Is Florida Police Chief Perdo Taylor Telling The TRUTH?

Should gun owners be subject to surprise home inspections by law enforcement to ensure they're storing their firearms 'safely' and not posing a threat to the community? Thoughts from an avid reader. By all means! Show up at my home without a warrant and demand I let you in so you can inspect my firearms and their storage. You know that “not posing a threat to the community” you were blathering on about? So long as no one tries to violate my Fourth Amendment protections from unlawful search and seizure, there will be no threat! Better yet, since the law CANNOT do what your sick imagination comes up with, why don’t YOU come do it? LEO’s can’t just show up to inspect guns, but you sure can. Why don’t you put your money where your mouth is? If you’re so concerned about your safety regarding my gun possession, frisk me when you see me and relieve me of my firearm. Or break into my home when I am not on the premises…I strongly advise you NOT attempt to break in while I am at home, because it will become very loud and an acrid scent will fill the air, and if you’re still able to inhale and expel oxygen, you’ll smell it, too! Lastly, by virtue of your hateful question/suggestion, you show you have zero actual concerns over my ability to safely possess firearms, cause if you were truly scared you would not come near any of my firearms. So, you’re paying a little game with old Jimmy Boy. That’s a losing proposition, Sparky. I do not play games. My rights are non-negotiable. For your sake, commit that last part to memory. We’ll all be happier if you do, especially you! Enjoy your day.

I'm reading a book where the protagonist specifically requests 20 round magazines for an AR-15. If money is no object, is there any benefit to getting 20 round magazines over 30 round magazines? Thoughts from an avid readier. What are your thoughts? My unit had an old senior master sergeant that loved the 20 round magazines. He also coached our shooting team and oversaw the squad designated marksman program. He had a lot of experience with pretty much every small arm in the military inventory. In addition, he shot most weekends with a civilian shooting team. He also served in the Marine Corps earlier in his military career, where he was in combat in the Gulf War in 1991. So, he was probably the most experienced shooter in my Air Force unit and he preferred them. But I think it was mostly his ego in believing that if he ever got into a shootout, he was an excellent shot and he wouldn’t need as much ammo. Yes, they help a little when firing from the prone position, but not so much that you’d prefer them over 30 round magazines. Also, I thought he set a bad example since no junior airman would ever be allowed to have 20 round magazines for their weapon. Only he could get away with something like that.

The New York Times’ Latest Anti-Gun News Story by Lee Williams Print journalism is simple, really. At least it used to be. For decades there were basically two types of stories, news and opinions. Reporters wrote news stories. Columnists and a few others wrote opinion pieces. But in recent years we’ve seen another type of journalism rise in prominence, the anti-gun story, which masquerades as a regular news piece but is chock-full of opinion and false claims. When reporters fill their anti-gun stories with their opinions their editors do nothing, because they often share their staffer’s opinions. During my 20 years as a newspaperman, I would call out the authors of anti-gun stories whenever I saw them, but my criticisms were usually never addressed, even though we have a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Nowadays, journalists talk constantly about the accuracy of their reporting. However, when they write anti-gun stories, normal journalism standards are gone, and the editing is a complete joke. The size of the newspaper also makes a difference. Smaller newspapers are generally more accurate when writing about guns than the big ones. Case in point: The New York Times. On Monday, the Times published what is perhaps the most anti-gun news story seen in quite a while. It was written by reporter Glenn Thrush, who started at the newspaper in 2017 and claimed in his bio that his most “fulfilling assignment” was writing obituaries, which is odd. Writing about the recently departed is far from fulfilling. Thrush’s story was titled “Trump Administration to Roll Back Array of Gun Control Measures.” The array was described as a reversal of the strict gun control rules Joe Biden ordered “to stem the flood of unregulated semiautomatic handguns and rifles.” If you look closely at Thrush’s story, you will find factual errors and anti-gun hyperbole in nearly every paragraph. For example, Thrush wrote that gun dealers stripped of the Federal Firearm Licenses by Biden’s crazy zero-tolerance policy were “found to have repeatedly violated federal laws and regulations.” This is far from the truth. Biden’s insane policy stripped hundreds of gun dealers of their FFL’s solely because of extremely minor clerical errors. It is estimated to have increased the FFL revocation rate by 700 percent. Thrush never mentioned that, or that the ATF occasionally sent its poorly trained SWAT team to the gun dealers’ homes, or that the dealers were handcuffed and laying on their stomachs during their conversations with the ATF. In one case, the alleged suspect never got the chance to respond to any of the federal allegations, because ATF’s SWAT team shot and killed him in his own home before they had a chance to talk. Thrush was not kind to Attorney General Pam Bondi or her plan to use the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division to investigate the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to determine whether it is “engaging in a pattern or practice of depriving ordinary, law-abiding Californians of their Second Amendment rights.” Even though this task is clearly covered by federal law, Thrush claimed that Bondi was “repurposing an investigative unit that had been used to expose racial discrimination and police violence by local enforcement agencies.” Bondi’s decision didn’t involve any repurposing. The federal laws that govern the Civil Rights Division are very clear, unlike Biden’s ATF rules. The author spoke to the executive director of Giffords, who falsely claimed Trump gave his seal of approval to “reckless dealers who are willing to sell guns to traffickers and criminals.” Over the years I have met more than a few gun dealers, but no one is willing to sell arms to anyone with a criminal record. That this made it into a New York Times story is incredibly damning. Thrush also claimed that the ATF took “an abrupt U-turn” from the schemes of Biden and ATF’s former director to “stem the flood of unregulated semiautomatic handguns and rifles that have contributed to mass shootings and exacerbated the violent crime wave that peaked after the coronavirus pandemic.” A flood of unregulated handguns and rifles? Remember that the next time you fill out an ATF Form 4473. The Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project wouldn’t be possible without you. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation to support pro-gun stories like this.

CDC Staff Cuts Alarm Anti-Gun Advocates Mark Chesnut The Trump Administration has announced plans to cut 10,000 federal employees under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the parent organization for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has pursued an anti-gun agenda for the past decade or so. The move will make it harder for the CDC to fund anti-gun research intended to show results favorable to gun-ban advocates, and that is drawing the ire of gun control groups who have relied on slanted CDC research to bolster their outrageous claims. The gun-ban organization Brady, formerly called Handgun Control Inc., immediately attacked the Trump Administration’s “guns everywhere” agenda. “The dismantling of CDC’s injury data collection team is nothing short of a public health catastrophe, and the latest strategic move to consolidate information control under President Trump,” Brady President Kris Brown said in a news release. “CDC’s WISQARS is a crucial tool that informs our understanding of America’s gun violence epidemic. Without it, we’re cast into the dark as to the scope of the number one killer of kids in this country. But this latest assault doesn’t come as a surprise; it tracks completely with the administration’s autocratic tendencies. Stemming the flow of knowledge is a tactic that has been deployed throughout history to control the public, and today’s news is a prime example of history repeating itself.” Whoo boy! Not to be outdone, the group Giffords called the cuts a “reckless move (that) puts us all at risk.” Of course, the reaction to the Trump Administration’s move by those on the pro-Second Amendment side of the argument was quite different. The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) said that, hopefully, the cuts would take the CDC out of the gun control arena. “With these reductions, the government is no longer treating gun ownership as a communicable disease,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Ever since the CDC inserted itself into the gun rights debate, the agency has spent millions of dollars to promote the notion that gun-related violence is a public health issue, and they’ve mostly gotten away with it, thanks largely to their allies in the media treating everything they say as gospel. But it’s not a ‘health crisis,’ it’s a crime problem, and the antidote is not restricting the rights of law-abiding gun owners, which CDC research invariably seems to suggest, but instead restricting the freedom of violent repeat offenders.” Gottlieb added that anti-gun groups wailing over the CDC cuts are making a big deal over something that has never effectively curtailed violent crime. “One complaint we’ve heard is that these cuts have ‘decimated’ staff responsible for so-called ‘gun violence research and prevention,’ but so far all of this research does not appear to have prevented a single violent crime,” he said. “Instead, we see declarations that more research is needed, while anti-gunners use CDC data to erode Second Amendment rights. That sounds like a perpetual ‘make work’ effort to keep the public funding flowing while gun owners are essentially treated like plague carriers or lepers.”

Pam Bondi AG Pam Bondi Creates 2A Task Force Mark Chesnut April 11, 2025 U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Wednesday the creation of a Second Amendment Enforcement Task Force to protect the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. The task force is part of Bondi’s response to President Donald Trump’s executive order of February 7 to root out unconstitutional Biden Administration rules on firearms and roll them back to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans. “For too long, the Second Amendment, which establishes the fundamental individual right of Americans to keep and bear arms, has been treated as a second-class right,” Bondi wrote in a memo to Department of Justice employees. “No more. It is the policy of this Department of Justice to use its full might to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens.” Bondi said that the new Second Amendment Task Force is one element of a comprehensive plan of action that she is proposing to President Trump. “This task force will continue the Department’s ongoing work to implement Executive Order 14206 and protect the fundamental right secured by the Second Amendment,” she wrote. “The Task Force is principally charged with developing and executing strategies to use litigation and policy to advance, protect, and promote compliance with the Second Amendment.” Bondi will chair the task force and the associate attorney general will serve as the vice chair. Other members of the task force will include representatives from Bondi’s personal staff, the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the Office of the Associate Attorney General, the Office of the Solicitor General, the Civil Division, the Civil Rights Division, the Criminal Division, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “The prior administration placed an undue burden on gun owners and vendors by targeting law-abiding citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights,” Bondi said in a press release announcing the action. “The Department of Justice’s new Second Amendment Task Force will combine department-wide policy and litigation resources to advance President Trump’s pro-gun agenda and protect gun owners from overreach.” Of course, pro-gun organizations, including the Citizens Committee On The Right To Keep And Bear Arms (CCRKBA), reacted very positively to AG Bondi’s announcement. “This is the news we’ve been waiting for,” said Alan Gottlieb, CCRKBA chairman. “From the wording of Attorney General Bondi’s memo, it looks like ‘gloves off’ time may have finally arrived. It marks a significant, and welcome change at the Department of Justice, because it is clear we now have leadership in place which treats gun owners as allies instead of antagonists.” Gottlieb added that his organization is hopeful the task force will have a long-term effect on the freedom of all American gun owners. “We’re hoping this bold step by Attorney General Bondi brings an end to years of harassment and penalization of gun owners and begins the process of dismantling unconstitutional laws and regulations at the federal, state and local levels of government,” Gottlieb said. “The Second Amendment protects a first-class right, and it feels great that after years of fighting this battle, gun owners now have support, rather than resistance, from the Department of Justice, and an administration that is definitely in our corner.”

Prosecutors File Federal Criminal Charges Against 34 Defendants Who Allegedly Re-entered the U.S. Following Removal Friday, April 18, 2025 U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California LOS ANGELES – Federal prosecutors this week filed criminal charges against 34 defendants who are alleged to have been found in the United States following removal, the Justice Department announced today. Many of the defendants charged previously were convicted of felony offenses prior to their removal from the United States, including domestic violence, unlawful sex with a minor, and assault with a deadly weapon. The crime of being found in the United States following removal carries a base sentence of up to two years in federal prison. Defendants who were removed after being convicted of a felony face a maximum 10-year prison sentence and defendants removed after being convicted of an aggravated felony face a maximum of 20 years in federal prison. Some of the recently filed cases are summarized below: • Maximo Medrano, 59, of Mexico, was charged via a federal criminal complaint with being an illegal alien found in the United States after removal. Medrano, who was removed from the U.S. in 1998 and 2023, has a criminal history that includes a felony conviction in 1997 in Monterey County Superior Court for transportation of a controlled substance, for which he was sentenced to two years in California state prison. Medrano also was convicted in Orange County Superior Court in 2023 of inflicting corporal injury upon a spouse/cohabitant and four counts of disorderly conduct, video/photo of bedroom/bathroom/etc., for which he was required to register as a sex offender. Medrano is scheduled to make his initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Assistant United States Attorney MiRi Song of the Domestic Security and Immigration Crimes Section is prosecuting this case. • Adrian Chopin-Sánchez, 32, of Mexico, was charged via a federal criminal complaint with being an illegal alien found in the United States after removal. Chopin-Sánchez, who was removed from the U.S. in 2017, has a criminal history that includes a felony conviction in Orange County Superior Court in 2013 for unlawful sex with a minor, for which he was sentenced to one year in California state prison. Assistant United States Attorney Gregory Scally of the Orange County Office is prosecuting this case. • Daniel Giovanni Rivera-Peralta , 32, of Mexico, was charged via a federal criminal complaint with being an illegal alien found in the United States after removal. Rivera-Peralta, who was removed from the U.S. in 2021, has a felony conviction in Orange County Superior Court in 2020 for assault with a deadly weapon, for which he was sentenced to four years in California state prison. Assistant United States Attorney Gregory Scally of the Orange County Office is prosecuting this case. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating these matters. Federal prosecutors today also filed a criminal complaint against four illegal aliens who allegedly stole $10,000 in cash from a victim on Wednesday at a gasoline station in the East Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles. The defendants allegedly loitered outside bank branches in Los Angeles, including in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, before following a victim who appeared to leave with a large sum of money. After stealing the money, law enforcement who surveilled the defendants then pursued them at a high rate of speed. After law enforcement eventually pulled them over, two defendants fled on foot before being arrested. The $10,000 in cash was recovered inside one defendant’s underwear. While searching the defendants’ residence in the Mid-City neighborhood of Los Angeles, law enforcement found several fake passports. The defendants in this matter are charged with conspiracy to transport, transmit or transfer at least $5,000 of stolen money in interstate or foreign commerce: • Javier Jesús Cordoza Araújo, 41, of Venezuela; • Ingrid Carolina Medina, 40, of Colombia; • Gladys Gruz Navarro, 62, of Venezuela; and • Guadalupe Delcristo Martínez, 46, of Mexico. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Orange County Violent Crimes Task Force is investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Jena A. MacCabe and Kevin J. Butler of the Violent and Organized Crime Section are prosecuting this case. Criminal complaints contain allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. These cases are part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) and Project Safe Neighborhood (PSN). Contact Ciaran McEvoy Public Information Officer ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov (213) 894-4465 Updated April 18, 2025

Kansas City Resident Arrested and Charged in Connection with Tesla Arson Friday, April 18, 2025 A Kansas City resident, attending college in Boston, was arrested and made his initial court appearance today in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, to face federal charges related to an arson at a Tesla business in Kansas City, Missouri. According to the criminal complaint, filed in the Western District of Missouri and unsealed today, Owen McIntire, 19, is charged with one count of unlawful possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of malicious damage by fire of any property used in interstate commerce. “Let me be extremely clear to anyone who still wants to firebomb a Tesla property: you will not evade us,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “You will be arrested. You will be prosecuted. You will spend decades behind bars. It is not worth it.” “Crimes have consequences. The people behind these violent and dangerous attacks on private property will face decades in prison — we will not make deals and we will not negotiate,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “This is the second arrest this week of a suspect charged with targeting Tesla, more proof that the FBI will not stand for these destructive acts,” said FBI Director Kash Patel. “These actions are dangerous, they are illegal, and we are going to arrest those responsible. We will work with our partners at the Department of Justice to hold accountable anyone who commits such crimes. I commend our FBI teams in Kansas City and Boston for their work.” “ATF’s Special Agents and forensic experts recovered and analyzed key evidence—including Molotov cocktails—used in this deliberate and dangerous arson attack,” said Acting Director Dan Driscoll of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). “This wasn’t vandalism — it was a violent criminal act. Thanks to the relentless work of ATF special agents, and our close coordination with the FBI and local law enforcement, we now have a suspect in custody. I am committed to ensuring ATF continues to stand on the front lines of public safety. ATF will not tolerate those who incite political violence in our communities.” According to an affidavit filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, on March 17, at approximately 11:16 p.m., an officer with the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department (KCMOPD) in the vicinity of the Kansas City (KC) Tesla Center observed smoke coming from a grey Cybertruck parked in the KC Tesla Center parking lot. The officer also observed an unbroken suspected incendiary device near the burning Cybertruck. KCMOPD recovered the unbroken incendiary device, also known as a Molotov cocktail. The fire spread from the Cybertruck to a second Cybertruck in the lot. The Kansas City Fire Department responded to the scene to extinguish the fire. The Cybertrucks had sale prices of $105,485 and $107,485. Additionally, two charging stations were damaged by the fire, each of which is valued at approximately $550. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sean Foley and Trey Alford for the Western District of Missouri and Trial Attorney Patrick Cashman of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section are prosecuting the case. The FBI Kansas City and Boston Field Offices, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department are investigating the case. A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. Updated April 18, 2025

ATF Tampa Field Division Contact: Public Information Officer Jason Medina 813-439-7542 ATF National Response Team Investigates Florida Fire TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives requested assistance from ATF’s National Response Team investigating a fire in Ocala, Florida. The fire started on April 8 and destroyed a 12,000 square foot structure and caused the deaths of 21 horses. The team concluded their on-site investigation and is reviewing and analyzing additional data from the fire. Once this step is complete a final determination will be made regarding the cause of this fire. “This deployment highlighted NRT’s distinct role in supporting state and local investigators," said Kirk Howard, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF Tampa Field Division. "Our partners recognize that ATF is the federal government’s gold standard when it comes to complex fire investigations and that we’ll mobilize our capabilities wherever we’re needed.” The team consists of Special Agents, Certified Fire Investigators, Fire Protection Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Forensic Chemists, Certified Explosives Specialists, an Intelligence Research Specialist, a Medic and an Accelerant Detection Canine with handler. Since its inception in 1978, the NRT has responded to 928 incidents, including eight activations this fiscal year alone. The NRT’s rapid-response structure enables it to generally deploy within 24 hours, bringing in state-of-the-art technology, including drones, 3D mapping, and portable labs, to aid in fire origin and cause determinations. The NRT has a proven track record of handling the nation’s most tragic and complex fire and explosive incidents. Past deployments include: • The Maui Wildfire Disaster: One of the deadliest U.S. fires in over a century, requiring an intricate investigation due to high winds and rapid fire spread. • Conception Dive Boat Fire: A fatal fire near Santa Barbara where the NRT helped uncover key evidence leading to safety reforms in marine operations. • 2020 Midwest Civil Unrest: The team processed over 200 arson scenes linked to protests, providing critical evidence that led to arrests and prosecutions. ATF is the federal agency with jurisdiction for investigating fires and crimes of arson. More information on ATF can be found at www.atf.gov.

Is The Florida Senate Getting Cold Feet About Lowering The Gun Purchase Age Back To 18? Mark Chesnut Says FFL and Firearms Trainer Gregg Kielma, in my humble opinion, and I truly do not like saying this, no. 21 should be the legal age to own a firearm throughout the United States... for multiple reasons. I'll have a lot more to say on in my blog this soon. The effort to roll back the arguably unconstitutional Florida law banning 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds from purchasing long guns has been humming along quite well since Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his support for the legislation. The restriction, which was passed in the aftermath of a 2018 mass murder in Parkland Florida, resulted in a series of legislative measures this year—Senate Bill 94, Senate Bill 920, Senate Bill 1716, and House Bill 759—all designed to restore the ability for young adults 18 to 20 to acquire rifles and shotguns, just like those in other states can. Late last month, the state House of Representatives passed House Bill 759 by a 78-to-34 margin. Since then, however, nearly two weeks have passed, and the Senate version has yet to be considered in committee, causing alarm by some pro-2A observers. “HUGE WIN for Gun Owners!” Luis Valdes of Gun Owners of America (GOA) posted on X. “The Florida House just PASSED HB 759! But the fight isn’t over. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn. SB 920 MUST get a vote! Call Sen. Jonathan Martin NOW: (850) 487-5033. Demand he brings SB 920 to the floor! No excuses! @GunOwners never quits!” The problem appears to be that Senate leaders are somewhat divided on the issue of lowering the purchase age back to where it used to be. Senate President Ben Albritton isn’t fully on board with lowering the age restriction. “I felt like we needed to pump the brakes and let’s keep talking to figure out what that win-win is,” Albritton after the House passed the measure. According to GOA’s Valdes, Sen. Albritton has an important choice to make concerning the bill. “Gun Owners of America is fired up to see the House pass HB 759, marking the third straight year in a row now that lawmakers have voted to repeal Florida’s unconstitutional under 21 gun purchasing ban,” Valdes told WFSU. “Senate President Ben Albritton has a choice. He can either champion the will of the people and restore their Second Amendment rights, or he can follow in (former Senate President) Passidomo’s footsteps and betray gun owners across Florida.” For his part, Gov. DeSantis has been on board with the idea since the very first of the legislative session. “I can tell you that we, in spite of us saying we’re the Free State, in spite of us being like, ‘Oh, we’re this Republican conservative bastion,’ we’ve definitely lagged on that issue,” Gov. DeSantis said in his state of the state address. “The free state of Florida has not exactly led the way on protecting Second Amendment rights. We need to be a strong Second Amendment state.” Gov. DeSantis has also voiced his support for repealing the state’s red-flag law and allowing open carry. Earlier this year, he proposed what he called “Second Amendment Summer,” which would eliminate the sales tax on the purchase of guns, ammunition, and accessories from Memorial Day to the 4th of July. If the Senate fails to pass the age change legislation, it will mark the third year in a row that the House passed the bill and the Senate didn’t have the courage to do so. e.