As 9/11 memorial services are held in New York City, our commander in chief is as far removed from there as possible without a space suit. He’s in Vietnam where he received a better reception than he probably would have gotten in New York City.

NYC Mayor Eric Adams has blamed the administration for the 100,000 or so illegal aliens that Adams says “will destroy New York City.” New Yorkers aren’t bashful about expressing displeasure. This administration appears to be equally unconcerned about what “the rest of us think” or feel.

Avoidance won’t remove images like this from our national consciousness. But crime, inflation, and weaponization of government agencies against its citizens certain makes it easy to worry about our future more than horrors of the past. Karen Allen photo.

Unlike the days before 9/11/2001, we’re not exactly living in blissful times.

We’ve watched this administration do anything in its power (and overreach in other areas) to cripple the firearms portion of the industry, use a deliberate misinterpretation of an education bill to declare war on shooting sports -including archery - in the nation’s schools; then unashamedly declare “we’re not done yet.”

Seems we’ve dropped a lot further into the swirling bowl since September 11, 2001 became a new generation’s “day that will live in infamy.” If you don’t think we’re in trouble, check out the TikTok videos filmed on Philadelphia’s Kensington Avenue.

Today, you’ll see far more media concern over pronouns than reporting rampant crime, drug addiction, or the environment truths about “green power.” They’re equally unlikely to admit they’re parroting administration talking points rather than committing journalism.

But this is the ugliest and most inconvenient truth about our situation: we let this happen.

There’s no way to point a finger at anyone else without realizing three other digits point directly back at you.

We’re perilously close to the point where there’s no reasonable way to reverse the damage without suffering unpleasant consequences. My fellow geriatrics in Washington aren’t about to go quietly into that good night.

We’re closer than ever to the time where we all must decide, for better or worse, if the juice is worth the squeeze.

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Liberty Safe has found itself in the unenviable position of having angered its core customer base. What happens now is anyone’s guess.

Today, Liberty Safe continues brazing on the spit of public opinion after giving the combination to a safe to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

For most of us, the presumption is that a “safe" is designed to protect its contents from any attempts to open it by anyone other than the owner. Not everyone realizes that legal authorization, law enforcement can open your safe -by any means they choose.

The FBI decided to try the easy way before employing a more permanent solution to opening this safe. They reached out to Liberty and asked for the combination. Liberty gave it to them.

The anger isn’t just about Liberty’s cooperating with the FBI. It’s about the Liberty owner the FBI was investigating. This particular Liberty was owned by Nathan Hughes, one of the alleged J6 criminals charged with felony disorder in connection with the disturbance at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Many average Americans are furious at how the government seems determined to punish anyone associated with what I laughingly called the “frat boy riot” of January 6. I characterized it that way because these “revolutionaries” cleaned up some of their mess on the way out- and left when official visiting hours ended.

That’s not the revolutionary conduct I saw in South/Central America whenever they underwent “unexpected” regime change. Down there, revolution looks a lot more like the “mostly peaceful” protests that turned formerly decent U.S. cities into crime-ridden hellholes.

Liberty’s original response to the anger rang pretty hollow:

“Our company, one of America's oldest and largest safe manufacturers, was founded on the belief that Americans should have the fundamental right to protect and safeguard their valuables and property”

Of course Liberty had a master list of the combinations for safes leaving their Utah facilities. Can you imagine the outrage if they didn’t have the ability to give you the factory combination to your safe?

The anger isn’t over having a list, it’s releasing the combination to law enforcement with so little resistance.

In response to the unabated -and increasing- outrage, Liberty now says it will allow owners to have their default combination purged from their system. Owners can fill out an online form and Liberty will then remove your combination from their database of “factory-set combinations”.

Choosing that option means “drill, baby, drill” should you lose your combination afterwards. But you can rest easy in the knowledge that Liberty won’t give your combination to anyone, including you.

Remember that old “you can’t have it both ways” thing? This is one of those instances.

But new revelations about Liberty’s parent company is adding fuel to the call to give Liberty “the Budweiser treatment”.

Seems parent company Monomy Capital Partners (acquired Liberty in 2021) has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates, including Ralph Warnock in Georgia, John Fetterman in Pennsylvania and Mark Kelly of Arizona. Each of these candidates have campaigned on promises for more gun control, including bans on AR-style rifles, magazine capacity limitations and restrictions on ammunition purchasing.

Monomy may be headed for one of those “can’t have it both ways” moments. So may New Mexico Governor Lujan Grisham and her declaration of a “health emergency” as a means to restrict people from carrying firearms in Bernalillo County for the next 30 days.

Grisham made no secret of her feeling about the Second -or any other Amendment- when she said “No constitutional right, in my view, including my oath, is intended to be absolute. There are restrictions on free speech. There are restrictions on my freedoms.”

We’ll see…and, as always, we’ll keep you posted.

— Jim Shepherd