As America prepares to celebrate its 250th birthday, we should all take a moment to appreciate the irony. Our ancestors fought a revolution to free themselves from an overbearing and oppressive government. Two and a half centuries later, we have managed to recreate one all by ourselves. Our government has become a gigantic extortion racket wearing a flag pin. Federal, state, and local politicians all line up with their hands out, demanding more money while assuring us it’s for our own good. We are expected to bankroll foreign governments that hate us, reward trespassers who entered the country illegally, with free EBT cards, housing, medical care, smartphones, and whatever new Socialist entitlement program politicians dream up next. Politicians are always bragging about what they “give” the American people. That’s rich. They don’t give us anything. They simply confiscate money from hard working Americans and redistribute it while demanding applause for their gene...

When Smith & Wesson was owned by the British conglomerate Tomkins PLC, the company signed a March 17, 2000 agreement with the Clinton Administration, HUD, Treasury, and several cities that had sued firearms manufacturers. In exchange, governments agreed to drop or limit certain lawsuits against Smith & Wesson.   The Clinton extortion inspired agreement included several major commitments: Built-in locking devices on firearms. Smith & Wesson agreed to incorporate locking devices and other safety features into its firearms. This is one of the roots of the later internal lock controversy.   “Smart gun” development. The company agreed to pursue personalized firearm technology that would limit use to authorized users. Many gun owners viewed this as a potential stepping stone to government mandates.   Dealer restrictions. Dealers selling Smith & Wesson products would have to follow a code of conduct that went beyond existing federal law. Critics argued this...

  The homelessness crisis is not some unsolvable mystery. It is not a problem that requires another decade of studies, committees, consultants, task forces, and billions more taxpayer dollars. The causes are obvious. The solutions are obvious. What is missing is political courage and less corruption.   Only a tiny percentage of people sleeping on the streets are there because of a temporary financial hardship. The overwhelming majority are suffering from severe drug addiction, serious mental illness, or both. For decades, liberal politicians have insisted on treating these people as if they were simply down on their luck and in need of another government program. The results are visible in every major city in America. More tents. More crime. More filth. More addiction. More human misery.  Somehow the answer is always the same.  Throw more money away. The homeless industrial complex has become one of the greatest taxpayer-funded rackets in modern history. Politica...

Let me begin by saying I do not care one bit about school rules, zero-tolerance policies, or any other feel-good regulations that tell decent people they are forbidden from carrying weapons and defending themselves. A concealed weapon carried for self-defense is exactly the right tool to deal with thugs, bullies, and wannabe tough guys who cannot keep their hands to themselves. The people who go around intimidating others deserve to encounter serious resistance, including resistance from someone who is armed and unwilling to be a victim. Karmelo Anthony has now been convicted and sentenced to 35 years in a Texas prison. The problem is that I still have more questions than answers. There is no video. There is no crystal-clear recording showing exactly what happened. We are left with witness testimony, and many of those witnesses may very well have been aligned with one side of the confrontation. What we do know is that a Black teenager was apparently being told by a group of White te...

Artificial intelligence is moving at warp speed, and that is exactly why the government is already reaching for the leash. AI is answering questions, solving problems, improving medicine, sharpening engineering, accelerating research, and giving ordinary people access to knowledge and capability that used to belong only to institutions, corporations, universities, and government agencies. In plain English, AI is power. And for the average citizen, it is also freedom. That, of course, is where the trouble begins. Government has never been fond of a self-sufficient citizen. A man who can think, research, write, build, investigate, learn, and solve problems without begging permission is a very dangerous creature to the bureaucratic mind. Bureaucrats do not want citizens empowered. They want citizens processed, licensed, approved, delayed, stamped, denied, and forced to come crawling back to some taxpayer-funded desk jockey for permission to function. AI threatens that racket. For the ...

    Former Major League Baseball pitcher Scott Erickson now has a question hanging over his head like a neon sign outside the Hall of Justice:   Will he get away with the deaths of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander? New evidence emerging from the civil proceedings paints an ugly picture. Erickson was allegedly drinking heavily, knowingly joined in a high-speed contest on a public street, fled the scene after two little boys were killed, switched vehicles, and then gave sworn testimony that now deserves the full attention of serious investigators. Not a memo. Not a shrug. Not the usual bureaucratic lullaby. A real investigation. A civil jury has already found Rebecca Grossman and Scott Erickson liable in the deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander and awarded the family $176 million. The jury also reportedly found malice, which is not exactly a gold star for “just a tragic accident.”   So here is the challenge for Los Angeles County District Attorne...