“While other knife restrictions in Texas remain in effect,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “this looks like a good first step toward more rational laws regulating knives, which must be protected under the Second Amendment, same as firearms. The right to keep and bear arms is not limited simply to guns.”

The legislation was passed 141-1 by the House of Representatives, and 31-0 by the State Senate last month. Now that Gov. Perry has signed the measure, it takes effect on Sept. 1. Passage of the Texas legislation brought the number of pro-knife bills passed by state legislatures this year to five.

Knife Rights indicated that it will be back in two years in an effort to pass knife law preemption in Texas. “Our hats are off to Knife Rights and in particular the people they recognize as having been instrumental in getting this accomplished,” Gottlieb said. “Kudos go to Rep. Harold Dutton and Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, and Knife Rights volunteer W. Scott Lewis.” 

Here’s a list of all the Second Amendment bills signed into law by Governor Perry. The list includes some major streamlines for concealed handgun licensees.  

SB 1907 by Sen. Glenn Hegar/ Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt allows CHL-students to have firearms in their personal locked vehicle when parked on a private or public university or college parking lot.  A CHL-student could not be prosecuted but they were subject to the rule-making authority of the school and could be expelled.   Passed and signed by Governor Perry.

 SB 299 by Sen. Craig Estes/Rep. Kenneth Sheets provides language to clarify the unintentional display of a firearm by a concealed handgun licensee. The language changed from “failure to conceal” to “intentional display of a weapon in a public place” when force or deadly force is not authorized.  Passed and Signed by Governor Perry

SB 864 by Sen. Donna Campbell/Rep. Dan Flynn reduces the number of hours for the initial CHL class. The bill does not touch the required materials, the written test, or firearm proficiency exam. Range qualification is still in place but no counts toward the required hours.  Passed and Signed by Governor Perry

HB 48 by Rep. Dan Flynn/Sen. Donna Campbell creates in statute a process for renewing your CHL online without taking a renewal class. Passed and Signed by Governor Perry 6/14/13 

HB 698 by Rep.Springer/Sen. Craig Estes requires access to digital fingerprinting not more than 25 miles from the applicant’s residence and is limited to counties with a population of 46,000 or less.  This is specific to rural Texans who are forced to drive hundreds of miles for digital fingerprinting. Passed and Signed by Governor Perry 6/14/13

 HB 3142 by Rep. Cecil Bell, Jr./Sen. Craig Estes repeals the SA/NA designation for the CHL license.  No more gun categories.  Passed and Signed by Governor Perry 6/14/13

HB 1421 by Rep. Perry/Sen. Craig Estes provides law enforcement agencies an option in statute to sell confiscated firearms to a federal firearm dealer (FFL) instead of destroying. After the cost of the sale and any other related charges, funds could stay with that law enforcement agency.  Passed and Signed by Governor Perry 

HB 333 by Rep. Guillen/ Sen. Hinojosa requires hotels and motels to provide advance notice if they prohibit firearms.    Passed and Signed by Governor Perry

GUN FREE ZONE UPDATE

Seven people were killed and at least 32 others were shot in violence that plagued Chicago over Father’s Day weekend.

Six of the fatalities and 13 other shootings occurred overnight Saturday leading into Father’s Day, including the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old boy.

On the Southwest Side, five people were shot, one fatally, in two shootings in the Little Village neighborhood.

At 10:50 p.m. Saturday 21-year-old Ricardo Herrera was killed and two others were shot in the 2500 block of South Ridgeway Avenue, police said.

The two injured were taken to Mount Sinai. Their condition was not immediately known.

At 12:30 a.m. Sunday, an 18-year-old man was shot in the head, chest and shoulder in a drive by shooting that also injured a 22-year-old woman in the thigh near 31st Street and Pulaski Road.

The man was taken to Mount Sinai in critical condition, according to Police News Affairs Officer Mirabelli.

At 11:45 p.m. Saturday a 16-year-old boy was shot by a gunman on a bicycle in the 4100 block of West North Avenue, police said.

The boy tried to flee but collapsed a short distance from where he was shot.

He was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 1:37 a.m. after sustaining gunshot wounds to the left arm and back, Mirabelli said. The teen was later identified as Kevin Rivera of the 1500 block of North Keystone Avenue, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Chicago Police news affairs confirmed Sunday the teen had gang affiliations.

His death was ruled a homicide but police had no one in custody as of Sunday morning.

Just after midnight Sunday, someone opened fire in a nightclub in the Chatham neighborhood, killing one man and injuring three others.

Todd Wood, 40, was killed in the shooting and three others were treated for gunshot wounds at area hospitals. One person is in critical condition, officials said.

No one was in custody for the shooting as of Sunday morning.

Around 1:15 a.m. Sunday, police responded to a call of a man shot in the 7400 block of South Parnell Avenue. They found a 19-year-old man bleeding from the chest, stomach and shoulder, Mirabelli said.

The teen, identified as Jamal Jones, of the 8800 block of South Yale Avenue, was later pronounced dead at Christ Hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Minutes after, a man was killed and a woman was wounded in the 200 block of South Keeler Avenue on the city’s West Side, police said.

Cortez Wilberton, of the 200 block of South Lavergne Avenue, was pronounced dead at Loretto Hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office.

The wounded woman was treated for a graze wound to the face at Loretto Hospital. She was listed in stable condition as of Sunday morning.

Less than an hour later, a police-involved shooting killed one man in the Lawndale neighborhood.

Officers attempted to pull a car over several times when the passenger jumped out and started running in the 1600 block of South Springfield Avenue around 2:30 a.m., police said.

The officers chased the man down an alley when they noticed a gun in his belt, according to police.

The man allegedly reached for the weapon and police opened fire. No officers were injured in the incident and the matter is under investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority.

The latest shooting occurred around 4 p.m. Sunday on the 500 block of North Leclaire Avenue when two people were shot, according to Chicago Police news affairs Officer Veejay Zala.

A 25-year-old man was shot in the back and abdomen and a 21-year-old woman was shot in the finger, Zala said.

The man was taken in serious condition to Mount Sinai Hospital and the woman was taken to West Suburban Hospital, police said.

Details surrounding the shooting were not immediately available.

At 4:10 a.m. in the 3400 block of West Walnut Street a 34-year-old man was shot in the head, back and leg. He was taken by a friend to Mount Sinai Hospital but was not cooperative with police, Mirabelli said.

The weekend’s first fatality occurred around 11:34 p.m. Friday in the 5500 block of West Quincy Street when two men were shot during a “dispute,” officials said.

One man, 24, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead. The other man, 23, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital with a wound to the stomach. His condition was not immediately known.

Shortly after, two people were shot blocks away in the South Austin neighborhood near Leclaire Avenue and Madison Street around 12:45 a.m. Saturday, police said.

A man in his 20s was wounded in the neck and buttocks after he was shot standing outside, according to Officer Mirabelli.

The man was transported to Loyola University Medical Center and a woman, who was also wounded in the shooting, was taken to West Suburban Medical Center with gunshot wounds to the thigh.

Across the city, 16 others were wounded in shootings throughout the weekend.

Around 9:45 p.m. a man in his 20s was shot in the buttocks and thigh in 9400 block of South Loomis Street, police said.

The man was standing with a group of friends when gunman began shooting from a dark-colored minivan.

He was transported to Christ Hospital in stable condition and no one is in custody for the shooting.

At 9:30 p.m., two people were shot in the 7700 block of South Homan Avenue. A 21-year-old was injured in the leg and arm and a woman was injured in the thigh. Police did not have any further details on the shooting as of Sunday morning, but the Chicago Tribune reported a third person was also injured.

In the Marquette Park neighborhood Saturday afternoon two shootings occurred blocks away from each other.

The first shooting happened around 2:15 p.m. in the 7200 block of South Artesian Avenue where at least three people were wounded, officials said.

Two people were listed in critical condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center and a third was in stable condition at Holy Cross Hospital.

The other incident occurred near 74th Street and Maplewood Avenue, where one person was shot.

The victims were not cooperating with police, officials said, but one person was taken into custody after the shooting.

Around 6:10 a.m. Saturday in the 7600 block of South Ashland Avenue when a man was shot in the arm during a carjacking. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center and was listed in stable condition as of Sunday morning.

Hours earlier, a man was reportedly dropped off at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital with a graze wound to the face around 3:30 a.m., but would not cooperate with police to determine where the shooting occurred, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Around 12:40 a.m. a 31-year-old man was shot in the back in the 1500 block of South St. Louis Avenue. The man was approached by a group of men when one fired shots at him, Mirabelli said. No one was in custody as of Saturday morning.

In the Little Village neighborhood, a 23-year-old man was shot around 10:40 p.m. Friday in the 2800 block of South Kedvale Avenue. He sustained gunshot wounds to the buttocks after a vehicle pulled up and a passenger fired several shots at the man, who has known gang affiliations, police said.

He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.

An hour earlier, two people were wounded in the Fernwood neighborhood after a group began shooting from across the street in the 10600 block of South Wentworth Avenue.

A 32-year-old man was shot in the shoulder and taken to Mount Sinai and a 35-year-old man was treated on scene for a graze wound, Mirabelli said.

Earlier Friday, a man in his 20’s was shot in the toe in the 6400 block of South Oakley Avenue and taken to Holy Cross Hospital. No further details were available on the shooting, officials said.

Around 3:30 p.m. Friday, two 19-year-olds were reportedly shot in the 9300 block of South Stewart Avenue. The man and the woman were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

That is because I have been fortunate in my life to have fathered a most remarkable daughter.  She has a very healthy respect for our Constitution and a first-hand understanding that there are people in our country who couldn’t care less about our rights, except to use them against us.

One father is more than a hundred Schoolmasters.  ~George Herbert, 1640

California legislators recently passed a $50 ammo permit fee and background check law. If liberals want to derail the right to bear arms and make sure that common citizens cannot afford to defend themselves, the cost-prohibitive per-purchase ammo fee law will surely do the trick.  $50 permit fee for a $5 box of 22LR = 1000% tax.

Making it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to obtain guns and ammunition will only increase the growing crime rate in the highly populated state. The California Senate appears to once again be demonstrating their willingness to infringe upon the Second Amendment rights of constituents. High taxes and the state’s distaste for the Constitution have prompted thousands of California residents to relocate elsewhere, Texas in particular.

Firearms expert and firearms expert and self-defense tactical trainer Patrick J.G. Troy had this to say about California’s permit fee:

“Since the Second Amendment to our Constitution only discusses the right of the people (that would be us) to keep and bear arms (have them in your possession and on your person), providing no specific protection for ammunition, the left sees this as their opportunity to make gun ownership of no value by eliminating the supply of ammunition.

“Ammo is in short supply nation wide and has been since BHO was re-elected. The Sandy Hook tragedy and subsequent gun banning/gun confiscation rhetoric that followed put the demand for ammunition over the top and that, coupled with the DHS actively seeking to deplete the national ammunition supply by purchasing 1.6 billion rounds, has left the retail shelves bare for months.

“Requiring a $50 ammo permit per purchase would make a box of defensive ammunition cost almost $100 for 20 rounds—that’s $2 per bullet. A box of 50 rounds of 22 Long Rifle ammunition (which would normally cost less than $2), would now cost $52 dollars. That’s over $1 per bullet for 22 Long Rifle ammunition. Essentially, the left is trying to make the cost of defending ourselves (a God-given right as proclaimed by our Founders and the Constitution) so high that we cannot afford to do so.

“In California, it is already illegal for a minor to purchase ammunition. Perhaps they enacted that law to keep gang members from purchasing ammunition at the local gun shop. The fact that California is rife with gangs and gang violence is testimony the failure of the left’s reactionary laws. Any thoughtful analysis would reveal that law-abiding citizens are not a problem in any regard. Criminals will always circumvent and violate our laws; that is what criminals do and why they are criminals.”

“Criminals obtain their guns and ammunition from the black market. The same supply chain that brings all the illegal drugs into the USA sustains this market. Since BHO has arrogantly refused to secure our borders, the supply of guns, ammunition, and drugs continues to flow into the USA with the ever-increasing presence and magnitude of violent gangs whose members also cross freely into the USA via the same routes. Criminals do not need to purchase guns or ammunition from the supply chain that law-abiding citizens use. They procure their guns and ammo illegally from their own black-market supply chain that is inaccessible to law abiding citizens.

“There are numerous court cases in the US where law enforcement agencies have been sued for failing to protect victims of violent crimes. Every lawsuit was dismissed because the courts ruled that there is no relationship between law enforcement personnel and citizens, and therefore, law enforcement personnel have no duty to protect the citizenry. Rather, they only have a duty to uphold the law.  The only time law enforcement personnel have a duty to protect an individual citizen is when that citizen is in the custody of those law enforcement personnel. So, if you are handcuffed and in the back of the police car, if you are in jail, if you are being detained by the police, or your liberty has been restricted by the police, these are the only times that law enforcement personnel have even a marginal duty to protect you, the citizen. As long as you are at liberty, you have no relationship with law enforcement and are on your own to protect yourself. That is the current state of the law in this regard.”

“Laws that forbid the carrying of arms … disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes … Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” 
― Thomas Jefferson, Complete Jefferson

From June 6 through Wednesday, Sandoval’s received 152,995 calls opposing the gun bill and 27,465 in favor.

In his veto message, the governor said background checks would “constitute an erosion of Nevadans’ Second Amendment rights under the United States Constitution and may subject otherwise law-abiding citizens to criminal prosecution.”   

Sandoval said the bill had a number of worthy elements, including prohibiting the possession of guns by anyone judged mentally ill. He also applauded a section that required courts to speed up reporting of mental health adjudications.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns has spent unlimited Bloomberg money advocating for the bill. The New York City Mayor’s  group has pledged to spend money during elections against officials such as Sandoval who oppose legislation mandating background checks and record keeping for private gun sales.

In his message, Sandoval also quoted from a letter from the Nevada Sheriffs’ and Chiefs’ Association that said mandatory background checks “on private sales place an unreasonable burden on law-abiding citizens, with the potential to make them criminals.”

“It would be unenforceable by law enforcement. It is our opinion this bill would do little to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals,” the letter stated.

Sandoval said the bill would have required a person wishing to sell a firearm to a family member request a background check through a federally licensed firearms dealer.

The bill “also introduces into Nevada law a change in the burden of proof associated with the prosecution of criminal action for the unlawful sale or disposal of a firearm,” Sandoval said.

Existing law requires “actual knowledge” by the seller that the buyer meets disqualifying conditions or is otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm. The proposed bill would have changed the burden of proof to “reasonable cause to believe,” potentially further exposing people to criminal prosecution

The Illinois concealed carry bill, HB0183 (as amended), which passed through the Senate and House by overwhelming majority, is now waiting for Governor Quinn’s signature.

Keep in mind that the Governor has not signed the bill, it is not yet law.

The anti-Second Amendment governor could Veto the bill, or he may use an Amendatory Veto.

This synopsis of the bill will not be valid if the Governor vetoes it or uses an Amendatory Veto.

Many of you have been asking what the bill contains – below is a brief outline. This synopsis of HB1083 is not legal advice.

Regulations:

• One statewide shall-issue licensing standard.
• With regard to concealed carry licenses, preempts local authority of governments to regulate handguns and ammunition for handguns, including licensing, registration, and transportation.
• With regard to FOID card holders, preempts local governments from regulating the transportation of all firearms and ammunition.
• Not preempted are AWB enacted prior to or within 10 days of the enactment of this legislation – after that date, new AWBs would be preempted. Local governments could still regulate rifles and shotguns, but not handguns.
• Grants “safe haven” protection for people carrying concealed while in their vehicle even in prohibited areas.
• Upon exit from their vehicle, the firearm must be locked in their vehicle. If they wish to lock their firearm in their trunk, it must be unloaded before exiting the vehicle.
• License to be issued by the Illinois State Police.
• $150.00 fee for 5 years.
• Requires 16 hours of training, including range time. Up to 8 hours of credit will be recognized for those who had hunter safety, was honorably discharged from the military, or had other CCW training. At this time, states with shorter training time, such as Utah, may only be credited 4 hours. The administrative rules of what the allowances will be, have not yet been determined.
• Private property owners can post their property prohibiting concealed carry. “Safe haven” still applies to their parking lots.
• Restaurants with 50% or more of their receipts from food, but still serving alcohol, are legal to carry in, but are still subject to private property posting by the owners or operators.
• Law enforcement may object to a person they believe to be a “clear and present danger” to themselves or others. Applicants can appeal that decision to the Concealed Carry Licensing Board.
• The State Police have 180 days from the effective date of this bill to be set up to begin processing applications.
• Within 60 days of the effective date of this bill, the Illinois State Police shall begin approval of firearm training courses and instructors.
• There is no reciprocity, but “safe haven” applies to out of state concealed carry permit holders.

Prohibited Places: remember that “safe haven” applies to most of these places:

• Property under control of an elementary or secondary school
• Pre-school or child care facilities
• Property under control of an officer of the legislative or executive branch of government, except DNR regulated areas where firearms are allowed
• Courthouses
• Libraries
• Airports
• Gaming facilities
• Stadiums, arenas, sporting events
• Amusement parks
• Museums and zoos
• Buildings under the control of local government
• Jails and detention facilities
• Hospitals and mental health facilities
• Mass public transportation
• Bars
• Public gatherings, but walk through is allowed to get to your home, place of business, or vehicle
• Places that have special event liquor licenses
• Any public park, with an exception for walking or bicycle trails, if only a portion of the trail goes through the park. The walkers and bicyclists must stay on the trail
• Colleges and universities and property under their control; they may develop their own rules
• Any area where firearms are prohibited under federal law
• Nuclear facilities (“safe haven” for the parking area does NOT apply)

The United States District Court has extended the June 8th, 2013 deadline for a concealed carry law to July 8th, 2013. Although I think the Governor will take action before that date, we just will have to wait and see.

Despite two decisions, in 2008 and 2010, by the U.S. Supreme Court unequivocally affirming that the Second Amendment to the Constitution guarantees an individual right to keep and bear arms against infringement by the government, state legislatures continue to do just that - enact laws that significantly infringe this fundamental human right.

The SPD quickly responded, and the intruders fled.  Zimmerman’s wife Shellie saw them fleeing and “became scared of the rising crime.”  Zimmerman promised that he would do what he could to keep her safe.  One result was that he and some of his neighbors at the Retreat at Twin Lakes formed a Neighborhood Watch Program.

Although technically “a gated community,” the Retreat imploded after the Florida real estate bubble burst.  By 2012, townhouses were selling for less than $100,000, fifteen percent were vacant, more than half were being rented, and fewer than half of the residents were white.

Trayvon Martin had been staying with his father’s girlfriend, Brandy Green, who rented one of the units.  Martin had gone to a neighborhood 7-11 that evening and left the store at 6:29.  Zimmerman spotted him near a shortcut entrance to the Retreat about 7:05.  The 7-11 is about a 10-minute walk from that spot.  Do the math.

At 7:09:34, after spotting Martin, Zimmerman called the non-emergency number the SPD had given him.  He described “a male approximately 5’ 11” to 6’ 2” casually walking in the rain and looking into homes.”

SPD: Sanford Police Department, (garbled) recording, this is Shawn.

GZ: Hey, we’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there’s a real suspicious guy, uh [near] Retreat View Circle. The best address I can give you is 111 Retreat View Circle. This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about. [00:25]

SPD: Okay, and this guy, is he white, black, or Hispanic?

GZ: He looks black.

SPD: Did you see what he was wearing?

GZ: Yeah, a dark hoodie, like a gray hoodie, and either jeans or sweat pants and white tennis shoes. He’s here now. He’s just staring. [00:43]

SPD: Okay, he’s just walking around the area…

GZ: …looking at all the houses.

SPD: Okay…

GZ: Now he’s staring at me. [00:48]

SPD: Okay, you said that’s 1111 Retreat View or 111?

GZ: That’s the clubhouse.

SPD: That’s the clubhouse. Do you know what the…he’s near the clubhouse right now?

GZ: Yeah, now he’s coming toward me.

SPD: Okay.

GZ: He’s got his hands in his waistband. And he’s a black male. [1:09]

SPD: How old would you say he looks?

GZ: He’s got a button on his shirt, late teens.

SPD: Late teens, okay.

GZ: Uh, huh. Something’s wrong with him. Yep, he’s coming to check me out. He’s got something in his hands. I don’t know what his deal is. [01:26]

SPD: Let me know if he does anything, okay?

GZ: (anxiously) See if you can get an officer over here.

SPD: Yeah, we’ve got someone on the way. Just let me know if this guy does anything else.

GZ: Okay. These a**holes. They always get away.

At this point, it sounds as if Zimmerman is getting out of the truck, but not yet moving.

GZ: When you come to the clubhouse, you come straight in and you go left. Actually, you would go past the clubhouse. [1:53]

SPD: Okay, so it’s on the left hand side from the clubhouse?

GZ: Nah, you go in straight through the entrance and then you would go left. You go straight in, don’t turn, and make a left. Sh**, he’s running. [2:08]

Trayvon Martin headed east along an east-west sidewalk cut-through between the two streets, Twin Trees, where Zimmerman was parked, and Retreat View.  He then turned south on a sidewalk that intersects the cut-through and runs between the backs of the buildings on either street.  The townhouse where he had been staying was less than 400 feet down that sidewalk.

SPD: He’s running? Which way is he running?

GZ: Down toward the other entrance of the neighborhood. [2:14]

SPD: OK, which entrance is that he’s headed towards?

Zimmerman could see the direction Martin took but could no longer “maintain a visual” from the truck.  Ambient wind sounds suggest he started walking swiftly, likely in the same direction Martin was running.

GZ: The back entrance.  It’s f***ing cold (garbled, much disputed).

The dispatcher obviously heard the wind sounds.

SPD: Are you following him? [2:24]

GZ: Yeah.

SPD: Okay. We don’t need you to do that. [2:26]

GZ: Okay.

SPD: All right, sir, what is your name? [2:34]

GZ: George. He ran.

At this point, Zimmerman’s breathing relaxed, and the sound of wind abated.

SPD: All right, George, what’s your last name?

GZ: Zimmerman.

SPD: And George, what’s the phone number you’re calling from?

GZ: 407-435-2400.

SPD: All right, George, we do have them on the way. Do you want to meet with the officer when they get out there?

GZ: Yeah.

SPD: All right, where are you going to meet with them at?

GZ: Um, if they come in through the gate, tell them to go straight past the clubhouse and, uh, straight past the clubhouse and make a left and then they go past the mailboxes they’ll see my truck. [3:10]

SPD: All right, what address are you parked in front of? [3:21]

GZ: Um, I don’t know. It’s a cut-through so I don’t know the address. [3:25]

SPD: Okay, do you live in the area?

GZ: Yeah, yeah, I live here.

SPD: Okay, what’s your apartment number?

GZ: It’s a home. It’s 1950 — oh, crap, I don’t want to give it out — I don’t know where this kid is (inaudible). [3:40]

SPD: Okay, do you just want to meet with them at the mailboxes, then? [3:42]

GZ: Yeah, that’s fine. [3:43]

SPD: All right, George, I’ll let them know you’ll meet them at…

GZ: Could you have them call me and I’ll tell them where I’m at? [3:51]

SPD: Okay, that’s no problem.

GZ: My number…you’ve got it?

SPD: Yeah, I’ve got it. 407-435-2400?

GZ: Yeah, you got it.

SPD: Okay, no problem. I’ll let them know to call you when they’re in the area. [4:02]

GZ: Thanks.

SPD: You’re welcome.

The call ended four minutes and change after it started at 7:13:39.  Zimmerman picked up the written narrative: “The dispatcher told me not to follow the suspect & that an officer was on the way. As I headed back to my vehicle the suspect emerged from the darkness and said, ‘You got a problem?’” When Zimmerman answered “No,” the suspect said, “You do now.”

As I looked and tried to find my phone to dial 911 the suspect punched me in the face. I fell backwards onto my back. The suspect got on top of me. I yelled “Help” several times. The suspect told me, “Shut the f*** up.” As I tried to sit upright, the suspect grabbed my head and slammed it into the concrete sidewalk several times. I continued to yell “Help.” Each time I attempted to sit up, the suspect slammed my head into the sidewalk. My head felt like it was going to explode. I tried to slide out from under the suspect and continue to yell “Help.”

Heard in the background of the 911 call from Witness #11 was a man desperately yelling “help” over and over again for about forty-two seconds. The call started at 7:16:11, about two and a half minutes after Zimmerman ended his call with SPD.

As I slid the suspect covered my mouth and nose and stopped my breathing. At this point I felt the suspect reach for my now exposed firearm and say, “Your [sic] gonna die tonight Mother F***er.” I unholstered my firearm in fear for my life as he had assured me he was going to kill me and I fired one shot into his torso. The suspect sat back allowing me to sit up and said “You got me.”

The screams ended abruptly with a single gunshot at 7:16:59. Zimmerman’s narrative continues.

At this point I slid out from underneath him and got on top of the suspect holding his hands away from his body. An onlooker appeared and asked me if I was ok. I said “No.” He said “I am calling 911.” I said “I don’t need you to call 911. I already called them. I need you to help me restrain this guy.” At this point a SPD officer arrived and asked “Who shot him.” I said I did and placed my hands on top of my head and told the officer where on my persons (sic) my firearm was holstered. The officer handcuffed me and disarmed me. The officer then placed me in the pack of his vehicle.

Zimmerman’s own account ended here. Officer Timothy Smith arrived less than a minute after the shooting at 7:17:40 p.m. and reported finding Zimmerman standing near Martin, who was lying face down in the grass about 40 or so feet south of the intersection between the east-west cut through and the north-south walkway, roughly 100 yards from Green’s townhouse. Smith noted that Zimmerman’s back was wet and covered with grass and that he was bleeding from the nose and the back of his head.

As Smith would tell the State Attorney’s Office, Zimmerman volunteered that he had shot Martin.  “I was yelling for help but no one would help me,” he told Smith and complained that his head was hurting.  The officer handcuffed Zimmerman “for safety reasons.”  Officer Jordan Broderick arrived shortly afterwards and saw “that the back of Zimmerman’s head was cut and he was bloodied.”

Officer Jonathan Mead also saw Zimmerman in custody and “noted his injured nose and bleeding head.”  As Mead told the state attorney’s office in April 2012, he had “dealt with Zimmerman before at the complex when Zimmerman had found open doors and houses. Zimmerman had reported suspicious persons that he had lost sight of when they (the suspicious person) went around a building. Zimmerman had been on foot when [he] met him on prior occasions.”

Officer Richard Ayala arrived at the scene soon after Smith. When Ayala got there, Smith had Zimmerman at gunpoint, so Ayala tended to Martin, who was then lying face-down with his hands under his body.  Ayala rolled Martin over and “felt a large cold can in the center pocket.”  Martin had $40 and change in his pants pockets as well as “one (1) red ‘711’ brand name lighter, photo button, Skittles, and headphones.”

When Ayala and a fellow officer attempted CPR and other first aid, the can came loose and was misidentified as an “Arizona brand name tea can.”  (It was actually an Arizona Watermelon Fruit Juice Cocktail.)  The officers located Martin’s cell phone in the grass away from the body.

Officer Smith drove Zimmerman to the SPD station.  Before leaving, Smith had asked him if he wanted to go to the hospital.  Zimmerman declined.  On the way to the police station, though, Zimmerman complained “that his head hurt and he felt a little light headed.”  Asked once again if he wanted to go to the hospital, Zimmerman hesitated and then declined.

Once at the station, Smith took Zimmerman to the interview room and kept an eye on him for health reasons.  Soon after, the SPD fingerprinted him, removed his clothes as evidence, conducted forensic tests on his hands for gunpowder residue, and kept his handgun to be examined.  The police then questioned him at length.  The session began at 8:15 p.m. Sunday and ended more than five hours later.

An hour after the shooting, Witness #6 told the SPD that he saw a “black man in a black hoodie on top of either a white guy…or an Hispanic guy in a red sweater on the ground yelling out help.”  According to #6, the black man on top was “throwing down blows on the guy MMA [mixed martial arts] style.”  Witness #13 waited until the fighting ended, went outside, and saw Zimmerman walking towards him.  “Am I bleeding?” Zimmerman asked.  Witness #13 answered affirmatively.  He also noticed “blood on the back of his head” and took a picture of it.

According to Witness #8, the girl with whom Martin had been speaking on the phone during this sequence, Martin “attempted to run home.”  By “home” she meant the townhouse where Martin was staying.

In its probable cause affidavit accusing Zimmerman of murder in the second degree, Florida State Attorney Angela Corey cited Witness #8 and echoed her claim that “Martin attempted to run home but was followed by Zimmerman.”  According to the affidavit, Zimmerman then “disregarded” the SPD, “continued to follow Martin who was trying to return to his home,” and “confronted” him.

At the time, Zimmerman was four inches shorter and fifty pounds heavier than Martin.  He also gave Martin at the very least a twenty-second head start to a destination no more than twenty seconds away.  In fact, however, by the time Zimmerman’s call with the SPD ended, Martin had had a leisurely two minutes to run the 400 feet to Green’s townhouse.

The challenge for the prosecutors is to prove that despite the obvious handicaps, Zimmerman managed to catch a fleeing Martin, confront him, and somehow scare him into yelling “help” during the forty-two seconds he was pummeling Zimmerman MMA-style.

Bottom line: Judge Debra Nelson will have to work very hard to keep Angela Corey from being coupled forever in the public’s memory with Mike Nifong (the district attorney for Durham County, North Carolina that was removed and disbarred due to court findings concerning his conduct in the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case).

Progressives in the United States are friends of Islam and a grave danger to our Constitutional Republic.  Obama is out to fundamentally change our country.  The Bill of Rights, including the First, Second, Fourth and Tenth Amendments, have been dangerously usurped by the subversive Obamanation.

In Europe, they found out that the more Islamic a society becomes — even when the majority of Muslims are moderates — the less free and tolerant it will be. The former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky calls the EU the EUSSR, because of its striking similarities to the former Soviet Union. WAKE UP AMERICA!

Below is the text of the speech given by Dutch Legislator Geert Wilders in Los Angeles on Sunday. 

The Resurgence of National Pride and the Future of Europe

Speech by Geert Wilders
Los Angeles, June 9, 2013

Dear friends, thank you for inviting me to Los Angeles. I always like coming to the United States. There are many things that I admire Americans for. One of them is that they are unashamedly patriotic.

The American Freedom Association has asked me to speak to you about the future of Europe.

Europe is in a terrible state. Bit by bit, European countries are losing their national sovereignty. The economy is in shambles. Islamic immigrants riot and terrorize the many locals. And when people’s throats are slit in the streets, while the murderers shout “Allahu Akbar,” the authorities appease the killers and declare that Islam has nothing to do with it.

Europeans feel that the gap between them and those who rule them is growing. Many no longer feel represented by their politicians. There is a complete disconnect between the people that truly rule Europe and the people that live in it.

The blame lies to a large extent with the European Union and the weak leadership within the European countries which have signed away their national sovereignty. The EU cannot be compared to the United States. Europe is a continent of many different nations with their own identities, traditions and languages. The EU is a supranational organization, but its leaders aim to turn it into a state. To this end they are destroying the wealth, identity and freedoms of the existing nation-states of Europe.

Before I elaborate, let us take a closer look at the terrible mistake that Europe made.

Following the Second World War, Europe’s leaders mistakenly thought that patriotism was the cause of the war.

All over Europe, not just in Germany, but everywhere, they equated the defense of national identity with extremism.

Politicians told the electorate that the nation state was dangerous.

On the rooftops of Europe’s parliaments and official buildings, they flew the EU flag next to the national flag, as if the nation is nothing but a province of a Pan-European empire.

On the number plates of European cars, they put the EU flag instead of the national flag, thereby forcing people to drive around with the symbol of their subjection.

They signed away their national interests for the goal of so-called Europeanization.

Such policies could never have been possible if the ruling elite had not fallen for the ideology of cultural and moral relativism. Patriotism, which is a virtue, came to be seen as a vice.

Today, the citizens of Europe are reaping the bitter harvest of this arrogance, this refusal to stand by the ancient nations of Europe, the mothers of modern democracy, the guardians of our liberty.

• The EU stands for everything that is wrong in Europe.
• It is a gigantic undemocratic transnational monster.
• It issues legislation permeated with cultural relativism.
• It meddles in the everyday lives of millions of people.
• It has opened Europe’s borders to uncontrolled mass immigration, mostly from Islamic countries.
• And it has deprived Europe’s parliaments of a huge amount of their legislative powers.

The European Union has brought one-size-fits-none policies that have resulted in economic disaster. It has led to growing tensions between the nations of Europe. It has led to the loss of democracy and liberty. Because the premise on which it was built, was false.

Robert Schuman, one of the EU’s founding fathers, said that the EU’s aim was — I quote — “to make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible.” — end of quote. But the idea that Germany, France, Britain and other nations in the past went to war because they were sovereign nations is simply ridiculous.

As I tell my audience whenever and wherever I speak in Germany, it was not German patriotism that started the Second World War; it was Hitler’s vicious totalitarian ideology of Nazism.

It was not German patriotism that caused the holocaust. German patriots, such as Count Stauffenberg, fought Hitler. “Let the world see that not all Germans are like Hitler; that not all Germans are Nazis,” he wrote in his diary the evening before Hitler’s hounds executed him.

Likewise, it was not Russian patriotism that sent people to the Gulag; it was the Soviets’ vicious totalitarian ideology of Communism. Russian patriots, such as Alexander Solzhenitsyn, stood up against the Soviets.

Nevertheless, the proponents of the EU keep pretending that without the EU, the Germans, the French, the British, the Dutch and the other nations of Europe would go to war again. The European Union has even been given the Nobel Peace Prize for the achievement of preserving peace in Europe — an achievement that is according to me NATO’s rather than the EU’s.

My friends, no-one knows this better than American patriots such as you: True patriots are always democrats. Because true patriots love their people and their country. You do not want your nation to be invaded by other countries. But neither do you want a totalitarian ideology, such as Communism or Nazism or Islam, to rob you of your own identity and enslave you.

Patriots want their country to be free. But people only care about the freedom of their country if they love it first. That is why one of my heroes Ronald Reagan said in his Farewell Address that we have to teach our children what our country is, what it stands for, what it represents in the long history of the world. Reagan said that Americans need — I quote — “a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions.” — end of quote.

Patriotism is not a totalitarian ideology aiming for world control; it is love of one’s own country and identity — and as such it is the strongest force against totalitarian ideologies aiming for world domination.

Love your country, appreciate its national institutions. As long as you do this, your country will remain the land of the free. But if you fail to do so, you will lose your freedoms. That is the lesson that we, Europeans, have learned the hard way after the past six decades of experimenting with EU transnationalism.

And the worst thing, my friends, the worst thing is that we could and should have known better.

In her last book, Statecraft, Margaret Thatcher wrote — I quote: “That such an unnecessary and irrational project as building a European superstate was ever embarked on will seem in future years to be perhaps the greatest folly of the modern era.” — end of quote.

My friends, let me tell you about the terrible consequences of this folly.

The Europeans set out to build a political tower of Babel.

In 1957, six European nations, including my own, the Netherlands, signed the Rome Treaty. They committed themselves to the formation of — I quote from the Treaty’s preamble — “an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe.” — end of quote.

From the original six, the European Union’s member states expanded to 27 nations today. Nations as diverse as Finland and Portugal, Ireland and Bulgaria, with their entirely different languages, cultures, traditions, habits and mentalities, were forced by their political leaders to adopt the same economic, fiscal, social, security, and foreign policies.

These policies are drawn up by the enormous, ever expanding bureaucracy of the so-called European Commission in Brussels. It issues laws — so-called “directives” — that the member-states are forced to implement in their national legislation.

As a national legislator in the Netherlands I daily experience how little we still have to say about our own fate. We are expected to rubberstamp legislation made behind closed doors in Brussels.

Both the EU Council of Ministers and the European Commission negotiate in secret and then emerge to announce their agreement and present it. That is how the system works. And we are not allowed to ask questions.

Those who dare think differently are labeled enemies of European integration. They are the so-called Europhobes.

The former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky calls the EU the EUSSR, because of its striking similarities to the former Soviet Union. He compares the European Commission to the former Soviet Politburo and Brussels to Moscow before the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Two weeks ago, I went to Prague and met with Vaclav Klaus, the former President of the Czech Republic. President Klaus speaks of Europeanism as one of the new and dangerous ideologies that have supplanted Socialism.

During his ten years in office, President Klaus refused to fly the EU flag over the Czech presidential palace. He points out that the EU is — I quote — “based on big and patronizing government, extensive regulating of human behavior and large-scale income redistribution. It shifts government upwards, which means to the level where there is no democratic accountability and where the decisions are made by bureaucrats appointed by politicians, not elected by citizens in free elections.” — end of quote. Mr. Klaus.

The EU supranationalism has brought the once prosperous, sovereign and free nations of Europe economic misery, a loss of national identity, the demise of freedom and independence.

17 of the 27 EU member states have even been so foolish as to dump their national currency. By adopting the euro, the common EU currency, they joined the so-called eurozone.

Strong and solid currencies that were the pride of their nations, such as the Dutch Guilder and the German Deutschmark, were sacrificed on the altar of European unification. The then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl sold this project to his people as — I quote — “a matter of war or peace.” — end of quote. The euro was presented as — I quote again — “an angel of peace.”

But what did this angel do to us?

All the countries that joined the euro lost the power to adjust their currency to their own economic needs. They have destroyed their economies and have doomed their people to rising poverty and unemployment.

They all suffered as a consequence. They all have to share the burden of other countries, even if the latter are suffering from self-inflicted policies, corruption or fraud, like in Greece.

Last year, my party, the Dutch Party for Freedom, commissioned a study by the renowned independent British bureau, Lombard Street Research, into the cost for the Netherlands of the euro so far.

The study found that, since the Dutch introduced the euro, the growth of consumption spending no longer matches the growth of GDP, as it did before we joined the euro and as it still does in all the countries that kept out of the eurozone. The cost was a huge loss in consumer spending.

The study showed that continuing to uphold the euro would cost the Netherlands billions of euros. The Eurozone is a huge transfer zone, whereby taxpayers in our country are forced to subsidize other countries. The rising taxes have pushed our country, the Netherlands, into economic recession. Unemployment has grown to over 8% — the highest in decades.

And the countries that receive our taxes have no chance of recovery. They have no chance of economic growth within a monetary union where the currency is too strong for them. Millions of people are losing their jobs as a consequence. Countries such as Spain are doomed with unemployment figures reaching almost up to 30% today.

EU countries have also lost sovereignty over their own national budgets. The European Commission — not our national government — decides how big their deficits and national debts are allowed to be. It imposes austerity measures. But at the same time it demands ever larger sums to be transferred to Brussels or to so-called rescue operations for the euro and to bail out countries, like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus.

Last month, the EU decided to raise its budget. My country and the Dutch government opposed this decision, but we were simply overruled. We have no veto right. Now we are forced to pay even more to Brussels. While government expenditure cannot be slashed by cutting the sums demanded by the EU, the Dutch government has raised taxes dramatically. The impact has been devastating. Higher taxes have resulted in less government income and have led to a contraction of the economy and a rise in unemployment.

The same phenomenon can be seen all over Europe. The growth of expenses and taxes, the inability to create a competitive environment, the over regulation of the economy, the stifling bureaucratization — all this is leading straight to economic collapse.

But there is worse. EU member-states no longer control their own borders.

Immigration policies are decided by the European Commission and the cultural relativists who are in charge there. The current European Commissioner overseeing immigration policy is Cecilia Malmström, formerly a left-wing kind of hippy politician from Sweden. Third-World immigration has turned Sweden into a nightmare, with immigrants frequently rioting in major Swedish cities such as Stockholm and Malmö.

Mrs. Malmström is forcing all EU member states to follow the Swedish example.

Last year, I wrote her a letter. “Not one single Dutchman has voted for you,” I told her. “We do not know who you are. We do not want to know who you are, but you force your ideas on our people. We are suffering from your absurd refusal to allow us even the slightest restriction to our immigration policy. You do not even want to limit the number of partners that one is allowed to bring into the Netherlands! We urge you to cease your activities and give us our sovereignty back,” I wrote.

Needless to say that I am still waiting for an answer from her, despite the fact that I am an elected politician, accountable to the voters, while she is not. That is why she can afford not to answer a parliamentarian.

Millions of non-Western immigrants are flooding into Europe, predominantly people from Islamic countries. The Pew Research Center estimated the number of Muslims in Western European countries at 18.2 million in 2010. It expects that this number will rise to almost 30 million by 2030. The Netherlands will see its Islamic population grow from 5.5 to almost 8%, Britain from 5 to 8%, Sweden will even see it double from 5 to 10%, and France will see a rise from over 7 to over 10%.

A demographic catastrophe is about to happen.

During the past three decades, so many people rooted in a culture entirely different from Europe’s own Judeo-Christian and humanist tradition have entered Europe that its heritage, its freedoms, its prosperity, and its culture are in danger.

The signs are there for all to see.

Look at the names people give to their children. Mohammed is today the most popular name among newborn boys in many French, Belgian and Dutch cities. Mohammed is even the most popular name among all newborns in England and Wales.

Look at Europe’s inner cities. Visit Europe and you will see that they have come to resemble Northern Africa and the Middle East. They have become areas ruled by Islamic Sharia law. Only last month, a Dutch newspaper reported that a neighborhood barely two miles from our parliament building in The Hague is now a Sharia zone.

Islamic areas also border the EU headquarters in Brussels. And less than 10 miles from Westminster, the mother of all parliaments, a British soldier’s throat was slit by Islamic murderers.

Paris, the capital of France, is surrounded by largely Islamic suburbs. And so are other cities. The French authorities have even drawn up a list of 751 so-called “sensible urban areas,” where it is dangerous to go, especially for native Frenchmen. These are the lost territories of the French Republic, even though a staggering 5 million people, or 8 percent of the total French population, live in them.

Even soldiers are no longer safe in Europe’s streets, as the recent horrible events in Britain and France have shown. But neither are Jews. Anti-Semitism has risen, and keeps rising the more Islamic immigration we get.

Indeed, my friends, after Nazism and Communism, another totalitarian ideology is threatening Europe: the evil ideology called Islam.

In Europe, we are experiencing that the more Islamic a society becomes — even when the majority of Muslims are moderates — the less free and tolerant it will be.

Atrocities, similar to the recent bombing in Boston, where Islamic immigrants massacred innocent onlookers at the marathon, occur in Europe as well. In my own country a few years ago, Theo van Gogh, a film maker critical of Islam, was butchered in the streets of Amsterdam.

Today, hundreds of young Islamic inhabitants of our countries have flocked to Syria to wage jihad there. They will return as experienced jihadists, trained in urban guerrilla warfare. But while you in America are still able to do something about it, while you can control and close your borders, while Congress can vote legislation to protect American citizens, we in Europe have been robbed of this possibility by the European Union.

And there is not only the threat of terrorism or violence; there is also the phenomenon of non-violent jihad. The rise of Islam means the rise of Islamic sharia law in our judicial systems. In Europe, we have sharia wills, sharia schools, sharia banks. In Britain, they even have official sharia courts.

Europe is gradually Islamizing. People who criticize Islam, such as myself, are threatened by Al Qaeda and dragged to court by Islamic and leftist groups. There is not just me, there is the journalist Lars Hedegaard, the author Salman Rushdie, the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, and many others.

We criticize Islam and we will keep on doing so, because it is a dangerous ideology. It is intolerant, it is violent. And, worst of all, it cannot be reformed. It cannot because it believes that the Koran is a book written directly by Allah himself. And it cannot because it calls on Muslims to follow Muhammad as the role model for their personal life. There could not be a worse model than this man, who was a warlord, a terrorist, and a pedophile.

While most Muslims are moderate people, those who think that they have to follow Muhammad’s example are not. That is exactly the reason why the more Islamic a country becomes, the more unfree and violent it will be.

Europe needs to be protected against this new totalitarian threat.

That is why I say: No more immigrants from the Islamic world! My party wants to close our borders to immigration from Islamic countries.

And ever more people support us.

A poll, which we commissioned ten days ago, shows that 77% of the Dutch do not see Islam as an enrichment for our country, 68% say there is more than enough Islam in the Netherlands already. A majority of the voters of all the major parties in my country — even the voters from leftist parties — agree with these two principles.

The poll also showed that 55% of the Dutch want a stop on immigration from Islamic countries, 63% want no more mosques, 72% see a relationship between Islam and the recent terror attacks in Boston, London and Paris, 72% want a constitutional ban on Islamic Sharia law.

Ordinary people in Europe want three things.

One — They want their politicians to tackle the problem of Islamization and mass immigration. They want to control their own borders.

Two — They want to restore their national sovereignty. They do not want their countries to become provinces of a pan-European super state.

Three — They do not want their money to be used to pay for mistakes made elsewhere. They do not want a transfer union where they have to pay higher taxes to bail out other countries, whose leaders were either corrupt or incompetent.

Poll after poll show that ordinary Europeans do not want their democracy to be subverted. Last April, a pan-European poll showed that a clear majority of the population in the major EU member states no longer trust the EU as an institution. Even in Germany the number has reached almost 60%.

This week a Gallup poll showed that for the first time in history in the Netherlands as many people want to leave the EU as stay in. A few years ago, this was unthinkable.

The strength of Europe is its diversity. Europe is not a nation; it is a cluster of nations, bound by a common Judeo-Christian and humanist culture, but with different national identities.

Last January, British Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech in which he said that the EU needed to change.

He spoke about “the lack of democratic accountability,” “the excessive regulation,” and everything that is wrong in the EU. And there are many things I agree with, but I do not share his belief that the EU’s nature can be changed. Mr. Cameron believes that the EU can be transformed into — I quote — “a more flexible, adaptable and open European Union.” — end of quote. I do not believe this. If an organization has as its explicit goal that it strives for “an ever closer union,” it simply cannot start moving in the opposite direction and relinquish the powers it has already acquired.

We can see how the mechanism works in the way in which the EU deals with the eurozone crisis. Rather than turning away from the destructive path that has so far been followed, Brussels is using this crisis to enforce an even tighter control over the member states.

The European Union simply cannot be democratized because the whole structure is built on a negation of democracy. As President Klaus pointed out, there can be no European democracy because there is no European demos — no European people. There can only be various European democracies — plural! — in the various European nations. What the EU does is destroy these various democracies.

And, hence, my party’s position is very clear. We opt for an exit from the European Union. We want the Netherlands not just out of the Euro zone, but out of the EU altogether — including the so-called Schengen area, the group of 26 European countries that have abolished passport and immigration controls at their common borders. We reserve the right to reinstall random border controls.

We want to retain our independence. We want home rule! We want to be the masters in our own house! We want to be the masters over our own borders. We want to be the masters of our own money. The Party for Freedom wants the Netherlands to leave the EU and join the European Free Trade Association EFTA.

But here is the good news, my friends. As I have already indicated, public support for the EU is growing thin by the day.

For months now, my party has been the biggest in the polls.

And we are not the only one.

In Britain, UKIP, the United Kingdom Independence Party, which wants to lead Britain out of the EU, has come second in many by-elections and local and county elections during the past two years. It is polling an average of a quarter of the votes. And it is growing.

In France last year, Marine Le Pen scored 18% in the presidential elections. She has now overtaken President François Hollande. She opposes the EU. And her popularity is growing.

In Germany, it is still considered far too politically-incorrect to reject the EU. Nevertheless a new party, the Alternative for Germany, wants to take the country out of the eurozone. And its appeal is growing.

In Italy, both the country’s largest party, Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement, and the Lega Nord, the largest party in the North, want a referendum on a return to the Lira, while the Lega Nord has called the EU a failed project.

In Portugal a book advocating quitting the euro has become an instant bestseller. A proposal that was taboo until recently is now discussed openly, with the country’s Chief Justice personally coming out in support of eurozone exit.

All over Europe, anti-EU feelings are growing. All over Europe there are patriot parties that reflect the resurgence of national pride in their countries, whether it be the Netherlands, Britain, France, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Flanders, the Czech Republic, Germany, and the other nations currently trapped in the European Union.

As I said, here is the good news.

Europe might be on the verge of a fundamental change for the better. We seem to be on the eve of a major and truly historic event. In Europe, the time is ripe for a glorious democratic and non-violent revolution to preserve our national freedoms and restore our sovereignty.

Exactly one year from now, the 27 member states of the European Union will be holding elections for the European Parliament.

People are finally ready all over Europe to rebel in the ballot box.

They reject the transfer union. They no longer want to pay for corrupt states.

They reject the supranational experiment of the European Union.

They are ready to cast their votes for a restoration of national sovereignty.

They are ready to defend their own cultural identity.

All they need is decent political leadership able to lead their nations out of the EU and towards a better future.

America’s first president George Washington has shown that when courageous and democratic politicians are available to lead their country, they can lay the groundwork for a lasting democratic framework that guarantees freedom and prosperity for centuries to come.

My friends, my party in the Netherlands and several other parties in other European countries are preparing themselves for next year’s electoral landslide.

We can feel the heartbeat of the New Patriotism in Europe.

Winter is over.

Spring is coming.

The European Spring is upon us.

And we are getting ready for it.

We are aware of our historic task.

That is why I am especially happy to be here in California today. Because the great inspirer of our upcoming democratic revolution, is one of yours. Your hero, my hero, Ronald Reagan! — who in his presidential Farewell Address said that the achievement he was most proud of in his entire presidency was “the resurgence of national pride.” “The New Patriotism,” as he called it.

Next year’s European elections offer a unique opportunity to liberate the nations of Europe.

Next Spring’s European elections offer a unique chance to correct the fatal error made by previous politicians who sold away their taxpayers’ money and their national sovereignty to Brussels and delivered their countries to the evils of mass immigration and Islamization.

As a European politician, I am fully aware of my duty to grab this chance. The European elections next May must deal a blow to the parties that sold us out to the EU. Not just in the Netherlands. But everywhere in Europe.

That is why I do what is in my power to forge an alliance of democratic parties standing for the restoration of the sovereignty and freedom of their nation. I want to bring these parties together in a common endeavor to defend our identity and our values. I do not know whether I will succeed, but I am trying. It is my conviction that we have to work together. Because we are all in the same boat.

My friends, it is easy to despair. Time is running out for Britain, for France, for Germany, for the Netherlands, for all the other great nations of Europe. The present situation in Europe is bleak. If we do nothing, it will become even bleaker. If we do nothing we will be swept away by economic and demographic disaster.

But it is wrong to despair. The present is bleak, but the future looks bright. Because the future depends on our actions. We are the actors on the stage of history. That, too, is a lesson from Ronald Reagan, who said: “We need to act today, to preserve tomorrow”.

I went to Paris recently to talk to Marine Le Pen and see for myself who she is and what she stands for. She is not her father. She is not anti-Semitic. She cares about France, its identity and its sovereignty.

I went to Prague to talk to President Klaus.

In the coming weeks and months, I will try to see as many patriot leaders in Europe as possible. And I always ask them for their views on Israel. Because Israel is the litmus proof.

The Jewish people did exactly the opposite of what the Europeans did after the Second World War. They drew the right conclusion. They realized that without a nation-state of their own there could be no safety for their people.

Without a nation-state, without self-governance, without self-determination there can be no security for a people nor preservation of its identity. This was the insight that led the Zionists to strive for the re-establishment of the state of Israel. Theodore Herzl said that there had to be a Jewish state in order to ensure — I quote — “a new blossoming of the Jewish spirit.” — end of quote.

Indeed, a soul needs a body. The spirit of a people cannot flourish outside the body of the nation-state. The nation-state is the political body in which we live. We must preserve and cherish it. So that we can pass on to our children our national identity, our democracy, our liberty.

My friends, what we need today is Zionism for the nations of Europe. The Europeans need to follow the example of the Jewish people and re-establish their nation-state.

And that, my dear friends, is why every patriot, apart from being a democrat, by definition also has to be a true friend of Israel. A patriot cannot be anti-Semitic.

My friends, the great Zionist leader Ze’ev Jabotinsky said about the Jewish people: “We do not have to apologize for anything. We are a people as all other peoples; we do not have any intentions to be better than the rest. We do not have to account to anybody. We are what we are, we are good for ourselves, we will not change, nor do we want to.” — end of quote.

And so it is. For all the peoples. We do not have to apologize for being good to ourselves. We do not have to change if we do not want to change.

The peoples of Europe resent the permanent alienation of power from their nation-states. They care about their nations because they care about democracy and freedom and the wellbeing of their children. They see their democratic rights and their ancient liberties symbolized in their national flags. They are proud of their flag. And as long as their pride lasts, they will have a future.

Let us emphasize this commitment to the resurgence of our national pride with a symbolic gesture. Let us do so by endorsing the Jewish nation-state and move the embassies of our countries from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Let us fly the flags of all the free and proud nations of the world over embassies in Jerusalem, the only true capital of Israel and the cradle of our Judeo-Christian civilization.

Israel deserves our support. Not only because it is the front line against the totalitarian threat of Islam, but also because it shows how important it is for a people to have its own homeland.

My friends,

Today, a new threat is confronting us. But history shows that we can withstand it if we stand together.

We need an alliance, not only of patriots in Europe, but also an alliance between America and Europe.

We need the help and support of American patriots such as you. Such an alliance brings out the best in us, and allows us to beat the totalitarian menace.

This was proven by the alliance between Roosevelt and Churchill in the 1940s.

It defeated Nazism.

It was proven by the alliance between Reagan and Thatcher in the 1980s.

It defeated Communism.

Today, Islam is a threat to all of us, to Israel, to Europe, to America. But together we can withstand it.

And we have to stand together or we will be defeated. We have no other choice.

As the great Margaret Thatcher said:

“Defeat — I do not recognize the meaning of the word.”

And neither should we!

Thank you.

The proposal requires a background check almost any time a firearm changes hands — regardless of whether the exchange is permanent or a loan. Penalties for those who hand over weapons improperly include the loss of gun rights for two years and, in some cases, prison.

When a private party wishes to sell a firearm to another private party. They both must travel to a federally license gun dealer (with the gun) for a background check.

The gun-dealer, a business person who is not involved in the business of that sale, must keep a record of the sale and can charge up to $30 for the service.

One of the other issues in the bill is the exemption of loaning a gun for a hunting trip — the possession is legal where it’s legal to hunt, but not on the road to that area, National Rifle Association representative Dan Reid said shortly after the vote.

“It’s unfortunate the Assembly would pass such a flawed bill,” Reid said. “In the hearings, the opponents have largely outnumbered the proponents, and they have been Nevadans, not people flown in to testify.”

Shortly after the vote, videos surfaced of a new video ad from the group pressuring Gov. Brian Sandoval to sign the bill into law, and Bloomberg issued a statement congratulating lawmakers.

“By passing legislation to require comprehensive and enforceable background checks for all gun sales, Nevada’s lawmakers have taken a significant step forward in the fight against illegal guns,” Bloomberg said in a statement.

Governor Sandoval has set up a hotline for us to vote on whether or not he should veto SB 221. It is extremely important that you and everyone you know calls. The number is (775) 684-5670. When prompted, simply PRESS 2 to vote against SB 221. It’s easy to do and needs to be done to keep the Governor from signing Bloomberg’s bill.

Bloomberg is encouraging gun grabbers across the country will to call and support the bill, so it is extremely important that Second Amendment civil rights supporters call. 

Both the XDs .45 and Shield 9 are in my EDC rotation both as pocket carry, IWB and OWB carry self defense pistols. 

If protecting, preserving and reclaiming Second Amendment civil rights is important to you, there are three things you need to do. First Join the NRA.  Second Get a handgun concealed carry permit. Third get more training and regularly practice shooting with your firearm(s).

Youtube is an excellent source of videos about guns.  Unlike the main stream media, firearms are neither prohibited nor censored on Youtube. I subscribe to almost 100 firearms releated channels, including these :