Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Once more… no…. twice more…. no…. thrice more since our last newsletter, despicable people have committed atrocities and have indiscriminately murdered and assassinated our fellow Americans. Of course, I am speaking of the horrific tragedies in Cleveland, TX, at the Atlanta Hospital and in Allen, Texas at the mall.
2 of these abhorrent individuals that committed these heinous crimes, previously had been subjected to multiple layers of “checks” by government agencies. The details of the Cleveland, TX murder are yet unclear.
The Allen, TX Murderer, Garcia (33), was employed as a security guard and has passed the background checks and received the training to be an armed security guard in the state of Texas. Years ago, he was discharged from the US Army before completing basic training and “...was separated under a provision citing physical or mental conditions.” The details of these “conditions” are unclear.
The Atlanta Murder, Patterson (24), a former member of the US Coast Guard having recently been discharged in 2023, seemed to have targeted women, and he used a semi-automatic handgun not an AR as originally reported.
Both of these individuals were strictly scrutinized by background checks and government agencies. They both passed.
The alleged Cleveland, TX murderer, Oropesa (38), is a “Mexican National” who had been deported multiple times. The vague details that I have been able to research surrounding the Cleveland, TX incident really make me question the efficacy of the Biden Administration’s immigration policies.
The victims in Allen, Texas were murdered in a gun free zone. The parent company that owns the Texas mall, Allen Premium Outlets, is Simon Properties. Simon Properties' policy is “no weapons”. As Patterson was a security guard, it is likely he knew that armed response from civilians was less likely, making the mall a classic soft target with a potential high body count.
Northside Hospital in Atlanta “recommends that visitors wear face masks in our facilities, even if you’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19. Masks are available at hospital entrances and nursing stations.” In most of the surveillance video of the murder, he was wearing a mask with a hood pulled over his head. Masks have been donned by murders since the beginning of time. Perhaps the desensitization to masks in this environment was a factor in his choosing this particular venue to commit his heinous act.
The bottom line is, unfortunately, these evil acts and many others are happening in all cities across our country EVERY DAY. Each day honest, innocent American men, women, and children are murdered by criminals who have no respect for human life. The largest mass public spree killing event of 2023 was in the state with the strictest gun control laws, California. In many of the instances that are not covered by national media, these criminals are repeat offenders that are often let loose by elected officials through catch and release and anti-law enforcement policies. Politicians regularly fail to prosecute criminals for breaking the laws that are already on the books.
When I do research for this publication, I find it difficult to get facts about these incidents. When I look up articles and reports I can read about the carnage, the terror, the tragic loss of life and the body count. If an AR is use, I can certainly read about THE GUN, but often times other details are somewhat stifled.
Weeks have gone by and the government has yet to release the “manifesto” of the Tennessee school spree killer? Why?
How did these people get their firearms? Did they obtain them legally or illegally? Did the government fail the citizenry with the existing background checks infrastructure? Did the bad guy do what bad guys do and simply ignore the law? Did the government fail the citizenry when one agency kept what they knew about a particular bad guy from another agency? Did our open borders allow someone who should not even be here have the opportunity to do evil? Was the criminal allowed to run rampant because of failed catch and release policies?
Time and time again, I can only deduce that in almost ALL of these cases there is a past failure of government.
Rather than government taking responsibility or recognizing that gun control does not work and empower the law abiding citizens to freely exercise their right to self-defense, they divide the population through emotion and pure shock and awe.
The government (and the media propaganda machine) are adept at pitting non gun owners against gun owners. Pitting one color against another. Pitting parents against teachers. Pitting one socioeconomic class against another. Pitting “birthing people” against ones who identify as an “other than their born with” gender. Over the years “We The People” have largely bought into “division” hook, line, and sinker.
I submit that some of the more tyrannical elements of our government are not interested in solving the problem(s). They would like to have us divided, scared, and holed up in our homes glued to the boob tube where the propaganda machine can continue to brainwash us into thinking that only the government can keep us safe through regulation and tyranny. The government learned a lot about our behavior during the lockdown and overreach phase… and they know what type of people threaten their ability to carry it out again.
We have allowed ourselves to let the government strip us of our homogeny as a nation.
The downfall of most of humanities great civilizations began when those societies lost their homogeny. In some cases “homogeny” might be look upon as a racial, or a classist, thing, however the uniqueness of the United States is that our homogeny is our “American-ness”.
We have lost our American-ness.
You might be a man, you might be a woman, you might be of Chinese descent, you might be of Italian descent…. Whatever…. We are all Americans. This is not how folks look at things today, and the government and the media are constantly dividing us by class, color, gender, biology vs fantasy, tall vs short, thin vs stout….. DIVIDE and CONQUER.
For years the hyphen dominated. Folks were African-Americans, or they were Irish-Americans, or Lesbian-Americans…. Now the “Americans” is dropped. I believe this is part of a grand design that has been in play for MANY years but has really ramped up in the last couple.
Government knows that when “We The People” are actually “WE”… then government is held in check. When “We The People” cease to be “We”, then government can go on a power bender and establish tyranny without fear of reprisal… because “The People” are too busy being triggered, offended, outraged, assaulted, raped and murdered by each other…. DIVIDE AND CONQUER. This is a tried true and trusted tactic in war, and I assure you, there are some in government who are actively waging war on “We The People”. The proof is plain to see if you take a moment to look.
Factors of our current societal chaos caused by government include:
Let’s look at a military term:
Suppressive fire is "fire that degrades the performance of an enemy force below the level needed to fulfill its mission".
Right now, the government and the media have mastered suppressive fire.
There is so much chaos, including real threats to our safety, manufactured drama, “us against them” narratives, etc… that “We The People” are so distracted and preoccupied that we have no opportunity to see what the tyrannical elements of our country are ACTUALLY cooking up.
If you read (or watched) The Lord of the Rings, you will recall the phrase, “The age of Men is over, the time of the Orc has come.” Well, here we are… it is a mess… it would appear that the Orcs are in control. It is likely going to take years to get our Country back, but we MUST take the bull by the horns and start the hard work TODAY!
We CAN do this… “We The People”! The answers to all problems in our Constitutional Republic can be found through education and the free exercise of our individual rights and liberties.
Hello Ma’am. I know you have a perfect driving record, but we are here to confiscate your car because a drunk driver that you don’t even know killed 10 people on the interstate.” (from an anonymous Facebook meme)
FOAC-ILLEA President, Jim Stoker has been busy compiling and authoring “white papers” on current anti-gun legislation that has been moving through the PA House. The anti-Liberty forces are emboldened and are taking advantage of their slim majority in the house. We need you to educate yourself on these bills and communicate to your elected officials that these bills MUST be opposed! Click on the link below to download the specific PDF Files.
DOWNLOAD the FOAC-ILLEA 2023-2024 Session Anti-Gun Legislation breakdown
DOWNLOAD the FOAC-ILLEA white paper for EROP (Red Flag Law)
DOWNLOAD the FOAC-ILLEA white paper for Universal Background Checks
I recently wrote a letter to PA Representatives and Senators urging them to oppose the most recent string of bills that have moved through the judiciary and could come up to a vote in the house in the next week. Please feel free to use it as a reference (as well as the white papers above) when you contact your elected officials.
If you don’t know how to get in touch with your elected officials CLICK HERE!
-----begin letter-----
Honorable Representatives,
I am writing you regarding the recent bombardment of gun control bills in the Pennsylvania House:
HB 1018 Extreme Risk Protection Orders
HB 714 Universal Background Checks
HB 338 Mandatory Reporting of Lost or Stolen Firearms
Each of these pieces of legislation do nothing to curb criminal violence and must be OPPOSED.
These bills restrict citizens by imposing even more governmental interference in the lives of law-abiding gun owners. Some of the proposed bills overtly impede Pennsylvanian’s ability to exercise MULTIPLE Constitutional Rights.
These proposed gun control bills mimic laws from other states that have proven to have no substantive effect upon criminal activities. If they did, California would be the safest State in the Union.
Placing additional restrictions on law abiding gun owners helps to empower the criminal elements that seek to prey upon our fellow Pennsylvanians. Some of these bills would criminalize the law abiding for acts that they did not commit, which hardly seems fair, just, or equitable.
Gun Confiscation Orders (HB1018) eliminate the foundational American ethos of “innocent until proven guilty”. These so called ERPO’s also establish an infrastructure that could be easily abused by jiltedex-spouses, angry family members, or police acting on a hunch. Imagine if someone could anonymously report you as a “risk” and without notice, due process, and maybe even without a warrant, law enforcement could come to your door to confiscate your property. If you were to survive the potential chaos of a midnight raid upon your home, it would then be YOUR burden to prove your own innocence.
If you believe in fair and equitable justice, you must oppose HB1018.
IF you would like to read more about the folly and risk of these Gun Confiscation Orders (HB1018), use the link provided to read a white paper on the subject from FOAC-ILLEA.
https://foac-illea.org/uploads/ILLEA-Talking-Points/ERPO%20White%20Paper.pdf
Universal Background Checks (HB714) are a “feel-good measure” that does nothing to curb criminal violence and only imposes more restrictions upon the law abiding. In PA we have a background check system known as the Pennsylvania Instant Check System. ALL long guns and handguns purchased through an FFL (a licensed firearm dealer) and ALL person-to-person handgun purchases must go through the PICs system. This bill would eliminate the private transfer of long guns by requiring ALL long gun sales to go through an FFL and a background check.
The FBI Uniform Crime Report states that in Pennsylvania, the vast majority of violent crimes committed with firearms are with handguns. Therefore, if background checks had the efficacy that supporters of this legislation suggest that they do, we would have no crimes committed in PA with handguns. Because mandatory background checks for ALL legal handgun purchases are already in place, (the key phrase here is “legal”). This legislation does not curb the acts of criminals; all it does is restrict the law abiding.
What universal background checks DO is eliminate the ability to privately transfer a long gun, create a de facto database of ALL gun owners, and make it harder for Pennsylvanians to exercise their Constitutional Rights. We urge you to oppose HB714.
IF you would like to read more about the folly and risk of Universal Background Checks (HB714), use the link provided to read a white paper from FOAC-ILLEA.
https://foac-illea.org/uploads/ILLEA-Talking-Points/UBC%20White%20Paper%20R4.pdf
Imagine if you would, someone breaks into your home, steals your property while you are on vacation and after you discover that your belongings are gone, you are held criminally liable for their theft. This is essentially what Mandatory Reporting (HB338) does. It holds the law-abiding gun owner liable for the acts of a criminal. If you fail to report the loss or theft of your property within 72 hours, you are a criminal. This bill does NOTHING to stop the original theft! This hardly seems fair, just, equitable or even practical. We strongly recommend that you OPPOSE HB338.
Mandatory Storage (HB731) would, among other things, require individuals to store firearms one of 3 specific ways in their homes. When government dictates how people approach their individual lifestyle choices inside their homes, individual liberty is infringed. Also, this bill, if it were to become law, would be laughingly unenforceable.
In the memorandum written by Representative Parker, she promotes a skewed false narrative that guns are the main cause of death for children. First, Rep. Parker doesn’t cite where her data comes from. Secondly, she fails to recognize that most “child” deaths regarding firearms are in the context of criminal gang violence. Likely she (like so many gun control advocates) is using questionable CDC statistics that include eighteen- and nineteen-year old adults as “children”. In fact, according to the CDC, automobiles account for many more child fatalities, yet Rep. Parker is not calling for mandatory locking devices on vehicles or requiring that you park your car or truck a specific way. If it were truly about saving lives, why isn’t Rep Parker looking into threats that are more likely?
Unlike Representative Parker, I will cite my data source:
https://crimeresearch.org/2022/04/motor-vehicle-v-firearm-deaths-2015-much-left-wing-predictions/
Perhaps HB731 is more about restricting law abiding gun owners, than it is about saving lives. We recommend that you OPPOSE HB731.
There are over 13 million people in Pennsylvania. In 2021, CBS News published that 40.7% of Pennsylvania adults had firearms in their homes. The PA Game Commission reports that over 800,000 hunting licenses were sold in 2021. These licensees are likely gun owners. The PA State Police reports that there are over 1.5 million licenses to carry issued in Pennsylvania. There is certainly no shortage of legally owned firearms in Pennsylvania.
Law abiding gun owners are not the problem.
Legislators should create legislation that would hold DA’s, Prosecutors, and local government officials responsible for prosecuting and punishing criminals with the existing laws, instead of creating more laws to restrict law abiding gun owners.
100% of all violent crimes are committed by violent criminals. Criminals ARE the problem.
How many local prosecutors are failing the public by choosing to NOT enforce the laws we have and by permitting criminals to run rampant in our streets and towns?
When government lets violent criminals run amuck, government aids the criminals. When government holds law abiding gun owners accountable for the actions of criminals, government empowers the criminals. It is time government stops helping the criminals. It is time government stops treating law abiding gun owners as second-class citizens.
With these types of issues, you are either FOR empowering the people to freely exercise their rights, or you are FOR limiting and restricting them.
We strongly urge you to OPPOSE HB 1018, HB 714, HB 731, and HB 338.
If you require more information, or would like to discuss these issues, feel free to contact me.
Yours Most Respectfully,
Klint Macro
-----end letter-----
“A vote is like a rifle; It’s usefulness depends upon the character of the user.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
If you are unable to vote in person for the primary election on May 16th, get your absentee ballot NOW! Click THIS LINK to apply for a mail in or absentee ballot.
The May FOAC-ILLEA MEETING will be held VIRTUALLY on May 25th, 2023 at 7:30PM. Use the link provided to log in via Zoom.
FOAC-ILLEA Monthly Membership Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4122213346?pwd=eXU0NFgwbzZxWmJXNWxMRGRRYWFGQT09
The news posting committee is looking for volunteers. If you can offer a few hours a week to help with adding news stories to the website and social media, please email info@foac-illea.
FOAC-ILLEA presents Concealed Carry Seminars with Pro-Liberty Elected Officials, works with County Sheriffs at Satellite License to Carry Events, provides information tables at Gun Shows, and organizes for Pro-2A Rallies, gun bashes, and special events. To see the most up-to-date schedule of FOAC-ILLEA events and meetings, CLICK HERE.
LOAD UP YOUR CAR AND JOIN US IN HARRISBURG ON MONDAY JUNE 12th! Take the day off of work and bring your family. We need to show that gun owners in Pennsylvania care about the 2nd Amendment and Article 1 Section 21 of the PA Constitution. I will be there… Jim Stoker will be there… we hope to see you there too!
Generally, I like to publish the FOAC-ILLEA Newsletter on the Sunday of the week. This weekend I was in Wisconsin at USCCA Headquarters teaching a class. With the class schedule, then airline travel, I was unable to get the newsletter written and published till today (Monday). While I was in Wisconsin, I was able to meet with Mike Lowney, President of the USCCA (United States Concealed Carry Association). He said something that I found to be very profound. He referenced an old proverb that goes something like this; “A rising tide raises all boats.”
The current chaos in our society and in Harrisburg is an opportunity for us to stand up and better ourselves for the good of ourselves, families, community, state, and Country. As I have said in the past, God puts doors in front of us all the time, sometimes we walk past them, sometimes we peer into the key hole, sometimes we open the door and step in, and other times God kicks our ass through them. Perhaps the current state of our state and nation is an opportunity to breech that door and take the bull by the horns!
A reproduction Matchlock Musket, similar to what the settlers at Jamestown, VA and Plymouth, MA would have brought with them to the new world.
Since the beginning of our county, explorers and settlers have armed themselves so that they could protect themselves from animals, criminals, and tyrants. Help to empower more of our fellow Americans to do the same!
Stay Armed and Be Well Regulated!
Yours In Liberty,
Klint Macro
FOAC-ILLEA 1st VP
FOAC-ILLEA is continuing to fight for the hearts and minds of our fellow Pennsylvanians to promote individual liberties and freedoms. We are steadfast and resolute and dedicated to protecting our Constitution and advancing the cause of the 2nd Amendment and Article 1 Section 21 of the PA Constitution.
FOAC-ILLEA’s educational efforts are expanding across the Commonwealth. FOAC-ILLEA volunteers are teaching more concealed carry classes each month and additional virtual education events are forthcoming.
FOAC-ILLEA is continuing to fight in the courts. Whether this means new litigation to challenge local tyrants, fight the bureaucrats that make it harder for Pennsylvanians to exercise their most basic rights, or the funding of amicus briefs to support others who are already involved in court battles, we are actively helping to establish case law that will help advance the cause of liberty.
FOAC-ILLEA volunteers research proposed legislation, consult with experts, and offer advice to elected officials about legislation as well as educate the public on the strength or folly of legislation that could have lasting positive or negative effects upon our liberty and the liberty of our children.
I urge you to help me spread the word about FOAC-ILLEA. Share this newsletter and the website with your sphere of influence. Get a fellow gun owner to join FOAC-ILLEA.
Contact your Legislators HERE.
Read previous newsletters HERE.
The FOAC-ILLEA website is a wealth of information. Track current legislation, contact legislators and elected officials, look up gun laws, read easy to understand synopsis’ on stand your ground, castle doctrine, and legal use of force. Keep up to date with current gun related news. There is all this and more on the FOAC-ILLEA website.
Get involved!
If you have read this entire newsletter and made it here to this statement… you are already interested and vested.
Donate your time, your talents, or your treasure. VOTE pro-2A and get your friends to vote pro-2A as well. Become a member and get your friends to become a member. If you are already a member, consider “upping your membership” to a higher level. Join us at the gun bash; purchase a ticket. Volunteer to help at the bash. Volunteer to join a committee to send emails, write letters, make phone calls… NOW IS THE TIME TO DO. DON’T PUT IT OFF. “We the People” have been sitting on the sidelines too long.
An Armed and Educated Citizenry is the true check and balance in our Constitutional Republic and the ultimate homeland security!