Generally, this blog tends to do deep dives on topics of interest to Second Amendment Radicals and armed citizens. Whether it's a call to arms to reject gun control, a deep dive for beginners looking for their AR-15, or something a little more inspirational, we tend to not keep it brief around here.
Thus, up-to-the-minute coverage of relevant events isn't really what RGG is tuned for. By the time an article is drafted up about a current situation of interest to the Second Amendment community, key facts may have changed things, and rendered the whole piece pointless or inaccurate. That's why sometimes it'll take weeks to crank out a detailed analysis of firearms-related government policy, for example.
But sometimes, many things pile up in the course of mere hours, and you just gotta roll with it and deal later - hence the occasional damn-the-torpedoes post: Second Amendment Bits And Pieces. Yes, it's a sidelong nod to Hustler, even though Larry Flynt was a hypocrite. "SAB&P" lumps in observations on key issues into one somewhat-digestable post.
Anyways, let's get on with it. First up - the tragic and untimely assassination of Charlie Kirk on September 10th, 2025.
The Assassination Of Charlie Kirk
At 12:23 PM Mountain Time on September 10th, 2025, Turning Point USA co-founder and conservative activist Charlie Kirk was felled by an assassin's bullet while speaking at the first stop of his American Comeback Tour debate events at Utah Valley University, in Orem, Utah. Known for directly confronting those on the left with invitations to sit down and debate today's issues, Kirk definitely was a magnet for controversy. Sure, the cherry-picked sound bites led the un-schooled to think he was some sort of hyper-racist agitator, but nothing could be further from the truth. Charlie may have disagreed with people on things, but he was always willing to sit down and talk it out. Like it should be.
Additionally, his activism on college campuses proved to be a lightning rod for him - since of course most campuses these days still lean hard left in terms of the student body. There's something to be said for bearding the lion in his den, as he did win over plenty of converts to his causes. One only need to look to the staggering numbers that attended and streamed his memorial service to realize this.
Unfortunately, as is common amongst a lot of opinionated and high-profile people, Charlie and his family were under threat. And sadly in the pursuit of his mission, he gave his life, leaving behind his wife, Erika, and two small children. His assassin, a leftist supposedly "converted" while at college, was turned in by his father and a minister, so it's entirely possible we may have concrete answers as to his motivations soon.
While the outpouring of grief and sympathy for his death was actually somewhat (in a good way!) surprising for a conservative political figure, the notable swell of outright celebration over his death was and should be cause for concern, especially for Second Amendment Radicals and armed citizens.
Charlie was definitely a 2A supporter. He's on record rejecting all forms of gun control, believing that an armed populace is a free populace, and cannot easily be silenced by enemies domestic and foreign. The opposition on the left, seized on this and mocked how someone who rejected gun control, was ultimately done in by someone using a gun. Ironically, the purported murder weapon, a vintage Mauser-type rifle, would have not run afoul of any laws currently proposed by the gun control cohort.
What does Charlie's murder mean for Second Amendment supporters and personalities though? The most important thing to realize is that now more than ever, certain parties on the left will think nothing of using violence to silence their opposition. Speak too vociferously about dismantling background checks? Chances are there's a hypocrite in the ranks of the opposition that will gladly shoot you for holding that opinion. Charlie's killer was one. An ardent supporter of gun control and other progressive conceits, he couldn't win in the field of discourse, so he chose violence. Ironically, his actions have backfired on him, with the ranks of young people espousing conservative views and even joining up with TPUSA growing. There's nuance in there, nuance Charlie would have gladly debated on, but the signal is loud and clear.
Be that as it may though, the actions of Charlie's murderer should be a shock to the system for anyone to the right of Marx. You may be targeted for your views. You may be targeted for your words and actions. While being personally armed may not have saved Charlie's life up on the dais that afternoon, the simple fact is that with the potential for the "American Years Of Lead" to be a reality, free-thinking citizens have to shore up and look to their own defenses. Be armed, and be aware. The irony of those who are against free speech and the Second Amendment using harsh words and violence to intimidate anyone who they deem the "enemy" is quite amusing. They are still a threat, though. And they are organized. Though it's probably not wise to openly speculate on details at the moment, it's a fair wager that Charlie's assassin was associated with leftist groups that consider violent assault and worse to be a proper form of public policy. Keep your powder dry.
Remember, the Second supports the First. Unarmed, a person speaking their mind does so merely at the tolerance of others. They can easily be silenced. Someone who is armed literally has a fighting chance to get their words out to the world.
Even in the afterlife, it's a fair bet that Charlie would wholeheartedly agree.
An armed citizenry is a safeguard against the kind of unchecked power that history shows leads to tyranny - Thomas Sowell
RIP Charlie Kirk - though there's nuances that spurned some disagreements even amongst conservatives - your mission for free and civil dialog was one for the ages, and hopefully your fans and team at TPUSA will be able to continue on.
Florida Finally Gets Open Carry - Say What?
In more positive news, after many many years of dedicated work from such organizations as Florida Carry, the Gunshine State took a giant step closer to living up to the name. That's right, in the State of Florida, openly carrying a firearm in public is perfectly legal. But, in true Florida fashion, it all came to be in a very unlikely way...
Most states that lawfully allow open carry usually came around to it in what one would consider conventional processes. They either had it all along like the state of Vermont, it was included in their permit scheme like Minnesota, or open carry rightfully was included in a Constitutional Carry bill that was voted into law like in Georgia, Texas, and so on. But then there's Florida...
For most of it's history, Florida, like most of the country during those times, was a may-issue state in terms of the lawful carry of firearms. Standards ranged from "no-issue" like in Miami (you had to know someone and pay hundreds of dollars anyways...), to "may-as-well-be-shall-issue" like in the northern part of the state, where county sheriffs just took the fees and issued the permits with little hassle. Inconsistencies and abuses led to the state demanding a baseline of shall-issue in the 1970s, but it wasn't until 1987 that the state took over the licensing process entirely, and instituted one of the first shall-issue systems in the nation. For those just tuning in, shall-issue is basically where the permit authority sets a standard to issue a permit, i.e. must be 21+, pass a NICS or NICS-equivalent background check, and maybe pass a training course, in order to issue a permit. The permit issuers cannot deny based on feelings or political preferences. Naysayers predicted mayhem and blood in the streets, but of course that didn't happen. The same histrionics occurred in 2023 when Florida finally joined the ranks of permitless-carry states, but in a rather unique fashion. Apparently since Mickey Mouse hates guns, and labor union Sheriffs hate them too, the compromise from the Florida GOP was to still require all carried firearms to be concealed. The Florida GOP has a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, it seems. In Florida at that point, we could carry without a permit, but only concealed. Subsequent efforts in the legislature to amend the law to allow open carry failed, despite Governor DeSantis point-blank demanding the law be revised.
However, for very good reasons, a Governor is not an autocrat, so his demands amounted to strongly-worded requests at most.
But, as they say, life...finds a way.
Rewind back to July 4th, 2022. The scene is Pensacola, Florida. Local man Stan McDaniels is running for local office, and decides to go into town to do some campaigning. Armed only with a pistol and a copy of the Constitution, he sets up shop and has some conversations with local passerby with no incident. The only difference here is the grip of his pistol is visible. Eventually someone notices, and the police are summoned.
McDaniels, by his own admission, wasn't well-versed in Florida gun law. He had a carry permit, but figured he was well within his rights to openly carry a pistol, as it was the Constitutional way. The police informed him that he was in violation of the law, and urged him to cover up. He disagreed on Constitutional grounds, and despite his efforts, the officers coerced him into surrendering his pistol, and let him go. A few days later, he was arrested for violating the general ban on open carry in Florida. Around that time, the legendary Second Amendment attorney Eric Friday established contact with McDaniels, and took on his case, feeling it was a prime opportunity to demolish the open carry ban, by force of the courts, rather than waiting for the Florida GOP. Ironically, McDaniels had to lose his case at the local level, in order to get it heard at the appeals level, where the Constitutionality of the law could be addressed. Since in the interim, the effects of the Bruen decision were being felt nationwide, the appeals court was more favorable to ruling for the Second Amendment, and on September 10th, 2025, the Court ruled in favor of McDaniels, and effectively destroyed the ban on open carry in Florida.
A quirk of Florida law is that any decisions of this nature have a 15-day grace period in which they themselves can be appealed or challenged. Since the tides in the judiciary in Florida had shifted decidedly more Constitutional, the Attorney General, James Uthmeier, said the State itself had no plans to appeal the ruling, and Governor DeSantis himself applauded it. Since there was little chance of appeal, numerous local and county law enforcement agencies issued statements that they would not enforce the open carry ban in their jurisdictions. Save for a few counties where the Sheriffs stood on left-leaning conceits, the ban was as good as dead. Fortunately, the clock ran out without incident and on September 25th, 2025, Florida finally joined the ranks of true Constitutional Carry states, and the supermajority of states that allow some form of lawful open carry.
Of course, the Florida GOP tried to claim credit, but no one was buying it. It's a dirty secret down here that most Florida Republicans are centrists at best, and closeted Democrats at worst. They know they can't advance a gun control bill, lest they lose their next election (there's not enough Democrats in Florida to do much, and normie GOP voters actually will not vote for people who advance gun control), but they know they can block pro-2A bills in committee, and generally use claims of "it's not the right time", or something similar.
Of course, as of this writing, the few Florida Democrats are fuming, and promising to introduce bills with all sorts of asterisks and "ifs" on the carry of firearms in Florida. They know they cannot defy the courts and ban open carry all over again, but they do harbor the delusion that they can pull a New York and add all sorts of conditions to the practice, making lawful compliance harder. Fortunately it seems Florida Second Amendment Radicals are pumped and motivated, so barring extraordinary happenings, Constitutional Carry is a done deal in Florida. About time.
Now, about that red flag law and bump stock ban law...
The American Years Of Lead
As was mentioned above, sometimes things happen in the span of a week that can define a decade. While this piece was being composed, another politically-motivated attack of note happened...
On September 24th, 2025, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility was attacked in Dallas, Texas. A lone gunman, with a vendetta against ICE, armed with a vintage bolt-action 8mm Mauser clone, attacked the facility in hopes of murdering ICE agents, but instead, shot the very people he thought he was defending. Multiple detained illegal immigrants lost their lives that morning. For all the bombast and bluster one will read on X, detainment by immigration authorities isn't supposed to be a death sentence, unless of course the detainee gets convicted of a heinous crime like murder or rape. But anyway, the crux of the matter here is that a left-sympathetic shooter engaged in blatantly political violence. Along with Charlie Kirk's death, this level of political violence hasn't been seen since the 1970s in the United States.
Sidebar: Yes, there was a Mormon church attacked on September 28th, 2025. However, the attack was not political but was instead done by a crazed person motivated by an irrational hate of the Mormon church, whom he blamed for his troubles. While tragic, it doesn't fit the mold of the "Years of Lead", so...
Anyways, the resurgence of political violence into American life has led some personalities to term these times The American Years Of Lead. Taking cue from the Italian Years Of Lead (1960s - early 1980s), the idea is that the current upsurge in left-oriented violence will likely trigger a response from the right, outside of the structures of the State. Unfortunately this doesn't mean street fighting and random shootings, but coordinated attacks with plans, targets, and the like. The nation suffered a bout of this in the 1970s and the early 1980s, with the violence ratcheting up to the level of two leftist groups successfully detonating IEDs in the United States Capitol. J6 doesn't hold a candle to these, by the way.
While with the current security measures in place, especially considering the attempts on President Trump's life, it's pretty unlikely that a direct attack on facilities in DC will succeed. Nonetheless, it's likely disaffected elements in the United States will try, despite the measures. Along these lines, everyday citizens with an opinion could become targets, opportunistic and otherwise.
Unfortunately, citizens don't have the security apparatus of Presidents and Congresspeople. Thus, in these likely American Years Of Lead, it's on the citizens themselves to take up arms and defend themselves. In times of duress, the right to keep and bear arms becomes even more important, even if the right itself is under attack.
As is now plainly evident, the government isn't there to serve and protect. That's just a marketing slogan with no real substance. Citizens must arm themselves to the maximum degree - and know how to use their weaponry as well. Whether it's a trusted sidearm like a H&K VP9 A1 or a Colt AR-15, it's the sworn duty of all free humans to defend their lives, loved ones, and property from those who wish to inflict offensive harm or damage.
By a lot of metrics, especially from those with proven track records like the inestimable Mike Shelby, it's looking to get pretty spicy over the next two years, and maybe longer. The government, even if it's friendly, is going to have it's hands full. The ultimate responsibility of defense will lie with the armed and prepared citizen.
Let's prepare for the worst and pray for the best.
Get Yourself A Gun And Learn It
This is a firearms blog, so we're going to recommend guns. Of course don't forget other things like medical, comms, doing your Area Study, and so on. There's better sources than RGG on those topics, but for firepower, we have you covered.
Ideally you'll at least want either a basic rifle, i.e. an AR-15, or a pistol, i.e. a GLOCK 19, to start. Both are exceedingly common firearms with plenty of accessories, spare parts, training, and support. However, in some restricted areas, both an AR and a GLOCK are hard to get easily, and you may have to settle for a shotgun for quickly arming yourself. It beats a sharp stick. Note, the in-house counsel wants to remind you that we're talking the legal acquisition of guns here. We're still working on abolishing gun control, and we don't want you in jail. Unfortunately you'll have to play ball in this regard. But anyways, here are some basic suggestions for getting armed.
| Firearm | Cost | Buy Now |
|---|---|---|
| PSA PA-15 AR-15 Rifle | $469 | Buy Now! |
| GLOCK 19 Pistol & 500 Rounds of Ammo! | $560 | Buy Now! |
| Mossberg 590 Shotgun | $536 | Buy Now! |
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