It's All About Family....Or Is IT?

Gregory Kielma • Dec 31, 2023

Why So Many Young People Are Cutting Off Their Parents

Why So Many Young People Are Cutting Off Their Parents

Jordan was raised in a Southern Baptist household in North Carolina where she was expected to attend church multiple times a week, accept Jesus Christ as the way to salvation, and honor her mother and father. That last point was right there in the Ten Commandments. So when Jordan made the decision to stop talking to her dad, the choice stood in defiance of the lessons of her upbringing, but it was also because of them. She was tired of being told that women should submit to men, a belief ordained by the religion in which she was raised. She was finished obeying.

Family estrangement flies in the face of what most of us are taught as children: that family is forever and the bonds of blood cannot be replicated. Especially in cultures that value the cohesiveness of the group over more individualistic wants and needs, family is not considered a choice as much as it is a fact. But for families across America right now, that fact is fraying.

Family estrangement flies in the face of what we were taught as children: that family is forever.

If it feels like whispers of estrangement are everywhere lately—in your group chat, at your happy hour, and of course on TikTok—it’s because the data is staggering. Karl Pillemer, a professor at Cornell University and author of Fault Lines: Fractured Families and How to Mend Them, found that in 2020, 27% of Americans over the age of 18 were estranged from a family member. That’s more than a quarter, although the actual proportion could be much higher because many people are still reluctant to discuss such a personal and stigmatized topic. Although there is a lack of long-term research, Pillemer believes estrangement rates are increasing in the United States and other Western countries, especially in white and non-immigrant people under the age of 35. The rise in millennials and Gen Zers coming forward to discuss their own crises—the hashtag #ToxicFamily has 1.9 billion views on TikTok—may suggest that American families are severing ties at an all-time high.
If TikTok is to be believed, attitudes about estrangement fall along generational lines: Boomers accuse millennials and Gen Zers of being too quick to cut contact, while younger generations push back by saying they don’t have to tolerate unacceptable behavior just because someone is related to them by blood. Today, certain young people appear to be far less rigidly beholden to the idea of family obligation above all else, even at the cost of their own happiness.

“The norms that forced families to stick together no matter what have weakened,” Pillemer said, noting that difficult childhood experiences, value and lifestyle differences, and unmet expectations are some of the factors driving estrangement. “There is less of an overwhelmingly normative guideline that you must stick with your family no matter what. There is a sense among younger people today that if the relationship is aversive over a long period of time, they have the ability to get out of it.”

How pervasive family estrangement has become is also evident in pop culture. On her daytime talk show, Drew Barrymore talks about her emancipation from her parents at age 14 and hosts celebrities like Jennette McCurdy, bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died, and Brooke Shields, who opened up about her tumultuous relationship with her mother. But as ubiquitous as the phenomenon can seem, the reality behind each separation is as layered and individual as the families themselves.

When Jordan, 32, decided to leave the church in early adulthood, tension rose between her and her father. Because her parents were married, Jordan says she held back from cutting her dad off despite the fights they had about religion, politics, and her exit from the church. But after one last explosive call, Jordan hung up the phone and had a “moment of clarity.” She realized she was finished, done. Looking back, she says he’s lucky she waited that long. While he called and texted her repeatedly, Jordan didn’t budge. “It’s an extreme privilege to have a great relationship with your adult children,” she says. “I was always hoping [while we weren’t talking] that he would take my silence as a cue to get himself together and to apologize to me.”
Threaded into so many of these stories is the hope that maybe the act of estrangement will bring the estranged closer.

The year after their estrangement, Jordan’s dad was hospitalized. She took a red-eye flight to be by her mother’s side and say her goodbyes to her incoherent father, who died after she got there. Now she finds herself grieving a complicated relationship. She thinks she did the right thing, but part of her grief is accepting that she’ll never know if, given more time, he could have ever changed.

Threaded into so many of these stories is the same hope Jordan had: that maybe the nuclear act of estrangement would eventually bring the estranged closer, like cutting hair to try to make it grow longer. That’s how it was for Rose, 21, who says she used to be “Daddy’s princess” before her father’s heroin addiction escalated to the point that Rose felt forced to make a choice. “I hoped that he would say, ‘Oh, my daughter’s no longer talking to me, I should try to fix that so I can talk to her or see her again,’” Rose says. “But sadly, he hasn’t chosen that.” There are so many things about her present life that she wishes she could tell her father: that she graduated high school and dyed her hair, that she got a job working with disabled children and brought a boyfriend home to meet her family. It all happens without her father and still, Rose hopes.

Quincee Gideon, PsyD, a Los Angeles–based psychologist who specializes in trauma therapy, explains that people’s reactions to familial estrangement are mixed and can change over a lifetime. “Some people have a lot of hope that their family can change,” Gideon says. “But by the time folks get to estrangement, they’ve spent years trying to set appropriate boundaries, live with disappointment, accept their family’s flaws, and negotiate in so many different ways that estrangement is a relief.” Such a significant step is best undertaken with the support of a therapist, recommends Gideon. In her own practice, she has clients take small breaks from contact with a family member to gauge the emotional impact. “Was it worth it? Was it relieving? Was it stressful in some way that we didn’t anticipate? Then we go from there.”
The relationship between Holly, 24, and her emotionally withholding and abusive mother was strained for years before she took the final step of estrangement. First, Holly had to make sure logistics were taken care of—she figured out a way to get her birth certificate and Social Security card, which were both stored in her mother’s security deposit box at the bank. Holly ended their relationship with a text message, writing, “I hope you choose a different path in this next part of life, where you choose healing over cruelty and misery. I won’t be there to see it.” Her mother blocked her number without responding. Instead of the grief she’s read about other estranged people feeling, Holly felt something else: a sense of peace.

“I hope you choose a different path in this next part of life, where you choose healing over cruelty.”

She knows people may judge her for feeling relieved. A close family member told Holly, “She’s your mother—you should love her,” which Holly finds grating. “We would never tell a woman who’s been abused [by a partner], ‘You should go back to him, to the person who hurt you and will continue to hurt you.’ But we do for people with abusive parents, and it makes me very mad. If I wanted to be miserable and anxious all the time, I’d go back to my mother.”

These stories of family estrangement awaken something almost ancestral in me. I’m Albanian—my parents are both immigrants from Kosovo—and I have never understood family as something to opt in or out of. Being a part of a family is one of the main anchors of my identity—without the knowledge of where I fit as a sister and aunt and cousin, I’m not sure who I would be. In my family, even as relationships are stretched to the point of breaking, it is almost always with the understanding that eventually, they will heal or at least enough time will pass that we can sit at a dinner table together and pretend nothing happened.

Research shows that there are cultural differences at play here. Pillemer, the Cornell professor, notes that the rate of estrangement is highest among white families and lowest among immigrant groups, Latinx families, and Black families. “There is much greater pressure to remain in the relationship among non-white and especially immigrant populations,” he notes. “People may be in extremely conflicted relationships, but they are very unlikely to say, ‘I never want to speak to you again.’” When Pillemer explains this, I can’t help but laugh. I think of the passive-aggressive behavior that lives at the core of some of the dynamics in my family, the unexplored conflict that is swept to the side to make room for a shared morning coffee. Part of me wonders what my family would look like if we entertained the idea that we don’t have to love each other unconditionally. Another bigger part of me is deeply comforted that we will almost certainly always have one other.

But for some, the breaches are simply too profound to overcome. Take Ant, 24, an only child who lives in Florida. The path to Ant’s estrangement from their ultra-conservative parents stretches from an abusive and tumultuous childhood into their understanding of themselves as queer and non-binary. The breaking point came in the summer of 2016, when a mass shooter killed 49 victims at Pulse, an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando. Ant, who had recently been on a date with someone who was supposed to be at Pulse that night, spent the morning after the shooting talking to their date’s sister as they tried to locate them.

It would be easy to say young people don’t care about the sanctity of familial bonds, but I don’t think that’s true.

Ant’s mother responded to the tragedy by saying the shooting hadn’t happened while Ant’s father used a slur against queer people. “That was the big moment,” Ant recalls. They waited until they turned 18 and graduated high school to make it official, although Ant’s mother still calls them sometimes. “She thinks that she has authority simply for the fact that she’s the mother and I’m the child,” says Ant. “Meanwhile, I can just hang up the phone at any point. I’ve found a chosen family that has allowed me to actually be myself and feel like I can do great things. I do feel very free.”

After making the painstaking decision to cut off a family member, young people then face the daunting task of having to continue to justify their choice, compiling years of slights and heartbreaks into a quick explanation they can relay on a third date. Undoubtedly, millennials and Gen Zers have high expectations for their loved ones and place a higher premium on their own peace, even if it comes at the expense of something as steadfast as the family unit. It would be easy to say young people just don’t care about the sanctity of familial bonds, but I don’t think that’s true. How a family comes together and comes apart isn’t rational or easily explained—it is impossibly tangled. When one thread is pulled, the whole thing can unravel. And I don’t believe that anyone pulls it loose so easily.

Fortesa Latifi is a journalist with bylines in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, and more. Her work focuses on chronic illness, mental health, and the way politics affects our daily lives and relationships.

Guns and High School Games Not a good Combination

By Gregory Kielma • 04 Oct, 2024
Man accused of trying to smuggle gun into football game Gregg Kielma Just another ill-informed person that doesn’t know the “rules”. Take the CCW class offered by Tactical K Training and Firearms. Know the law and know your rights says FFL, Firearms Instructor, Gunsmith and First Aid Fundamentals Instructor Gregg Kielma… Read carefully, know the laws and your right or go directly to jail, no get out of jail free card. THINK! A Manatee County man is in custody after detectives say he tried to sneak a gun into a high school football game. According to Bradenton Police, Rasheim Alexander Reckley was walking into the Manatee High School football game on Sept. 30. A metal detector alerted deputies to the presence of something in his satchel. School guardians pulled him to the side and searched the bag where they found a magazine. Further inspection found a weapon. When officers asked Reckley why he had the weapon, he told officers he had CCW permit and didn’t know it was illegal to carry a weapon onto school grounds. He is in the Manatee County jail.

Assault Weapon no such thing. You have been brainwashed

By Gregory Kielma • 03 Oct, 2024
What would be the impact of an "assault weapon" ban passing? What would happen if an "assault weapon" ban does not pass? Gregg Kielma Assault Weapon? no such thing.....please read on says Gregg Kielma. If an “assault weapon” ban DID pass, then Honest Law-Abiding Citizens (the people who do NOT commit deadly shooting crimes) will give up possession of and NOT own guns that are used in fewer than 500 homicides out of about 20,000 US homicides Every Single Year! And while Honest Law-Abiding Citizens are NOT owning and ARE giving up their “so-called” assault weapons, criminals (the people who DO COMMIT deadly shootings) WILL STILL possess any and every type of gun they choose, because they do NOT obey laws, including bans! “Ban does not pass?” If a ban does not pass, things will basically be the same. Liberal judges, Liberal District Attorneys and Liberal Defense Attorneys will continue to enable criminals with lengthy arrest records to freely walk the streets and commit even more crimes! If anyone disagrees with my assertion about Liberal Judges and Attorneys, I suggest you watch/listen to the news and educate yourself. Everyday criminals with lengthy records are arrested, causing law abiding citizens to ask, “Why was a career criminal, like that, free and on the streets to begin with?”

California Glock Ownership Nonsense

By Gregory Kielma • 03 Oct, 2024
Is my Glock Gen 4 9mm legal in California? If not, Why? Gregg Kielma Depends. You can’t buy one from a California dealer because they aren’t deemed a “safe” handgun. Mainly because the manufacturer has to pay for that determination every time a gun changes in any way including changing the color. Glock, like several companies, stopped paying the state for its roster shakedown so Glocks after Gen 3 cannot be sold in California. They want “safe” guns there, after all. Strangely, if you are law enforcement apparently all guns are safe. Special clothing issued by the state overrides the safe handgun roster. You can buy any handgun new from a dealer with the imprimatur of the state behind you. Also, if you legally owned the gun out of state and, for some insane reason, moved into the state of California, your handgun apparently inherits “safe” status. Up to and including allowing you to sell it to another California resident as that one-time safety is now transferable as well. But the new Glock in the box? No way. Unsafe as it comes. So if you own the Gen 4 already, it’s legal. If you don’t, it isn’t legal unless you have a badge or have a recently moved in friend willing to sell you theirs. Then it magically becomes legal. No, I am not making any of this up. This is the actual law in the state of California as it applies to handguns.

Forced Enty... Know Your Rights,,, A once great City...now a shit town...chicago

By Gregory Kielma • 02 Oct, 2024
Defending Against Forced Entry USCCA/Gregg Kielma In a quiet Chicago neighborhood, where witnesses say “nothing ever happens," an 80-year-old man answered a knock at his door and found a young man and a woman waiting for him. The duo pushed their way in, demanding the homeowner give them money and then assaulting him. The bigger, younger and stronger male beat the homeowner badly, putting him in critical condition when he was later hospitalized. But the gentleman fought back. Despite being beaten nearly to unconsciousness, the defender retrieved his firearm and shot the attacker once in the chest. The woman fled. Both intruders were arrested. The attacker was later hospitalized and was reportedly in critical condition from his gunshot wound. In Review: No two self-defense incidents are ever the same. From what we know from the reports of this incident, here are my key takeaways: Legal: The defender faced a pair of deadly threats. The robbers had both the intention and the means to critically injure him … and did so. In addition, they were engaged in a felony. This case appears to be an appropriate use of force. Tactical: First, our defender had a firearm available and in a location he could get to under stress. But that stress would not have been present had he done two things: installed cameras to monitor the front door and refused to open the door. In most cases, a home invader will not invade if you make it difficult. Additional barriers such as dead bolts and an alarm system would also have been helpful. Training: Our defender learned the hard way that in today’s world, the rule needs to be “pants on, gun on.” Having to retrieve a firearm once a fight has started is not a viable solution for anyone, but particularly not for an 80-year-old gentleman. How important is it to have quick access to your firearm in a home-invasion scenario? What are effective ways to ensure your firearm is both secure and accessible?

Steal Firearms...We'll Find and Prosecute YOU!

By Gregory Kielma • 28 Sep, 2024
Winter Garden Man Who Backed Vehicle Into Business And Stole Six Firearms Pleads Guilty Friday, September 27, 2024 U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida Orlando, FL – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Edward Vincenzo Camacho (20, Winter Garden) has pleaded guilty to theft of a firearm from a federal firearms licensee. Camacho faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. According to the plea agreement, just before midnight on August 18, 2023, Camacho backed a sports utility vehicle into the front of a federal firearms licensee business. After smashing the front door and wall of the business, Camacho entered the store and broke a glass case where multiple firearms were housed. Camacho stole six firearms and then fled in his vehicle. Camacho was apprehended less than two hours later after a foot pursuit with law enforcement. During the foot pursuit, Camacho was seen tossing three firearms onto the ground, two of which were confirmed to be stolen from the federal firearms licensee business. This case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Winter Park Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie Alexa McNeff. This case is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence for occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. Updated September 27, 2024

Kamala Harris Owns Firearms or Does She?

By Gregory Kielma • 21 Sep, 2024
Kamala Owns a Firearm or Does She? By Larry Keane The first presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump didn’t provide voters with much regarding a topic that is one of the most important issues to them as they consider which candidate they’ll support on Nov. 5: the Second Amendment. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have operated for three and a half years as the most hostile presidential administration against the firearm industry and the right to keep and bear arms. The vice president is talking on the campaign trail like she’ll continue that approach. Many believe she would be even more antigun, anti-industry as president than she is as the Biden administration’s “gun czar” leading The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention that is staffed by Everytown’s former top lobbyist. It took more than 90 minutes before there was even a mention of firearms and it was the candidates who brought it up, not the transparently biased moderators. Voters will be looking for more as they rightfully have serious concerns about what a potential Harris administration would mean for law-abiding Americans and their Constitutional rights to purchase and possess firearms. Surprise Gun Owner? ABC News debate moderator Linsey Davis referenced the vice president’s flip-flopping on mandatory gun buybacks, which amount to confiscation, during one question that was more about changing policy positions generally than it was about the Second Amendment specifically. Near the end of the debate, Davis asked, “You wanted mandatory buybacks for assault weapons. Now your campaign says you don’t,” Davis said before asking Harris why so many of her policy positions had changed, according to The Reload. Vice President Harris didn’t address the question and was only forced to respond later to a criticism by former President Donald Trump warning voters that if elected, the vice president would have “a plan to confiscate everyone’s gun.” She jumped in with a comment that caught viewers’ attention. “And then this business about taking everyone’s guns away, Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” Vice President Harris stated. “We’re not taking anyone’s guns away. So stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.” The vice president’s remark about being a gun owner drew attention. She practically never mentions being a gun owner in all her calls for more gun control and the only reference before is a glancing mention in a 2019 CNN interview. Not surprisingly, Second Amendment supporters were skeptical of her statement. “So now Harris owns a gun? Ha, I’d love to know what kind/caliber and how often she trains with it,” competitive shooter, GunsOut TV founder and CNN commentator Shermichael Singleton posted on social media. Podcast host and former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly jumped in, too. “KH: we’re not taking anyone’s guns away. Truth: She is literally on camera saying she supports a mandatory buy-back program.” Kyle Smith posted on X about the vice president’s track record on gun confiscation as well. “Um Harris did support mandatory gun confiscation aka ‘buybacks’ and the people deserve an explanation of why she has reversed course on this, ABC News.” Smith posted a Bloomberg News article after his comment with the headline “Kamala Harris Supports Mandatory Buyback of Assault Weapons.” Outkick founder and sports and political commentator Clay Travis also added some important questions in his post about the remark. “Kamala owns a gun? Where does she keep it? Aren’t they illegal in DC? Has she ever talked about having a gun before? Genuinely curious.” Pro-Second Amendment attorney Kostas Moros added a salient point. “Kamala Harris is why Californians couldn’t buy a modern handgun for a decade,” he posted. And Ashley St. Clair posted about the hypocrisy of VP Harris’ remark. “Kamala Harris just said Trump is lying about her support of a mandatory gun buyback because she ‘is a gun owner’ The reality is, Kamala will get to keep the guns protecting her while she forces you to turn yours in. But don’t listen to me, listen to Kamala herself,” she posted while linking to a video of the vice president. Crime Fact Check Earlier in the debate, former President Trump brought up the fact that voters were still very concerned about crime while attacking the Biden-Harris administration track record on law enforcement and keeping Americans safe in their communities. ABC News moderator David Muir jumped in to attempt to fact check the former president in real time, suggesting President Trump was wrong. “President Trump, as you know, the FBI says overall violent crime is actually coming down in this country,” Muir falsely suggested. The former President didn’t let it slip, either. “Excuse me, the FBI made defrauding statements. They didn’t include the worst cities,” former President Trump corrected. “They didn’t include the cities with the worst crime.” That’s true and the former president was correct in fact-checking Muir. NSSF has reported on this in detail – nearly a third of America’s cities where most of the crime is being committed are no longer reporting crime statistics to the FBI. It’s an important fact that deserved more attention in the debate as well as “self-defense” and keeping one’s family and home safe remains the top reason given for why Americans continue to buy firearms during an historic stretch. Record of Concern Americans who value their Second Amendment rights can make their voices heard at the ballot box on Nov. 5. There are estimates of 10 million hunters who remain unregistered to vote, and over 22 million Americans who purchased a firearm for the first time since the previous presidential election. That’s a tidal force in a close-polling election and NSSF urges everyone to #GUNVOTE.Vice President Kamala Harris has a 20-plus-year fervently antigun record. Her top surrogates still vouch that she supports gun confiscation, upending the U.S. Supreme Court with antigun justices, “reimagining” the Constitution and would be more radical on gun control than she is right now as partner in the Biden-Harris administration. Don’t Risk Your Rights. #GUNVOTE on Nov. 5.

Biden/Gun Shows and Joe's 5 Pinocchio's

By Gregory Kielma • 21 Sep, 2024
Did Biden falsely say that “you can buy whatever you want” at a gun show with “no background check”? Gregg Kielma Well, first you must know what you can buy at a gun show, right? Private sales - where the seller is not in the business of transacting guns. He has the inclination to sell something of his collection but doesn’t buy and sell guns as a primary means of getting a profit. Nope - no background check there in most states. But to say this is a gun show failure is flat wrong. A gun show is merely a convenient place to be selling a gun as that is where the buyers are. You don’t try to sell collectible beanie babies or postage stamps at a gun show, that’s not where the buyers are. The key here is that these are private sales using the convenience of a concentration of gun buyers. The last group is people selling because that’s their business. Those are DEALERS and as such must be FFLs and therefore must run a background check. The exception is in 22 states where the ATF says their carry permit is a good substitute for the NICS check. Texas is one such. For a dealer at a gun show Biden is lying. A check is required. So, what is the actual ratio of dealers to private sellers? About 99:1 from my observation. Perhaps 199:1. The reason is that a private vendor must rent a table and have alarmed cables securing his small inventory. To show one gun he must disconnect the cables, meaning for that interval none of his guns are alarmed, and can disappear in the crush of a crowd. Secondly, he really can’t have much of an inventory lest the ATF thinks he’s in the business of selling. Net result, given the competitive pricing of the other vendors, and cost of the table rental, he won’t sell enough to much cover his costs. So, Joe, you get 5 out of 5 Pinocchio’s. You twist the truth to fit your narrative. Shame on you.

ATF NEWS: President Trump Assassination Attempt

By Gregory Kielma • 21 Sep, 2024
Suspect at Trump International Golf Course Charged with Firearms Offenses Monday, September 16, 2024 Office of Public Affairs Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, has been charged by a criminal complaint in the Southern District of Florida with firearms charges related to an incident at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15. Routh was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and made his initial appearance today before Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach. A detention hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 23. The investigation remains ongoing. According to allegations in the criminal complaint, a Secret Service agent walking the golf course perimeter saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line. After the agent fired a service weapon in the direction of the rifle, a witness saw a man later identified as Routh fleeing the area of the tree line. Routh was later apprehended by officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. The complaint alleges that in the area of the tree line from which Routh fled, agents found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a black plastic bag containing food. The serial number on the rifle was obliterated. According to the complaint, Routh was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in December 2002 and March 2010. The FBI is leading the ongoing investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Secret Service are providing assistance. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting 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.

ATF NEWS: Gun Trafficking from Ohio to Florida

By Gregory Kielma • 21 Sep, 2024
Ohio Man Sentenced For Making False Statements To Purchase Firearms And Unlawful Sale/Transfer Of Firearms To Juveniles Monday, September 16, 2024 U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida Tampa, Florida – United States District Judge Steven D. Merryday has sentenced Gabriel Gladman (23, Akron, Ohio) to four years in federal prison for making false and fictitious statements to a federally licensed firearms dealer with the intent to purchase firearms, and unlawful sale/transfer of firearms to juveniles. Gladman was also ordered to forfeit the following: a Smith & Wesson (SD40) semi-automatic firearm, a Taurus G2 semi-automatic firearm, a Glock 26 semi-automatic firearm, a FMK 9C1 semi-automatic firearm, 2 - Taurus G3 semi-automatic firearms, and 2 - Tara TM-9X semi-automatic firearms which are traceable proceeds of the offense. According to court documents, on eight separate occasions between November 2022 and June 2023, Gladman provided false information to federally licensed firearm dealers in Tampa with the intent to purchase eight semi-automatic firearms. On six separate dates, Gladman sold/transferred some of those firearms to juveniles under the age of 18. It was determined that some of those firearms were used by the juveniles during violent crimes in Tampa. At the time of Gladman’s arrest in Ohio, he was found in possession of two additional firearms. This case was investigated by the Tampa Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Maria Guzman. Assistant United States Attorney Suzanne Nebesky will handle the forfeiture. This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

Kamala Harris and Firearm Confiscation

By Gregory Kielma • 11 Sep, 2024
Kamala Harris: Firearms and The Second Amendment. She Wants Are Guns. A Lying Democrat Can Never Be Trusted WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris surprised some viewers during her debate with Donald Trump when she said that she's a gun owner, raising the fact to counter her Republican opponent's accusation that she wants to confiscate firearms. “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners,” Harris said, referencing her running mate. “We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.” Harris previously talked about owning a gun in 2019 during her first campaign for president. “I am a gun owner, and I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do — for personal safety,” Harris previously said. “I was a career prosecutor.” At the time, her campaign said that Harris purchased a handgun years earlier and kept it locked up. A spokesperson did not provide any additional details when asked on Tuesday. The exchange about gun ownership came as Trump tried to paint Harris, who started her political career as a San Francisco district attorney, as radically liberal. “She is destroying our country,” he said. “She has a plan to defund the police. She has a plan to confiscate everybody’s gun. She has a plan to not allow fracking in Pennsylvania or anywhere else.” Harris rebutted each of Trump's allegations, adding that he should “stop with the continuous lying about this stuff.” Trump claims he wanted to send Harris a 'MAGA hat' for copying his policies Walz, the Minnesota governor, has also talked about gun ownership and boasted of his marksmanship. Republicans frequently describe Democrats as a threat to the Second Amendment, while Democrats describe their proposals as common sense measures to protect public safety. Harris has called for implementing universal background checks and expanding red flag laws to take away guns from people who are deemed dangerous or unstable. She also wants to ban so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
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