Tag: democrats

House Democrat Floats 1,000% Tax on AR-15-Style Rifles

A key House Democrat is floating a 1,000% tax on AR-15s and similar rifles as part of his party’s latest bid to push gun control in the wake of recent mass shootings.

Rep. Donald Beyer of Virginia, who sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, told Business Insider that increasing the cost of the rifles ten-fold could be a deterrent to mass shootings. The tax could raise the price of the rifles to anywhere from $5,000 to as much as $20,000.

“What it’s intended to do is provide another creative pathway to actually make some sensible gun control happen,” Beyer said. “We think that a 1,000% fee on assault weapons is just the kind of restrictive measure that creates enough fiscal impact to qualify for reconciliation.”

A final draft of Beyer’s bill is not yet complete, and it is still unclear when the tax would take effect and what the added revenue would fund, although one possibility is a restitution program for family members of victims killed in shootings. Beyer said that law enforcement agencies and the U.S. military wouldn’t be subject to the tax. The lawmaker added that he believes his bill can clear the House, where Democrats hold a clear majority, and bypass the filibuster in the Senate, where Vice President Kamala Harris could cast the deciding vote.

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FBI Has ‘Secure’ Workspace in Law Firm That Represents Democrats: Document

The FBI has a workspace in the same law firm that employed the lawyer who took sketchy Donald Trump-Russia claims to the bureau in 2016, the firm revealed in a new document.

The workspace, known as a Secure Work Environment, at Perkins Coie’s office in Washington was cleared by the FBI on March 26, 2012, and has been “in continuous operation since then,” Michael Bopp, an attorney representing Perkins Coie, told members of Congress in a May 25 letter that was reviewed by The Epoch Times.

What’s more, Michael Sussmann, the lawyer who took the sketchy claims against Trump to the FBI’s nearby headquarters ahead of the 2016 election, had access to the workspace through July 2021, according to the missive.

The workspace was part of a construction project completed in 2011 and includes a General Services Administration-approved security container and a key locker, both of which were paid for by Perkins Coie. It also features a secure telephone, a fax machine, and a security token card, each of which is owned by the bureau.

The workspace is maintained by Perkins Coie and periodically inspected by the FBI to ensure the space “is operating in accordance with the requisite standards,” according to the letter.

“The Democrat Party’s law firm … has this co-located workspace that they operate in concert with the FBI. Why in the world would that be the case?” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) said on Fox News, which first reported on the letter, which was sent to Gaetz and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

The FBI indicated that the workspace is lawful and that it is meant to shield classified documents from the bulk of workers at Perkins Coie and other companies that have similar spaces.

“The FBI complies with the law and security policies and works with the Department of Justice to serve classified, Court-authorized legal process [sic] necessary to support national security investigations,” an FBI spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.

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Democrats to Vote on 8 Gun Control Measures

Democrats in the House Judiciary Committee will hold a vote on a gun control package Thursday which includes six gun control measures that would not have prevented the Uvalde attack.

The package is titled the “Protecting Our Kids Act.”

Punchbowl News reports that the package contains eight gun controls. Six of those gun controls would not have prevented the Uvalde attack.

Nadler’s spokesman confirmed the list of bills the House Judiciary Committee will consider under the broader “Protecting Our Kids Act.” They include:

  • The Raise the Age Act
  • Prevent Gun Trafficking Act
  • The Untraceable Firearms Act
  • Ethan’s Law
  • The Safe Guns, Safe Kids Act
  • The Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safety Storage Act
  • Closing the Bump Stock Loophole Act
  • The Keep Americans Safe Act

Those six include background checks for “ghost guns,” gun storage requirements for homes with minors present, additional penalties for gun trafficking and straw purchases, a bump stock ban, and a requirement that existing bump stocks be registered under the auspices of the National Firearms Act.

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Top California Democratic Party Official Resigns After FBI Arrest Becomes Public

On Sunday, Melahat Rafiei announced her resignation as Secretary of the California Democratic Party and State Representative to the Democratic National Committee.

The resignations come during an ongoing FBI investigation for corruption. 

In a lengthy tweet, Rafiei said the investigation had become a “hindrance” and “distraction from the important work of the party.”

Under a cloud of controversy, late last week Rafiei also resigned from her appointed roles on Anaheim’s Culture and Heritage Commission and the OC Fair and Event Center Board.

Rafiei lost the support of Democrat Party leadership after news surfaced that the FBI had arrested her on suspicion of bribing public officials in 2019.

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Democrat blames ‘white supremacy’ for shooting by black man

US Representative Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, is pointing to a recent shooting at a Korean-owned hair salon in Dallas as the latest example of terrorism motivated by “white supremacy replacement theory.” Her assertion might be problematic, inasmuch as the alleged shooter is a black man.

Beatty rolled out her theory about racially motivated violence on Thursday in a speech on Capitol Hill, suggesting that Republicans are inspiring mass shootings of non-whites and Jews with their racist rhetoric. She cited the so-called Great Replacement theory – the notion that non-white people are being brought into the US and other Western countries to disenfranchise white voters.

Democrats have pointed to a shooting last week that killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket as proof of how dangerous replacement theory is. The 18-year-old suspect ranted about the Great Replacement ​​– among other beliefs similar to those of Ukraine’s neo-Nazi militias – before allegedly shooting 13 people, including 11 blacks.

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Dem Legislation Could End Gun Sales to All Current Firearm Owners Forever, Require DOJ License

Do you want Merrick Garland to decide if you’re eligible to own a gun every time you acquire a new firearm?

Senate Democrats are pushing gun control in the run-up to the midterms, in the form of a bill introduced on Thursday.

They’re using the Buffalo mass shooting as a political tool, even though the gunman easily bypassed New York’s gun control laws to attack unarmed grocery shoppers.

Democratic Sens. Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal and Bob Menendez are introducing the Federal Firearms Licensing Act, according to Politico.

The law would fundamentally revise gun ownership from a right enjoyed by American citizens to a privilege bestowed by the government at its own discretion.

Acquiring or buying a new gun would require a lengthy licensing process through the Department of Justice — every time you purchase a new firearm.

Buying a gun from a licensed firearms dealer already requires a NICS background check. Existing law prevents felons from buying or owning guns.

Booker’s bill would give the Attorney General discretion to approve or deny a federal firearms license, even if you’ve never been convicted of a crime.

The Attorney General would be able to deny a firearms license if they determined that the prospective gun owner “poses a significant danger of bodily injury to self or others” by owning a firearm.

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Democratic Witness At Judiciary Committee Abortion Hearing Says Men Can Get Pregnant And Have Abortions

A witness called by Democrats to a Judiciary Committee hearing in the House Wednesday claimed that men are capable of getting pregnant and having abortions if they please.

Yes, really.

Aimee Arrambide, executive director of pro-abortion non-profit AVOW was grilled by Republican North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop, who asked her how she would define a woman.

“I believe that everyone can identify for themselves,” Arrambide responded, prompting Bishop to further ask “Do you believe then that men can become pregnant and have abortions?”

“Yes,” Arrambide answered.

Incredible.

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The Shape-Shifting DC Dark Money Group Disguising Liberal Campaigns Across the Country

In May, a group called Accountable Tech, which calls itself a “small nonprofit taking on Big Tech companies,” organized a corporate boycott to protest Elon Musk’s bid to buy Twitter. In the midwest, a group called Opportunity Wisconsin, which bills itself as a “coalition of Wisconsin residents,” ran a deluge of TV ads slamming Republican senator Ron Johnson for his tax policies. And in Arizona, an organization of “grassroots racial justice” activists called Just Democracy released a video blasting Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema for failing to support the Biden administration’s legislative agenda.

None of these groups actually exist. They are all registered trade names for the North Fund, a shape-shifting nonprofit group that uses aliases to push an array of left-wing causes from a shell office in Washington, D.C., according to corporate records.

Political watchdogs say the fund, which isn’t required to disclose the donors behind its $66 million budget, is gearing up to be one of the most consequential dark-money players of the midterm elections. And while “astroturf” groups are nothing new in politics, critics say the North Fund is part of a new breed—moving away from specific policy advocacy and delving into electoral politics.

“North Fund has said screw it,” said Hayden Ludwig, a senior investigator with the Capital Research Center. “They’ve just decided to be as partisan as they can.”

“Their money has been pretty much exclusively focused on Senate races, on ballot initiatives, and a few things kind of related to that,” Ludwig added. “The general theme there is cementing permanent Democratic majorities in Congress.”

The North Fund, which was founded in 2018, is helmed by a handful of Democratic operatives, including former Clinton aide Jim Gerstein. It operates under at least eight trade names, according to D.C. corporate records, including “51 for 51,” a group pushing for statehood for the heavily Democratic District of Columbia, and the “Voting Rights Lab Action,” which advocates for voting policy reforms favorable to Democrats.

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