Topsail Gun Gal II

Happy 250th anniversary to the United States of America! I remember the 200th anniversary when my mother dressed me up like Betsy Ross and we went to Boston to celebrate. Family trips were cooler back then.

Do you think all those years ago that I could ever have imagined that for the 250th Anniversary, states like New York and California would be trying to restrict a private citizen from certain shapes? Yes, shapes. Let me explain. Out of fear, that is not substantiated by any facts, the states of New York and California are doing their best to pass laws that would take effect in 2029 to restrict what shapes a person would be allowed to print with a 3-D printer. Yes, you heard that right. The two states are currently hiring panels of "experts" to devise a way to restrict the use of a 3-D printer in a person's home, regarding what shapes they can print. Now granted, their goal is to keep "ghost guns" out of the hands of criminals, and we all can agree that is a good thing to do, but the fact is this is one more step in a complete invasion of privacy that our Constitution was put in place to protect against. Remember the young child who had a Kellogg's Pop-tart at school and a teacher thought it resembled the "shape" of a gun and he got in a lot of trouble? That should have been a great big red flag to all American's that our freedoms are seeping away.

The A.T.F. learned that they are not allowed to make laws when the Texas federal court, with the assistance of the Trump Administration, vacated any regulations that considered a handgun with a stabilizing brace as a short barreled rifle (a class 3 weapon). The Texas federal court also dismissed A.T.F.'s classification of Forced Reset Triggers as being machine guns. The US Supreme Court struck down the ban on bump stocks, which originated in a Texas court, when the A.T.F. tried to classify them as machine guns. Who has the authority to make new gun laws? Congress - not the A.T.F.

The City of Jacksonville, N.C. is in the process of researching the annexation of a large amount of real estate, currently owned by the Federal Government, that is being used for military housing and services. The property owner, which would remain the US Government, would not pay taxes on the property and the focus of the annexation would be to offer more services to the area and to allow Jacksonville to be able to use the large number of residents in requests for grants and government funding.

Area property owners, who are not part of the annexation, are concerned that the City of Jacksonville will continue to pursue their properties as well. At this time there should be no concern for that, but it's worth talking about. The Mayor of the Town of Holly Ridge came out vocally in opposition to the annexation, which is ironic since the town recently voted to annex an additional 1200 plus acres (that involves 2 counties) into the Town against heavy opposition from residents. Holly Ridge council members shared concerns about the E.T.J. of the Jacksonville annexation, fearing that it would impact Holly Ridge. Perhaps they don't understand that annexed property does not create E.T.J. (extra territorial jurisdiction). An E.T.J. is only based on true city limits. What is an E.T.J.? Simple, it is a small section of land that surrounds the true city limits where the owners of the land have no rights, such as voting, pay no taxes and receive no services (police or fire) from the city, but are governed by ZONING. Services are provided by the county. Several communities across the country are dissolving E.T.J.s since they don't serve a real purpose anymore other than government overreach.

During these hot summer months, there is one word that stands out above the rest, shade, Shade can mean life or death to people, animals and vegetation. Water shortages are becoming more and more commonplace, and with the clearing of thousands of acres of land, we are losing our shade. A physical change in temperature can be felt when going from full sun to shade. It is common to see an old farmhouse surrounded by trees among acres of crops. Common sense - and we are losing it. Trees were created by nature to cool the earth, to stabilize the soils, to house and feed the birds and insects. Humans have forgotten their importance and think replacing a 100 year old oak with a sapling does the trick. They are wrong. The more we build, the more we destroy, the worse our quality of life will get.

Duke Energy is asking congress to allow them to "exceed" the limits of energy production due to massive demand. Rolling blackouts are the alternative or perhaps they should be expected as a hot summer is here to stay. What better time to cut off the electricity we all depend on for our daily lives then at the same time you are asking for a huge increase in costs to the consumer. Scare tactics are known to work.....I'm just guessing - I could be wrong.

Remember knowledge is power, celebrate the 250th anniversary by reading the Constitution of the United States (and the Bill of Rights while you are at it) and remember FREEDOM takes work, from all of us.