From the Editor

The reported “mainstream” news has always required that one interpret what he reads. This has been true throughout history and is not something that is new or unique to our lifetime. Unfortunately, but also predictably, the reported news has been hijacked by people with a nefarious agenda. Often times, the important news of the day is buried under headlines about some movie star’s uneducated opinion of current events. Being able to “sort the wheat from the chaff” has become a necessary ability for those who truly want to understand current events and be well informed.

So, in light of sorting the wheat from the chaff, I think that it is very interesting to note that over the past couple years there have been many pro-Second Amendment decisions rendered by the Supreme Court. What makes this even more remarkable is that it has been done while a very anti-gun administration is in office. The Supreme Court has in many cases strengthened our Second Amendment rights and this is something that all of us as responsible gun owners should applaud. There are now 24 states that have Constitutional

Carry laws with the vast majority of states with Shall Issue concealed carry. This was certainly not the case a few short years ago. In my mind, Constitutional Carry is certainly a re-validation of our Second Amendment rights as American citizens and should be applauded. Of course, these pro-gun developments have been downplayed by the media or in some cases, not reported on at all.

Another bit of “wheat” that was just recently in the news was the effective collapse of the globalist coalition government in the Netherlands with the resignation of the current Prime Minister, Mark Rutte. You may have heard that the farmers in the Netherlands were under attack by the coalition government of the Peoples Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). This government was endorsing the European Union’s green agenda plan that recommends the closure of nearly 3,000 farms. All this was in the name of addressing climate change. It should be mentioned that famers in the Netherlands are considered to be Europe’s most productive. The new populist Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) has pushed back against this and several other key issues since becoming the largest party in the Dutch Senate after regional elections earlier this year. Rutte’s resignation is forcing elections to take place this coming November and it will be very interesting to see where all this goes.

So, what do these seemingly unrelated bits of news mean to us as black powder shooters? What I think we are seeing here in the US and in Europe is the awakening of the common-sense citizen, and that should definitely interest us as firearms owners. The latest hysteria concerning global climate change and the outlandish and self-serving proposals offered up to counter this perceived problem have reached a fever pitch. When seemingly intelligent people are actually floating the idea of the government meddling with the weather to address climate change, or outlawing the use of gas stoves and the internal combustion engine, we know that things have reached a ridiculous juncture. The hard-working citizens of the world have had enough and are refusing to support this sort of lunacy by their elected leaders. The old election-day advice of “Throw the bums out” is taking on a new meaning, not just in the United States, but also worldwide.

I also believe that the Left knows that “the jig is up” and is throwing as many crack-brained ideas at the wall as possible, with the hope that some of it will stick. It’s the only way to explain the irrational proposals that are in the news on a daily basis. A definitely positive development is how some of our major corporations are finding out the hard way that mixing “woke” politics and business is a sure way to lose significant market-share. These are encouraging signs that the pendulum is swinging back to the center and that possibly, just possibly, we will all learn from the experience.

These current days are difficult and trying, to be sure. They can also be frustrating to the point of distraction when they directly impact your personal life. However, I do believe that in all the confusion, we as Americans have an ace-in-the hole called the Constitution. The framers knew that it would not always be clear sailing for the world’s first constitutional republic and so created an extraordinary document that would provide clarity in confusing times. I, for one, am so heartily grateful that they did.

– Gut Ziel