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It’s only been a couple of weeks since the Illinois Supreme Court declared Cook County’s tax on firearms and ammunition violated state law, but the decision is already having a big impact on gun owners and gun stores in the Chicago area. On today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co, gun store owner Dan Eldridge joins the show to talk about his involvement in the court challenge, his own response to the Supreme Court decision, and what the county might do now that the tax has been taken away.
Eldridge, who owns Maxon Shooter’s Supplies in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, says the lawsuit was the brainchild of National Rifle Association’s Christopher Conte, who served as special counsel for the organization until he recently passed away after a long illness. While Conte might have gotten the ball rolling, there were a host of other 2A advocates who joined in the suit, including Eldridge himself, believing that the county’s $25 per gun tax as well as a tax on every round of ammunition sold in the county (A nickel for every round of centerfire ammo and a penny per round of rimfire ammunition) violated the rights of gun owners. It took several years, but last month the state Supreme Court ruled in a 6-0 decision that the tax could not stand, at least in its current form (more on that in a moment).
Eldridge had a pretty great response to the decision; discounting all firearms by $25 and knocking five cents or a penny off of every round of ammunition sold in the month of October. Customers have flocked to the store, according to Maxon’s owner, with an estimated 65% increase in sales of both guns and ammo over the past few weeks. Some of that might simply be because of the discount that Eldridge is offering, but as he told me, there are plenty of gun owners in Cook County who’ve refused to buy their firearms or ammunition in the county since the tax was imposed, preferring instead to spend their money in nearby counties that don’t try to tax a […]
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Will America-First News Outlets Make it to 2023?
Things are looking grim for conservative and populist news sites.
There’s something happening behind the scenes at several popular conservative news outlets. 2021 was bad, but 2022 is proving to be disastrous for news sites that aren’t “playing ball” with the corporate media narrative. It’s being said that advertisers are cracking down, forcing some of the biggest ad networks like Google and Yahoo to pull their inventory from conservative outlets. This has had two major effects. First, it has cooled most conservative outlets from discussing “taboo” topics like Pandemic Panic Theater, voter fraud, or The Great Reset. Second, it has isolated those ad networks that aren’t playing ball.
Certain topics are anathema for most ad networks. Speaking out against vaccines or vaccine mandates is a certain path to being demonetized. Highlighting voter fraud in the 2020 and future elections is another instant advertising death penalty. Throw in truthful stories about climate change hysteria, Critical Race Theory, and the border crisis and it’s easy to understand how difficult it is for America-First news outlets to spread the facts, share conservative opinions, and still pay the bills.
Without naming names, I have been told of several news outlets who have been forced to either consolidate with larger organizations or who have backed down on covering certain topics out of fear of being “canceled” by the ad networks. I get it. This is a business for many of us and it’s not very profitable. Those of us who do this for a living are often barely squeaking by, so loss of additional revenue can often mean being forced to make cuts. That means not being able to cover the topics properly. Its a Catch-22: Tell the truth and lose the money necessary to keep telling the truth, or avoid the truth and make enough money to survive. Those who have chosen survival simply aren’t able to spread the truth properly.
We will never avoid the truth. The Lord will provide if it is His will. Our job is simply to share the facts, spread the Gospel, and educate as many Americans as possible while exposing the forces of evil.
To those who have the means, we ask that you please donate. We have options available now, but there is no telling when those options will cancel us. We have our GivingFuel page. There have been many who have been canceled by PayPal, but for now it’s still an option. Your generosity is what keeps these sites running and allows us to get the truth to the masses. We’ve had great success in growing but we know we can do more with your assistance.
Thank you, and God Bless!
JD Rucker