Photo: Las Vegas Now

Hillary Clinton didn’t roll the dice much on a campaign stop in Las Vegas. She went to town yesterday for a town hall meeting in a predominantly African-American neighborhood in North Las Vegas. The leading Democratic presidential candidate did not talk about her own pending legal or criminal issues. Yet, she did clearly make attempts to appeal to black voters with comments about the criminal justice system and gun violence.

If you are a supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights in America, the house in Sin City would not let you place a bet guessing which side of the issues she just stood for in front of the North Las Vegas audience. It’s already “game over” for gun owners if she becomes president. She will push for more gun control.

During the town hall gathering, the former Secretary of State and U.S. Senator from New York was asked her opinion on “Stand Your Ground” laws. She said she believed many of the laws regarding “Stand Your Ground” situations need to be “re-written.” She said for too many Americans reaching for a gun has become a “knee-jerk reaction.”

Here is what Hillary said in paving the way for her own presidency reaching out against gun owners. “Yes, there is a role in extreme situations to defend yourself and defend your home,” said Ms. Clinton. “But unfortunately what we’ve seen too much of in the last few years is a spate of people who have reached for a gun before they really figured out what was going on. They’ve been much too eager to use that gun. We’ve seen it with policing and we’ve seen it with civilians.”

Ms. Clinton was also asked a leading question on what she would do to strengthen gun-control laws across the country. Hillary responded by saying she was “not backing off of this fight.” She brought up the Charleston shooting which killed nine African-American churchgoers in June, and said the gun issue in America is “way out of balance.”

She also told them, “I don’t see any conflict between the legitimate protection of Second Amendment rights and protecting people from gun violence from people who should never have guns in the first place.”

Once again yesterday, Hillary Clinton proved to gun owners in America it wasn’t about the house winning in Las Vegas. The big gamble is what happens to the right to bear Arms if she wins the White House.

Every presidential candidate was packing. Every candidate had ammo. Plenty of verbal shots were fired in the first televised Republican debates. To no one’s surprise, Donald Trump was the primary target of friendly fire since he is leading in all of the polls. Naturally, you could call Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton the biggest lower receiver or upper receiver of political criticism on the night.

Unfortunately, if you were interested in learning more about where these 17 candidates stood regarding your gun rights, you pretty much wasted over three hours of your time. In the first nationally televised Republican debates, the Second Amendment was irrelevant. It didn’t even make the top 17 issues discussed. On the stage in Cleveland, Ohio, gun rights in America basically had a silencer on them.

The first debate included the seven Republican candidates who didn’t make the Top 10 in prime time. Moderated by Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum of Fox News, it was nicknamed the “happy hour debate” because it took place at 5:00 EST (Eastern Standard Time). In the end, there was only one candidate who could be really happy. It was Carly Fiorina. She emerged as the lone big gun in the group.

It’s ironic. The only moment which touched on gun control was a commercial near the end of the first debate. In exposing Michael Bloomberg, it promoted a website www.MeetBloomberg.com.

Following the early debate, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard was viewed as the decisive winner by both the political pundits, and the general public. Carly Fiorina said she was just hoping to get known. Instead, her performance was expected to trigger legitimate contender status for her campaign.

It’s ironic. The only moment in the first debate which even touched on gun control was a commercial near the end. In exposing Michael Bloomberg, it promoted a website www.MeetBloomberg.com. A promo for the new IFC series, “Documentary Now” aired in the second debate using the word “guns.”

In the main event, moderated by Megyn Kelly, Chris Wallace, and Brett Baier of Fox News, Ms. Kelly issued multiple challenges of Donald Trump. In the only question of the night which even touched on firearms, Kelly mentioned Trump favoring an assault weapons ban in the past. Trump did not address that issue. He focused on the questions of when he became a Republican, and why he has changed his position on issues such as abortion.

Senator Rand Paul was the only candidate in the Republican debates to actually use the word “guns.” He did so in stating, “I don’t want my marriage or my guns registered in Washington.”

Citizens of New Hampshire fought another long fight for concealed carry rights. The state legislature voted in favor of SB 116, the bipartisan Constitutional carry bill. However, New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hasson has just shown her pen is mightier than gun rights. She has vetoed New Hampshire Concealed Carry from becoming law.

Governor Hassan explained why she vetoed Senate Bill 116, repealing the license requirement for carrying a concealed revolver or pistol. She said it would undo the state’s current “common sense” gun laws.

“The current New Hampshire concealed carry permitting law has worked well for nearly a century – safeguarding the Second Amendment rights of our citizens while helping to keep the Granite State one of the safest states in the nation,” said Hassan. “Our concealed weapons permitting system gives an important oversight role to local law enforcement, while allowing for appeals through appropriate channels.”

The existing New Hampshire state law gives any legal firearm owner the right to carry a gun openly. However, for concealed carry, the person must secure a license locally from law enforcement or town officials.

Any man or woman applying for a New Hampshire Concealed Carry license have to wait for up to 14 days for a decision. Thus, delaying law-abiding citizens their Constitutional Right to bear Arms to defend themselves in the state known for the slogan, “Live Free or Die.” Denials must be appealed in court.

Second Amendment supporting organizations such as the New Hampshire Firearms Coalition, Women’s Defense League and New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, all worked to roll back the state law covering who and who cannot carry concealed guns. They say the existing law has racist origins and allows for personal bias. For example, there is a vague consideration in the New Hampshire Concealed Carry application process which gives police the power to determine whether or not the person is “suitable” to be granted a license.

Publicly Governor Hassan’s announcement said, “I support the Second Amendment and I believe Americans have a right to responsibly own guns for personal safety, hunting, and recreation.” However, an email trying to raise money from her supporters this week said, “This week I vetoed a radical right-wing bill that would allow anyone to carry a hidden gun without a license. The gun lobby is furious.”

There will be an attempt to override the veto. But that is unlikely. Meantime, Ares Armor Inc. offers unregistered, unserialized, 100% legal firearm solutions.

Did you hear those loud shots fired? Many people just heard them from London all the way to Los Angeles. Were they from an AR-10? Were they from an AR-15? No. There was no rifle involved. It was just another round of actor Vince Vaughn going off on gun rights in America.

He is best known as an actor in comedy films. But in real-life, Vince Vaughn has the ammo to come across as a dead serious straight shooter. He obviously follows a much different script than most of his fellow stars in Hollywood. And if you are strong believer in the Second Amendment, he’s taking on a public role you wish more celebrities or people of influence would have the courage and common sense to do.

In a cover interview with Jonathan Heaf for the July 2015 issue of British GQ, the star of the Wedding Crashers movie was invited to fire away with his opinions on firearms and the problems of there being restrictions on them.

“I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don’t have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It’s not about duck hunting; it’s about the ability of the individual. It’s the same reason we have freedom of speech. It’s well known that the greatest defense against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They’ve only happened in places that don’t allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenseless human beings. They do not want confrontation. In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there. They are monsters killing six-year-olds.”

Guns in Schools in America

Vince Vaughn let the British magazine readers know he thinks banning firearms for protection in defenseless schools is a barrel of nonsense. Here is his response to the question, “Do you think guns should be allowed in schools?”

“Of course. You think the politicians that run my country and your country don’t have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do. And we should be allowed the same rights. Taking away guns, taking away drugs, the booze, it won’t rid the world of criminality.”

Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat. – actor Vince Vaughn

Vaughn himself is at a critical fork in the road in his acting career. He’s heading off in a new direction as one of the stars of the popular HBO original series, True Detective (opposite Colin Farrell).

He says season two of True Detective will be very different than last year’s based in Louisiana with Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey. This season is set in California where Vince plays Frank Semyon, a guy in danger of losing his large criminal empire.

“I really like my character,” says Vaughn. “I want to watch this show not because I’m in it but as a fan of the material.” You may want to watch Vince Vaughn in True Detective just because of his stance on gun rights and the Second Amendment.

The July issue of British GQ with him on the cover goes on sale this Thursday, June 4, 2015.