Constitutional Law

Challenge to new Connecticut laws

Posted on May 23, 2013
Complaint, in pdf, here. The law is quite draconian. Obtaining a "great than ten round" magazine is a felony; continuing to possess one already owned is a misdemeanor on first offense, felony on second. Buying or selling an "assault rifle" is a felony, minimum of two years' imprisonment...

Ten years ago today

Posted on May 22, 2013
May 22, 2003.

Inspector General: US Atty leaked memo to retaliate against ATF whistleblower

Posted on May 20, 2013
Story here. Retaliation for having disclosed "Fast and Furious," that is. Probably grounds for a Privacy Act suit here.

Cat's out of the bag and running

Posted on May 20, 2013
Forbes reports that a fellow has created a rifled, durable, handgun with a 3-D printer. He used a different plastic and a different design than that used in the original effort. The rifling is vital, because a smoothbore handgun is NFA regulated.

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Feinstein's "assault weapon ban" and exceptions

Posted on May 19, 2013
Under her ban, retired LEOs would be allowed to purchase AWs. A perfectly decent non-LEO would be unable to buy one, but this fellow would be able to. As a friend pointed out, when an LEO becomes too mentally unstable to serve, he's given a disability retirement.

Brady sues over mandatory gun law

Posted on May 17, 2013
Nelson, GA has enacted a law requiring every household to be armed, and Brady Campaign has filed a legal challenge. Since apparently there's no penalty for violation (a feature of the earlier Kennesaw ban, due to some advice I gave decades ago), I have trouble seeing "case or controversy...

Five reasons the NRA wins

Posted on May 17, 2013
An insightful article by Amy Showalter. She notes the conventional media narrative is "NRA has lots of political money with which to scare politicians," but that's not the key. Keys are things like armies of well-informed volunteers, face to face contact, old-fashioned personal persuasion...

Another Bloomberg mayor.....

Posted on May 16, 2013
Jersey City mayor Jerramiah Healy is proud of his membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns. At least he's escaped indictment so far (he's only been convicted of a misdemeanor after brawling with police), but there has been a ... little flap. A while back, he was photographed sitting naked on his porch...

Video entries in the eternal debate

Posted on May 16, 2013
Ammoforsale.com (which seems to actually have ammo for sale, a rare enough occurrence these days) is hosting a video debate: 9mm: the greatest cartridge ever made. .45 ACP: the greatest cartridge ever made. (You may have to click on the video tab to run the video in each)...

The ammo shortage is so serious....

Posted on May 15, 2013
That the chief of police of Proctor, Minnesota, is having to borrow ammunition from local shooters.

David Gregory and the illegal AR-15 magazine

Posted on May 15, 2013
Emily Miller has the story. Gregory is the political reporter who, on NBC Nightly News, pulled out an AR-15 magazine... at a studio inside DC, where such magazines are banned. Of course, nothing ever happened. Ms. Miller and Judicial Watch are pursuing the matter, and DC has fouled up by withholding a document from Judicial Watch that it has already disclosed to Miller.

Cert petition: right of a soldier to self-defense in combat zone

Posted on May 14, 2013
Petition here. We're getting to where we may have to field armies of lawyers. They'll do little good in combat, but will be able to comply with legal standards while being defeated. Petitioner is a platoon leader, appealing a court martial. His platoon was hit with an IED, suffered two KIAs...

Thoughts on the Benghazi talking points

Posted on May 14, 2013
Off topic really, but that entire process is so very typical of the Federal bureaucracy (and maybe of other ones, I was a Federal bureaucrat only). The most important thing to a bureaucrat is not truth or falsity, but The Position. The Position is the only reality, and ruling upon it settles every question...

History of California gun laws

Posted on May 14, 2013
An interesting post at CalGuns Foundation. I just checked out the weapons section of the California Penal Code, and it runs over a thousand pages. Now, that's with annotations (short one-paragraph summaries of court cases interpreting each section), but it's still staggering...

MSI sues Maryland Police over permit delays

Posted on May 11, 2013
Maryland Shall Issue has filed a lawsuit against the State Police. The gist of it is that the police are taking an average of 55 days to issue permits, while the statutory command is that they do so within 7 days.

Article on women of the NRA

Posted on May 11, 2013
Right here. "Meet the ladies who call the shots at the NRA."

A very interesting book

Posted on May 10, 2013
I sat next to the author on a flight into Houston, and found his book very interesting. He was an FFL and author of articles in various gun magazines. He reported a suspicious customer to ATF years ago, and at their urging, became a prominent part of "Operation Wide Receiver," which preceded "Operation Fast and Furious...

Making guns with a 3D printer: gov't shuts down online design

Posted on May 10, 2013
But only after 100,000 downloads in its first two days online. I'd note that the gun isn't exactly an advanced version. It's a single-shot .380 with smoothbore plastic barrel.

Politicians' problem with a hot mike...

Posted on May 10, 2013
is that they might get caught telling the truth. (Youtube audio).

Store owner shoots robber, calls 911, and waits...

Posted on May 10, 2013
Joe Cho of Dallas was on the receiving end of an armed robbery, but drew a .38 and shot the robbers. He then called 911. Police arrived an hour and 15 minutes later.

Youtube video on high cap magazines

Posted on May 09, 2013
Nicely done. One nice thing about youtube, etc., is that it lets inventive people create things that more professional creators would never dream of doing. Or this. She has great success at getting students to sign a petition to ban pressure cookers, except for restaurants...

BATF position on 3D printing of guns

Posted on May 09, 2013
Pretty straightforward. Anyone can make a non-NFA firearm for their own use, whether they use a milling machine and lathe, or a 3D printer. Hat tip to Len Savage....

Civil rights abuse in MA

Posted on May 09, 2013
It sounds as if the Quincy MA police have quite a racket going. Seize guns, take no legal action regarding them, but sell them anyway.

Oops...

Posted on May 08, 2013
Sandy Hook parent Neil Heslin reportedly spent April 15 in Washington, DC, lobbying for background checks. He's now facing failure to appear charges, because on that day he was supposed to be in court in his own criminal cases. He is accused of passing bad checks, larceny, and two counts of driving on a license suspended for drunk driving, which is probably a felony...

WashPo: NRA faces challenges

Posted on May 07, 2013
Or so it says. I remember reading media predictions of NRA decline back in the 1970s, when it became a popular media theme, and NRA membership was around 800,000. They can be put with the Popular Mechanics stories predicting that by now we would all have flying cars and personal robots to do the housework.

Gun crime rates vs. public knowledge of the same

Posted on May 07, 2013
An interesting study. Over the last twenty years, gun homicide rates have fallen by 49%, and nonfatal firearm crime has fallen even more greatly. But the Pew survey found that only 12% of Americans know this. 56% think gun crime has gone up over that period, and 24% think it has remained stable...

NRA attendance

Posted on May 06, 2013
Word is that attendance at this meeting was 86,000 people, exceeding the previous record, set last year, of 73,000.

Texas House outdoes itself

Posted on May 05, 2013
The Texas House passes 12 pro-gun bills in a single day!

In Houston

Posted on May 03, 2013
For the NRA meeting. Yesterday I spent 2-3 hours in the Houston Airport. Terminal B was under "lockdown" due to someone having come in to the entry area, fired into the ceiling, and then been engaged by a Federal LEO there. Reports say the LEO fired just as the shooter put a pistol to his head, so whether the LEO hit him, he killed himself, or all of the above happened, isn't clear until the autopsy.

Split decision in case regarding 18-21 yr olds and handguns

Posted on May 01, 2013
Story here. I don't yet have a copy of the opinion. The district court upheld the Federal ban on handgun possession by 18-21 year olds (18 year olds can possess long guns, and there are some exceptions to the ban). A three judge panel of the Fifth Circuit affirmed that decision, and NRA and the plaintiffs moved for en banc reconsideration (i...

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