Housekeeping

There will be no newsletter for the next two Fridays due to the holidays. We may get to slip a random one in somewhere. Y’all have a Merry Christmas and celebrate Jesus!

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The Last Generation That Grew Up Free

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No-tax SBR considerations

• Free SBRs Are Coming! A Horrible Idea
• We also note that between Dec. 15–31 any purchases made (Forms 1 and 4) will be automatically set up for submission with a $0 tax stamp effective Jan. 1, 2026. From Dec. 26-31, ATF will stop accepting new applications and will focus solely on processing already-submitted forms and no new submissions will be accepted until next year. This is in order to switch over to the free registrations.

Trumped

• The US Department of Justice accused San Francisco Sheriff Paul Miyamoto of violating the constitution when the DOJ learned that concealed carry weapons permits issued by his office expired after officials failed to process timely-filed renewal requests. The DOJ warned city authorities that if they don’t get it right, they could face a lawsuit similar to the one they filed against Los Angeles in September, which accused the city of infringing residents’ Second Amendment rights by failing to determine CCW applications promptly. Sheriff Miyamoto has issued an apology and blamed budget cuts. (We note that apparently San Francisco is a combined city and county.)

• The US Justice Department filed a complaint against the Virgin Islands Police Department on Tuesday, accusing the territory of delays and conditions in its gun permit process that are so onerous as to violate the Second Amendment.
• DOJ Second Amendment Section Extends Protections to Only “Law-Abiding American CITIZENS.”
• The DOJ Says It Will Challenge Unconstitutional Gun Policies. Maybe It Should Stop Defending Them.

Litigation

• Follow-up. Last week the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued (and we briefly reported) its flip-flopping third decision in US v. Peterson, a case addressing the constitutionality of federal regulations regarding restricting the use and possession of suppressors. The December 9th opinion replaces an August 27th opinion that was a reissue of the panel’s original February 6th opinion. The outcome was the same across all three opinions: Peterson lost. However, the “reasoning” evolved throughout the year-long process. Apparently this time the court is saying that the Second Amendment protects suppressors, but the NFA is presumptively constitutional under New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, because it is a shall-issue regime. The court also assumed without deciding that suppressors constitute “arms” under the Second Amendment. So, best two out of three?
• I’m pretty sure the NFA is not constitutional by any measure, no matter what a court says.
• Also from the Fifth Circuit, a court panel has overturned the gun conviction of a man who had failed to pay child support, saying that sort of crime shouldn’t have cost him his gun rights for the rest of his life. The Circuit ruled 2-1 Wednesday that as long as he was current in his payments, his past felony conviction doesn’t automatically make him too dangerous to society to possess a firearm, saying the founders clearly countenanced denying gun rights to those guilty of violent crimes but that doesn’t automatically include all felonies, defined as crimes that could be punished by a term of more than a year in prison. The case stemmed from the conviction of Edward Cockerham. He had previously been convicted of failing to pay child support, which under Mississippi law could have earned him up to five years in prison — well above the felony level. He was given five years of probation. But for purposes of the gun law, it’s the potential sentence, not the actual sentence, that counts. When Mr. Cockerham was later found with a gun, he was convicted of being a felon in possession of a weapon. The Department of Justice defended the conviction, arguing that the founders had put debtors in prison and Mr. Cockerham’s failure to pay child support was analogous to that kind of debt. But Judge Ho said Mr. Cockerham had paid his debt and was released from probation at the time he was found with the gun. The judge noted that other federal appeals courts have ruled in favor of the government’s argument recently, but he said the facts of Mr. Cockerham’s case demanded this outcome. Look for an appeal.
• Related: On Monday’s orders list, the US Supreme Court denied cert to a pair of challenges to the National Firearms Act’s restrictions on short-barreled rifles.
• The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that a prohibited person (felon) living in the same household with a non-prohibited gun owner and having potential access to that person’s gun doesn’t in itself show constructive possession of the gun under state law. Your mileage may vary, as might federal prosecutions.
• Grassroots Judicial Report.

NRA

• A former NRA staffer claims that the NRA (or perhaps its lawyers at the Brewer firm) asked her to commit perjury in the Under Wild Skies v. NRA case.
• Proposed Change to NRA Bylaws Raises Concerns about Member Rights and Law.
• NRA Board Resignations.

Enemies

• This makes me see red (flags). Maybe I need counseling, which I will clearly never get.
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) recently found that banks, including JPMorgan Chase Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. Bank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank and BMO Bank, unlawfully discriminated against certain industries, including the firearm industry, for political reasons.
• Billionaire George Soros survived the Holocaust, but he’s doing his best to start another one.

Department of Dumb

• An artificial-intelligence-powered surveillance system from security company ZeroEyes and used by Lawton Chiles Middle School in Florida mistakenly flagged a clarinet carried by a student as a weapon, triggering a lockdown and police response. The incident is part of a trend in which the unproven technologies driving these threat detection systems used by schools misfire, putting students and staff under undue risk, suspicion and stress.

The Only Ones

• 33-year-old Anthony Simon, an off-duty Kingston, NY police officer, shot and critically wounded another man in what is being described as a road rage incident. (Although you are generally allowed to defend yourself when an armed attacker reaches inside your car, you are not allowed to initiate or escalate the confrontation, and then claim self defense.)
• A State of Emergency was declared by Yazoo City, MS leaders due to a shortage of certified patrol officers at the Yazoo City Police Department.

Extra Reading

• Hypocrisy in Israel Regarding Gun Ownership.

GFZs

• Brown University.

• Australia.
• GOA Head Cites ‘Gun-Free’ Zones in Australia, Brown University Tragedies Over Weekend
• Details on the Australian Bondi Beach terrorist attack and defense.

DGUs

• UPDATE: Gulfport man killed during home invasion identified
• Home invasion suspect shot by homeowner in Pueblo
• An Arizona woman confronted and shot a perp after he stole a gun from her unoccupied car. There are some lessons here.
• Armed Citizen (American Rifleman, Dec. 15, 2025 and American Rifleman, Dec. 12, 2025)
• “What purportedly determines whether you survive a violent encounter with one of these creatures (Alaskan brown bears) is the relative size of your head to his jaws. If he can get his teeth around your skull, he will pop it like a grape. If not, you only get scalped.” – Dabbs

Not DGUs

• The Chances?
• Tourist stabbed while changing baby’s diaper in NYC Macy’s, good Samaritans thanked
• “Just call 911,” they say…
• Don’t. Just don’t.

Tactics & Stuff

• Is Your Neighborhood Safe? 7 Tools to Help You Find Out.
• Reminder: Threat Management: How to See Trouble Coming and Stop It Early. “One red flag can be coincidence. Two may be odd. Three or more abnormal cues above baseline usually triggers the Rule of Three. Treat it as suspicious and take action.”
• Massad Ayoob: 6 Must-Know Court Cases For Gun Owners.
• The Lion and the Risk-Takers.
• Perspective. 1,432 deaths in mass shootings, or “active shooter (sic) incidents,” during the timeframe 2000-2024 versus 47,026 deaths from falls in 2023 alone. Over 100,000 deaths occurred in 2023 due to preventable poisoning.
• First Baptist Church Brandon (Mississippi) will host a free church security seminar in January focused on preparing congregations and organizations to respond to active-shooter (sic) threats. Featuring Ed Monk.

Industry News

• The National Shooting Sports Foundation has announced the addition of a new First Shots introductory course on suppressors. This new offering is ideal for ranges and retailers looking to enhance their educational offerings and further engage customers, while attracting new ones eager to participate in this category, and of course should educate and benefit consumers.
• Tom Gresham’s Gun Talk Radio, the original gun-centric talk show and a trusted voice in firearms media for three decades, announces a major expansion: the addition of 54 new radio stations across the US, bringing its total reach to over 320 stations weekly. Congrats, Tom and Ryan.
• Dec. 15, 2025, was the 70th anniversary of the introduction by Smith & Wesson of the revolver that was to become a legend: The .44 Magnum.
• Dec. 15 was also Bill of Rights Day.

Products

• Late actor James Earl Jones’ (from Arkabutla, Mississippi) gun collection is up for auction. Some really nice ones.
• We hear that the new Glenfield Model A rifle is actually a Ruger American (Gen. 1) rifle.
• Smith & Wesson has reintroduced the Model 20, a revolver that hasn’t been produced since 1966. Now in .357 Magnum and distributed through Davidson’s. $1550.
• Smith & Wesson and Lipsey’s have expanded the Ultimate Carry J-Frame lineup with the 6-round .32 H&R Magnum, Models 432-UC (black) and 632-UC (stainless) and the 5-round .38 Spl. +P Models 442-UC (black) and 642-UC (stainless).
• Ruger has upgraded the 10/22 rifle line with enhanced features previously found only in select configurations. It appears that all 10/22 models now feature a BX-Trigger, lightweight stock with M-LOK slots, match bolt release, and a receiver that incorporates a rear cleaning port.
• Weatherby has introduced two new dangerous game hunting versions of their Mark V bolt action rifle, dubbed Frontier (medium and large calibers) and DGR (large calibers only). $4-5k.