Random News and Notes 30 April
Fellow Citizens of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the fourteenth day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my Country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years: a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time.
Thus began George Washington’s first inaugural address at Federal Hall in New York City. In front of 10,000 spectators, Washington appeared in a plain brown broadcloth suit holding a ceremonial army sword. At 6′ 3″, Washington presented an impressive and solemn figure as he took the oath of office standing on the second balcony of Federal Hall. With Vice President John Adams standing beside him, Washington repeated the words prompted by Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, kissed the bible and then went to the Senate chamber to deliver his inaugural address.
Exactly 214 years ago, on April 30, 1812, Louisiana entered the U.S. as its 18th state, carved from the 828,000-square-mile territory President Thomas Jefferson bought from France for $15 million in 1803. This deal doubled the nation’s size and opened the West, leading to Louisiana’s unique civil law system, parishes, and Creole and Cajun cultures that produced jazz great Louis Armstrong and athletes like Peyton Manning.
On this date in 1945, Adolph Hitler became a good Nazi. After watching his wife of one day, Eve Braun, off herself, Hitler took cyanide capsules and shot himself in the head. His body was then removed from the underground Berlin bunker and burned by his body guard. The approaching Soviets took the burned remains and hid them. The 1000 year Reich would end 8 May, after just 12 years.
In 1975, the Republic of South Vietnam ceased to exist. The final South Vietnamese stronghold of Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) falls to the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong on April 30. . By April 27, the North Vietnamese had completely encircled Saigon and began to maneuver for a complete takeover.
When they attacked at dawn on April 30, they met little resistance. North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace and the war came to an end. North Vietnamese Col. Bui Tin accepted the surrender from Gen. Duong Van Minh. Tin explained to Minh, “You have nothing to fear. Between Vietnamese there are no victors and no vanquished. Only the Americans have been beaten. If you are patriots, consider this a moment of joy. The war for our country is over.”
Now, News!
We start the news for the final day of April in DC where the Department of Justice and ATF announced 34 proposed and final rules Tuesday. Those rules are intended to roll back burdensome regulations, including repeals of the pistol brace rule and parts of the machine gun rule impacted by a Supreme Court decision. Newly confirmed ATF Director Robert Cekada, approved by the Senate that day in a 59-39 vote, signed off on the changes during a Washington press conference. He spoke about emphasizing enforcement on willful violators only.
4) Remove requirement for FFLs to post info about Youth Handgun Safety Act
5) Revising 4473 form, including allowing electronic forms and increase the time NICS checks remain valid
6) Allow FFLs to keep electronic records
7) Replace indefinite retention of 4473s with definite time periods of 20 or 30 years
8) Allow “Non-Over-the-Counter” firearm sales by FFLs to residents of the same state
9) Repeal interstate NFA transport notice requirement for trips under 365 days, with all others no longer requiring approval before transport
10) Joint NFA registration for married couples
11) Remove NFA CLEO notification
12) Clarify that “common, reasonably necessary activities during travel” are covered by FOPA transportation protection
13) Allow import of dual-use frames, receivers, and barrels
14) Clarify that “training rounds” are not ammunition
15) Eliminate engraving requirement for people making NFA firearms out of existing serialized guns
16) “Clarify that a person receiving assistance in only one functional area (such as financial management) would not, on that basis alone, be considered prohibited” under mental health disqualifier
17) Requiring biological sex on ATF Forms
18) Clarify when a transaction is a straw purchase
19) Formally define “willfully” for firearms violations
20) “Remove the list of former Soviet countries from which ATF currently denies applications to permanently import most firearms and ammunition, retaining only the Russian Federation”
The changes, from a Trump executive order last year, modernize forms, ease NFA rules for spouses and travel, and allow electronic record-keeping.
Good news, but incremental. I would like to see a repeal of the Hughes Amendment, the GCA of 68 and the NFA.
I mentioned Florida had passed a redrawn congressional map in a comment at yesterday’s RNN. Well, here is a bit more about it.
The Florida state House passed the bill 83-28, and the Senate followed 21-17, redrawing all 28 districts to account for an 8.9% population surge since the 2020 census. Republicans currently hold 20 seats; the changes target four Democratic districts in South Florida, including those of Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Jared Moskowitz, and Lois Frankel.
The new Florida congressional map passed by the legislature (and awaiting DeSantis’s signature) is designed to create 24 Republican-leaning districts and 4 Democratic-leaning districts out of Florida’s 28 total U.S. House seats.
In more redistricting news, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry has announced the postponement of primaries there until the new maps dictated by the Callais decision from SCOTUS can be effectuated.
While it seems redistricting across the south is a done deal, I really expect to see some racial aspects in the new maps. If only because it is a reflexive action at this point.
The reactions online have been, well, unhinged.
Just when you think things couldn’t get any more retarded, some dumb Dem (but I repeat myself) run city says hold my beer. This time it is the city of Ann Arbor Michigan. The City Council there spent $18,000 to remove Neighborhood Crime Watch signage. Apparently they are racist or some shit.
Council Member Jen Eyer described the signs as tied to surveillance and suspicion toward Black and brown residents. Of course Eyer is an AWFL.
I dunno how effective those signs are, but to spend any money on removing them is dumb. I can only guess at what it cost to install them in the first place.