Politics
Feinstein Promises Assault Weapons Ban Hours After House Passes Background Check Bill
It’s unclear which features on scary black rifles that are functionally equivalent to any hunting rifle will be off-limits.
Hours after the House passed a bill allowing for unlimited delays for FBI background checks, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revived a House-passed bill requiring background checks for private firearms sales, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced that she would soon ‘work with her Senate colleagues’ to pass other reforms – including an assault weapons ban – in the coming weeks.
It’s unclear which features on scary black rifles that are functionally equivalent to any hunting rifle will be off-limits.
Text of Feinstein statement:
Washington—Senator Dial.. Feinstein (D-Calif) today released the following statement in support of the Back,ound Check Expansion Act, Senator Chris Murphy’s (D-Conn) bill to require background checks on all gun sales and transfers:
“Universal background checks are a commonsense approach to address the gun violence epidemic plaguing our country. I’m proud to support the Background Check Expansion Act and look forward to passing it and other much-needed reforms.
“This bill would require background checks on all gun sales and transfers, including for private and unlicensed sales for which they are not currently required. This is one of the best ways to ensure guns won’t fall into the hands of dangerous people.
“The majority of Americans want universal background checks. A 2019 Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 89 percent of Americans support background checks for all potential gun purchases.
“*I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to pass this bill and other reforms, including the assault weapons ban that I plan to introduce in the coming weeks*. Commonsense bills to combat gun violence have been introduced in the House and with a new administration in the White House, it’s time to take action to end gun violence.”
* * *
House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) vowed on Thursday to reintroduce gun reform legislation, while the House passed a second bill aimed at background checks within the last hour.
“No more hopes and prayers, thoughts and prayers—a vote is what we need,” said Schumer, vowing to bring a bill, H.R. 8, out of former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s ‘legislative graveyard’ after it stalled in the Senate in early 2019 after passing through the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives.
H.R.8 is the latest version of Democrats’ so-called “Universal Background Checks.”
Currently, any gun purchased at a retail store, or online, must go through a background check and involved a licensed firearms dealer (FFL). H.R.8 requires background checks for private sales.
“The idea that this is going to make us safer is laughable,” said Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL). “Criminals looking to get their hands on firearms to use in crimes are not going to submit to background checks. Only law-abiding citizens will follow the law. This is a back door means of setting up a national registry of firearms – something I completely oppose.”
“The problem with gun violence is not that we don’t have enough gun laws,” Miller continued. “We have enough gun laws. What we need is to make sure the laws we have are enforced. Look at what happened in 2019 in Aurora when five people were shot and killed. The shooter had moved to Illinois from another state and because his background information was not updated – he was allowed to get a FOID card in Illinois and purchase firearms. Then when he applied for a conceal carry permit, his criminal background was discovered and his FOID card was revoked but his guns were never surrendered as required by law. If the gun laws had been enforced – a terrible tragedy could have been avoided. We need better enforcement – not more laws. Instead of passing terrible legislation like H.R. 8, we need to do a better job of providing law enforcement agencies with the resources they need to enforce existing gun laws.”
The reintroduction of H.R.8 was spearheaded by Democratic Rep. Mike Thompson, who chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force. He was joined by House Democrats Jerry Nadler (NY), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), Robin Kelly (IL) and Lucy McBath (GA), and were joined by Republican Reps. Fred Upton (MI), Christopher Smith (NJ) ad Brian Fitzpatrick (PA).
According to a summary of the bill, its goal is to “utilize the current background checks process in the United States to ensure individuals prohibited from gun possession are not able to obtain firearms.”
Meanwhile, the House just passed H.R. 1446, which would allow for indefinite delays for FBI background checks, as opposed to the three-day default transfer window. Introduced by Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn (SC), the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2021 would close down the so-called “Charleston Loophole” which allowed some gun sales to go through before the required background check is complete.
Of note, there’s been a 22.8% increase in FBI background checks y/y.

Back alley gun buyers win again…
Politics
Biden Wants To Give Separated Illegal Immigrants $450,000 Per Person
The average amount sought through the courts is roughly $3.4 million per family, according to the report.
The Biden administration is mulling a plan to offer immigrant families separated during the Trump administration $450,000 per person in compensation, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
The payments – part of an inter-agency solution to several lawsuits filed on behalf of separated parents and children claiming lasting psychological trauma could amount to nearly $1 million per family, though ‘the final numbers could shift,’ according to the report.
According to sources, most of the families crossing into the US from Mexico included one parent and one child. Depending on circumstances, many families could get smaller payouts.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents families in one of the lawsuits, has identified about 5,500 children separated at the border over the course of the Trump administration, citing figures provided to it by the government. The number of families eligible under the potential settlement is expected to be smaller, the people said, as government officials aren’t sure how many will come forward. Around 940 claims have so far been filed by the families, the people said. -WSJ
In total, the potential payout could reach $1 billion or more.
Throughout the Trump administration, thousands of children were separated from their parents (and coyotes paid to bring them into the country) after they had crossed illegally into the country from Mexico. The lawsuits allege some of the children suffered various ailments – including malnutrition, heat exhaustion, and were kept in freezing cold rooms with little medical attention. Some claim lasting mental health problems due to the trauma of being without their parents for several months.
The average amount sought through the courts is roughly $3.4 million per family, according to the report.
“President Biden has agreed that the family separation policy is a historic moral stain on our nation that must be fully remedied,” said ACLU deputy director, Lee Gelernt. “That remedy must include not only meaningful monetary compensation, but a pathway to remain in the country.”
Senate Republicans slammed the plan on Thursday afternoon following the WSJ‘s report.
“The Biden administration’s promises of citizenship and entitlement programs have already caused the worst border crisis in history—a huge cash reward will make it even worse,” said Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR).
The discussions about the payouts have taken place over the past few months among a group of dozens of private lawyers representing the families and government lawyers. Some government lawyers have viewed the payouts as excessive for people who had violated the law by crossing the border, the people said. One government lawyer threatened to remove his name from the case out of disagreement with the potential settlement offer, the people said. -WSJ
“It is a complicated, complex piece of litigation” – trying to resolve hundreds of separate lawsuits at the same time, and “sometimes even more complex to try the cases” said Margo Schlanger, who ran the civil-rights office during the Obama administration at the Department of Homeland Security and now teaches at the University of Michigan law school.
What will the reparations crowd think of this?
Politics
White House To America: ‘We’re Coming Door To Door…With Shots!’
Will CDC soon recommend a nation-wide re-count of Covid deaths?
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said at the daily press conference yesterday that President Biden’s strategy to get everyone a Covid shot – whether they want it or not – is to start going “door-to-door” to those not yet jabbed. So…they have a list? Also today: bomb-maker Raytheon goes “woke.” Capitol Hill Cops set up shop in California. Will CDC soon recommend a nation-wide re-count of Covid deaths?
Politics
Half A Million Illegals Crossed Since Harris Named Border ‘Czar’
By the time June’s figures are reported in the coming days, the combined number is expected to be over half a million, more than the entire population of Miami, Florida or Cleveland, Ohio.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection figures, around 500,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the southern border since Kamala Harris was named border ‘czar’.
The Washington Free Beacon reported the findings, noting that only three months has passed since Harris took on the responsibility, and that the half a million figure is just those that have been apprehended.
The CBP says around 180,000 immigrants are being caught per month. In April agents arrested 178,854 illegal immigrants, the highest monthly figure for 21 years. That figure was then surpassed in May as agents apprehended 180,034 illegals.
By the time June’s figures are reported in the coming days, the combined number is expected to be over half a million, more than the entire population of Miami, Florida or Cleveland, Ohio.
Harris only bothered to visit the border when President Trump announced he was making a trip. Even then Harris visited El Paso, some 1000 miles away from where the crisis is taking place.
Previous to this, Harris lied and claimed she had been to the border, telling NBC’s Lester Holt “This whole thing about the border. We’ve been to the border. We’ve been to the border.”
When Holt pushed back and said she had not, Harris snapped “I—and I haven’t been to Europe. And I mean, I don’t—I don’t understand the point that you’re making,” then again laughed maniacally:
On Tuesday, Republican Senator Ron Johnson argued that Harris’ trip to El Paso was designed to distract the media and keep them away from the real crisis hit areas of the border.
“They took her to a point in the border where she wouldn’t see the crisis and so the press wouldn’t report on the crisis,” Johnson said.
The Senator added, “You just simply can’t understand what this administration is doing. We literally are apprehending now about 6,000 people per day. That’s I mean, that’s a large caravan every day being processed, some of them being returned, others are being dispersed. But this crisis is not going away. It’s just under everybody’s radar because the press isn’t covering it.”


