Aggregator

Fire crews followed a trail of the bright-red mystery fluid to its source, only to discover it was a leaking semi-truck carrying 40,000 pounds of hot sauce.

Charlie Kirk Assassination Case Heads For Key Hearing

Authored by Janice Hisle via The Epoch Times,

After months of wrangling, the case of Charlie Kirk's alleged assassin, Tyler James Robinson, is now headed toward its first major legal threshold.

Tyler Robinson, accused of killing conservative commentator Charlie Kirk last year, appears during a hearing in Utah's Fourth District Court in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 11, 2025. Rick Egan/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP, Pool

Robinson, 23, is accused of fatally shooting Kirk, the 31-year-old founder of the conservative Turning Point USA youth movement, while Kirk spoke at Utah Valley University on Sept. 10, 2025.

During a four-day proceeding set to begin on July 6 in a Utah courtroom, prosecutors must reveal some of the evidence they have against Robinson.

This preliminary hearing requires the evidence to pass two key tests. And the judge overseeing the case has set strict rules for people who will be attending, including news crews.

Here is what to expect, based on general legal principles, Utah law, and rulings from Utah Fourth District Court Judge Tony Graf Jr.

Why The Hearing Matters

Not all U.S. criminal courts use a preliminary hearing to put evidence through an initial screening, but Utah courts do.

The hearing is like a "mini trial," which comes with advantages and disadvantages for both sides in a criminal case.

Prosecutors have already shared much evidence with Robinson's lawyers, as criminal law requires. But this hearing requires them to show their cards more specifically.

That will give defense lawyers a chance to poke holes in some of the evidence that prosecutors have against Robinson.

However, prosecutors have a wild card in their favor. At this hearing, they may present some evidence that would not be allowed during a trial.

In Utah, that evidence includes "reliable hearsay" testimony - statements that a witness heard someone else make. Usually, hearsay is forbidden, and witnesses must testify only about what they personally stated or observed.

The law requires prosecutors to present enough evidence to persuade Graf that they have "probable cause." That consists of two parts: First, they must provide sufficient proof that a reasonable person could conclude that the alleged crimes happened. Second, that evidence must show that the accused probably committed those offenses.

Open To The Public, With Restrictions

Members of the public and news reporters are allowed to attend the preliminary hearing, the judge ruled on June 1, despite objections from Robinson's lawyers. They wanted to close all or part of the hearing.

Instead, access will be granted, subject to limited seating and strict rules, the judge said. He gave a lengthy explanation of the rules on June 26.

The rules are necessary, he said, to ensure everyone's "safety and well-being" and to preserve fair trial rights for Robinson, as well as for Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk.

No one - except specified people - will be allowed to bring electronic devices to Graf's courtroom in Provo, Utah; he is also banning the devices from the entire fourth floor of that building, outside his courtroom.

People who are exempt from that rule include attorneys and their support staff, as well as media personnel who receive Graf's approval.

"In addition, every person who will be in attendance will be afforded the dignity and respect due to them," Graf said.

He cited an order he issued on Sept. 24, 2025, regarding courtroom decorum.

"All spectators shall be quiet, civil, and orderly," Graf said. "Spectators shall not engage in any distracting, disruptive, provocative, disrespectful, uncivil, or threatening behavior of any kind."

Further, he is forbidding attendees from making any gestures, including shaking or nodding heads to signal disagreement or agreement with statements.

No one is allowed "to wear or display pins, buttons, signs, clothing, or photographs expressing support for or against any person," Graf said.

"The court respectfully asks all persons seeking admission to conduct themselves in an orderly and respectful manner while court staff and security personnel carry out their responsibilities, including security screening and the assignment of wristbands for entry into the hearing," he said.

What Could Happen Next?

Because probable cause is considered a low bar to clear, it is rare for a case to fail at the preliminary hearing stage.

But if that does happen, the case probably would continue after a delay. Prosecutors would be allowed to add more evidence and refile the charges.

Most preliminary hearings end with the case being "bound over" for trial.

At trial, the standard of proof that prosecutors must meet is the highest in the criminal justice system. It is "beyond a reasonable doubt."

This standard requires "more certainty than any other burden of proof in law," according to Cornell Law School's Legal Information Institute.

Beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean beyond all imaginary doubt. It means that the judge or jury is "firmly convinced" that the defendant committed the alleged crimes.

If Robinson is convicted as charged, he could face the death penalty.

Graf on June 26 rejected defense lawyers' request to remove the death penalty as an option. However, he found prosecutors in contempt because they made statements about being able to clear the "reasonable doubt" hurdle.

To remedy that violation of his order prohibiting such an out-of-court statement, the judge said he will work with attorneys on both sides.

They will put together an extra detailed jury selection questionnaire, and a larger pool of potential jurors might need to be summoned, Graf said.

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 22:10

Who's playing the little prince? Charlie Gordon or Benjamin Evan Ainsworth?

Catie reacted to aggressively trying to make out with her male friends in front of Josh's face.

Catie reacted to aggressively trying to make out with her male friends in front of Josh's face.

"That monologue that she has... is just, like, astonishing," Reid shared.

“If you keep going and never stop trying, you will always chase that dream and will eventually get it," the young athlete said. "You just gotta run your race. I gotta run mine.”

The last time a New York baseball team played this badly, the Mets got Carlos Mendoza fired.

Hakeem Jeffries is rolling out the welcome mat for the people who want his head mounted on their trophy wall.

Schumer celebrated in a figure-revealing swimsuit, which she shared on social media Sunday.

Schumer celebrated in a figure-revealing swimsuit, which she shared on social media Sunday.

Former Sen. Warren Staffer Attends Ayatollah's Funeral, Calls Him "Greatest Leader Of Our Lifetime"

A former Democratic Party operative who worked on campaigns linked to prominent unhinged left-wing politicians such as Elizabeth Warren, Ed Markey, and others has become a case study in how far-left radicalization can influence those on the left, spiraling dangerously and leading to the open championing of leaders of foreign adversaries.

Calla Walsh began organizing for Democratic Senator Ed Markey while she was still a teenager. She had the perfect profile: earnest, idealistic, and a model Gen Z Democrat.

Former Elizabeth Warren staffer who called for the United States to be abolished as justice for Khamenei, attended his funeral and called him one of the greatest leaders of her lifetime pic.twitter.com/WSzpzcpd1R

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 5, 2026

But, like many of her peers on the left, that idealism mutated into something darker - something Democrats are now concerned about as socialists and Islamists gain power in their party.

The latest Walsh episode shows the Gen Z Democrat on Iranian TV from Tehran during funeral ceremonies for slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, praising the late Iranian cleric as the "greatest anti-imperialist leader" of her lifetime.

"Ayatollah Khamenei was the greatest anti-imperialist leader to have lived during my lifetime," Walsh said.

Palestine Action US founder Calla Walsh attends Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral and calls him the “greatest anti-Imperialist leader” in her lifetime.

This is the brainwashing going on in the far-left, making them to unite with Islamists and terrorists. pic.twitter.com/N5o0Z3Wrv4

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) July 4, 2026

Walsh shared a message similar to that of the Democratic Socialists: "Death to America"...

She's American . She got paid to trave to Iran to say "death to America" in Kamenei's funeral in a terrible Persian accent!

This is the IR that @JDVance convinced America to negotiate with, ignoring the bloodshed in #IranMassacre‌. pic.twitter.com/QvP7OPGq0h

— Nazanin 🇮🇷 (@naz8nin) July 5, 2026

Walsh's message was also shared with attendees at the funeral.

"Death to America" chants rumble through IRAN! pic.twitter.com/Pub3pgCAEC

— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinkle) July 4, 2026

Ahead of America's 250th birthday, Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor of New York City, denounced the nation: 

Socialist Mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, just gave a speech on what he thinks it means to be an American on America’s 250th Birthday.

He attacked our nation as “an arena of supremacy” that “persecutes” and claimed ICE is “invading our streets”. pic.twitter.com/kyHY6TXHfi

— America (@america) July 3, 2026

And, of course, Hasan Piker, the unofficial DSA spokesperson, has called for his followers "to kill capitalists. Let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood."

Hasan Piker calls on his followers to kill capitalists:

“Yeah kill them! KiII those motherfuckers and murder those motherfuckers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood, dude.”

Democrats are campaigning with him. pic.twitter.com/YiZxGgRkgc

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 9, 2026

The story presented here illustrates the emergence of a new Democratic Party.

BREAKING: Palestinian Aber Kawas has won her seat for NY State Senate.

She’s said 9/11 was America’s fault due to “capitalism, racism, white supremacy, and Islamophobia.”

Here she is waving a Hamas headband. pic.twitter.com/bJildloSjq

— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) June 24, 2026

Party leaders are deeply concerned because anti-American rhetoric, denunciations of capitalism, and calls for revolution are not resonating with average voters and could harm Democrats as socialists gain influence ahead of the midterms.

Ted, we got answers below ... 

How is this possibly real? https://t.co/TODxgUHVjW

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) July 5, 2026

If you want to understand why the Democratic Party has become so radical and revolutionary, here are some answers:

• Feds Nab Alleged Member Of "Sprawling" Cuban Communist Subversion Network Linked To Hasan Piker's Havana Trip
• DOJ Grand Jury Probes Neville Roy Singham's Marxist NGO Empire: Report
• "No Longer Tolerate Radical Marxists": Rubio Sanctions Revolutionary Cuban Influence Network Tied To U.S. Left-Wing NGOs
• Is There A "Cuba Connection" Behind The Radicalization Of America's Nonprofit Left

Another Democrat has sounded the alarm on the party's far-left drift:

Governor Josh Shapiro (D-PA) says he does not support the socialist takeover of the Democratic Party and the beliefs they have

Josh Shapiro: “Our party has to have a battle over what we believe in.” pic.twitter.com/hTZEHgWpN6

— DSA Watch (@DSA_Watch) July 5, 2026

Related:

• Troubling Pattern Of Left-Wing Revolutionaries Targeting "Capitalists" Raises Alarm Over Youth Radicalization

In response, the Trump administration has been testing the waters with anti-communist messaging. We suspect that messaging will only grow louder, as sane citizens on both sides of the political aisle can agree that communism is bad.

* * * Next-level Wagyu, now at ZeroHedge Store

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 21:35

From festivities with the family to parades, we spotted a few celebrities out and some took to social media to give fans a peek inside their Independence Day celebrations.

From festivities with the family to parades, we spotted a few celebrities out and some took to social media to give fans a peek inside their Independence Day celebrations.

Nate Smith says cutting daily calorie intake following a 2024 health scare helped him shed weight

Naomi Osaka delivered her biggest Wimbledon win yet Saturday, beating world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 7-6(2) in the fourth round. She gave a reason beyond tennis for the victory. The win on Sunday sends Osaka to her first career quarterfinal at Wimbledon The secret weapon, according to Osaka, was not just her serve or...

Why is a rich 86-year-old man with a DUI conviction still driving at all?

First $1 Billion, Now $50 Million: Khanna Says Wealth Tax "Must Not Stop At Billionaires"

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) - fresh off endorsing California's November ballot measure to seize 5% of billionaire wealth - published a Substack essay Wednesday titled, no really, "Why I Support a Billionaire Wealth Tax."

He makes it roughly a dozen paragraphs before explaining that it isn't one.

"The tax should not stop at billionaires, it must reach centimillionaires," Khanna writes, before spelling out exactly what that means: every fortune of $50 million and up, hit with a 2% federal levy on wealth above that line - every year, forever, on top of everything else you already pay. The vehicle is Elizabeth Warren's Ultra-Millionaire Tax Act, which Khanna notes he has cosponsored every single year it's been introduced.

And before anyone reaches for the estate planner: Khanna wants the levy to pierce irrevocable trusts, with the tax billed to the grantor who set them up - because parking a fortune in a trust, in his telling, shouldn't take it off the government's books.

Former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky summed up the reveal in eight words: "Just like that, no longer a billionaires tax."

Just like that, no longer a billionaires tax. https://t.co/05wt4D9WX6 pic.twitter.com/xgA0vpnK6w

— Steven Sinofsky (@stevesi) July 3, 2026

Pirate Wires' Mike Solana was less diplomatic, characterizing the scheme as an annual asset seizure in which the government tallies everything you own and demands a cut on top of your existing tax bill - now openly targeting anyone worth $50 million. His prediction for where the ratchet stops: "this ends with your 401k."

khanna's 'billionaire wealth tax,' which is not a tax but an asset seizure in which he tallies everything you own, then demands a percentage *on top* of what you're taxed — every single year — is already targeting anyone worth $50 million or more. this ends with your 401k. https://t.co/jt7VtK1j4w pic.twitter.com/IH9vxcBxKG

— Mike Solana (@micsolana) July 3, 2026

For those keeping score at home, the threshold discourse has traveled a long way in a short time:

The measure headed to California voters in November is a one-time 5% tax on the state's roughly 250 billionaires. Newsom, opposing it, countered on June 26 with a national "billionaires' tax" - which, in its original form, applied to anyone worth $100 million or more, language that was quietly scrubbed after multiple outlets quoted it as we reported. Six days later, Khanna planted the flag at $50 million.

None of this is exactly new, of course. The Warren bill has carried the $50 million line since she rolled it out in 2019, and Biden's 2022 "Billionaire Minimum Income Tax" kicked in at $100 million households. The branding always says billionaire, but the fine print ios a slippery slope.

Then there's inflation... The bill's $50 million threshold is a flat statutory number that hasn't moved since 2019 - meaning inflation has already quietly cut the real threshold by more than a fifth. The creep shows up in the sponsors' own math: when the bill debuted, backers said it touched the top 0.05% of American households; the 2026 reintroduction, per the same Saez-Zucman analysis the sponsors tout, now reaches 260,000 households - the top 0.15%. Same words, triple the coverage, five years. Asset inflation does the broadening automatically. Congress just has to sit still.

The escalator, meanwhile, is pre-drafted: buried in the bill is a provision doubling the top rate to 6% automatically in any year that qualifying trigger legislation is on the books. 

And anyone curious where a "normalized" wealth tax eventually settles can consult the countries that already normalized one. Norway's kicks in around $160,000 of net worth. The Netherlands taxes deemed returns on assets above roughly €57,000. Swiss cantons start in the low six figures. The European wealth taxes that stayed rich-only - France, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Denmark - were repealed as revenue duds. The ones that survived did so by reaching the middle class. The slippery slope is quite literally the only way these things 'work.' 

Khanna spends a portion of the essay taking intramural shots at Newsom, dismissing the governor's version as an income tax billionaires will never feel - since they take no salary, borrow against their stock, and pass fortunes to their kids without selling a share - while boasting that he and Bernie Sanders tax the wealth itself, to the tune of a claimed $4.4 trillion.

The replies were not kind. Christopher Rufo suggested Washington recover the estimated half-trillion dollars a year lost to fraud before inventing new revenue streams. The most-liked response, from James Hafner, noted that the essay's "philosophical case" never actually argues its one load-bearing premise - that one man's need constitutes a claim on another man's property. "There is arithmetic, and there is need," Hafner wrote of the piece's actual contents.

Khanna's comeback - asking Hafner what he thinks of property taxes - was promptly ratioed, sitting at 135 replies to 11 likes at press time.

Except - property taxes are local, visible, and appealable; they pay for the pothole crew, the 2 a.m. patrol car, and the school down the street - and when assessments outran paychecks, voters famously revolted and capped them. Khanna's essay actually frames the California fight as Proposition 13 in reverse, which is a remarkable self-own: he's marketing the sequel to a movie that ended in a taxpayer revolt, triggered by precisely the dynamic critics warn about - paper valuations rising faster than the cash available to pay the levy.

The federal version offers none of the offsetting virtues. The Ultra-Millionaire Tax deposits into the general fund; the child-care-and-community-college wish list lives in the press release, not the bill text. What the bill text does contain is enforcement - just not of the spending. It orders the IRS to audit at least 30% of everyone subject to the tax, every single year. It hands the agency expanded authority to assign values to private businesses, farmland, art, and anything else that's hard to price. It wires in FATCA-style third-party reporting. And should you decide you've had enough of the annual appraisal and leave, it imposes a 40% exit tax on net worth above $50 million on your way out the door. In other words: relentless annual oversight of the taxpayers, and none whatsoever of where the money goes. Even Khanna seems to grasp the trust problem - he launched a state-fraud probe in December, conceding taxpayers "need to have a receipt" for what their money funds - which rather makes Rufo's point: by his own estimate Washington loses half a trillion a year to fraud, and the remedy on offer is an audit of your art collection.

All of which lands a little awkwardly next to this week's Free Beacon report detailing how Khanna's own family fortune - courtesy of centimillionaire father-in-law and auto-parts magnate Monte Ahuja - is sheltered through the very sort of irrevocable trusts the congressman now wants taxed to the grantor. Per the Beacon, Khanna's minor children hold trust stakes in three private golf clubs and multiple hedge funds, the family occupies a $6 million, marble-clad Washington home with a private elevator, and the congressman's financial disclosures run to 333 pages of conveniently non-searchable tables.

What it does say, in writing, is what the fine print has said all along: the number was never $1 billion. This week it's $50 million. Ask again next cycle.

* * * Next-level Wagyu, now at ZeroHedge Store

Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 21:15

On 250th Anniversary, A Look Back At Gun Ownership In America

Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times,

"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 Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees what may be the most uniquely American of all rights. Those 27 words have inspired millions of words in thousands of debates over the Amendment's meaning and what, if any, limits may apply.

"The Shot Heard 'Round the World," 2009, by Domenick D'Andrea. Public Domain

There is no question that firearms played a pivotal role in the birth and growth of the United States of America.

From the Pilgrims' matchlock muskets and the six shooters carried by cowboys, to the modern semiautomatic rifles wielded by Korean business owners in the Los Angeles riots of 1992, guns are an integral part of American culture.

The right to keep and bear arms is unique, says Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow with Advancing American Freedom and Second Amendment scholar.

"It's an incredibly short list [of countries that recognize the right to own guns], and there are none of them have anything in theory or practice that is what I would say [is] a true equivalent of the American right to keep and bear arms," Swearer told The Epoch Times.

Based on sales data, permit applications, background checks and other factors, there are an estimated 400 million to 500 million firearms in civilian hands in the United States, according to the Sixguns Fraternity. This is an average of two firearms for every person over age 18.

Yet, while America celebrates 250 years as a society that honors the individual right to keep and bear arms, gun ownership remains one of the nation's most divisive issues.

Gun control groups did not respond to emails seeking comment for this article, but many have posted their concerns online. Gun control advocates say violence intervention strategies, strict gun control - including bans - and tighter regulation of the firearms industry are elements of common-sense gun laws.

They point to high-profile stories of mass shootings, school shootings, and violent crime involving firearms.

"The gun homicide rate in the U.S. is 26 times higher than that of other developed countries, but research shows that common-sense public safety laws can reduce gun violence and save lives," Everytown for Gun Safety, states on its website.

The group, along with others, say gunshots are the number one cause of death for American children.

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control reports that the top cause of death for children between 1- and 17-years-old are "unintentional injuries." Matthew Garnett with the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, defines unintentional injury as, deaths from fatal injuries that were "unintended, unplanned, and did not occur on purpose."

"Unintentional injury deaths include a wide array of mechanisms, with the four most common being: poisoning, motor vehicle crashes, drowning, and falls," Garnett wrote.

Second Amendment activists say gun control policies harm law abiding citizens rather than criminals. They say the data presented by gun control organizations are cherry-picked or manipulated to get the desired result.

Gun Owners of America says Everytown skews its data on children killed by firearms because it includes 18- and 19-year-olds. Generally, most data involving children only includes children aged 1 to 17, while 18- and 19-year-olds are considered adults.

Public safety has always played a role in American gun legislation, says Robert J. Spitzer, professor emeritus at the State University of New York, College at Cortland.

This includes laws on where and how guns could be carried, who could own them, and which arms are protected by the Second Amendment.

Spitzer has written extensively on the Second Amendment. In a 2017 article published by Duke University, "Gun Law History in the United States and Second Amendment Rights," he describes gun laws from pre-Revolutionary times to the modern day.

He contends that while America has a "wild west" reputation, it has also worked to tame that reputation. Spitzer wrote that "stand-your-ground" laws, the unlicensed carry of firearms, allowing those younger than 21 to legally carry a gun in public, and similar policies, do not align with America's tradition of gun regulation.

"[These] laws are not a return to the past. They are a refutation of America's past, and a determined march away from America's gun regulation tradition," Spitzer wrote. "And these changes have nothing to do with improving safety or security in society, but everything to do with politics."

So, what did the founders have to say? How did they view guns and their impact on public safety? And what route have the courts taken in trying to answer those questions?

Founding View Of Guns

The founders appear to have considered the ability to defend oneself a responsibility as much as a right. As Englishmen and lawyers, they studied English Common Law. Most of them were familiar with the "Commentaries on the Laws of England," by Sir William Blackstone.

Blackstone was an English jurist and legal scholar. His commentaries are considered an authoritative text when it comes to English law.

In the first chapter, Blackstone outlines the process for relief when a person's rights are violated or they are violently attacked. The first avenue is the court and the law, according to Blackstone. If that fails, the next step is a petition to the King and Parliament, and "lastly to the right of having and using arms for self-preservation and defense."

The right to be armed for self-defense underpinned legal arguments John Adams, Founding Father and second U.S. president, made when defending British soldiers charged with murder in the 1770 "Boston Massacre." His argument, voiced before there was a second amendment, informs his, and other founders', world view on the matter.

On March 5, 1770, a group of colonists was berating a British soldier guarding the Customs House in Boston. British Army Capt. Thomas Preston brought a squad of seven soldiers to support the lone guard.

As the situation grew tense, one of the soldiers fired his musket. Thinking the order to fire had been given, the others followed suit. Three colonists, including a black sailor named Crispus Attucks, were killed immediately. Two others died later.

Adams, Josiah Quincy Jr., and Robert Auchmuty, Jr., represented Preston in court. Adams argued that the soldiers had every reason to believe they were in danger.

"Here every private person is authorized to arm himself, and on the strength of this authority, I do not deny the inhabitants had a right to arm themselves at that time, for their defence, not for offence, that distinction is material and must be attended to," Adams stated.

Preston was acquitted of his murder charges.

Civilian gun ownership is necessary for a "well-regulated militia," according to Stephen Halbrook, a Fairfax, Virginia-based attorney and senior fellow with the Independent Institute.

"It was considered a duty," Halbrook told The Epoch Times.

Halbrook pointed out that the first settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, almost failed partly because of conflict with Indians who were hostile to the colonists.

"You had a responsibility ... to have arms in your home and basically to carry them around with you. After the Constitution comes into being in 1792 the federal militia laws ... required, that every able-bodied white male citizen would have to provide arms for himself and enroll in the militia, and to go when called to duty," Halbrook said.

This was outlined by Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Paper No. 29. Hamilton explained that the militia consists of armed residents prepared to defend themselves and their communities.

According to Hamilton, "well-regulated" means the members will "acquire the degree of proficiency in military functions which would be essential to their usefulness." While Hamilton called on the federal government to support the militias, he stressed that they would operate under local authority.

"Reserving to the states respectively the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress," Hamilton wrote.

The federal government has a militia law, 10 U.S. Code § 246 - Militia: Composition and Classes, as do 45 states.

The federal law states that the unorganized militia is made up of all able-bodied males between the ages of 17 and 45 who are not members of the National Guard or Naval Militia, and females who are members of the National Guard and Naval Militia.

Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and West Virginia do not have established militias. Twenty-two states have active militias, though Connecticut's militia is ceremonial. The rest of the state militias are inactive unless they are called to service.

Self-Defense

Swearer said that America has drifted away from the original intent of the militias. But there have been militia-style actions.

During the 1992 Los Angeles riots that erupted after four police officers were acquitted of charges stemming from the March 3, 1991, beating of Rodney King, several Korean business and property owners took up arms to defend their homes and businesses.

As the riots spread into the area known as Koreatown, many business owners and residents noticed that police were standing by, watching. So, the Korean residents armed themselves, got on their roofs, and held off the rioters. They became known as the "Rooftop Koreans."

"It is arguably a militia usage. It's that same understanding of the people protecting themselves when the government fails to protect them," Swearer said.

It was hardly the first time Americans armed themselves to defend their property. The United States was born in armed conflict.

Halbrook said that around the time of the Boston Massacre, the first gun control laws were passed. As Spitzer noted in his article, many of the laws were focused on public safety.

Firearms regulations from this era covered brandishing firearms, bans on certain types of weapons, carry restrictions, dueling, hunting, inspection of gun manufacturing facilities, and storage requirements, and the responsible discharge of firearms, among others.

There were also laws on who could possess guns. Halbrook said the main objective was to prevent certain groups from being armed.

For example, in his article, Spitzer points out that in 1619 the first General Assembly made it illegal to sell guns, powder, or shot, to Indians. A person convicted under the law faced hanging.

As part of a law requiring church attendance, the General Assembly included language requiring that "all such as bear arms shall bring their pieces, swords, powder and shot." Though not specified in the law, the likely reason for this requirement is to defend the colonists gathered in the church.

These early gun prohibitions were not focused as much on the guns as who could carry them. And, like the colonial governments, America has prohibitions on who can keep and bear arms.

Today, as in those early days, the United States prevents felons, the mentally ill, and others who could be considered dangerous to society from legally owning firearms. This was upheld in the 1980 U.S. Supreme Court case, Lewis v. U.S.

In that case, the court ruled that under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, "the fact of a felony conviction imposes firearm disability until the conviction is vacated or the felon is relieved of his disability by some affirmative action," such as having his rights legally restored.

This legal concept was affirmed in the June 2024 decision in United States v. Rahimi, when the court ruled that disarming people deemed by a court to be dangerous aligns with the Second Amendment.

According to the court record, Zackey Rahimi, of Arlington, Texas, abused his girlfriend. Subsequently, she won a domestic violence restraining order against him. Rahimi was disarmed under 18 USC 922 (g) (8), the federal law that bars people under such an order from possessing or purchasing firearms.

After agreeing to the order, he assaulted another woman and was involved in at least five shootings. His firearms were confiscated because of the restraining order. Rahimi appealed the confiscation to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which found the law unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court reversed that.

"Since the Founding, the Nation's firearm laws have included regulations to stop individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms," the decision states. "As applied to the facts here, Section 922(g)(8) fits within this tradition."

In a subsequent case, United States v. Hemani, the court in June 2026 rejected the idea that the federal government could automatically strip someone of their right to bear arms based on the mere fact that they took drugs. Writing for the majority, Justice Neil Gorsuch indicated more consideration was needed over whether the individual had lost their capacity to reason.

Gentleman's Honor

Halford said it wasn't until the early 19th Century that the first laws resembling modern gun control were passed. He said that in 1813 Kentucky and Louisiana passed laws prohibiting the concealed carry of weapons, including knives and other weapons.

He pointed out that the first such laws were passed in the South, but it was years before northern states passed similar laws. Halbrook said the new law had more to do with the concept of a Southern gentleman's honor.

"In Kentucky ... you had the code of dueling ... and it would be ungentlemanly to carry an arm concealed," Halbrook said. "It was kind of a macho thing ... only a person with bad intentions would hide [his weapons]."

Prohibitions based on politics, race, and similar factors did not fare well with the judicial system.

In the 1857 Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court found that slaves were not citizens and did not have Constitutional rights, including Second Amendment rights.

"It cannot be believed that the large slaveholding States regarded them as included in the word citizens ... to keep and carry arms wherever they went," the decision reads in part.

In 1865, the Freedman's Bureau was established to ensure that freed slaves enjoyed the same civil rights as other Americans, including their Second Amendment rights. Though there were subsequent attempts to deny black Americans their civil rights, the court has generally ruled those laws unconstitutional.

In the following decades, a variety of gun laws were passed with the objective of promoting safety or preventing crime. Three of the most notable are the National Firearms Act of 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968, and the Firearms Owners Protection Act of 1986.

The National Firearms Act was a response to organized crime in the 1920s and 1930s. The law designated some weapons as dangerous or unusual. These included fully automatic machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and silencers.

Backers of the law knew it was doomed as a gun-control measure. So, it was passed as Congress exercising its taxing authority. But, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) website, the tax was a secondary purpose.

"Its underlying purpose was to curtail, if not prohibit, transactions in [National Firearms Act] firearms," the website states.

Only Federal Firearms License holders who pay a $200 tax can deal in National Firearms Act items. The tax, which remained $200 until last year when it was reduced to $0, was meant to inhibit ownership of National Firearms Act items.

The Gun Control Act corrected the constitutional problems in the National Firearms Act.

In 1968, the Supreme Court found in Haynes v. United States that forcing a person to register a National Firearms Act item, then prosecuting that person using information from the registration process violated the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination.

In 1986, the Firearm Owners' Protection Act was enacted. It added to the definition of "silencer" combinations of parts, and any part to make a silencer to the list of National Firearms Act items. It also prohibited the transfer or ownership of machine guns except for state and law enforcement agencies, and machine guns lawfully owned prior to May 19, 1986.

But in the 2000s, three landmark decisions was issued that turned the gun debate upside down.

Supreme Court Returns To History

Prior to 2008, the courts used a two-step "means test" to determine if a gun law was constitutional. Under this method, courts considered whether a law would obtain a favorable objective - such as crime reduction - even if it did not strictly align with the text of the Second Amendment.

It was accepted that a law might infringe on the right, but that could be acceptable if the end result outweighed the degree of restriction.

In its June 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen the court said the two-step approach was excessive.

By a 6-3 vote, the court concluded that the standard for applying the Second Amendment was determining whether the gun control policy was consistent with the nation's history and tradition. The court also found that New York State's licensing scheme, along with prohibitions on carrying guns in public, were unconstitutional.

Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said any gun control law must align with the Second Amendment's language and have a "historical analog" from the time of the Amendment's ratification to pass constitutional muster.

This meant that if the law covered the activity listed in the amendment, specifically keeping and bear arms, it was unconstitutional unless a similar law existed around the time of the amendment's ratification.

The Bruen decision shook the gun debate and will impact Second Amendment cases for years to come. Two other Supreme Court rulings helped set the stage for the landmark decision.

In the 2008 case of District of Columbia v. Heller, the high court ruled that the Washington's prohibition on handguns, and requirements that privately owned guns be kept unloaded under lock and key, violated the Second Amendment.

In Heller, the court found that the Amendment protects an individual right to carry firearms for protection, which the District's law made all but impossible.

Then on June 28, 2010, the Supreme court ruled 5-4, in MacDonald v. Chicago, that the Second Amendment applied to state and local governments, as well as to the federal government.

Post-Bruen Developments

After Bruen, some states with strict gun laws, including New York, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Rhode Island, and others doubled down passing so-called "Bruen response laws."

Hawaii implemented a law prohibiting firearms on all private property open to the public unless the property owner gives express permission to gun owners to carry on their property.

The Supreme Court recently struck down that law in Wolford v. Lopez, ruling that it placed an undue burden on licensed gun owners.

Rhode Island, Virginia, and Illinois banned certain semiautomatic firearms, so-called assault weapons. New York and California instituted background checks for ammunition purchases in 2023.

As she announced the ammunition background check law, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said her state was dedicated to promoting gun safety.

"We know this has nothing to do with lawful gun owners, nothing to do with them at all. These are people who have been convicted of felonies or other categories of people that should be prohibited from firearms and ammunition," she said.

At the time, President Joe Biden was in the White House and had successfully implemented much of his agenda to increase firearms regulation. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which included funding for violence intervention programs as well as stronger gun control laws, was enacted in 2022.

Biden opened an Office of Gun Violence Prevention in the White House. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was taking a much tougher stand on regulating firearms manufacturers and dealers through its zero-tolerance policy, and he was making strides toward implementing universal background checks.

Gun rights advocates, on the other hand, have been energized by the Supreme Court decisions, as well as what they consider to be a pro-Second Amendment president in Donald Trump.

Trump is currently 18 months into his second term. He closed the office in the White House, dismantled almost all of Biden's gun control programs and opened a Second Amendment office in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.

Gun rights activists said there is more to be done. They are calling for the repeal of the National Firearms Act and Gun Control Act, the shutdown of the ATF, and the destruction of billions of gun sales records, which they say the agency is using to build an illegal registry.

The ATF denies it has such a registry.

The experts say that, like all the other constitutional rights, the Second Amendment will continue to be examined and possibly limited or expanded.

Halbrook offered advice for gun owners that could be applied to either side of the debate.

"They have to pay attention to politics, they have to vote, they have to support candidates who are going to be on their side, and they have to vote against those who are against them," Halbrook said.

The second amendment is spelled on a U.S. flag in a gun store in Rio Rico, Santa Cruz County, Ariz., on Sept. 17, 2025. Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images Tyler Durden Sun, 07/05/2026 - 21:00

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