at whether machineguns are “unusual.” Unusual means an arm is not in common use. There are over 744,000 machineguns in private hands. In another case, the courts said 500,000 stun guns in circulations was enough to constitute “in common use.” Lawyers for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tried to argue that only arms in common use during the 1790s were protected. The judge rejected the argument since if he accepted it, the government could ban any firearm that is not a musket or carbine.
    Since the judge determined that Brown was part of the people and that machineguns were protected arms, the man’s actions were presumably constitutional. The burden of proof shifts to the state to provide historical analogues to prove a law is consistent with the history and tradition of the nation’s firearms regulations. SCOTUS said in Rahimi that a law from the founding era doesn’t have to be a historical twin, but it has to be similar. The government failed to provide any laws that the court found useful.
    Judge Reeves had no choice but to dismiss the case. The decision only applies to the defendant since this was a criminal case. Mr. Brown doesn’t get his firearms and ammunition back from the police. Those were taken through the civil forfeiture case, United States of America v. Five (5) Pistols et al.

    https://www.scribd.com/embeds/825239237/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-GDjcBeC3lfJLW7qBTjZf

    https://www.ammoland.com/2025/02/federal-judge-rules-ban-on-machineguns-is-unconstitutional/
    https://www.ammoland.com/2025/02/federal-judge-rules-ban-on-machineguns-is-unconstitutional/