Government

NPR

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Supreme Court to review Trump-era gun rule banning bump stocks : NPR

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a second major gun case this term. On Friday the justices said they will review a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a device the ATF says converts a semi-automatic weapon into a machine gun by firing multiple rounds with a single pull on the trigger. Machine guns have been banned under federal law since 1934. Supreme Court to consider whether domestic abusers can own guns Law Supreme Court to consider whether domestic abusers can own guns

The Trump administration reclassified the devices in 2018 after a mass shooting in Las Vegas in which the shooter used bump stocks on 14 guns and opened fire on a music festival, killing 60 people and wounding more than 400 in less than 10 minutes.

Prior to the shooting, the ATF had not classified bump stocks as illegal, but the shooting prompted a re-evaluation of how the devices work, and the agency ultimately banned them as illegal because a single pull of the finger causes the firing of multiple rounds; the ATF said the devices converted legal guns, like the semi-automatic AR-15, into illegal machine guns. A U.S. appeals court blocks a ban on rapid-fire 'bump stocks' Law A U.S. appeals court blocks a ban on rapid-fire 'bump stocks'

The rule went into effect in 2019 after the Supreme Court declined to block it. But in January of this year, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 13-to-3 vote ruled that the classification was illegal.

Like a Sexually Abused Child That Shoots Up a School 🇮🇱 🇵🇸

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I was listening to more of the news coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict and those were the first thoughts that came to my mind. Hamas so viciously attacked Israel because it’s people, the Palestinians have been so abused at the hands of the Israelis over the years. Why have the Israelis abused the Palestinians so much, forcing them into tiny walled cities, much like the Nazis did the Jews? Mostly because they’re set on continuing the cycle of violence as they’ve learned and grown up under the worse of the worse.

It’s been 80 years since World War II was underway and all the atrocities it involved. But the actions of the Nazis against the Jews and other minorities haven’t stopped hurting, all these years later. A fear and hatred, and oppression that was put upon the Nazis from the world powers after World War I with numerous penalties put on the German nation for starting  the first World War.

A cycle of violence unbroken. 🕊

Murder, terror, and war crimes can not and should not go unpunished. You can’t not arrest a school shooter, because he was sexually abused by his parents. Hamas is a threat not just to Israel but to world as a whole. It’s leaders need to be put behind bars, punished for the lives taken and harmed. But the oppression of the Palestinians by the Israelis can’t be ignored. Leaders who commit war crimes, engage in terror need to be punished.

Nobody of good conscience can have sympathy for the Hamas leadership’s actions against Israel, but at the same time, one can understand why many people tolerate or even sympathize with their efforts to liberate the Palestine people. The cycle of abuse needs to end, powerful counties shouldn’t abuse minorities, and minorities shouldn’t retaliate using murder and terror.

I’m not one to get involved in protests or even share my thoughts on social media, lest the wave of negative comments. But I have my views, as unpopular as they may be in some quarters. Maybe my views come out of my disdain for the mainstream media and political thought, but I can’t stand to see minorities oppressed and the constant drum-beat of conformity demanding support for America’s preferred winners in conflict.