Constitutional Law
Of Arms and the Law 
A blog devoted to firearms law and Second Amendment theory.
Post Frequency: 4.6/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 14:02:47 Recent Entries: 1450
Go to Of Arms and the Law, find other Constitutional Law blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Search
Posts
Maybe we should just legalize bribery....
Posted on November 20, 2009As it is, Congressional leaders have to buy votes by giving things to a legislator's district, which costs us far more than would a simple bribe. If, for example, the leadership needed a vote to pass health care legislation, I really doubt even a greedy senator would ask for $100,000,000.
Permits for toy guns
Posted on November 20, 2009That's going to become a requirement in New South Wales.
Will the Chicago case lead to a constitutional reawakening?
Posted on November 20, 2009That's the question asked in the Wall Street Journal Online.
Attempted hijack of Maesrk Alabama
Posted on November 19, 2009This time, tho, the ship had armed guards who shot back, and the pirates quickly took several KIAs. Howard Nemerov notes, strangely, the NY Times plays down the rifles and the defense and sounds rather, well, pro-pirate.
7th Circuit questions ban on gun ownership by misdemeanor DV defendants
Posted on November 18, 2009There's quite a discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy, regarding today's decision that calls into question the Lautenberg Amendment. The court concludes that the law should be given intermediate scrutiny (in part because the firearm was possessed for hunting rather than self-defense), vacates the conviction and sends that case back for more fact-finding...
NRA's Chicago brief
Posted on November 17, 2009Pdf is here. Between this and Petitioner's brief, I think the ground is covered very well. Petitioner emphasizes incorporation under the privileges or immunities clause (which makes far more sense) and NRA emphasizes incorporation under the due process clause (which is simpler to do)...
Cory Maye gets a new trial!
Posted on November 17, 2009Good news! Via Instapundit... UPDATE: here's the opinion. Maye's attorney got a ruling transferring the case to another county, due to local bias. Then he discovered the second county was no better, and moved to have it returned. Instead the trial court moved the case to a third county...
US v. Miller (1939)
Posted on November 16, 2009I did some research in National Archives, into US v. Miller. If anyone wonders how the case wound up so messy... here are a pair of telegrams from Miller's attorney to the clerk of the Court, announced that he won't file a brief, nor argue. View image
NY case on destruction of guns
Posted on November 15, 2009Pdf here. Plaintiff surrendered his guns to a sheriff, pursuant to a protection order entered in his divorce case. The sheriff destroyed them before the divorce case was over. The Court of Appeals held that he had a property interest in his firearms, the statute authorizing the sheriff to destroy unclaimed firearms after a year only applied to handguns, there was no qualified immunity since a reasonable LEO reading the statute would have known that...
DC Ct of Apps holds Heller is retroactive
Posted on November 12, 2009Pdf ruling here. Skim ahead to p. 21, or p. 29 if you have a low threshold of boredom.
Report from Fort Hood
Posted on November 11, 2009I can't authenticate this -- don't know the author's identity -- but the author states he is a soldier who was present at the murders. It comes via a Texas friend: Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 10:05 AM Subject: What happened Since I don't know when I'll sleep (it's 4 am now) I'll write what happened (the abbreviated version...
Thoughts on the Ft. Hood shootings
Posted on November 10, 2009J. Neil Schulman has traced the history of the Dept of Defense regulation that essentially forbids military personnel to carry their own firearms on-base.
Compendium of firearm manuals
Posted on November 10, 2009Right here. Hat tip to reader David McCleary....
DC "sniper" gets a last injection
Posted on November 10, 2009Either the last or one of the last shootings was at the Home Depot in Falls Church, about 200-300 yards from the house owned by my ex, Frances, and I. I remember seeing it on the news and calling in. Fran was apt to be frightened by the least things, and this really had things going; police had shut down Rt...
Another new article
Posted on November 09, 2009Clayton Cramer, Nick Johnson, and George Mocsary have an article forthcoming in the George Mason Law Review, entitled 'This Right is Not Allowed by Governments that are Afraid of the People': The Public Meaning of the Second Amendment When the Fourteenth Amendment was Ratified...
A good gun beats gold?
Posted on November 08, 2009Interesting thoughts at Marketwatch. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson....
Ft. Hood: "wishing he too had a gun"
Posted on November 07, 2009Pfc Marquest Smith, in hiding, "He lay low for several minutes, waiting for the shooter to run out of ammunition and wishing he, too, had a gun." "Just over 5 feet tall, [officer Kimberly] Munley is an advanced firearms instructor and civilian member of Fort Hood's special reaction team...
Judge rules in favor of Students for Concealed Carry
Posted on November 07, 2009A Texas judge has enjoined the Tarrant County College from stopping a SCC protest. The College somehow thought it could prevent them from carrying empty holsters and from handing out fliers anywhere but at a table. Hat tip to reader Nick L.
Strange events in a Phoenix courtroom
Posted on November 07, 2009Caught by the security cam. While a criminal defense attorney argues a motion, a detention officer rifles thru her papers behind her back, takes one, and gives it to another officer. Here's another story. Hat tip to Tavis Steen and Paul Huebl...
FLA: adoption agency questions prospective parents about gun ownership
Posted on November 06, 2009Story here.
Maryland court refuses to incorporate the 2nd Amendment
Posted on November 04, 2009News story here. The critical parts of the ruling: "To begin, we note that there is no Maryland corollary of the federal constitutional right codified in the Second Amendment.*fn4 Furthermore, we have held previously that the Second Amendment is not applicable to the states...
Washington Post notices ammo shortage
Posted on November 03, 2009Story here. Stuck record quote of the day: "The high sales have alarmed some anti-gun groups. Josh Sugarmann of the Violence Policy Center said he worries about a revival of the anti-government militia movement of the Clinton era. "This is a pattern that is repeating itself, and it is a pattern that has tremendous risk attached to it," Sugarmann said...
Anyone have a need for a historian or programmer?
Posted on November 02, 2009Clayton Cramer, who has earned his laurels in both fields, is is looking for work.
FBI watch list
Posted on November 01, 2009From time to time there are suggestions that those on the terrorist "watch list" should be barred from buying guns. Now it develops that 1,600 names A DAY are being added to that list.
Man fired for looking for a gun part online
Posted on November 01, 2009An employee of Planco, a subsidiary of Hartford Insurance, was fired after having been seen looking for parts for his skeet gun. His boss admitted she "was scared" of guns, and reported it to their HR department, together with word that he was an NRA member.
Assisted-opening knives protected by new statute
Posted on October 31, 2009Details here. Customs had moved to redefine "switchblades" to include assisted-opening knives that are banned from import; the bigger problem was that many State laws against switchblades incorporate the Customs regulations as their definition.
Thoughts on accidental shootings
Posted on October 29, 2009Howard Nemerov has some interesting notes. Between 1984 and the present, about 112,000,000 new firearms entered the civilian market, yet the accidental firearm death rate fell by 70%, even while other rates for other fatal accidents were increasing.
Article on John Marshall
Posted on October 27, 2009Right here. It's an argument that future Chief Justice John Marshall authored a document supporting the Sedition Act, which criminalized criticism of the president or Congress (but not of the vice president, his rival, Thomas Jefferson)). I think it interesting since I think the revered Marshall was a political hack...
Movie I must see
Posted on October 27, 2009The Men Who Stare at Goats. [update, title corrected, thanks]
Sacramento residents shaking in their boots
Posted on October 26, 2009Story here. The Sheriff has approved 37 carry permits this year, and a Brady Campaign spokesman worries that this "would not make us safer and could actually increase gun violence in Sacramento County..."
Great video
Posted on October 26, 2009Here. It's incredibly slow motion video of bullets and shotgun pellets striking paper, metal, and gelatin.
Britain deploying subgun armed police
Posted on October 25, 2009Story here. And here's a report from the London Telegraph. Which doesn't notice that the story is about arming police with H&K subguns, while the illustration is of an M4/M16. "Gill Marshall-Andrews, chairwoman of the Gun Control Network campaign group, described the routine arming of officers as a "very retrograde step" and warned that it could lead to higher levels of gun crime...
70 year old lady shoots robber
Posted on October 23, 2009Story here. Some of the pro-robber comments are gems. Hat tip to reader Mark Noble....
ATF HQ'S Toilet terrorist task force
Posted on October 21, 2009You can't make this up. ATF HQ is on a manhunt for the employee who is vandalizing their johns.
NIH back to funding gun control studies
Posted on October 19, 2009Story here. "NIH records show that one study being questioned by lawmakers aimed to "investigate whether adolescents who consume alcohol and/or carry firearms, and/or whose daily activities occur in surroundings rich in alcohol and/or firearms, face a differential risk of being shot with a firearm or injured in a non-gun assault...
Media bias on self-defense
Posted on October 19, 2009Howard Nemerov takes down the Orlando Sentinel.
ACR Rifle
Posted on October 18, 2009An interesting rifle. Modular design, so it can quickly be switched between calibers and chamberings. Hat tip to reader David McCleary...
The Missouri "militia memo"
Posted on October 15, 2009A while back, the Missouri Info Analysis Center (a State agency) and the MO highway patrol circulated a report claiming a resurgence in the militia movement and telling police to keep an eye on dangerous radicals concerned about unemployment, taxes, gangs, border security, inflation, abortion, and federal agencies...
Another case of no tolerance no brains
Posted on October 14, 2009A two-inch pocketknife is found in a student's locked car, so the school suspends him for five days, then increases that to twenty. Via Instapundit.
Schwartzenegger signing statement
Posted on October 14, 2009Pdf here. It's his approval of AB 962, which among other things requires that all ammunition sales be face-to-face and that the seller record data on the buyer including, as I recall, a thumbprint. The California legislation is meant to ensure that criminals, who are legally unable to get firearms, now won't be able legally to get ammunition for the firearm that they legally don't have...
Drawing for Damascus knife
Posted on October 14, 2009At Shiloh TV. Some nice video segments there, too.
Judge Laurence Silberman on the Second Amendment
Posted on October 14, 2009Video here. He wrote the DC Circuit opinion in Parker/Heller, which the Supreme Court affirmed. He says that he started in thinking it was a collective right, but when he looked at the briefs in Parker/Heller, he changed his mind. Hat tip to reader Scott Stradley...
Supreme Court denies review in Olofson case
Posted on October 13, 2009The denial was handed down this morning.
How many commas does the Second Amendment have?
Posted on October 12, 2009An interesting question. They didn't have photocopiers back in 1789, and when clerks copied the Bill of Rights they punctuated and capitalized as they please.
Zero tolerance, zero brains
Posted on October 12, 2009A 6 year old takes a cub scout camping tool to school and suspended because it includes a knife. Note also the third grader who was expelled after she brought a birthday cake and a knife to cut it (the teacher thoughtfully used it to cut the cake before reporting her to the principal)...
Nifty device for shooting ranges
Posted on October 11, 2009Right here. Just roll it along the ground and it picks up spent brass. Apparently the inventor originally came up with one to pick nuts up off the ground, and then thought that it might work with spent brass, too.
Gallup poll shows MAJOR shifts
Posted on October 09, 2009Story here. 1990 vs 2009: Gun laws should be stricter: in 1990, 78%, fell to 44% today. Gun laws should stay the same: 17%, now 43%. Gun laws should be relaxed: 2%, rising to 12% today. Now, some of the shift could theoretically come from enactment of background checks, etc...
Ill. ruling on guns in cars
Posted on October 09, 2009The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that a car console can be considered a case. Apparently ILL has an offense called aggravated misconduct with a weapon, that involves carrying concealed, uncased, either loaded or with ammunition readily available...
Lady in India cleans terrorist clock
Posted on October 08, 2009A great headline: "Indian farmer's daughter is most bad-ass woman in the world". More detail at The Telegraph. Border terrorists entered her house and began beating her father with clubs. She whacks one with an axe, takes his AK-47 and finishes the job, then wings one of his buddies as they run for the hills.
The waiting....
Posted on September 30, 2009Supreme Court voted today on whether to take the Chicago gun cases, raising the 14th Amendment issue, as well as a great number of other cases that piled up over the summer break. They will probably, emphasis probably, issue their orders granting and denying review tomorrow, Wednesday...
CERT GRANTED!
Posted on September 30, 2009Orders here. Discussion at SCOTUSBlog. UPDATE: My guess would be another 5-4. Maybe a little better, if only because the 4 the last time were the liberal wing, and they're going to be hard put to argue against incorporation. On the other hand, they managed to argue against individual right the last time, so mental gymnastics are no problem to them...
Korea sells rifles back
Posted on September 29, 2009South Korea is preparing to sell 108,000 M-1 Garands and carbines to Americans. I know there is a statute that forbids re-importation of guns transferred as part of Lend-Lease, but South Korea obviously wasn't part of that. Hat tip to reader JustinGA...
Former house up for sale
Posted on September 29, 2009It's where I used to live, in Falls Church VA. (I don't have any financial interest in it; after my ex died in 2003, it went to our son, who sold it). Update: they didn't have ACORN back in 1982, so we just got it as a house. Originally it had three bedrooms on the main (2d) floor, one in the first floor (the land drops away in the back yard, so that it wasn't really a basement), and two small rooms on the third floor...
Embarassment for Bloomberg mayor's group
Posted on September 26, 2009Some mayors are protesting that the group lists their names when they've never joined.
Early ballistics book on Google Books
Posted on September 26, 2009It's F. W. Mann's The Bullet's Flight from Powder to Target (1909). It's an enormous series of ballistics experiments, performed over 30 years, at a key period (smokeless powder and spitzer bullets coming in). He dabbled in vented barrels, firing elongated bullets from smooth bores, tried to find the most accurate form for a bullet, etc...
Nordyke v. King en banc
Posted on September 24, 2009One of the good-guy attorneys says the argument went well for them. Of course, there's no predicting a ruling, least of all by a group of 11 people, but this is a good note.
Reducing the ammo shortage
Posted on September 24, 2009This may help to reduce ammo shortages in States other than California.
That didn't take long
Posted on September 24, 2009Notice of Docket Activity The following transaction was entered on 09/24/2009 at 4:07:21 PM PDT and filed on 09/24/2009: Case Name: Nordyke, et al v. King, et al Case Number: 07-15763 Docket Text: Filed order (ALEX KOZINSKI): Submission is vacated pending the Supreme Court?s disposition of Maloney v...
Humorous poll findings
Posted on September 24, 2009Clayton Cramer has a post on a recent political poll. For me, the funniest result is that 5% answered "yes" both to whether Obama is the Antichrist and to whether they voted for him.
blogging from 30,000 feet
Posted on September 23, 2009Coming back from NRA Board mtg, and the AA aircraft has wifi! Right now about halfway between Chicago and Tucson. BTW, word is that Bill Clinton is no longer NRA's greatest recruiter. Obama has taken his title, and pushed membership back over four million again...
Bloomberg knee-jerk
Posted on September 23, 2009The Senate passes a provision that will let Amtrak passengers have firearms in checked baggage.... just as airline passengers can. Mayor Bloomberg's reaction: "This has nothing to do with the right to bear arms, and everything to do with keeping our country safe from terrorists...
Quite a ship
Posted on September 21, 2009Russian billionaire has a ship built, and since he is annoyed by paparazi, fits it with an anti-photography electronic shield. Although I have to wonder if it's a bluff. The laser would have to continuously "paint" the camera, and move about as it did...
An interesting week before us
Posted on September 21, 2009Sept. 24: Nordyke v. King is argued en banc before the 9th Circuit. Sept. 25-27, Second Amendment Foundation and CCRKBA host the Gun Rights Policy Conference in St. Louis. Sept. 29-30, US Supreme Court votes on, and is likely to announce, whether it takes the Chicago casess.
Brady's Richard Aborne loses election in Manhattan
Posted on September 16, 2009CCRKBA release here. Aborne, a former board member of what became the Brady Campaign, ran for DA with stress on his gun control advocacy, and the endorsement of many such groups. He got only 26% of the vote. In Manhattan, no less.
A pleasing read
Posted on September 15, 2009Dennis Henigan, of Brady Campaign, in the Huffington Post. Why is it pleasing? Well, the title is "Obama and the Gun Lobby: A Policy of Appeasement?" Oh, and the content consists of things like "Is it a stretch to envision President Obama as the Neville Chamberlain of the gun issue? Consider the record so far...
Test of buck in a rifled shotgun
Posted on September 14, 2009It really gives meaning to the term scattergun.
Ruling protecting open carry
Posted on September 13, 2009Story here. The district judge ruled as a matter of law (i.e., no need for it to go to a jury) the officers had violated the carrier's constitutional rights and that they had no qualified immunity (meaning the rights violated were clearly established at the time of violation -- qualified immunity protects against suit for damages where a right may have been violated, but it was not clearly established at the time).
Hit piece on GLock
Posted on September 12, 2009In BusinessWeek. Not a terribly damaging piece, but they're obviously trying hard. When the only spicy allegations come from a guy who was convicted of embezzling from the company... Hat tip to about six people ...
Numchuck case up for cert. conference
Posted on September 11, 2009The 2d Circuit case on numchucks, which refused to incorporate the 2A against States, has had its petition for cert. set for consideration at the Sept. 29 conference, the same day the Court votes on whether to take the Chicago cases. I can't see it being taken alone...
Remembering back a few years
Posted on September 11, 2009September 11, 2002. First anniversary. I'm in the DC area for a meeting, at the Key Bridge Marriott. It faces the Potomac, right where the river bends from generally north to generally northwest. Maybe a couple of miles north of National Airport and the Pentagon...
Media treats self defense case rather strangely
Posted on September 09, 2009Howard Nemerov has the story. Four home invaders (three of them waving pistols) are engaged by a resident of the home. And the story winds up spun as the resident shot teens, schools summon grief counselors for friends of the thugs, and, horror of horrors, the Castle Doctrine may come into play.
A new cash for clunkers program!
Posted on September 09, 2009Details here. SIG-SAUER offers $200 for a trade in handgun if you buy one of theirs.
Argument in Citizens United Case
Posted on September 09, 2009ScotusBlog says the Court appears ready to strike down some precedent, ruling that allowed bans on corporate campaign contributions (and which thus gave rise to PACs as separate entities). One argument against those rulings is simply that a corporation may simply represent an effort by a large number of nonwealthy people to equal the electoral influence of one very wealthy one...
survival resources
Posted on September 09, 2009The ultimate resource list. It's got a very impressive collection of firearm manuals!
whatever happens, we have got / The Maxim gun, and they have not...
Posted on September 08, 2009From a History of Kenya: "In January 1892 there is heavy gunfire between and among the four hills which form Kampala. On the top of one hill is the palace of the kabaka [native ruler]. On another the French have completed a Catholic cathedral of wooden poles and reeds...
Photoshopping news photos
Posted on September 08, 2009A Philadelphia NBC news page is illustrated with one of the sloppiest Photoshop jobs I've ever seen. They wanted a shot of a muzzle loading cannon firing. So they took a shot of some re-enactors with a cannon, and spliced in a muzzle flash. 1) If they knew anything about cannons, they'd realize the tampion is still plugging the barrel as the gun supposedly fires...
Million plus guns sold in August
Posted on September 08, 2009Figures here. To be precise, just over a million background checks, a rough measure (new sales may be higher than checks since a buyer can purchase multiple guns via one background check, and the dealer only has to run checks for buyers who don't have CCW permits, or new sales may be less than checks because a dealer has to run checks to sell used guns, too)...
California seizes some unusual firearms
Posted on September 04, 2009Press release here. When raiding some bigtime cocaine buyers, the press release states, they seized - Bushmaster AK-47, model XM15E2S, .223 caliber; one of those Bushmaster AKs... - Misa, model AD-47, .762 x 39 caliber; and Another of those Military Impacted Schools Ass'n guns, and in 76 caliber! (Or maybe it was a Minnesota Institute of Sustainable Agriculture commemoratives)...
2A Symposium in Chicago
Posted on September 04, 2009Set for Saturday, Sept. 12. Details here. It's at the Thorne Auditorium, 375 East Chicago Avenue, and will have Nelson Lund, Michael O'Shea, David Kopel and others.
Internal goings on at ATF
Posted on September 04, 2009Reported by Clean Up ATF." Always found it amusing the way many assume that the government is rational, objective, and unselfish in ways the rest of the US is not. Fact is you've got the same humans doing each job, and nobody should be surprised that many agencies work on promote your buddy, steer business toward your buddy, get rid of critics and whistleblowers, build your empire and the public be damned...
Major First Amendment case coming up
Posted on September 04, 2009On Sept. 9 the Supreme Court hears Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That it may be a major decision is suggested by the fact that after first briefing and argument, the Supreme Court ordered a second briefing and argument, and by the argument being held before the Court formally begins its new Term in October...
Shotgun slugs vs. rifle projectiles
Posted on September 02, 2009Some interesting ballistics. The calculation is that if each is discharged parallel to the ground, with the projectile ricocheting upon first impact, the shotgun slug will actually travel farther than the rifle bullet. I do have some doubts... as the study notes, on a ricochet the projectile is generally flying end over end, and thus has high wind resistance...
Self defense figures by race
Posted on August 31, 2009Howard Nemerov has some charts and statistics on justifiable homicide, race, and right to carry laws. Basically: in RTC States, blacks are on the giving end of nearly 50% of self-defense homicides (i.e., justifiable), and in non RTC States the percentage drops by nearly half...
NC Supreme Ct holds old nonviolent felony no bar to gun rights
Posted on August 29, 2009Opinion in pdf here, courtesy of reader Carl in Chicago. It's under discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy and by Instapundit. The latter makes a good point about "felony inflation." E.g., if the felony theft level is pegged to $500 (as I believe it was in Arizona's 1977 criminal code reform) ...
The courtroom equivalent of "the dog ate my homework. Five times."
Posted on August 29, 2009An interesting court transcript, from the Friesen prosecution. The prosecutor is trying to dodge and weave on why certain important documents were not disclosed to the defense, despite a court order, and neither the judge nor the defense attorney is giving him an inch of slack...
CCW permitees vs. nonpermittees crime rates
Posted on August 28, 2009Howard Nemerov runs the figures for Texas. Depending upon your standard (all convictions, violent offense convictions, homicide convictions, etc.) the only question is how much better the permit holders come off. For most measures, their rates are 1/9 to 1/10 those of nonpermittees.
How fast things can go bad ...
Posted on August 28, 2009An officer's squad car camera shows how fast things can go bad. He tasers the guy, the guy shrugs it off (report is that one of the electrodes missed) and is on top of him before he can react. The guy was 6'8", strong, and something of a mental case, so the officer was lucky to be saved by a passing off duty LEO.
Ollie North autographing books at NRA Firearms Museum
Posted on August 28, 2009Wash Post story here. Sounds like he sold 400 of his book on heroes of the war on radical islam, which is very, very good.
Thoughts re Ted Kennedy
Posted on August 28, 2009Some thoughts on his legacy, if perhaps a legacy he did not intend.
More carry permits in Sacramento County?
Posted on August 27, 2009Story here. Hat tip to Dan Gifford....
Commemoratives for sale
Posted on August 27, 2009Crime, Guns and Videotape is selling a pair of commemorative .357s. Price is out of my ballpark, but the engraving is quite nice.
Case in Greensboro NC
Posted on August 27, 2009Article here. There have been a lot of burglaries in the neighborhood, two teens come up to house to break in, leave when owner makes noise. Owner then steps out and fires shots in the air, and police cite him for discharging a firearm inside city limits...
Paranoia on the rise
Posted on August 26, 2009"Hate on the Rise in United States." "This next generation of hate incorporates elements of the militias, gun advocates, ?nativists? opposed to immigration, tax protesters, and ?birthers,? who have questioned the place of birth and citizenship of President Obama...
Guide to interstate transport of firearms
Posted on August 25, 2009NRA has just released the latest edition of its comprehensive Guide to the Interstate Transportation of Firearms. It includes a section on the suit brought against the NY Port Authority, which is in the habit of violating the protections given by the Firearm Owners Protection Act...
BATFE hierarchy largely empty
Posted on August 25, 2009The NY Times reports that well over half of the Obama's Administration's appointive policymaking positions are are still empty, the slots filled with someone in an acting capacity. I'm told ATF presently has an acting director, acting deputy director, and acting chief of staff.
Win for shooting ranges under RCRA
Posted on August 24, 2009Metacon Gun Club in Connecticut was sued by homeowners in the area (who probably bought houses next to a shooting range and then became upset that a shooting was next to their houses) under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). RCRA applies to "discarded" material that is classified as hazardous waste...
Nordyke ready to go
Posted on August 22, 2009Oral argument en banc, in Nordyke v. King is set for 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 24, 2009, in Courtroom One at the James R. Browning Courthouse, located at 95 Seventh Street in San Francisco.
Chicago cases up early
Posted on August 21, 2009SCTOUSBlog reports that the Supreme Court will vote on whether to accept the Chicago 14th Amendment cases at its very first conference, on September 29. Results might be announced as early as September 30. Both dates are before the next Term officially opens, on October 5.
Media coverage of gun at rally
Posted on August 20, 2009Michelle Malkin has a post on how the MSNBC story on how the appearance of a fellow outside the Phoenix rally with a rifle had "racial overtones" because it involved a man of color in the presidency and "white people showing up with guns strapped to their waists," and "anger about a black person being president...
H.L. Mencken on Justice Holmes
Posted on August 20, 2009The great contrarian's piece is here. A sample: "There is even more surprising stuff in the opinions themselves. In three Espionage Act cases, including the Debs case, one finds a clear statement of the doctrine that, in war time, the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment cease to have any substance, and may be set aside by any jury that has been sufficiently alarmed by a district attorney itching for higher office...
If the jackboot fits...
Posted on August 20, 2009Reason Online: The Jackboot Only Fits if You Don't Work for the Government. Some interesting points contrasting treatment of the NRA use of "jackbooted thugs" some years ago (portrayed as utterly intolerable) with the present attempt to characterize tea party types as, well, jackbooted thugs.
Time for Brady Campaign employees to circulate resumes
Posted on August 19, 2009When the Washington Post runs the headline "White House Backs Right to Arms Outside Obama Events," it is time for Brady Campaign folks to look for new work. It's probably a sign of the Second Coming, but you should still have a job lined up, just in case.
Reply briefs in Chicago gun case
Posted on August 19, 2009Alan Gura's reply is here, in pdf. It's the reply (last document) on petition for cert. (moving that the Court take the case -- if it does there will be another round of briefing on the question of who should win). My latest article is quoted at pp...
Bringing guns to rallies
Posted on August 18, 2009I can't say as I'm fond of the idea -- the media is quick to portray gun rights activists as menacing or intimidating, and there's no reason to set the stage for just that. (Note that, in the story linked below, he is described as having "heated words," when he apparently talked to people he agreed with...
Federal court records -- I find this hilarious
Posted on August 16, 2009For the Firefox browser: a plug in that gives free access to many PACER court files. PACER is the system (if we can call it that) that stores pleadings in Federal trial courts. It is indeed primitive and difficult to use. A second problem, tho, is that if you retrieve a document, you get charged 8 cents a page...
Armament and disarmament in South Ossetia
Posted on August 16, 2009Story here. South Ossetia wants to secede from Georgia, which seceded from the Soviet Union. Which I guess means it's like West Virginia or Eastern Tennessee.... ?When I saw it, I closed the door and laid it down on the rug. I almost fainted. The sight of such a weapon can make you crazy...
When will criminals learn....
Posted on August 14, 2009When will thugs learn ... never cross a nun. All you can do then is run. If you have a rifle, do as this robber did and drop it to speed your flight. Conventional weapons are useless against an angry nun.
10th Circuit on DV cases and Heller
Posted on August 14, 2009Dave Kopel has the story. They reversed, 2-1, the district judge who allowed a defendant to raise, as a defense to prohibited possessor status due to a misdemeanor DV conviction, that he posed no danger. I do find it interesting that there have been several prohibited possessor cases that have gone for the prosecution, but by 2-1s...
Self defense in Harlem
Posted on August 14, 2009Story here. The defender was about as restrained as can be imagined. Told them his store had no cash at the point, tried to talk them into just leaving. Only after the four robbers began beating and pistol-whipping one of his employees did he pull the shotgun out and fire...
Just when you think you've seen it all...
Posted on August 13, 2009Bill Clinton's former chief of staff busted smuggling shiv and needles into prison. Via Instapundit....
Interesting data from the Czech Republic
Posted on August 13, 2009Story here. Its population is about ten million. 650,000 citizens are licensed gun owners, and 200,000 have CCW permits. Police say unknown hundreds of thousands have guns without the formality of licensing.
Gun traces
Posted on August 13, 2009As is usual, after ATF releases its gun trace data for the previous year, Brady Center denounces a bunch of States because guns first sold in them have been traced elsewhere. (The purpose is to create the impression that criminals zip over to those States to buy guns and return...
Antigun group on townhall/tea party meetings
Posted on August 11, 2009Josh Horwitz of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence cites the tea party gatherings as "the violent, insurrectionist philosophy that has corrupted the Second Amendment." "right wing activists have stormed these meetings en masse to shout down speakers " "The Tea Party "mobs" are not as spontaneous as they might appear...
Update on medical condition
Posted on August 10, 2009Some readers have asked for one, so here's the short version-- Here is what I had. Here is the procedure that dealt with it. The version with all the trimmings, orthotopic diversion, lymph node removal. Pathology report says they got it all. Lymph nodes (they took 25 of them) were clear (if it gets out, the lymph system is usually its first avenue of spread)...
lawsuit vs. Oregon university ban
Posted on August 10, 2009Story here. And here's a pdf of the filing, by Oregon FIrearms Educational Foundation. Primary argument is based on the State pre-emption statute, secondary argument is based on the 2nd Amendment.
Florida CCW permits following general firearm trends
Posted on August 10, 2009In Florida, applications for CCW permits are up 67%, to 150,000 and the issuing agency is asking for 61 temporary employees to tackle them. Hat tip to reader gunshytourist...
Palmer v. DC -- latest suit against DC
Posted on August 08, 2009Here's the complaint, in pdf. It's filed by Alan Gura, on behalf of Second Amendment Foundation and DC residents. It challenges a number of remaining or new DC requirements, including: Imposing a permit requirement for carrying, and then having repealed any mechanism for obtaining such permits (and refusing to register handguns if purpose stated is defense outside of home)...
14th Amendment incorporation and contradiction
Posted on August 07, 2009A comment to my posting on the Chicago brief opposing cert. brought to mind something that had popped in my head in the past: a party arguing against 14th Amendment incorporation of a right can hardly avoid contradiction between its privileges or immunities and its due process positions...
Privacy Act request to report health plan objections
Posted on August 06, 2009The Administration has asked that anyone who gets an email or "see[s] something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy" report it to flag@whitehouse.gov. Evan Coyne Malone suggests the request may be illegal under the Privacy Act and the Dept of Justice's statement about its purpose...
Chicago brief opposing Sup. Ct. review
Posted on August 06, 2009In pdf, here. I'm not very impressed. The issue is whether the Court should take the case, but most of the (far too long) brief is on a theme of "if you take it we could win." OK, if they take it you'll have merits briefing to make the claim.
Plaxico Burress indicted
Posted on August 04, 2009Yesterday, the NY Times had this story. His attorney notes that Burress could face 3.5 years prison time for having an illegal gun (its really stupid handling is a different matter), whereas another football player got 30 days for killing someone while driving drunk...
Bill aims to reverse US v. Small
Posted on August 04, 2009Snowflakes in Hell discovers Diane Feinstein's latest, S.1526. It would overturn the Supreme Court determination, in Small v. US, that foreign law convictions do not count as convictions that bar gun possession under the Gun Control Act. It does have two exemptions: 1) If the defendant can show the conviction "resulted from a denial of fundamental fairness that would violate due process if committed in the United States...
Texas: Cash for Clunkers?
Posted on August 04, 2009Gun "buybacks" in Dallas and Ft. Worth!. Last one we had in Tucson, every gun collector cleaned out his junkers and pocketed cash for them. Others staked out the sites to see if anyone was bringing in a real collectible, and would then easily outbid the official price...
Friesen NFA case settles
Posted on August 03, 2009Data here, with links. Basically, it was an NFA prosecution, where the defense launched a HARD attack on the messed up nature of the government's NFA firearm files, including calling a very well qualified expert to testify to the unreliability of files with such flaws...
Chicago gov't going trigger happy?
Posted on July 29, 2009Chicago is instituting a major change in LE policy, allowing use of deadly force against felony suspects fleeing in autos. (The article does not explain the basis for a distinction between suspects fleeing in autos and those fleeing on foot, or whether a motorcycle counts as an auto)...
Nordyke taken for en banc review
Posted on July 29, 2009In Nordyke v. King, a 9th Circuit three judge panel ruled that the 2A was incorporated and applied to the States (and also that the regulation in question was reasonable). Neither party applied for en banc review, but at least one judge did (as the rules allow)...
Bloomberg's battle against flintlock muskets
Posted on July 29, 2009Story here. Brooklyn man has flintlock replica, doesn't even own powder and ball for it. NYC rules apparently exempt muzzle loaders, but NYPD is flipping out, investigating him and the gunsmith who made it, detectives ordered by those higher up to pursue the case...
Bear arms in self defense
Posted on July 28, 2009Story here. A few years ago the Mt. Lemmon area, a 45 minute drive from here, was essentially besieged by its bear population. Particularly attractive targets (a pie shop) put metal grates on windows and doors, only to have them tear thru walls. Hat tip to reader David Hustvedt, who is from the area.
Major ATF incident
Posted on July 26, 2009Stories here and here. Core event: Vince Cefalu, an ATF supervisor, and lead supervisor on the case, has testified that investigators perjured themselves to get a wiretap order, and that when he objected to this, he was taken off the case. The article also cites to CleanUpATF...
Thune amendment and Congressional Kabuke
Posted on July 23, 2009Story here. Yep, it gets like that. People voting your way who are committed to switching their vote the other way if it makes a difference, folks asking your opponent if they can support you without danger of actually making a difference, and votes switched after the outcome is known.
SCOTUSBlog on 14th Amendment cases
Posted on July 23, 2009"Might It Happen? Slaughterhouse Overruled?".
Thune amendment fails, but gathers a majority
Posted on July 22, 2009Some manner of procedural requirement meant that the amendment had to get 60 votes, and it fell shy by a couple. But the vote was staggeringly lopsided -- 58 - 39. Story here; you can get the roll call here.
Local media on teaparty protests
Posted on July 22, 2009A letter to the editor challenged the local paper's ignoring the "tea party" protests, and the newspaper responded: "As a general rule the Star does not cover protests. There are exceptions, but we make those decisions based on the uniqueness of the event, the anticipated turnout and the resources we have available...
Tucson home invasion
Posted on July 22, 2009Around here, home invasion robbery stories usually end with a description of the robber's gunshot wounds. This case was a bit out of the ordinary. One of the robbers was a correctional officer. While they were pistol whipping the victim, his neighbor came outside and challenged them, and they shot at the neighbor...
Thune Bill / amendment to be considered this week
Posted on July 20, 2009Story here. While the story is a little unclear, it sounds as if his proposal is to have national reciprocity, so that person with a permit in one State can carry in other States, and it seems to provide that if your State doesn't require a permit for (open or concealed carry? unclear) then it wouldn't required elsewhere...
Oldest man, WWI vet, dies
Posted on July 19, 2009RIP Henry Allingham, at age 113. Last survivor of the Battle of Jutland (naval, 1916), saw service at Ypres (land, 1917), had 14 great-great-great grandchildren. When he was born -- Victoria was queen; Winston Churchill a 20ish fellow who'd never held office; Grover Cleveland was president of the US...
Legal guns in DC
Posted on July 17, 2009Story here. After a year of legal registration, none of the firearms has been used in a criminal offense and, for that matter, none in a self defense incident.
AZ: no retrial for Harold Fish
Posted on July 17, 2009Story here. "Rozema said that two developments prompted his decision not to retry the case. First, the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned Fish's conviction. ... [T]he appellate court decided the jury was not instructed properly as to what constitutes "unlawful physical force...
Judging and empathy
Posted on July 17, 2009I think it was proper in this case. A judge inclines toward probation in a felon in possession case, the possessor being discovered after he mishandled a gun and blew one of gonads off.
ATF issues guidelines on receiver sales
Posted on July 14, 2009Pdf here. Gist appears to be that a bare receiver is a firearm, but not a rifle, shotgun or handgun since it can be made into any of them (which I think may be true in some cases, but not in most). Ergo, (1) a bare receiver must be logged in by an FFL and cannot be sold to a nonresident, (2) since it is not a rifle or shotgun it cannot be sold to a person under 21, but (3) since it is not a handgun, either, multiple sales need not be reported.
AZ allows limited CCW in alcohol serving establishments
Posted on July 14, 2009Story here. Governor Brewer signed legislation modifying the previous absolute ban on carrying in any establishment that served liquor (in any amount). Under the new law, a person could carry in such a place if (1) they personally consume no liquor; (2) they have a CCW permit; and (3) the establishment doesn't post signs forbidding carrying...
Sotomayor hearings
Posted on July 14, 2009Instapundit has a good roundup, of which the link to Snowflakes in Hell is quite interesting. Don't have the energy or time to watch the hearings myself, still recovering, and catching up. And considering that the hearings began at 10 AM yesterday, and Sotomayor herself didn't get to speak until mid afternoon (the missing hours being devoted to speeches by committee members), it would have taken both time and energy to watch.
Sotomayor hearings, pt. 2
Posted on July 14, 2009Randy Barnett, at the Volokh Conspiracy, posts some of the transcripts, which I find... well, incoherent. The type of answers that would draw zero points on a first year Con Law exam. Sen. Feingold: d like to hear your thoughts a bit on whether you see any common themes or important lessons in the Court's decisions in Rasul, Hamdi, Hamdan and Boumediene...
FLA law on no tolerance
Posted on July 12, 2009Florida enacted a statute that at least requires school boards to review "no tolerance" policies. "In Hernando County, an 11-year-old girl was suspended for bringing a plastic butter knife to school. A student in Brandon was suspended because a calculator he brought to school was equipped with a "knife-like object...
Nelson Lund on incorporation and Judge Sotomayor
Posted on July 12, 2009Prof. Lund has an op-ed here, and a law review article on incorporation here.
Gura contra Wilkinson
Posted on July 07, 2009Here's Alan Gura's response, scheduled for UCLA Law Review, to Judge Wilkinson's anti-Heller article. Wilkinson argued that conservatives should reject Heller -- implicitly using his own definition of conservative as someone strongly disfavoring courts' striking down of legislation on constitutional grounds...
Amicus briefs in Chicago case
Posted on July 07, 2009Amicus briefs have been filed at the cert. stage (i.e., asking the Supreme Court to take the case, not directly arguing who should win, which can be briefed later if the Court does take it) have been filed. In pdf form, here are: The brief of 33 States, authored by the Texas Attorney General...
Harold Fish conviction reversed
Posted on July 05, 2009Pdf of AZ Ct of Appeals ruling here. To shave a long opinion to its core-- Fish was hiking, saw another guy, waved, other guy's dogs charged him, he fired a warning shot. Then the other guy charged him, crazed look in eyes, windmilling arms and shouting threats...
Government drops charges against Kwan
Posted on July 04, 2009David Codrea has the story, here. Short version: Albert Kwan is a legit machine gun collector. FBI or ATF (reports are unclear) raided his house and found two combination holster/shoulder stocks for certain H&K pistols. Kwan owned a registered, full auto H&K of that type; since it was already registered as a full auto, owning or attaching a shoulder stock would be no legal problem (you don't have to register a gun twice because it is full auto and has a short barrel with shoulder stock; one registration per gun is enough)...
Results of Georgia bill allowing carry in restaurants that serve drinks
Posted on July 03, 2009Over at the Atlanta Examiner, Ed Stone has thoughts on the first anniversary of HB 89, which allowed carrying in restaurants and on mass transit. He cites media predictions of mass drunken violence, "escalated gunfight with dozens of innocent Georgians paying the price," etc...
Is Nordyke's 2A/14A section holding or dictum?
Posted on June 30, 2009Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Prof. Volokh argues that Nordyke's finding that the 14th Amendment incorporates the 2nd Amendment is part of its holding, and not dictum. BTW, postings have been slack because I'm still recovering from the operation. Had a complication, infection, that put me on my back for days, and now another -- a tube into me that came partially loose -- and this does tend to reduce blogging time!
DC v. Heller--a one year roundup
Posted on June 29, 2009At Reason Hit and Run. To think it's only been one year... Hat tip to Instapundit....
local media on Mexican gun problems
Posted on June 28, 2009Story here. An all too typical piece, written in a few hours. There are gun shows, interview and quote some antigunners, make claims without proof (i.e., that four firearms are the weapons of choice), confuse full and semiauto, and publish.
Case with NFA list implications
Posted on June 25, 2009Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, handed down today. Defendant charged with cocaine possession. To prove it was coke, State introduced a sworn lab report to that effect. Defendant's objections that this violated his right to be confronted with the witnesses against him was rejected...
Lautenburg proposes "terror watch list" to be disqualifier for guns
Posted on June 23, 2009And Classical Values takes him apart.
US district court splits the constitutional baby
Posted on June 19, 2009Discussion here, over at the Volokh Conspiracy.
Fed subpoena online newspaper comments
Posted on June 18, 2009Story here. A newspaper story on a tax prosecution drew some overwrought comments, and the prosecution team wants to know all about the commenters. The prosecution is interesting -- I remember someone asking this question 30 years ago. If a person agrees to be paid thirty dollars -- but only via thirty rare silver dollars, each worth $1000 -- is his taxable income from that $30 or $30,000?
NY Times on incorporation
Posted on June 17, 2009Article here. It's ... almost balanced. Of course the problem the MSM has is that while one can give a knee-jerk label of conservative to gun rights, the opposite label attaches to incorporation. "Incorporation fell out of favor after the 1960s, but a new generation of largely liberal scholars of law and history have brought it back into the intellectual mainstream, said Akhil Reed Amar, a law professor at Yale University, who supports the process...
Results in SAF/Alan Gura suit against DC
Posted on June 17, 2009SAF, rep'd by Alan Gura, sued DC in a followup action to challenge its post-Heller handgun regs. A recent SAF bulletin reports that DC has caved on one of the major provisions, i.e., adoption of the California list of "approved" handguns.
An interesting auction
Posted on June 17, 2009It's for the revolver that police Capt. Timothy O'Neil used against Dillinger in Dillinger's last gunfight.
Anti-stabbing knife on sale in Britain
Posted on June 16, 2009Story here. Its inventor "was inspired by a documentary in which doctors advocated banning traditional knives." And to think these guys' fathers held off the Nazis.... Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred....
Even in Chicago, some officers have the right orientation
Posted on June 14, 2009From Alphecca: "They pretended that the victim had not broken the law by defending himself with an illegal handgun. ?Nothing was said about the gun going off,? he said. ?The police come over to make a report. The guy said to me, ?Well, you?re lucky you weren?t killed...
I didn't need this...
Posted on June 13, 2009At a stage in healing when laughing still hurts some, I didn't need to read these email exchanges.
An article in Reason
Posted on June 12, 2009on why the Court should rule the right way in the Chicago case and in Nordyke. UPDATE: the Court goes out of session late this month (before any of the petitions will be fully briefed), so the briefing will be completed over its summer break. It comes back to state the new Term on the first Monday in October...
UK: once more, once more into the morass, my friends...
Posted on June 10, 2009From the UK: a mob tries to rob some golfers of their equipment, menacing them with wood planks. When they attack the golfers, the golfers fight back and they lay out some of the robbers. Police arrest the golfers on charges of causing gross bodily injury...
Ten most absurd Time covers of all time
Posted on June 10, 2009Story at Reason Online. The magazine documents how we are to be destroyed by Satanism, porno, overpopulation, drugs, schoolyard shootings, obesity, crack babies, and Pokemon. OK, so they had a point about Pokemon....
Ted Cruz working a crowd
Posted on June 07, 2009Video here. The fellow can think and speak, and thinks in terms of freedom. If I was in Texas, he'd get my vote for anything. Hat tip to reader John Drogin....
Petition for cert. in one of the 7th Cir. cases
Posted on June 04, 2009Pdf here, courtesy of Prof, Eugene Volokh.
Condition, pt. 2
Posted on June 03, 2009Home! So glad to get here, after a week of spending about 23.5 hours per day flat on my back in a very small bed, unable even to roll over due to tubes coming in or going out from belly, arms, etc.. Realized I hadn't mentioned what the condition was...
Condition
Posted on June 02, 2009Surgeon says I may go home in next few days. Will still be in lousy shape, but at least can be in bad shape under own roof. Number of tubes going into and out of me has dropped from about a dozen to a mere four, and must drop to two for release.
7th Cir goes other way in Chicago case
Posted on June 02, 2009Just got word. No capacity to upload opinion just now.
In the ICU
Posted on May 27, 20097 hours under the knife. UPDATE and two units of blood and a load of morphine....
7th Circuit panel of judges
Posted on May 26, 2009Chicago case, heard today: Posner, Easterbrook, Bauer. Posner=bad news. Bauer -- wrote the antigun Morton Grove ruling many years ago.
Open thread on Chicago case
Posted on May 26, 2009I'm off to the hospital soon, and won't be in condition to blog for several days, maybe a week. But I know some readers will be going to the oral arguments in the 7th Circuit, so feel free to tell us how it went. (Note: I also won't be in condition to do very much if the spam blocker arbitrarily blocks a post...
Open thread on Sotomayor nomination.
Posted on May 26, 2009Here are Dave Workman's thoughts on the nomination.
DC crime drops post-Heller
Posted on May 26, 2009Say Uncle notes that violent crime and gun crime are down in the District following Heller. Doesn't prove causation, of course, but does refute "striking the DC law will cause a bloodbath." Via Instapundit.
The Mythical Major Caudill
Posted on May 25, 2009Interesting story here. In 2007, a blogger writes "Why the Gun Is Civilization," an essay that begins "Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force." It argues that weaponry eliminates the ability to use force, requires reasoning, and thus is an underpinning of a civilized society...
"To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant's Face"
Posted on May 24, 2009I blogged earlier on history prof Robert Churchill's new book on the origins of the militia movement of the 1990s. Here's the U of Michigan Press description page. I've had time to read it, and it is excellent! He has no agenda, is simply out to write accurate history...
Regret to report...
Posted on May 23, 2009My blogging will be light in the next week, and maybe the week thereafter. I've been diagnosed with bladder cancer. The doc took out the four tumors, but they proved to be high grade and thus almost certain to recur, at about 4-5 year intervals, 10% chance of fatality each time...
Six years ago
Posted on May 22, 2009Six years ago today my son Mark awakened and heard no labored breathing. His mother, my ex Frances, had died of cancer. Her webpage is here. About this time I was at the funeral home in Falls Church VA, making arrangements.
Interesting
Posted on May 22, 2009In the left sidebar, I have had a link to the 2004 Department of Justice report on the Second Amendment, taking a individual rights view. Click on it since the change in administrations, and the link is broken. Apparently, they archived certain papers of the last administration...
The world turned upside down....
Posted on May 21, 2009An editorial in Pravda attacks Obama for being socialistic. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson...
It must really suck to be on the other side, part 352
Posted on May 21, 2009Kurt Hoffman has thoughts. He notes the changes in the Brady rhetoric (using that term in its proper sense, persuasive expression). Right after the election: we kicked butt! We rule! Let's get moving! Today: slowly awakening to "we wuz screwed."
Chuck Michel's partner elected LA County Attorney
Posted on May 21, 2009Cal. State Rifle and Pistol reports that Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich won the election with 55% of the vote. Of his opponent, it notes: "This is a tremendous victory for the Second Amendment, because Trutanich's opponent, rabidly anti-gun- owner Los Angeles City Councilmember Jack Weiss, works closely with the gun ban lobby to advance its agenda...
Carry in parks amendment passes!
Posted on May 20, 2009Roll call here. Passed about half an hour ago, 279-147, with 105 Demo votes. Hat tip to reader Alice Beard... update: on a quick read, it appears that the House also voted for the bill as an entirity, and that it voted it out as an approval of the Senate version...
Guns in parks legislation likely to pass
Posted on May 19, 2009Or so the NY Times thinks. It was attached to a credit card bill, scooted thru the Senate, and now is in the House. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson....
Some notes from NRA Board meeting
Posted on May 18, 20091. Jim Porter was elected 2nd vice president. (David Keene moved up from 2nd VP to first VP, and Ron Ron Schmeitz from first VP to president. John Sigler stepped down as president and was elected to the Executive Council). The new president announced, among other things, that membership was increasing by 100,000 a month, and that over 10,000 new members had signed up during the convention.
New Para series
Posted on May 17, 2009Stopped by the Para USA (formerly Para Ord) booth. They made the gun blogger special edition last year, and I've become very fond of mine, a 1911 action with double-action trigger. They're now bringing out their Gun Rights models. 1911 .45s, single and double stack, fiber optics sights and match trigger, and Para is donating $25 to NRA from every sale...
At NRA meeting
Posted on May 17, 2009Haven't blogged much for past few days since I'm in Phoenix at the NRA annual meeting, and busy as heck. I heard the dinner last night was the largest dinner in the State's history, with 5,500 people. (I suppose it's not hard to calculate which is the largest, because anything in that ballpark would have to take place in the convention center)...
Senate passes bill allowing carrying in parks
Posted on May 13, 2009Story here. Vote was 67-29. Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred...
Los Angeles gun buyback
Posted on May 13, 2009Gun buybacks' primary function is to enable gunnies to sell their junkers for above market value, so I probably should not be critical of them, but report seems exceptionally brainless. One of the organizers says of the people who turned out, "It's a pretty good-looking group of citizens," he said...
Amicus briefs in Chicago 14th Amendment case
Posted on May 11, 2009They're all posted here. Five for the Plaintiffs/Appellants, four for the scoundrels.
Washington Times calls for arming ship crews
Posted on May 11, 2009Editorial here. A thought: it might take no more than a pistol. assuming the target ship unbolts its ladders, they have to come up via grappling hook. As soon as the first guy's head appears, the crewman shoots him. The pirate crew now must call for volunteers to be the next up...
Florida alert
Posted on May 11, 2009United Sportsmen of Florida is sending an alert (see "below the fold") that the Legislature raided most of the funds produced by CCW licenses, which are supposed to be set aside to handle license issuance only. Legislature also put in a proviso to pressure against veto, by saying if provisions of the appropriations bill are vetoed, the money to finance them will come out of the education budget.
He IS "The One"
Posted on May 10, 2009To the gun industry, that is. Obama continues to justify his title as the Greatest Gun Salesman of All Time. Sturm, Ruger's corporate report, in pdf. Firearm sales up 55%, production up 69%, but not keeping pace with demand, backorders are up to nearly half a million firearms...
Self defense in the grand style
Posted on May 09, 2009"Startled burglar pleads for his life." Can't say as I recommend his approach, tho. We had a Judge Meehan here, Marine, former LEO, great fellow. One night he finds someone crawling in his bathroom window, which was right the tub. He grabs the guy by the back of his collar and yanks him in, sending him head-first into the tub...
Now this is the media I'm accustomed to!
Posted on May 09, 2009From yesterday's New York Times: "the so-called wisdom" "timidity about standing up to the National Rifle Association" "needed measures to curb gun violence." "well-founded enthusiasm for reviving the assault weapons ban" "this season of successive mass shootings" "the nation?s lax regulation of guns" "N...
Forest fire danger from muzzleloaders?
Posted on May 09, 2009The Forest Service has a presolicitation, forest-fire related notice out for "Multi-variable analysis on the probability and prediction of fire ignitions from muzzle loaded guns". During the Civil War, musketry did start fires at the Wilderness and a few other fights...
Car violence
Posted on May 08, 2009Horward Nemerov asks why no one discusses auto violence, when the DUI death toll exceeds that for all forms of murder.
Cool statement from an LEO
Posted on May 08, 2009Story here. Toledo has laid off 75 officers, may lay off 75 more. An officer advises its citizens to "Invest in precious metals: lead, gun powder, and brass." Around here, all those can be had -- it's the primers that are gone!
A simple solution to piracy
Posted on May 08, 2009Reader Scott Sterling emails what seems to be a simple, easy, and cheap solution to piracy. I would just add that I doubt an AK is a 300-400 yard weapon in Somalian hands. Videos I've seen of their land fighting suggests their firing stance is: hold gun sideways, or overhead, dance around and pull trigger while taunting foes...
Self defense in a "gun free school zone"
Posted on May 07, 2009Racine, WI. Four thugs knock a fellow down, try to rob him, fail to see that he is open carrying (which is legal). He draws, points in a safe direction, and announces that he is armed, and they of course flee. Now the issue is: since he was within 1000 ft of a school, should he be charged with carrying in a "gun-free school zone"? Hat tip to reader Carl in Chicago...
A college student shooting that will never make the national media
Posted on May 06, 2009It was lucky just to get this local coverage, because the good guy shot and won. Two armed invaders crash a party. Their conversation suggests the plan was to kill everyone after robbing them, but a student draws, drives one off and mortally wounds the other, who was preparing to rape a female student...
Olofson conviction affirmed
Posted on May 06, 2009Snowflakes in Hell has a solid analysis. Once the government got testimony (true or false) from the fellow he lent the rifle to, that Olofson knew it would fire a full auto burst before jamming, he was in deep trouble, and if convicted, odds of reversal on appeal would be very low.
Antis amicus in Chicago case
Posted on May 05, 2009Clayton Cramer discusses "Embarrassingly Bad Amicus Brief in the Chicago Case.". He does a good job of taking its historical claims apart, and has a link to it. I read it and think his title justified for a different reason as well. Legal citation is done to the standard of the Blue Book (at various times the White Book, etc...
CalGuns Fdn and SAF challenge Calif carry permit law
Posted on May 05, 2009Posting about it here, with link to the complaint. Filed in Federal District Court, attorneys Alan Gura and Don Kilmer. It builds up their recent 9th Circuit incorporation win, by challenging California's carry permit system as applied in two counties...
Piracy and arming crews
Posted on May 04, 2009The skipper of the not-hijacked Maersk Alabama testifies before the Senate, and agrees with Blue Dog Demo Sen. Jim Webb that crews should be armed against pirates. The chairman of his line loses control of his bladder while worrying that pirates might escalate, and a comment from a Navy vet suggests that four ...
Is ammo really this hard to come by?
Posted on May 04, 2009I mean, the seller won't even give a warranty, it's as-is.
Novel Brittish approach to home invasions
Posted on May 04, 2009Officers go about with megaphones, and empowered to enter houses, shouting warnings to lock doors and windows. And the press describes it as a "burglary crackdown."
LA City Attorney's race
Posted on May 03, 2009One contender is Carmen Trutanich, law partner of pro-gun attorney Chuch Michel, and Trutanich's opponent is trying to use that against him. Hat tip to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae...
Now, those were the days!
Posted on May 02, 2009May 2, 1946: prisoners at Alcatraz Prison riot, where a group aiming to escape gets out of their cells and into and armory for guns and ammo. They herded captured guards into a cell and then one of the prisoners shot into the cell, killing two and injuring others...
LE shooting in Florida
Posted on May 02, 2009Article here. If this had been a private citizen shooting, I suspect there'd be homicide charges, and if it'd been a CCW permit holder, the paper would probably be citing as an example of dangerous recklessness. Retired firefighter is reported armed and suicidal...
Thoughts on crime
Posted on May 01, 2009Peter Hitchens has some deep thoughts on conditions in Britain. "The frequent arrests of people for defending themselves or their property are not accidents or quirks. They are the consequence of the Criminal Justice system's abandonment of old-fashioned ideas of punishment; also of that system's social democratic belief that crime has 'social' causes and the ownership of property isn't absolute...
Insider thoughts on piracy and arming crews
Posted on April 30, 2009Reader Diogenes emails (his original command having been blocked, for some reason, by the spam filter): I work in the insurance industry as a large property underwriter and work closely with our marine underwriters. I understand that the issues with armed crew on merchant vessels are mainly with insurance premiums and crew pay...
Interesting mandatory sentencing case
Posted on April 29, 2009Dean v. US, handed down today by the Supreme Court. 18 USC 924(c) imposes a mandatory sentence for use of a firearm in a federal violent crime -- 5 years if carried, 7 if brandished, and 10 if the firearm is discharged. The first sentence of the opinion sums up the case (with rather more wit than we are accustomed to seeing, but Roberts can do that): "Accidents happen...
Arms vs. pirates
Posted on April 29, 2009A cruiseship captain issues handguns and the crew uses them to fend off Somalian pirates. Two warning shots in the air and the pirates (who had AKs) bailed out, surprised that the crew actually had guns. (I find this story receiving little play in the US media...
Piracy and arming crews
Posted on April 28, 2009General Petraeus has proposed arming merchantmen. The main resistance seems to be coming from the ship owners, who'd rather pay ransom than risk ... whatever they fear. "Joe Cox, president of the Chamber of Shipping of America, cautioned that deploying armed guards aboard cargo ships could escalate violence if pirates expect a gunfight...
Nine bills up for vote in Albany
Posted on April 28, 2009Story here. In case you wonder what NY could outlaw that it hasn't already, one of the bills would require firearm dealers to have million dollar liability policies covering criminal misuse by purchasers. Reader David Lawson asks, "What insurance company would write that kind of policy?" Good point.
NYC: knife killings skyrocketing
Posted on April 28, 2009In NY City, gun killings are down but knife homicides are up by 50%. "amnesty for pocket knives or steak knives is not a reasonable option, said the Rev. Darryl Frazier ..."
Obama mulls ban on full-auto transmissions
Posted on April 28, 2009That's what Scrappleface reports. The claim is that cars kill far more people than guns, but the real reason is the hopes that it will boost car sales the way the potential of an assault rifle ban has boosted gun sales. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson...
Jimmy Carter on AW ban
Posted on April 27, 2009Carter's NY Times Op-Ed is here, and Alphecca's response is here. An interesting gap in the discourse on this issue: arguments for such laws invariably dodge what should be the central question for any proposed law of any type, namely, what is the evidence that this law will do any good? We had such a law on the books for ten years, after all, so if there is any evidence it shouldn't be hard to produce.
Gun and ammo sales
Posted on April 26, 2009In the last three months of 2008, that's right, three months, Americans bought enough guns to outfit the Chinese and Indian armies, combined. Actually, that's just reflective of the NICS checks, which don't cover sales by private parties, and buys by CCW permit holders...
ATF webpage
Posted on April 24, 2009A page calling for cleaning up ATF, together with a blog, written by agents. I've griped about the agency as much as anyone, but the bottom line is there are folks with it who are decent, and folks who are not, and the problem is that the folks who are not get promoted, get into power, and are in positions to shaft those who are decent...
Internat'l Law Enforcement Educator & Trainers on mass shootings
Posted on April 24, 2009The legendary Massad Ayoob is attending the annual conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association. He writes: "Thursday afternoon, I chaired the panel of experts discussion on deadly force issues. I had been able to assemble ten superstars of police training...
New book on militia
Posted on April 24, 2009Robert Churchill, an EXCELLENT historian (we cited him several times in our Heller brief), has out a new book on the militia movements. I put it in the plural because he documents how the recent movement fits into the long term historical context. The title is "To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant's Face: Libertarian Political Violence and the Origins of the Militia Movement...
Lawsuit over Pittsburgh ordinance
Posted on April 24, 2009Story here. I see standing and ripeness problems....
Gun Buyback in Los Angeles
Posted on April 23, 2009And, as Crime, Guns and Videotapes notes, it's time for every gunnie to trade in their junkers for $100-200, and have some cash to spend on ammunition!
Storm brewing in Milwaukee
Posted on April 22, 2009The Wisconsin Attorney General has ruled that open carry is lawful and cannot be charged as disorderly conduct. (I find it amusing that the article claims that open carry is only allowed in two States, when in fact it's OK in the vast majority). But the Milwaukee police chief issues orders to arrest any open carriers and seize their firearm...
Gun Self Defense Blog passes a milestone
Posted on April 21, 2009Clayton Cramer's gun self defense blog just chronicled its 4,000th such incident, and pauses to list a few conclusions: In six cases, the criminal managed to get a gun away from the defender, but in 183 cases the defender managed to get a gun away from the criminal...
Interesting 4th Amendment decision today
Posted on April 21, 2009Opinion handed down today in Arizona v. Gant. Gant was arrested for driving on a suspended license, handcuffed and put in the squadcar. Officers then (with no probable cause) searched his car and found cocaine. Traditional reasons for search incident to arrest were officer safety, to make sure there was no weapon within reach, and also to prevent destruction of evidence...
Nordyke v. King 9th Cir. incorporates 2nd
Posted on April 20, 2009A tip from reader Alice Beard that 9th held 2d was incorporated in a ruling not yet posted. Will update. UPDATE: here's the ruling. On a quick read: Court incorporates the 2A on a selective incorporation, due process, theory, holding that the right is a fundamental one, deeply rooted in Anglo-American history, and traditionally seen as a natural right rather than a politically-created one...
Wash. Times tears into 90% figure
Posted on April 20, 2009Editorial here. "Of the ones sent here to be traced, 90 percent turn out to be from America, but most guns recovered in Mexico are not sent here so are not included in the count. Fox News reported that 17 percent is a more accurate number. Democrats aren't alone in repeating phony gun statistics...
Additional thoughts on Nordyke
Posted on April 20, 2009This has got to hurt. Only three days ago Chicago filed its brief in the 7th Circuit. Reading over it-- "The cited footnotes were dicta and when the issue was actually presented in the Ninth Circuit, it ruled that the Second Amendment does not limit the States...
April 19 thoughts
Posted on April 19, 2009Rivrdog has some thoughts, appropriate to the date. Always wondered about the "shot heard round the world. In the days of blackpowder, the smoke would have made the shooter obvious to everyone for hundreds of yards. He'd know who it was, and so would everyone around him...
The REAL DHS report on extremism
Posted on April 19, 2009Here's a real scoop. Just remember you first saw it here.
City's brief in Chicago challenge
Posted on April 18, 2009Online here, in pdf. I think it's dead wrong, of course, but it is rather well written.
More thoughts on guns and Mexico and cartels
Posted on April 18, 2009As noted earlier, everyone from President Obama to the Mexican ambassador is claiming that 90%, or even 95% of criminal guns recovered in Mexico come from the US. The fact that 90% of guns submitted to ATF for tracing trace to the US, but the Mexican government only submits guns that it thinks came from the US; a while back FoxNews ran the numbers and concluded that only 17% of guns recovered in Mexico came from the US...
Proposed OAS treaty
Posted on April 17, 2009In floating an OAS proposed treaty with regard to control of small arms, the administration commented that it had been worked out with the aid of pro-gun groups. NRA says the hell it was.
Montana's exemption
Posted on April 17, 2009Story here. While I agree with the idea, I can't see the legislation as having much practical impact. If a Federal law is unconstitutional, it is so whatever a State may legislative. If it is constitutional, then under the Supremacy Clause it overrides whatever a State may legislate...
Lott's on a roll!
Posted on April 16, 2009Now, he's tearing into ABC 20/20. Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred...
Mayor Bloomberg pays for Virginia campaign ads
Posted on April 15, 2009Story here. He's attacking pro-gun gubernatorial candidate Robert F. McDonnell, who as Attorney General dared write Bloomberg a letter notifying him that if he tried to set up Virginia FFLs in the future he'd face criminal charges. I suppose it's hard to be a millionaire, or a politician, let alone both, without becoming a narcissist, but to write someone "But all is forgiven if you do what?s right...
U.S. Miller question
Posted on April 15, 2009This just popped into my head. Miller won in the trial court. The government filed for cert., Supreme Court accepted. Miller's attorney never formally appeared in the Supreme Court, did not show for oral argument. He also didn't brief it, and in fact sent a telegram asking the Court to consider the case submitted on the government's brief...
Supreme Court watching
Posted on April 15, 2009A few weeks ago Justice Ginsburg commented that we might see changes in the Court's composition in the near future. Above the Law notes that every Justice has picked his/her four clerks for the next Term.... except Justice Souter, who hasn't picked any...
John Lott on many topics
Posted on April 15, 2009Gun free zones, foreign experiences, "assault weapon" bans, and other issues. Video here.
Impressive self-defense
Posted on April 14, 2009Video here. As pointed out, in each of the shopkeeper's gunfights, the robber started with his gun out and the shopkeeper with his stashed, but the good guy prevailed (albeit getting hit twice). This answers the 20/20 assertion that a defender will invariably freeze up and be helpless, while the thug will always be functional and confident.
Thoughts on a Heller v. DC exception
Posted on April 14, 2009Kurt Hoffman discusses attempts to bar private sales at gun shows. What's esp interesting is a comment by reader Carl in Chicago. His point is that the Heller case is sometimes read to allow (or at least list as presumptively allowable) restrictions on sale and transfer...
Two die in Indiana swordfight
Posted on April 14, 2009It seems more a vulgar brawl than an affair of honor.
Criminal investigation of a police dept....
Posted on April 14, 2009Over claims that lead fragments may have escaped its shooting range. I'm quite open to the argument that neighbors who want the range closed are spreading lead around. Hard to see how lead fragments (not dust) could travel a fair distance (i.e., to somewhere on a school described as across a street)...
Strange events at Dept of Justice
Posted on April 13, 2009It's almost as if they want to see an informant killed or something.
PBS webpage seeking gun-related stories
Posted on April 11, 2009Right here. They're soliciting stories dealing with guns, with an eye toward an HBO documentary -- self defense, crime, how a person got interested. Just starting out, and the balance is tipping toward antis. I'd suggest routing any people with self-defense stories their way.
ABC on self defense in active shooter cases
Posted on April 11, 2009The story, or at least the predictable propaganda, is here. At least it has the virtue of unintended humor. Antigunners "point out that most people are unprepared to handle a gun," because most states don't require a permit that requires formal training...
More on Mexico
Posted on April 11, 2009The Narcosphere points out that reports that (insert imaginary number) % of guns seized in Mexico trace to the US may illustrate a different problem. With State Department approval, American companies sell about $300,000 a year of military/police arms and hardware to the Mexican military and law enforcement...
It must really suck to be on the other side....
Posted on April 10, 2009Scripps News: Prospects dim for new restrictions on gun ownership. "The White House Web site's description of the administration's agenda calls for a variety of gun-control measures, .... But the Democratic majority at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue has shown no appetite to act on any of those proposals...
The media we remember
Posted on April 10, 2009Freedom States Alliance (a/k/a Joyce Foundation astroturf) is joyfully announced that it has the media back in harness. 10 PM tonight, ABC News on the evils of gun shows and why guns are no good in defense against crime (leaving us to wonder why police bother carrying them around)...
New acting head of ATFE
Posted on April 09, 2009Kenneth Melson, who has been head of the Exec Office of US Attorneys, has been named acting director of BATFE. He comes from outside the agency, having been a Justice Dept attorney since 1983. On the side, he taught forensic science at George Washington U law school.
AP story on killings
Posted on April 08, 2009Right here. Ah, that's the media I remember, with an agenda to push! The agenda here being that permit systems, even that of NY, are not functioning -- because they're just too liberal. Reader Carl in Chicago notes that he emailed the AP (info@ap...
New Gallup conclusions
Posted on April 08, 2009Gallup's findings indicate public support for gun restrictions is hitting all-time lows.
John Lott on mass shootings
Posted on April 06, 2009A short piece here. "For years I would tell news people about the fact that every single multiple victim public shooting in the US involving more than three people killed took place in one of these gun-free zones. The response was they might include this information as part of the story if I could get it to them fast enough so that it could be included as part of the news story...
Thoughts on "active shooters"
Posted on April 06, 2009The manager of South East Area Law Enforcement has some thoughts, of which the most relevant are: "Where times have been reliably documented, the average post-Columbine ?rapid mass murder episode? lasts just 8 minutes, according to Borsch?s calculations...
Response time at Binghamton NY killing
Posted on April 05, 2009Police took 1 to 1.5 hour to organize and enter the building (the gunman apparently having shot himself as they first arrived). "The chief defended the time it took officers to go into the building ? an hour to 90 minutes. "If some crazy lunatic decides to pick up a gun and go someplace and start shooting people, I really don't have the answer how long for us that could prevent anything like that," Zikuski said...
Civil War resource
Posted on April 05, 2009Just found that Nat'l Park Service has an online search capability for Civil War troopers' records.
More on border wars
Posted on April 04, 2009A few days ago I posted to the FoxNews story, showing the falsity of claims that 85-90% of guns seized in Mexico come from the US (the 85-90% figure only includes those the Mexican government asks ATFE to trace, which logically are guns they already figure came from the US...
Fight for L.A. City Atty position
Posted on April 04, 2009Carmen Trutanich, partner to pro-gun attorney Chuck Michel, is one of the last two contenders, and the race is getting pretty combative: "Trutanich cast Weiss as a legal ?novice? with little to show for his two terms on the City Council. Weiss hammered Trutanich for representing polluters and sharing a law practice with an attorney for the National Rifle Association, among other gun groups...
Drug cartel story in WashPo
Posted on April 03, 2009Story here. Two notes: "Holder agreed that the "vast majority" of weapons used by the cartels come from north of the border." and "Holder [added] that the United States is not seeking to change any of its gun laws to slow weapons smuggling."
Crossbow assault
Posted on April 03, 2009Story here. "Police said alcohol fueled the incident." No kidding -- the argument was over whether a dog was a pit bull or a lab.
Oregon Universities bar student for lawful carry
Posted on April 03, 2009Story here. Apparently the student has been informed that, not only is he suspended from the U he was attending, but he is barred from attending any State university in Oregon.
Central Florida's not a good spot for robbers
Posted on April 03, 2009It's just not hospitable for that trade. "A pharmacist shot an armed robber dead Tuesday at a drugstore off South Orange Blossom Trail, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said. It was at least the fourth time this year that a robber was killed at a Central Florida business and was the second drugstore holdup that ended in death...
GREAT coverage of guns and Mexico
Posted on April 02, 2009On FoxNews. A great story that I'd say is the definitive piece to date, and will remain so for quite a time.
The government will protect you...
Posted on April 02, 2009Via Instapundit comes this report of a lawsuit brought by a NY subway rape victim. Two subway personnel saw it, and their response was to send a message for someone to call the police. As Glenn Reynolds notes, "Eric Holder talked about a ?nation of cowards...
An interesting comparison....
Posted on April 01, 2009Latest data for the adjacent States of Maryland and Virginia. Virginia, whose laws are gun-friendly, "is the 14th safest state in the country, improving its position for a fourth consecutive year." Maryland, which is NOT gun-friendly, "has the second highest murder and robbery rate in the country, with Baltimore being the 12th more dangerous city in America...
More good news in the States
Posted on March 31, 2009The Montana Senate passed a modified form of earlier reforms. This version deletes the removal of CCW permit requirement for carry in cities, but preserves "no retreat" and forbids landlords to make disarmament a requirement of tenancy. Reader Denton Bramwell emails that Utah's governor signed two measures into law that (1) allow CCW without permit on your own realty, vehicle, or business premises; (2) allows CCW without permit of a firearm with a barrel of 4" or more if hunting; (3) establishes CCW reciprocity for ALL States; and (4) forbids a company from prohibiting storage of a gun in a parked vehicle where the gun is locked up and out of sight.
Mexican Cartels
Posted on March 31, 2009At Andrew Breitbart's new Big Hollywood blog-- Dan Gifford has "The ?America Is Arming Mexico?s Drug Gangs? Lie", an excellent post. Jeff Jena has posted "Backdooring the Second Amendment" on the same topic. UPDATE: here's a summary of Mexico's gun laws...
The media I remember
Posted on March 30, 2009Stereotypes here. Hat tip to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae....
Another case of armed criminal disarmed by citizen
Posted on March 27, 2009Howard Nemerov discusses it here. Gun wielding crook invades house, homeowner wrestles with him for gun, crook shoots self, homeowner's girlfriend stabs crook, crook flees. The antis have the narrative of armed citizen being disarmed by criminal, but it's all other way around...
Kansas to vote on individual right guarantee
Posted on March 26, 2009Story at the Volokh Conspiracy. It's esp. interesting since Kansas' existing wording was cited by its Supreme Court, when in 1905 it basically invented the collective rights approach in City of Salina v. Blaksley. The legislative vote to put it on the ballot was overwhelming: 39-1 in the Senate and 116-9 in the House.
SoF Mag expose'
Posted on March 26, 2009I am informed that the issue of Soldier of Fortune magazine will cover a Dept of Justice Inspector General's report on ATFE deployment in Iraq. Gist of reports is that millions have been claimed in fraudulent overtime (as in everyone consistently reporting 16 hour workdays, 7 days a week, or everyone reporting 15...
A good day in State legislatures
Posted on March 25, 2009The Ill. House votes down HB 48, which would have required all handgun transfers to be run thru FFLs. And the Texas Senate unanimously passed a bill allowing guns in locked cars on company-owned parking lots.
Back from hospital
Posted on March 24, 2009I survived, will post an entry after I get relaxed. Amusing event: I'm in the hospital and hear a page "Dr. No, please pick up on line 1420." Looked to the roster of licensed MDs kept by the AZ Medical Board and find: Keun H. No MD 6567 E. Carondelet Drive # 441 Tucson AZ 85710 and Kee Bin No MD 6567 e...
out of action
Posted on March 22, 2009hospitalized, prob until tuesday. long story, will fill in later.
Time for some laughs
Posted on March 20, 2009While doing some online research I came across some webpages that were most amusing, in the wake of the Heller decision. The Ethical Spectacle: "The best indication of what any law, including a Constitutional provision, means, is what the courts say it means...
More on injunction against park CCW
Posted on March 20, 2009Dave Workman has thoughts and links. Having read the opinion (linked in a comment to the prior post), I can see how this happened. All agencies have to comply with NEPA, the National Enviro Policy Act. NEPA isn't, as we bureaucrats called it, an action-forcing statute, it doesn't dictate a result...
IL Supreme Court on Lawful Protection of Commerce Act
Posted on March 19, 2009PDF here. Adames v. Sheahan. UPDATE: this is strange. The link stopped working. I had a perfectly ordinary pdf in another window, so to test it I hit reload ... and it went blank, too. Basically, a correctional officer kept a Beretta at home. His son got the gun (apparently despite being locked away) and thought that removing the magazine leaves it unloaded...
Charges against X-Caliber Guns dismissed
Posted on March 19, 2009This is a strange case. The Arizona Attorney General (not ATF) brought State charges against a Phoenix-area gun dealer, claiming he'd supplied over 700 guns to Mexican drug cartels. And the AG loses on a directed verdict -- meaning the judge finds that the evidence is nonexistent: no rational juror could find for the prosecution...
DoD backs down on destruction of fired cases
Posted on March 18, 2009I was delaying reference to this, trying to gather more info, but apparently the Dept of Defense has sold expended cartridges to companies that reload, but recently announced that it would cease doing so and only transfer cartridge casings after they'd been mangled into scrap...
65 Demo Congressmen write AG Holder...
Posted on March 18, 2009telling him to kindly forget about an "assault weapon ban."
One year ago today
Posted on March 18, 2009... was the oral argument in Heller. I didn't have the angle to see it, but a friend who did said that the face of DC's advocate, Walter Dellinger, fell when Justice Kennedy's questions showed he was pro-individual right. Kennedy was the likely swing vote.
Comment on 14th Amendment cases
Posted on March 18, 2009Here, in the Wall Street Journal Online. It would be better if the writer didn't think of the right to arms in liberal vs. conservative lights.
Eugene Volokh on the increase in gun sales
Posted on March 18, 2009He does an interesting month-by-month breakdown over several years and concludes that Obama's election and subsequent events are the most likely cause. Compared to the previous year, sales increased 3% in September, 15% in October, and 42% in November, and stayed high since.
Opening brief in Chicago case
Posted on March 17, 2009Pdf here. As always, written in splendid manner.
Your tax dollars at work
Posted on March 17, 2009The National Institutes of Health, after a study of children and teens in six States, concludes that.... "swimming lessons do not increase drowning risk."
BATFE explosives ruling overturned
Posted on March 17, 2009Summary and link to opinion here. Issue was whether a model rocket fuel crossed the line from "burns fast" into "explosive." Court gave the agency two tries at formulating and explaining its ruling, and it still couldn't get it right.
New Admin and arming pilots
Posted on March 17, 2009A Washington Times editorial. Mind you, given how lousy the last administration was on the issue, it would be hard to do worse, but they're at least giving it a game try.
A fellow's memories of Joe Foss
Posted on March 16, 2009The Minot Daily News carries the recollections of businessman/photographer Mark Hamilton, including: "Hamilton's love of the outdoors and enthusiasm for every task he undertakes has also led to developing friendships with some very notable personalities...
Mexican drug cartels' armament
Posted on March 15, 2009There's been some claims from the present Administration that US firearms are going south and fueling drug cartels' wars. It is probably the case that some US handguns are being shipped south, but the serious armament of the cartels is now full-auto AK-47s, former Soviet RPGs, hand grenades and some American light antitank weapons...
U.S. parks to eliminate lead projectiles & fishing weights
Posted on March 15, 2009Story here. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson...
More debate over St. George Tucker
Posted on March 15, 2009A few months ago, Northwestern Univ. Law Review Colloquy published my paper on the lecture notes of St. George Tucker. One of the points I made was that the Stevens' dissent in Heller had picked up on an article by Saul Cornell that argued Tucker was a collective-rights type, and in fact this had greatly misconstrued his lecture notes...
Ted Cruz campaign website
Posted on March 15, 2009Ted Cruz's campaign for Atty General of Texas has this new website. It has a link to video of him defending the 2A on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Cruz filed a very good amicus in the Heller case....
Need to have priorities, I suppose...
Posted on March 13, 2009Chicago's running a massive deficit, with things getting worse. For a time it cut back on snowplowing to save money. Mayor Daley is telling other mayors that they must "?Tell your employees that there?s going to be layoffs. Tell your citizens there is going to be cutbacks of services...
Historical question
Posted on March 13, 2009Just had this pop into mind.... When John Wilkes Booth went to assassinate Lincoln, he carried a small single-shot derringer and a knife. He succeeded because Lincoln's usual bodyguard (who carried a pair of revolvers and a bowie) was away, and his replacement left his post to go drinking...
Texas Two-Step on Mexico's drug wars
Posted on March 13, 2009Howard Nemerov has an excellent report.
More reform in TN
Posted on March 12, 2009Eliminating fingerprints for gun purchases. Sounds like "common sense gun control." "Casada, of Franklin, cited Tennessee Bureau of Investigation information that the agency has only once asked for a thumbprint from the 2.3 million guns sold since the law went into effect in 1998...
Good lobbying day in Illinois
Posted on March 12, 2009Story here. Turnout estimated at 3,500 - 5,000.
Good bills advancing in Utah
Posted on March 12, 2009Discussion here. One protects employees who have a firearm in the car and park on a company lot, the other makes a number of liberalizations of the CCW laws.
?You can reject the post but not the will of God?
Posted on March 11, 2009Indians (as in India) are really taking shooting seriously. I mean, Todd Jarrett was a great instructor, but none of us had religious visions concerning him. Well, nobody mentioned such, anyway.
Reform in Tennessee
Posted on March 11, 2009Via Instapundit comes this report from Rustmeister's Alehouse. I found the ban on microstamped guns and ammo interesting. Normally, of course, it makes sense to manufacture stuff to the specs of the tightest (large) State, so it can be sold anywhere...
Historical trivia
Posted on March 10, 2009Napoleon termed his cavalry leader, Murat, the bravest of the brave. Murat sided with Napoleon after the latter's return from exile, and was shot. His son, Achille Charles Louis Napoléon, Royal Prince of Naples, 2nd Prince Murat, and nephew of Napoleon, wound up living in Florida, a militiaman and elected official, and married to a grand-niece of George Washington...
Followup lawsuit against DC
Posted on March 09, 2009Press release here, and complaint, in pdf, here. As part of its new rules, DC adopted California's roster of acceptable sorts of handguns... largely ones that "look right." CalGuns Foundation lent a hand with the research and targeting. The suit singles out guns that were not certified because their manufacturers failed to pay the required fee, or had gone out of business, and listings that are exceptionally arbitrary -- i...
Supreme Court turns down Bloomberg suit appeal
Posted on March 09, 2009Report here. The denial of cert. leaves in place rulings that dismissed NY City's suit against gun manufacturers. Hat tip to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae...
Count the errors....
Posted on March 07, 2009PopSci.com tries to explain whether conventional firearms work in outer space. Egad. Let's see, primers give off sparks, most but not all of the gunpowder's oxygen comes from its own composition, which uses saltpeter, recoil would be worse because there's no air resistance to slow the bullet...
An interesting group
Posted on February 26, 2009A bipartisan Congressional task force devoted to protecting the Second Amendment? Some potential there. Hat tip to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae...
Should self-defense be limited to the strong?
Posted on February 25, 2009Kurt Hoffman asks the question, which has a personal angle. Via Instapundit...
Supreme Ct interprets Lautenberg Amendment
Posted on February 24, 2009It's US v. Hayes. The question was whether to read the less than clear statute as requiring proof that the firearm possessor either (a) was convicted of a misdemeanor, whose elements were use of force, and against a household member, or (b) was convicted of a misdemeanor who element was use of force, with the government able to show in the firearm felony prosecution that it was in fact against a household member...
NJ narrowly rejects additional gun laws
Posted on February 24, 2009Story here. From what I understand, to get a handgun in NJ you have to get a police-issued permit, which takes months to obtain. But this wasn't enough for some advocates, who wanted one-gun-a-month atop it. The measure passed the Assembly, and fell short in the Senate by a single vote.
Youth Education Summit applications
Posted on February 23, 2009If you know any high school students who are interested in the second amendment, recommend NRA's Youth Education Summit to their consideration.
Thoughts on the 14th Amendment cases
Posted on February 23, 2009The National Law Journal has some thoughts on the Chicago and other cases raising the incorporation question. I tend to think the thoughts rather shallow, rooted in "liberal vs. conservative," which doesn't always work in a 2nd Amendment context, and rarely works in a 14th Amendment one...
Win in 10th Circuit
Posted on February 19, 2009A District Court in Oklahoma struck down its law allowing employees to have firearms in locked cars on company lots -- grounds were that OSHA's general duty to keep a workplace safe overrode the State law. The 10th Circuit just reversed the ruling and upheld the State law...
Send a reader to Australia!
Posted on February 19, 2009Reader Guy Smith writes: Help me spend six months in a luxury house overlooking the Great Barrier Reef and get paid an obscene amount of money to do so. All it takes is sixty seconds. The tourism board of Queensland, Australia is running a contest for this job (http://www...
Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day
Posted on February 19, 2009ISRA has announced it for March 11, at noon. Details are here.
Little more on Roger Barnett case
Posted on February 18, 2009Here's the Washington Times story on the verdict. The reporter mentioned that his first story on the case got 2.5 million hits and generated 1500 emails, virtually all supportive. Roger and I will be on Fox New's Glenn Beck show today at 5:30 Eastern...
Wash Po on suit over Parks carry rule
Posted on February 17, 2009Reader Ambiguous Ambiguae sends this link.
Roger Barnett case verdict
Posted on February 17, 2009Finally can talk about it. Dog tired after 2 wks of trial. Verdict I'd score as 90-95% defense win. Court dismissed conspiracy against civil rights and some other claims. Dismissed case as to Mrs. Barnett and as to his brother Donald. Also dismissed claims by 10 of the 16 plaintiffs, who hadn't testified...
Another case of impressive flying
Posted on February 16, 2009Story here. 1956. A four engine stratocruiser, flying from Hawaii to San Francisco, loses two engines midway, has to ditch in mid-ocean. Capt. Richard Ogg pulls it off and gets everyone out alive. Video of the landing at the bottom. Hat tip to Peter Buxton.
Brady Campaign suit against Interior
Posted on February 16, 2009Snowflakes in Hell has an excellent discussion.
Oregon case re: colleges
Posted on February 15, 2009The Oregon Firearms Federation is taking on a case involving a college student arrested at Western Oregon U. for possessing a firearm in a public place. The minor problem being that he is a CCW permit holder, and thus is exempt from that statute. Linked is a pdf of a letter from the Legislative Counsel (i...
Brady Campaign grades and crime rates
Posted on February 15, 2009Howard Nemerov points out that Brady's top ten States have a significantly higher homicide and violent crime rate than its bottom ten.
Gun buyback in Columbia SC
Posted on February 15, 2009Story here . Gun buybacks are a great subsidy to gun owners. Everyone has a junker or two that's beyond repair and unsalable. You can still get $50-100 for it! When they had one here, gunnies turned out at the sites and watched as people came up, and made offers for anything worthwhile...
Done with trial
Posted on February 13, 2009Won't be blogging much today, tho. Understand a jury trial means getting up at 6, and working on it until about 10 PM. Lunches wolfed down in haste (you get an hour and a quarter, but some of that is lost walking from courthouse to office, and the rest spent eating quickly while thinking and making notes)...
Why the innocent may be punished worse than the guilty
Posted on February 08, 2009Concurring Opinions has thoughts on the case of Timothy Cole, who died in prison, and was subsequently exonerated by DNA evidence and the real rapist's confession. He turned down a plea bargain that would have gotten him probation, and couldn't be paroled because he "refused to accept responsibility...
ROTC cadet suspended for having drill props
Posted on February 08, 2009Story here. She had several fake guns used at drill, made of wood and duct tape. The school invoked a Colorado law that defines dangerous weapons as "a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or a firearm facsimile that could reasonably be mistaken for an actual firearm...
"Good and capable" teacher suspended due to gun photo
Posted on February 07, 2009Beaver Dam WI schools have suspended and are investigating a teacher who posted a pic of herself aiming a gun on her Facebook page. While I don't care for pics where the gun is aimed at the camera, I can't see what it has to do with her teaching. Hat tip to reader L...
San Francisco antes up
Posted on February 06, 2009The city agrees to pay $380,000 in attorneys' fees incurred in the lawsuit challenging Proposition H.
Slow blogging
Posted on February 04, 2009Whew! I'm in the midst of a two-week jury trial, so there will be a little blogging in the evenings. Working 12-14 hour days doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging.
Superbowl surprise in Tucson
Posted on February 02, 2009Great game yesterday, but it had a surprise locally. It's in the final minutes, I think while the AZ Cardinals were holding onto a two point lead, so probably half the TVs in the city were tuned to it. Scene cuts to woman and man, woman reaching into his pants...
Update on Phillip Dominguez case
Posted on February 01, 2009Sensibly Progressive has update. I blogged about his case a few days ago -- Mr. Dominguez is a law-abiding construction company owner, who owned a registered "assault rifle," which in California he could legally take from his house to a shooting range...
Georgia permit apps nearly doubling
Posted on February 01, 2009Story here. Hat tip to reader Ed Stone....
Clever tax collection technique
Posted on February 01, 2009Scrappleface reports on a clever technique for raising tax revenues.
Making arms in the Khyber Pass
Posted on January 31, 2009An interesting video on how Afghans make firearms by taking blanks of steel and filing away everything that doesn't look like a gun. Looks like they achieve high quality. And they have better gun handling techniques than the US interviewer. Also shown are their other inventories...
Dominquez case in CA
Posted on January 30, 2009Sensibly Progressive has the story. Earlier post here. Basically, Mr. Dominguez is a law abiding fellow who had the misfortune to live in California (everything he was doing would be completely legal in AZ). On the way to a shooting range, he stopped at the LA airport to pick up a friend who would go to the range with him...
More reason to be glad I'm in Arizona
Posted on January 29, 2009A Phoenix area Justice of the Peace just ruled speed camera tickets unconstitutional. He found a violation of Equal Protection, since (1) tickets issued by officers have variable fines depending upon how fast the driver was going, whereas camera issued tickets all have one fine ($181...
Howard Nemerov now writes for the DC Examiner
Posted on January 29, 2009His first article analyses the elections in terms of NRA vs. Brady endorsed wins.
OSHA opines on OKL law on workplace parking lot storage
Posted on January 29, 2009Here's a pdf of a new OSHA opinion that the Oklahoma law protecting employees who have firearms in their locked cars, on employer-owned parking lots, are protected against firing. [Corrected, thanks to comment. I rec'd this from someone in FLA and assumed it related to the similar law there...
Len Savage's gun arrested
Posted on January 28, 2009David Codrea has the story. Background: Savage designs NFA-related items. This one enables the owner of a lawful NFA firearm to convert it to a different caliber. BATFE originally ruled that the item was not a firearm, let alone an NFA one; it was a conversion kit...
Summary of economic stimulus package
Posted on January 28, 2009This Q & A, from reader Spiker, is the best I have seen. It sums up the economics concisely: This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. Here is a brief explanation: Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment? A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers...
Chicago 14th A appeal -- opening brief filed
Posted on January 28, 2009Right here. Alan Gura was in Tucson tonight, and we caught dinner at Casa Molina. He is quite optimistic. The court announce argument date sometime after the answering brief is filed (if I remember that correctly). The earliest possible argument date would be in April, no idea if it'll come then, or later.
Traced guns vs. crime guns
Posted on January 27, 2009An interesting story in the DC Examiner: "?Officer, I am carrying a firearm in compliance with North Carolina law.? So began my exchange during a traffic stop. (Sorry, I have a lead foot.) He replied, ?May I have it, sir?? Since this was before I knew enough to say ?no,? I complied...
National CCW reciprocity bill
Posted on January 27, 2009Alphecca notes it's been introduced. I'd share his doubts it's going anywhere soon.
David E. Young moves into blogging!
Posted on January 26, 2009David E. Young is author of several incredibly comprehensive books on the Second Amendment, including The Origins of the Second Amendment, which the Fifth Circuit cited over a hundred times in the Emerson decision. I'm happy to note that he's begun a blog, On Second Opinion...
Another reason I'm happy to be in Arizona
Posted on January 26, 2009A poll of New Yorkers on their newly appointed US Senator finds generally favorable opinions, but "Because of Gillibrand's pro-gun position and her backing by the National Rifle Assn., 36 percent of New York State voter, including 50 percent of Democrats, are less likely to vote for her when she runs for election next year, while 17 percent are more likely to vote for her...
Staples case and malfunctioning semiautos
Posted on January 25, 2009Snowflakes in Hell has a post on the issue of whether a malfunctioning semiauto can leave the owner guilty of an NFA violation if it doubles. I'd agree with his assessment that the Staples case largely settles the issue. The National Firearms Act defines "firearm" to be an NFA arm, not any firearm (Congress can define things any way it wants)...
David Codrea on Holder nomination
Posted on January 25, 2009David Codrea weighs in on Holder's testimony, at the DC Examiner.
Steve Halbrook's video testimony against Holder
Posted on January 24, 2009The Independent Institute has it online.
GeorgiaCarry.org gets good press for CCW
Posted on January 24, 2009Video link here. It's a lesson in how to win PR battles. (1) A local group will attract more and more favorable media interest than a national group can and (2) if you actually work with reporters, they may just like it. Hat tip to reader Ed Stone...
New admin. and guns in Parks rule
Posted on January 23, 2009I'd agree with this assessment that the new Administration, even if it wanted to mess with the issue, will have to undertake a new rulemaking to overturn the rule allowing firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. It's already past its effective date, and thus is binding...
A pro-gun US Senator from NY?
Posted on January 23, 2009NY Gov. Paterson has picked Kirsten Gillibrand to replace Hillary Clinton as US Senator. The NY Times reports: "If Mr. Paterson was hoping to quiet the tumult over the selection process by picking Ms. Gillibrand, there were indications that he may not get his wish...
Nice being in AZ
Posted on January 22, 2009The legislature authorized speed cameras for State highways. People circulated petitions against them. The Pinal County Sheriff was among the first to sign. He told a reporter that we all know this is about raising money, not about law enforcement, and he's never yet seen a speed camera stop a drunk driver, or execute an arrest warrant, or "just give directions" to a lost driver.
Militia and State powers
Posted on January 21, 2009Was inspired to a separate post by a comment from J. Norman Heath, who indeed wrote "the" article on the issue, "Exposing the Second Amendment" 79 U.Det. Mercy L.R. 39 (2001). He examines early Supreme Court decisions, and concludes that the Court left the States with very little in the way of power...
NY trial ct rules against incorporation of the 2A
Posted on January 21, 2009Opinion in extended entry, below. Not too surprising. Lower courts can be expected to "pass the buck" upstairs on the issue. It's good that both the Chicago action and Nordyke are so far along in the process, because criminal defense attorneys have a duty to raise the issue, and generally we wouldn't want those cases to go first.
Strange situation in Texas
Posted on January 21, 2009Story here. Woman comes into office with a hunting bow, shoots a guy with an arrow, draws a (fake) gun, and points it at two other employees. Who happen to be CCW holders, and packing. She takes several hits and retreats. An officer comes in to evacuate the guy with the arrow in him, and she starts drawing the bow for a shot at the officer, who fires on her...
Interesting constitutional question re nominations
Posted on January 21, 2009A friend mentioned this. The Constitution says the President shall nominate Cabinet officers. Barack Obama nominated Hillary Clinton for Sec. of State on on December 2, 2008. On December 2, 2008, the President was George W. Bush. The same can be said of the other Cabinet officers nominated before noon on January 20, 2009.
What if Heller had turned out the other way?
Posted on January 20, 2009Prof. Nick Johnson asks the question, in the Wake Forest Law Review. His points are practical rather than legal ones. (1) The only supply-side gun control that would have a chance of affecting crime is a ban and confiscation, all this toying around with assault weapons and similar issues is mere symbolism that affects nothing...
Interesting Georgia case
Posted on January 19, 2009Pdf here. The gun owner was convicted of a drug offense in 1969, and received a full pardon in 1995. When he tried to purchase a firearm, the NICS staff called a local judge and asked him to revoke the fellow's pistol permit (which I suspect is a BIG violation of the Privacy Act)...
Debate on shall issue's effect on crime continues
Posted on January 18, 2009A summary of a recent article, over at the Volokh Conspiracy. It's an answer to an earlier article arguing that shall-issue increases crime rates. I'm not statistician, but the gist of it is that the earlier article got its results only by considering crime rates in the first five years after enactment; if it had extended to six or more years, it would show crime rate reductions...
Oral argument in Nordyke v. King
Posted on January 16, 2009Audio here, in Windows Media Format. Great line by one of the judges, when the County advocate argued that while you can't physically have guns at a gun show, you still could offer to sell them, then consummate the sale off the county fairgrounds: "I just have trouble with the concept that you can have a gun show so long as you don't show guns...
More on San Fran Housing authority settling out
Posted on January 15, 2009The San Francisco Housing Authority settled its suit with NRA (and I've been told the terms did include attorneys' fees). Now, to put a position spin on it, the Authority is contending its rules really weren't intended to ban guns: "Tim Larsen, a lawyer for the Housing Authority, said Tuesday the agency never intended to enforce its 2005 ban against law-abiding gun owners and has never done so, even though the lease provision covered legal as well as illegal weapons...
Steve Halbrook testifies on Eric Holder nomination
Posted on January 15, 2009Summary here. If you want to order Steve's new book, here is where to do it.
DC targeting real criminals?
Posted on January 14, 2009Naw, it'd rather bring felony gun charges against a Marine double amputee on his way to Walter Reed. Story here. And sounds like it pushed hard, retrying him a third time after two deadlocked juries. The last jury walked him on the felony, but convicted him on misdemeanor possession of ammunition...
Bloomberg's Mayors Group loses yet another
Posted on January 14, 2009It's becoming a tidal wave! Now Racine Mayor Gary Becker is booked for attempted child molestation and other offenses. Is getting arrested on felony raps a fad in Mayors Against Illegal Guns? This makes two in a single week.
Debate on Chicago cases
Posted on January 13, 2009Tonight, at 5:30, hosted by the Federalist Society's Chicago Chapter. Hat tip to reader Carl in Chicago....
Battle with DC motor vehicle licensing
Posted on January 13, 2009NRA's General Counsel's Office just won it. (pdf). Motor Vehicles refused a custom plate of "TRIGGER" because it "may" offend certain people. They wound up backing down.
T-Shirts that can get you a quarter of million bucks?
Posted on January 13, 2009Who knows, it might just work.
Sullivan resigns as acting ATFE director
Posted on January 13, 2009Story here. Pretty much inevitable -- he was a Repub. nominee who couldn't get confirmed.
Eric Holder nomination
Posted on January 12, 2009Here is a pdf of NRA's letter to Judiciary Committee.
Magistrate holds statute unconstitutional under Heller
Posted on January 12, 2009Over at the Volokh Conspiracy, Gene Volokh notes a magistrate ruling. The magistrate refuses to follow a federal statute providing that giving up all guns shall be a condition of pre-trial release in child porn cases. Magistrate concludes that under Heller, disarming a person merely accused of an offense, and a nonviolent one at that, without an individualized finding of dangerousness, is deprivation of liberty w/o due process.
Crime fighting's Future Is a Man with a Gun
Posted on January 12, 2009So says this column in the Orlando Sentinel. A good piece of writing. Hat tip to Dan Gifford...
A busy time for Heller commentary
Posted on January 12, 2009First, Nelson Lund of Geo. Mason U. Law School has posted a paper, "The Second Amendment, Heller, and Originalist Jurisprudence." While he agrees with the majority's conclusion, he is disappointed in, for example, its dicta regarding how certain laws would still pass muster, which is given without any explanation derived from original understanding...
ANOTHER Bloomberg mayor goes down
Posted on January 10, 2009Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon is on the receiving end of a 12 count felony indictment relating to receiving tens of thousands in "gifts" from a land developer and ripping off donations meant to help the homeless.
Honoring Ugo Beretta
Posted on January 10, 2009Snowflakes in Hell has the story. An interesting firearm manufacturer, BTW, in that it's been in operation since the 1500s and is still owned and run by the same family after nearly half a millenium. Spelling corrected, thanks. Was very tired.
Nordyke v. King dinner
Posted on January 08, 2009Nordyke v. King is the 9th Cir. case that, after percolating forever, is now ready to be argued. A key issue is whether the 14th Amendment incorporates the 2A and binds the States. Argument is set for January 15, and afterward the CalGuns Foundation is hosting a dinner at the Hotel Whitcomb, about two blocks from the Courthouse...
Carnival of Homeschooling
Posted on January 08, 2009The Carnival of Homeschooling is celebrating its third anniversary.
FLA CCW holder stops robbery
Posted on January 07, 2009Story here. Hat tip to reader Carl in Chicago...
Debate between Prof. Volokh & Chas. Blek of Brady Campaign
Posted on January 06, 2009Podcast here. BTW, it was hosted by the Los Angeles chapter of Federalist Society and the Libertarian Law Society. Their next event involves a presentation by Judge Alex Kozinski and David Lat (of the Above the Law blog) on Jan. 13. RSVP to la.fedsoc@gmail...
San Francisco backing down
Posted on January 06, 2009In the wake of Heller, Chuck Michel and others filed an action against San Francisco Housing Authority, over its ban on firearms in public housing. It looks as if San Francisco is surrendering.
Response to kidnapping in Pakistan
Posted on January 06, 2009Issue the victim a bunch of AK-47s. Sounds like a worthwhile approach under the conditions. Hat tip to reader John H....
New Obama picks for DoJ
Posted on January 05, 2009For Deputy AG: David W. Ogden -- his background: under the Clinton Admin, was Ass't Atty General for Civil Division, and Chief of Staff to the Attorney General. For Solicitor General: Elena Kagan. Her background: dean of Harvard law, taught at Chicago, clerked for Abner Mikva on DC Circuit and then for Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court...
Webpage for recovering stolen guns
Posted on January 04, 2009Very interesting idea. If a gun is stolen, the victim sends in the data. It is not posted online, and in the database is encrypted with 256-bit encryption. If someone wants to sell you a gun, you can run it. If there is a match, victim and finder are both notified...
Brady grades get an F again
Posted on January 03, 2009The Brady Campaign ranks North Dakota 44th out of 50 States, with only 4 of 100 possible points. Just in time for the North Dakota Attorney General to announce that in 2008 the State had ZERO gun homicides. And only two homicides at all, both stabbings...
My 14th Amendment paper is online
Posted on January 02, 2009At SSRN, right here. It deals with the original public understanding of the 14th Amendment, as distinct from its Congressional history. The question under this standard is -- what did the American people think they were being asked to ratify? Key to that in the legislative history of Sen...
LEO in need of training
Posted on January 02, 2009Glynn County, GA. Video here. Traffic stop, officer notices a legally-carried gun, draws, aims at driver's head (Using a wierd sideways gangsta hold, two handed) and threatens to kill him. Discussion over at GeorgiaPacking.org. The Sheriff did send a letter of apology (well, sort of), listed on the thread.
FIRE on 1st *and* 2nd Amendment infractions
Posted on January 01, 2009Article here: "In the spring, the South Campus of Tarrant County College (TCC) declared that wearing empty gun holsters, even during an officially sanctioned protest in the school?s tiny free speech zone, was too much for its fragile students to bear in this scary, post?Virginia Tech massacre world...
2d Amendment year in review
Posted on December 31, 2008Very comprehensive story in the Hawaii Reporter.
Brady Campaign sues to block Park Service rule
Posted on December 30, 2008Story here. Pdf complaint here. Yep, there might be some serious standing issues. Brady Campaign in itself, as a corporation, is not affected by the rule. It has to argue organizational standing, that it should proceed as a surrogate for its members...
SWAT search and seizure
Posted on December 29, 2008At Reason Online, Radley Balko posts some interesting data.
Another take on the Balkanization 14th Amendment article
Posted on December 28, 2008Clayton Cramer has agrees as to P or I incorporation of enumerated rights, but not nonenumerated ones. Having spent a fair amount of time studying the legislative history, there are two complicating factors. (1) When the framers of the 14th referred to the Bill of Rights, they sometimes referred to the first eight, and sometimes to the first ten, amendments...
Balkanization and 14th Amendment incorporation
Posted on December 27, 2008Over at Balkanization, David Gans and Doug Kendall discuss the issue. Hat tip to reader Joe Olson....
Report on Brady Act and prosecutions
Posted on December 27, 2008Here, in pdf. Gist of it: during 2006 there were 8,000,000 plus checks 117,000 denials (125,000 denials, offset by 8,000 reversals on appeal) 77,000 of these were referred to Field Offices for investigation (80% not involving felony records) 273 persons charged, and a whopping 73 convictions...
Eric Holder, AG nominee
Posted on December 27, 2008An interesting look back in history. Hat tip to reader B. Taylor.
Nordyke v. King oral argument
Posted on December 27, 2008Nordyke v. King, presenting the 14th Amendment incorporation issue, is set for argument Jan. 15 at 1 PM. Here's its Wiki page, with links to the briefs. (An appeal has its own Wiki page? I feel so 20th Century at times like this). The case had already been briefed, with the incorporation issue raised below but not briefed, when DC v...
Glad *I* didn't get elected...
Posted on December 26, 2008I voted the other way, but from this post on Chronicles of Higher Education, Obama has my profound sympathy" As a professor and an author, I speak with hundreds of female undergraduates and graduate students in their 20s and 30s. I know what they want: They want both careers and families...
Video of Portland driving conditions
Posted on December 25, 2008Very impressive video. Scroll down to get to the video. A perfect sheet of ice, people who think they can drive on it. The newscrew just got into a good position and watched as the slow speed (and often in reverse) demolition derby unfolded.
The trail that led to Blagojevich...
Posted on December 23, 2008Began with somebody trying to shake down a grandmother who ran a hospital.
The antigun "gun guys" blog blows its cover
Posted on December 23, 2008Freedom States Alliance is an antigun organization heavily funded by the Joyce Foundation. And in press release today it states: "First, the Freedom States Alliance, which oversees our daily news blog, GunGuys.com, does not endorse political candidates...
Interesting thoughts on Europeans and firearms
Posted on December 22, 2008Right here. The writer's point is that, whatever the laws, people own guns. In nations with loose firearm laws, they own them legally. In nations with restrictive firearms laws, they own them illegally.
My article on St. George Tucker is online
Posted on December 22, 2008"The Lecture Notes of St. George Tucker: A Framing Era View of the Bill of Rights," 103 Northwestern U. L Rev. Colloquy 272 (2008). The pdf version is here and the html version here. At 277 I get into Tucker's notes on the 2d Amendment. At 278-79, I get into the Stevens dissent in Heller for having claimed that Tucker was ambivalent on the 2A...
Jerry Patterson for TX Senate seat
Posted on December 20, 2008I've known him, and eaten and drank with him, and this is pure Jerry Patterson: ""After a great deal of consideration, and much soul-searching, I am today formally announcing my intention to join many of my fellow elected officials and not seek the U...
Ken Salazar at Interior Dept
Posted on December 20, 2008Sensibly Progressive, who is one of his constituents, has a favorable take on the nominee for Interior Secretary.
Must be the week for 2A lawsuits
Posted on December 19, 2008A ways back, Bob Barr filed suit for a Georgia FFL (Adventure Outdoor Sports) targeted by Mayor Bloomberg's "stings," alleging that Bloomberg had slandered the owner. Bloomberg's guys got it removed to Federal court, and argued NY law, giving public officials a wide privilege against defamation suits, should apply...
Lawsuit in PA
Posted on December 19, 2008Filed against Delaware County, which apparently takes the view that if it ever lays hands on a gun, it takes a court order to get it back. It takes a lawsuit? Be careful what you wish for, as sometimes you get it.
New regs on carrying in National Parks and Wildlife Refuges
Posted on December 18, 2008Pdf of final rule here. They go into effect on January 9. The actual rule is two paragraphs long, at pp. 74971-72, and says that a person may "possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded, and operable firearms within a national park area in accordance with the laws of the state in which the national park area, or that portion thereof, is located, except as otherwise prohibited by applicable Federal law...
Conflict over may issue permits in California
Posted on December 18, 2008In Orange County, conflict over the new sheriff's plan to revoke CCW permits en masse. The former sheriff issued them as political favors, the new one wants to revoke them by the hundreds. The wonderful nature of unbridled discretion.
District Judge rules for Chicago
Posted on December 18, 2008Story here. The article doesn't make it clear, but given that he'd ruled earlier, I assume this means he dismissed the case, that is, entered an appealable order. Not a surprise to anyone. Even assuming the judge wasn't part of the local machine, the Circuit Court, which is over his head, ruled the other way in the original Morton Grove case, and he can't overrule them...
Heads up for VA residents
Posted on December 18, 2008VCDL is sponsoring "Lobby Day" at the State capitol on Monday, January 19. Here's the flyer, in pdf, and here's some video. Several rallies are planned, and they're looking for the best turnout they can generate.
And a VA open carry case settles, too...
Posted on December 18, 2008Story here. This has not been a good week for those who would bust people for lawful carry.... H/t to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae....
Los Angeles decides Calif gun laws are just too loose
Posted on December 17, 2008Story here. I mean, the State only outlaws .50 caliber rifles, but not possession of their ammunition. It doesn't require registration of ordinary ammunition sales. Hat tip to reader Robert E. ....
Case involving GA open carry settles
Posted on December 17, 2008Here's the story. Fellow was openly carrying (and both has a license, and is military, either of which suffice to make open carry legal). His gun was seized and they refused to return it. Georgiacarry.org took the case, got return of the gun, damages, and attorney fees...
Oklahoma move to repeal sales tax on firearms
Posted on December 16, 2008Story here. Note a sales tax on firearms isn't a real constitutional difficulty: you can have a nondiscriminatory sales tax on things related to the First Amendment (TVs, radios, and even newspapers although I haven't encountered a jurisdiction that taxes the last)...
Testimony on NFA database
Posted on December 16, 2008Here's the testimony of on the reliability of the NFA database; the critical part being testimony of Fritz Scheuren in part 6 of the transcript, starting at 1016. Dr. Scheuren's credentials were hard to beat -- among other things, he's Vice President for Statistics at the National Opinion Research Center...
DC adds to its gun law
Posted on December 16, 2008AP release here. DC adds a training requirement before registration, and a re-registration requirement every three years.
Update on Steve Halbrook book bomb
Posted on December 15, 2008Just spoke to the folks at Independent Institution. Steve's book is up to No. 327. I reported that Amazon sold out, and they said a resupply is being shipped today, and should be available to fill orders within a couple of days.
Assault charges for squirting fox urine on trespassers
Posted on December 15, 2008Homeowner learns kids are going to TP his house, loads a squirt gun with fox urine, squirts them and is charged with assault. Snowflakes in Hell has the story. You'd have thought they'd regard it as one prank deserves another. The hardest part, I'm sure, was forcing the fox to urinate in the squirt gun (grin).
Press releases certain groups wish they could take back
Posted on December 14, 2008First, from Violence Policy Center: "VPC Lauds Introduction of Blagojevich Bill to Ban "Pocket Rockets"" Next, from the Brady Campaign: "Brady Campaign Praises Governor Blagojevich for Standing Up To Special Interests and Protecting the People of Illinois" And they'd probably like to bury the image in the left margin of this article, too.
Ill Senate seat for sale on Ebay
Posted on December 13, 2008Right here, and for a lot less than governor Blagie... Bloga... Blagev... the Governor of Illinois was asking, too!
Launching a "book bomb" for Steve Halbrook
Posted on December 13, 2008Steve has just brought out his latest book, "The Founders? Second Amendment." It's getting great reviews -- National Review calls it highly readable and interesting, "Every American who cares about this provision of the Constitution can now arm himself against the sophistries and oversimplifications that have permeated much of the popular and professional discourse...
OSHA idea
Posted on December 12, 2008In Florida and elsewhere, companies have argued OSHA (as federal law) overrides State laws allowing storage of firearms in locked cars in workplace parking lots. I think the argument relates to OSHA's vague statutory duty to make a workplace safe, rather than any regulations issued, so the following may or may not be relevant, but...
Corruption and antigun track record
Posted on December 11, 2008An interesting thought, from Days of our Trailers: "he anti's are the ones that claim they're 'honest'. Is this what they mean? Blago is the second Brady Campaign endorsed state governor to take a fall for corruption this year. We all remember NY Gov...
A therapist's suggestion for Christmas carols...
Posted on December 11, 20081. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear? 2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are 3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas 4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me 5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and...
"The Friendless Ninth Circuit"
Posted on December 10, 2008So says the Blog of Legal Times. It reports a Supreme Court argument, with four advocates speaking (one having gotten his time by pointing out that no one else was defending the decision below), in which not a single advocate defended the Circuit's ruling.
Indian gun rights group speaks out
Posted on December 10, 2008Story here. As we'd say in Arizona, "that's Indian, as in India," since the vast majority of Indians here descend from folks who came across the Bering Strait about 20,000+ years ago.
Gov. Blagojevich arrested
Posted on December 09, 2008Anti-gun IL governor Blagojevich was was arrested this morning on federal corruption and bribery charges. Investigation also involves his choice of pres-elect Obama's replacement in the Senate. UPDATE: USA Today says that his chief of staff, John Harris, was also arrested...
Lawsuit in PA
Posted on December 08, 2008Snowflakes in Hell has the story. It involves the lady who had her concealed carry license revoked -- for open carrying.
serious overreaction
Posted on December 08, 200810 year old takes cap gun to school, later goes to a kid's house with it and asks if he wants to play. Kid runs back into house and calls 911. End result: 10 year old is arrested, charged with possessing a weapon (??) at school and with making "terroristic threats" (some States have that as an offense)...
Article replying to Judge Wilkinson
Posted on December 07, 2008I blogged a while ago about the article by Judge J. Harvey Wilkinson, arguing that Heller was essentially non-conservative because it (like Roe v. Wade) was a mark of "judicial activism." Now Prof. Nelson Lund and Dave Kopel have a detailed reply. You can read the abstract there, and download the paper in pdf (see link above its title)...
Interesting article
Posted on December 07, 2008"If each of us carried a gun . . . we could help to combat terrorism". Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that it's in the Time of London. This will likely stir a bit of controversy.
Strange nongun cases today
Posted on December 06, 2008A stockbroker embezzles hundreds of thousands from his clients, and then falls for one of those dumb-arse Nigerian business scams. A big-time NYC attorney is arrested in Canada for impersonating a different lawyer.
NYC firearm permits
Posted on December 06, 2008An interesting article. 37,000 permits of one or another type, about half of them to security guards or retired LEOs, most of the remainder only allowing possession but not carry. Only a little over 2,000 full carry licenses. Mayor says that for the last "you should have to really show that your life is in danger, and that having a gun will protect you, will improve the chances of you surviving...
Ken Blackwell running for RNC chair
Posted on December 06, 2008Ken Blackwell, NRA director, throws his hat into the ring for RNC chair.
A 6th Amendment question
Posted on December 05, 2008It's reported that the US will indict the Blackwater folks involved in the shooting in Iraq. I think I see one problem. The 6th Amendment says a federal criminal jury must be by "an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law...
Massacre in Mumbai
Posted on December 04, 2008Cherry River Blog has deep thoughts. I'd agree. It's hard to envision hundreds of American civilians or dozens police standing by while four guys shot up a hotel full of people, encountering no resistance. Look to that situation in LA where the attackers had AKs, the outgunned police went to a local gun store and got the owner to loan them serious equipment, and went back into the fight...
Busy day for the 14th
Posted on December 04, 2008In the Chicago case, District Court incorporating the 2nd into the 14th Amendment. Ruling is based on reasoning that he has to obey 7th Circuit precedent, Quilicy v. Morton Grove, until the 7th Circuit changes it. Not unexpected, of course -- this case was going to be settled on appeal...
Arrest in Chicago
Posted on December 04, 2008Pretty disgusting. Icarry.org has set up a defense fund.
9th circuit 14th Amendment case to be argued
Posted on December 04, 2008Gene Hoffman reports the argument will be held Thursday, January 15, 2009 in the James R. Browning federal courthouse, Courtroom 1. It's at 95 Seventh St. in San Francisco. Nordyke is the long-lived case in which the 9th Cir. panel, which astonishingly sound fair or even favorable, requested briefing on the 2A/14A issue.
Will be a bit distracted today
Posted on December 04, 2008Off to a two hour doc's appointment. A bald 7/8s caucasian was not designed for the Sonoran Desert, and so they have to attack diffuse solar kerotoses on my top-knot with something that I gather isn't chemo, but is somewhat like it. Cover your scalp with a chemical that is taken up more rapidly by the abnormal cells, then expose scalp to bright light, which activates the chemical and kills them...
NJ firearm rationing proposals
Posted on December 03, 2008Scott Bach discusses it. As he points out, NJ already requires a permit for each handgun purchase, which can take months to obtain. Why add one-gun-a-month? Is there any claim that criminal "straw men" are out there getting a dozen permits a month so they can resell?
Instapunk on Plaxico case
Posted on December 02, 2008He has some fun with it. He suggests that trying to keep players away from guns is like abstinence only training, "What's urgently needed now is more realistic education programs that teach safe illegal gun ownership." "The current abstinence-only approach to gun education in the NFL, NBA, and Major League Baseball has resulted in a tragic victimization of some of the nation's most beloved and vulnerable stupid people...
John Lott's latest
Posted on December 02, 2008Over at the Fox Forum. "In India, victims watched as armed police cowered and didn?t fire back at the terrorists. A photographer at the scene described his frustration: ?There were armed policemen hiding all around the station but none of them did anything...
"Palm pistol" may get approved for Medicare and medical insurance
Posted on December 02, 2008That's big news! Matt Carmel is, well, an inventive fellow. He designed a gun for self-defense by the handicapped who can't handle a regular gun, patented it, designed it around ATF's definition of "any other weapon," so that they classified it as an ordinary handgun, and now got the FDA to list it as as "medical device...
Another Bloomberg Mayor goes down
Posted on December 01, 2008Birmingham mayor Larry Langford is the first one listed on open letter from Bloomberg's Mayors group. And he just got arrested on federal felony charges. I've lost count, but I think that the fourth member of Bloomberg's organization to wind up in the clink.
Court uses Law Enforcement Officers' Safety Act
Posted on December 01, 2008Story here. UPDATE: remember that for folks who take duty seriously, it goes beyond legally-enforceable duty. There are also duties, not enforceable in any court, that arise from (1) you feel them (and will feel dishonored if you do not carry them out, to hell with any court) or (2) your peer group does (i...
Making news fit the theme
Posted on December 01, 2008I was once at a luncheon of a religious group, and one fellow spoke of his experience. It seemed quite incongruous until I realized there was an accepted format (patterned after the conversion of the disciple Paul) and a speaker must try to make his story fit it, as an art form...
More on Plaxico Burress
Posted on December 01, 2008Details from the New York Post. 1) A classic example of what happens when a doofus who doesn't know a muzzle from a magazine wants to play gangsta. Sounds like he stuck a Glock in his waistband and when (surprise) it slid down his pants he grabbed for it...
Problems in New York....
Posted on November 30, 20081) Mayor Bloomberg pushes for and gets passage of legislation imposing a 3.5 year, no-probation term for carrying without a license. 2) Giants wide receiver Plaxico Burress shoots self in leg while carrying illegally. Mike Ditka, in the meantime, proposed that NFL players be banned from owning guns...
Misuse of background check databases in DE?
Posted on November 30, 2008Story here. The background check system is supposed to be limited to licensed dealers checking out a potential sale, but the newspaper found that 10% of requests are from state troopers, not dealers.
High-tech shipping sets up vessels for pirate attack
Posted on November 29, 2008At the moment, most commercial vessels are required to use AIS, Automatic Identification System, as a collision avoidance measure. It radios the ship position, course and speed to any ships within receiving range. And to any pirates. The Washington Times reports AIS is a suspect in the recent hijacking of a mega-tanker 450 miles offshore...
Would massacres in Mumbai have been lessened if Indians were armed?
Posted on November 29, 2008Instapundit asks the question. I'd agree there was a good chance casualties would have been reduced. Rush into a crowded room shooting, and there's a big difference if the attacker has to worry about getting shot in the back. Not to mention about being perforated while he is changing magazines...
Experiment with carrying
Posted on November 28, 2008Bob Owens tries six months of carrying concealed.
Thanksgiving memories
Posted on November 27, 2008Memories of a dinner in Falls Church VA, years ago, in the mid late 90s or so. Present were my law ex, her mother, her cousin, my son Mark, the cousin's son, and myself. Understand, the ladies there were VERY naive. The cousin's former husband was Claus, who had been a cook...
Chicago Tribune column -- a pro gun one!
Posted on November 27, 2008Story here. This is the Chicago Tribune? Hat tip to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae... maybe a double hat tip, since he gave much data to the columnist (who was fair on the issue to begin with).
Sales tax holiday ... for guns
Posted on November 26, 2008South Carolina decides on it. The "Second Amendment Tax Holiday" covers this Friday and Saturday.
Mixed results in PA
Posted on November 26, 2008Easton PA votes down a proposal to criminalize failure to report gun theft, after the city solicitor advises that the proposal itself is illegal. But Pittsburgh passes it, with the chief sponsor remarking, ?Who really cares about it being unconstitutional?" Nothing like officials who care about their oath of office...
New Aussie gun law
Posted on November 25, 2008Story here. OK, I've figured out what a "bikie" is, but I'm still wondering about "the power to issue prohibition orders against people found near an illegal weapon."
How to completely end your judicial career
Posted on November 25, 2008Part One. Part Two may include (a) ritual suicide or (b) resignation for personal reasons and flight under an assumed name to another state or (c) moving to Tibet and disguising yourself as a yak.
A real ATF undercover op
Posted on November 25, 2008Story here. As the author notes, the guys who do this face two risks. (1) Getting killed by the targets, who are now into background checks! (2) Being ruined by backstabbing superiors, as has happened to agents in the past if the operation wasn't 100% successful...
George Will
Posted on November 24, 2008I suppose I must mention his piece in WashPo. I mean he is a famous writer who wears a tie and always looks like he never got over being buggered with a turnip during freshman hazing at an Ivy League school (and has a classical education so he would recognize being buggered with a turnip) but can still use baseball analogies in every article, even if discussing his appendectomy, just to show he's one of the guys...
NSSF on lead in hunted game
Posted on November 24, 2008Right here, at their new blog. A CDC study shows hunters have LOWER blood lead than is average. We found similar results here when there was a challenge to lead at a shooting range. We could show no possible migration via air or groundwater, but the laboratory (which was apparently paid to get results) theorized that, since everyone inadvertently eats a small amount of dust per day, range users might ingest it that way...
Trip done!
Posted on November 24, 2008Heading home, after many Heller activities and much research. Be back to blogging tonight or tomorrow....
Freedom States Alliance shows ,,, something
Posted on November 23, 2008I have trouble finding a short term for the ability to pontificate while remaining utterly clueless. Reporter runs story on handgun deer hunting season, apparently feels compelled to interview someone who dislikes it, and winds up running an FSA opposition to ...
AG nominee on the gun issue
Posted on November 21, 2008Here's Dave Kopel's take, at the Volokh Conspiracy. Holder seems opposed to guns, except when federal LEOs are sticking them in civilians' faces.
Heller symposium
Posted on November 19, 2008Attended it tonight, at George Mason Univ. School of Law. Most was about things I already knew, but I did get to meet Dick Heller, Then there was Dennis Hennigan of Brady Campaign. He was explaining hiow Heller was actually a good thing for them, since now they could pass various forms of legislation without anyone being able to argue it will lead to confiscation...
Winnetka IL repeals its handgun ban
Posted on November 18, 2008Pdf here. Of the six Illinois municipalities that had handgun bans, all but Chicago and Oak Park have repealed them. Hat tip to reader Carl in Chicago...
Suit by Georgia Carrying member
Posted on November 17, 2008Fellow is carrying openly, with result that people across the street phone in a "man with a gun" report. In these parts the deputies would ask what make, is he selling, and what price does he want. They weren't so understanding, tho, and arrested him for CCW and disturbing the peace by causing people to be alarmed (which is a bit inconsistent: how could anyone be alarmed if it wasn't visible?)...
On stopping schoolground killers
Posted on November 17, 2008An interesting piece on changes to police tactics. The traditional response was bring up the SWAT team, plan it out carefully, then go in. As the matter was better understood, this switched to whoever gets there first goes in immediately -- seconds passing means people dying...
NRA birthday
Posted on November 17, 2008It's its 137th, founded Nov. 17, 1871. Founded by William Church, who'd been a Union officer during The Great Unpleasantness, and was dismayed by his troops' lousy marksmanship. And more dismayed to discover the Army had no real shooting manuals. As I recall, the drill manual just showed how to stand when firing offhand, not a word about sight alignment, much less bullet drop, trigger squeeze, etc...
Deer-auto collisions
Posted on November 16, 2008Wisconsin DOT report here in pdf. It notes deer are the third most commonly struck item, that collisions with deer killed 14 and seriously injured 100 in 2007.
Thoughts on Obama's national security force
Posted on November 15, 2008Israpundit has thoughts here, and I suspect he's dead on. The purpose is not security, but "re-education" of the participants.
Inspirational thought
Posted on November 15, 2008Was down talking to friends two friends, military historians who are museum curators. One has a son in the Army. He was until recently on the Korean DMZ, which is more of a no-man's land, esp. at night. They're on a night patrol, about 2 AM, 20 below zero...
Good news!
Posted on November 15, 2008The Supreme Court, in a 5-4, has decided against striking the Bill of Rights, at least for now. (Note: is from The Onion, a hilarious site).
Banning guns by their bore size
Posted on November 14, 2008Scott Back has thoughts over at New Jersey Voices. There's a proposal in the NJ Assembly A2116, soon up for a vote, that bans anything modern gun of .50 caliber or over, and any muzzleloader of .60 caliber or over. I guess NJ can forget about Revolutionary War re-enactments if it passes...
Obama Admin snubbing Civil Rights Act?
Posted on November 14, 2008Their questionaire for political appointees (for thousands of positions, BTW, not just cabinet posts) asks about arrests. "There are no time limits for some information, including liens, tax audits, lawsuits, legal charges, bankruptcies or arrests." "Only the smallest details are excluded; traffic tickets carrying fines of less than $50 need not be reported, the application says...
New video download on the 2A
Posted on November 13, 2008JPFO has it, in a free download. Look on the upper right part of their page. It's entitled "2A Today for the USA."
Interesting article on self defense
Posted on November 13, 2008Right here, in pdf. Author raises the point that the present test for self defense (did the defender reasonably believe he was in danger or lethal danger?) misses much of true self defense. I.e., when the defender is attacked by surprise and reacts by reflex, not really having a belief about anything...
Obama Admin. asks applicants whether they own guns
Posted on November 13, 2008As noted at the Volokh Conspiracy, question 59 on the questionaire that applicants for appoint fill out reads: "Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage...
My gunslinging ancestor
Posted on November 12, 2008Ancestry magazine has an article on uses of aliases by ancestors, and my gunslinging judge great-grandfather got a prominent mention. My online tale of him is here. Outlaw Nat Hickman, who became Judge Charles Hardy of Arizona Territory.
Supreme Court ruling on whales and sonar and NEPA
Posted on November 12, 2008Winters v. Natural Resources Defense Council, handed down this morning. I'm posting it because the majority opinion isn't about whales and sonar: it's about injunction as a remedy, which is what you aim for in a test case. You start out seeking a preliminary injunction (order the other guy to stop it until we can get this case to trial) and end up seeking a permanent injunction (order him to stop it, permanently, after trial)...
Orange Co. CA sheriff decides there's too many CCW permits
Posted on November 12, 2008Story here. The perils of "may issue." The new sheriff decides there simply must be too many permits, because a neighboring county has issued only a third as many. On the other hand, there is evidence the outgoing (indicted) sheriff issued them to campaign workers and buddies...
Debate: do guns keep you safe?
Posted on November 11, 2008A debate at Opposing Views. Opposing Views is an interesting concept. They take public issues, solicit arguments from spokesmen on either side (here, NRA, GoA and Citizens' Committee vs. Ceasefire and Freedom States Alliance, then open the debate to comments.
Interesting approach by OR sheriff
Posted on November 11, 2008A newspaper (Mail-Tribune of Bedford OR) sued Sheriff Rob Gordon, to obtain the names of 10,000 CCW permit holders. He opposed on the ground that State law exempts from disclosure info that is related to personal security. The Circuit Court ruled that CCW permits aren't automatically related to security; that must be proven...
LA Times shows its understanding and impartiality
Posted on November 11, 2008Here's its report on the oral argument in the Hayes case. All the Court is trying to do is figure out what Congress meant when it defined domestic violence offense. Does that mean the elements of the underlying misdemeanor must be (1) use or threat of force (2) against a household member, or just (1) misdemeanor use or threat of force? (I...
Oral argument in US v. Hayes
Posted on November 10, 2008Available in pdf here. Government contends the federal bar on gun possession after misdemeanor DV conviction applies to a person who was convicted of ordinary battery, not requiring as an element that it was against an intimate partner, so long as the government can show at the federal trial that it was against an intimate partner...
David Keene: Obama will overreach
Posted on November 10, 2008That's his prediction. Supporting it is an insider DC tip that his people are seriously considering a federal ban or restriction on "right to carry" laws. Exactly where the constitutional power to enact such a measure is to be found is less than clear to me...
Brady Campaign celebrating
Posted on November 10, 2008Pdf here. Of course they have reason to do so, but their claims do involve quite a bit of "creative writing." As I see it, it proves an "F" who pretends to be an "A" can beat a "C." The question then becomes... does the "F" then act like an "F," or does he figure that having won as a fake "A" he'd better act like one if he wants to get re-elected as one? Time will tell...
A modest proposal
Posted on November 08, 2008Next election, let's set up a movement to "draft" Colin Powell. Nevermind that he refuses to run. It can be via one party or the other or both or independent. Then we vote him in. If he refuses to serve, there is plenty of common law precedent for the proposition that an elected official doesn't have a choice...
Another thing to be grateful for
Posted on November 08, 2008Only a few days after the election of our first black president, former Klansman Robert Byrd, the last known caucasian non-LEO user of the "n word," resigns his committee chair. My friend Phil "Wild Man" Murphy notes the irony.
Pics of pro-gun demonstrations being sought
Posted on November 08, 2008Inquiry here for anyone with pics or scans of pics of the pro-gun demonstrations of past decades -- and suggestions as to how to make use of them.
Something good to think about...
Posted on November 07, 2008From Prof. Joe Olson, who began his background with guns as a civil rights worker who didn't intend to get killed and buried in a dam somewhere. (BTW, my late father held the first sit-in on a segregated bus, when he was stationed in a State with those requirements, back in WWII...
Transition platform
Posted on November 07, 2008Snowflakes in Hell has the tale. Obama's transition platform is basically the (present) Brady agenda. I say "present," because if they get it they're obviously not going to proclaim victory, dissolve the organization, and look for other jobs.
Article on Heller incorporation
Posted on November 06, 2008At SSRN. One of the core ideas is interesting to us grunts in the trenches who have to persuade courts -- that a right can be incorporated, yet not identical at State and Federal levels. The idea of "reasonable regulation," that is to say, may be more like "shall not be infringed" at the Federal level, and "reasonable regulation (subject to strict standards)" at the State level...
The American Rifle: A Biography
Posted on November 06, 2008Here's an article, by its author (a military historian), on the early history of the NRA and military marksmanship. And here's the book, which I plan to order. [Update: no Rifleman review yet that I've seen, probably because the book is just out and Rifleman runs 60-90 days behind...
Debate on whether guns reduce crime
Posted on November 05, 2008NPR audio here. The topic is a bit stacked, not whether more guns do not mean more crime, but rather whether more guns reduces crime. But looks as if they won over the undecideds. Hat tip to reader BlackX...
Suit against Washington state
Posted on November 05, 2008SAF and NRA have filed. It's winner. The state requires resident (i.e., legal) aliens to get a special gun permit -- and then won't issue it because the issuing agency is not law enforcement, and FBI won't run background checks for a non-LE agency.
Morning after, part two
Posted on November 05, 2008The Washington Post has thoughts about Obama's first moves. They figure he's got to do enough to suggest "change" without doing so much that he comes off as a lefty, or loses the blue dogs, or sets the stage for another 1996, and list a number of ideas...
The morning after
Posted on November 05, 20081) It'll probably be full employment for second amendment lawyers for four years. For decades we played the safety position. Now we're front line. 2) Maybe, just maybe, the Repubs will remember that they came to power as small-government conservatives, and fell when they became big-government conservatives...
NY ruling applying Heller
Posted on November 05, 2008New York permit holder has permit revoked for violation of safe storage requirement, which I gather would require the gun to be locked away. The NY Supreme Court (caveat: that is NOT the highest court in the State, NY follows a strange naming rule for its courts) overturns the revocation, noting that Heller found such a storage requirement unconstitutional...
My SSRN page is up
Posted on November 04, 2008Here it is. It has my three latest articles on it, and you can download them. Constitutional history buffs might find my transcription of St. George Tucker's law lecture notes relating to the Bill of Rights of interest. Tucker appears to have written them in 1791-92, as he was just starting out as a law prof...
A tale of two cities
Posted on November 03, 2008In Florida, home of "shall issue" CCW permits, Miami just went a month without a single homicide. Chicago, home of the handgun ban, is celebrating a crime reduction, too, since its homicides have fallen to only 400+.
Ruger preparing for the election?
Posted on November 03, 2008SOUTHPORT, CONNECTICUT 06890 U.S.A. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For further information contact: Ken Jorgensen Director of Media Relations and Shooting Sports Coordinator RUGER® ANNOUNCES ?INAUGURAL SPECIAL? MINI-14® MAGAZINE PROMOTION Southport, CT November 4, 2008 ? Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc...
Wish I'd had this idea earlier
Posted on November 03, 2008I'd put them on the roads to polling places tomorrow.
Post election prospects
Posted on November 03, 2008A comment, as I recall (it was a busy working weekend) sought an assessment of the legislative picture, post-election. The indicators seem to be that Obama wins. They're neck and neck in popular vote, but he's got the electoral college advantage. Real Clear Politics shows it as Obama 278, McCain 132, toss up 128...
NRA President John Sigler on the election
Posted on October 31, 2008Hard hitting Townhall column here. Scott Bach's take is the same. I'll just add the following from when Obama ran for Congress in 2000: ?If elected to Congress, Obama says he will continue working to solve the most important issues that affect the South Side of Chicago, including education, health care, juvenile justice, gun control and urban development...
Campaign dirty tricks against gun owners?
Posted on October 31, 2008NRA reports that gun owners in key States are receiving phone calls, fraudulently claiming to be from NRA, and stating that it has endorsed Obama.
Navy SEALs to use Blackhawk uniforms
Posted on October 30, 2008A good story about it here. We saw the uniforms at their HQ. Each arm and leg has two built-in tourniquets, with handles concealed in velcro-sealed pouches. In the event of a severe extremity wound (say a limb shredded by an IED) blood flow can completely occluded in ten seconds...
Dan Cooper resigns
Posted on October 30, 2008Story here. Snowflakes in Hell gets a nice plug: ""This needs to get around," wrote a blogger who calls himself "Sebastian, a thirty something, self professed 'gun nut' living somewhere in Pennsylvania." He added: "Gun owners need to know which companies sell their interests down the river...
Gun issues in the election
Posted on October 30, 2008At Politico, Roger Simon asks why Palin and the old fellow aren't using the gun issue. OK, so her running mate's record on the issue isn't exactly perfect -- it's a heck of a lot better than that of the opposing ticket. If a candidate only argues issues where one side is 100% and the other zero, he isn't going to have a lot to talk about.
Purchase delayed in DE due to age and gender
Posted on October 29, 2008Story here. The first level of permit review delayed it because she "too old and a woman." The explanation added that they'd run seven years of records to see if she already had a gun. The problem with the seven years of records is, the records were supposed to have been destroyed within sixty days...
Cooper Arms followup
Posted on October 29, 2008From the FEC webpage: Here's the image of a $2100 Obama contribution by a Daniel Cooper of Pound Ridge, NY, no occupation given. The FEC webpage lists this under Daniel Cooper/Copper Firearms, I believe by mistake. Here's an image of a 2/6/08 donation of $1,000 by Dan Cooper of Akron OK, President/CEO of Cooper Firearms...
Cooper Arms exec backs Obama, perhaps with illegal contribution
Posted on October 29, 2008USA Today ran a story noting that Dan Cooper, owner and CEO of Cooper Arms, is backing and contributing to Obama. It said he's given $3,300, "on top of the $1,000 check he wrote to Obama's U.S. Senate campaign in 2004, after he was dazzled by Obama's speech at that year's Democratic National Convention...
Officer mistakenly shoots defender
Posted on October 28, 2008Story here. The mistake seems understandable: officers respond to "shots fired," encounter a woman and children fleeing a home who report an armed man inside, announce and enter, encounter an armed man coming down the hall. Unfortunately, he was the homeowner; he was apparently coming back from subduing the perp, and either didn't hear the announcement, or under the stress didn't think to put down his gun...
Article on Heller and self defense
Posted on October 28, 2008Abstract and downloadable article here. The thesis I find a bit confusing: it talks of applying the 2A to the states without 14th A incorporation, but seems to be talking about applying it via 14th A due process incorporation (the right of self defense being fundamental) rather than privileges or immunities incorporation...
FFL helps collar a perp
Posted on October 27, 2008Story here. The best part: "Was he nervous about the "sting"? "I wasn't," he said. "We have more guns than he has.""
Lautenburg Amendment going to Supreme Court
Posted on October 27, 2008Summary here. It's a question of statutory construction. Defendant was convicted of ordinary misdemeanor battery in 1994. The victim was his then-wife. Since it was ordinary battery, fact she was his wife was not an element of the offense. Ten years later he's busted for being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm...
Gad... victimization at sea
Posted on October 26, 2008You've probably seen the images of Somali pirates, usually a handful of guys in small boats, with AK-47s or a few RPGs, taking over a commercial vessel. I wondered how (most of these guys would be toast to an M1A, let alone a .50 M2 -- or a stick of dynamite dropped over the side), and read that commercial vessels are forbidden to be armed...
petition against pellet guns JROTC courses
Posted on October 26, 2008From Freedom States Alliance (creators of the Gun Guys, and beneficiary of Joyce Foundation) comes this petition to ban use of pellet guns in high school Junior ROTC. "Children who are taught to use weapons and violence to solve problems will not always enter the military...
Motion in Chicago gun ban case
Posted on October 26, 2008Here. As would be expected, beautifully written -- clearly expressed, and not a word to spare. Hat tip to reader R. Vance...
Bureaucrats' approach to self defense
Posted on October 26, 2008Via RicketyClick comes this: a Houston defense lawyer has posted the DEA guidelines on use of lethal force. He notes that trainees are given fact patterns and then expected to recite from the standards verbatim. I'm sure that is solid training ... in memory skills...
NYPD police gun discharge study
Posted on October 25, 2008Pdf here. A number of interesting results. A majority of shots were fired at 1-2 yards, and hit rate was only 43% at that range (both results not uncommon, actually). At 3-7 yards this drops to 23%, then at 8-15 yards rises again to 40%. Perhaps the officers have the ability to take better aim there, or maybe it's a fluke of the small sample size, What's very interesting is that only 45% occurred on duty, in uniform...
Military gets new sniper equipment, techniques
Posted on October 25, 2008Story here. I find it interesting that all the equipment is civilian invention and manufacture. That may not seem unusual today, but it wasn't but a few wars ago that everyone carried government-designed rifles made in government arsenals (come to think of it, the one civilian made component was the scope sights, issued in small quantities), and firing government-made ammo...
A First Amendment issue
Posted on October 25, 2008And a biggie.... A Wisconsin electoral candidate faces criminal charges based on his campaign literature that describes people as supporting him, which is alleged to be false. I can see some serious First Amendment problems here, but suspect (strangely) that the charges will be dropped after the election.
Bureaucratic fun, part three
Posted on October 24, 2008Here's the legal opinion on the Samish Tribe, in pdf. Courtesy of reader Joshua Tallent, who pdf'd it.
Non gun mass murders
Posted on October 24, 2008Sensibly Progressive has a post on nongun mass murders.
Justice Thomas on interpreting the Constitution
Posted on October 23, 2008Excerpts from his Wriston Lecture: "As important as our Constitution is, there is no one accepted way of interpreting it. Indeed, for some commentators, it seems that if they like or prefer a particular policy or conduct, then it must be constitutional; while the policies that they do not prefer or like are unconstitutional...
Old time LEO passes away
Posted on October 23, 2008A friend of mine, Carl Behrens, just died, age 85. He'd been president of Tucson Rod and Gun Club way back, and a Pima County Sheriff's deputy even farther back. Probably in the 1950s and thereafter. Back in the days when there, er, weren't a lot of rules...
Even bureaucrats can have a sense of humor
Posted on October 23, 2008Here's a scan of the original opinion. It's not the clearest image -- it's been sitting in my files for 21 years now. Click on the thumbnail to get it full size. This is the original opinion she signed (mine is unsigned, since it came from my personal chron file--I would have the opinion as it went to her, the signed one would have gone into the departmental files...
After dinner annoyance
Posted on October 22, 2008Sitting back, relaxing on couch after dinner, red wine in hand. In shorts, this is the desert, legs crossed. I feel an annoying tickle on my right leg. Something crawling slowly thru my hair there. Look down and see this fellow (dead in this photo): Killed 'im, but spilled the wine on myself and ruined a pair of shorts...
Yes, even bureaucrats can have humor
Posted on October 22, 2008Back in my Interior days, a small Indian tribe wrote requesting to be listed under the Endangered Species Act, as a publicity move. I wrote up a really hilarious opinion for the Associate Solicitor's signature, and she signed it. Later others became terrified, wrote another opinion that took it very seriously...
Is Judge Posner a "conservative" judge?
Posted on October 22, 2008The NY Times article on conservative judges criticizing Heller says so, but a post at Blakanization argues otherwise. (Read the comments, too). The argument is that Posner's method -- pretty much pure pragmatism, with no great regard for traditional tools such as textualism, original intent, construction by principles of language, etc...
Practical aspects of campus gun bans
Posted on October 22, 2008Liberated self has a post regarding Ohio State. The newspaper finally carried a story about on-campus crime, because an officer had to shoot a perp after he stabbed another officer. But, as pointed out, there had been seven robberies within the past seven days that went uncovered...
Brady pledge against student gun violence
Posted on October 22, 2008Whoopiteedo. "National distribution of the Student Pledge sends a message that is essential if we are to reverse the tide of violence in this country: that violence is neither inevitable nor an abstract force against which we are powerless." Gad, what meaningless words...
Article on Heller and a few critics
Posted on October 21, 2008In the New York Times. And, despite the source, almost objective. UPDATE: Bob Levy and William Mellor respond. Personal take: the judges are of the brand of conservatives that dislike "judicial activism" (by which standard some of the liberal wing, esp...
DC cab drivers argue for firearm rights
Posted on October 20, 2008Story here. The new DC law allows possession in your business premises, and their argument was that a cabbie's cab is his premises. But DC rejected that. Cabbie there told me some hair-raising stories. They're easy to ambush: decoy gets in cab, asks to be taken to a location where the ambush team awaits...
New movie
Posted on October 20, 2008Off topic, but it's The Third Jihad, produced by an Arizonan (saw it in the morning paper). The review said that the film explains how, to radical moslems, duplicity and deception are as important as violence. And that the film's producer sometimes takes criticism when he attends mosque.
Soccer mom gets CCW permit back
Posted on October 18, 2008She had a permit, but open carried at soccer games. The other soccer moms got bent out of shape, and the sheriff revoked her CCW permit (he didn't like her openly carrying, so he put her in a position where openly is the only way she can carry. Makes a lot of sense...
Audio CDs of Gun Rights Policy Conference available
Posted on October 18, 2008Here's an order form. Price is $27 for about 8-10 hours, as I recollect.
Software piracy ... by a government agency?
Posted on October 17, 2008Allegations here. It's not the first time.
Unpublished opinions
Posted on October 17, 2008Glad to see someone else has heartburn over them. My experience with them is at the State appellate level. Over the last few decades, the State courts adopted a custom of issuing unpublished opinions, i.e., opinions that the West Reporters (the standard books you go to to find decisions) are instructed not to publish and which, even if you find one, you cannot cite as precedent...
Inside information from BATFE
Posted on October 16, 20081. Deputy Director Edgar Domenech just got a government "golden parachute" out. It's impossible to sort out the internal politics involved, but he'd been demoted and said it was a result of exposing wasteful spending by the prior director. (GIven the byzantine politics of ATF higher levels, it's hard to sort out who is a whistleblower and who's back-stabbing, except that a lower level agent is always doing to be treated as the latter...
Washington AG Opinion on pre-emption
Posted on October 16, 2008Via Joe Olson, comes the Attorney General's Opinion (pdf, one meg) that the mayor of Seattle is proposing to violate.
Gun political website
Posted on October 16, 2008GunVoter.com. It's an online forum. At the bottom is a forum for state races, and subdivisions for each State. If you know something about a candidate in your state, you can post it, and if you want to know, you can check them out. A very interesting idea.
Article on Breyer dissent in Heller
Posted on October 16, 2008"The Last Progressive: Justice Breyer, Heller, and "Judicial Judgment". "Progressive" here doesn't have its modern political meaning, but refers to a pattern of legal thought that began in the last 19th and early 20th centuries. It was, however, quite deferential to legislatures.
Donald Hamrick's blog and suit
Posted on October 16, 2008He asked me to post a link to his blog and to the pdf of his lawsuit in DC US District Court (pdf; 5 megs).
Pre-emption conflict in Seattle
Posted on October 16, 2008The Washington Att'y General rules that the pre-emption law forbids cities to enact gun regulation, but the mayor of Seattle protests he has "a moral responsibility" to do so.
How ATFE treats agents who pursue bad guys
Posted on October 15, 2008I've got a copy of a Justice Dept Office of Inspector General report on a case--can't post it because it gives names and addresses, and I haven't the pdf editing capability to delete them. But here's a summary: ATF agent goes deep undercover, pursuing some genuinely violent bad guys...
A one-on-one view of Obama and the gun issue
Posted on October 15, 2008The Exec. Director of the Illinois State Rifle Ass'n has this to say: "I lobbied Barack Obama extensively while he was an Illinois State Senator. As a result of that experience, I know Obama's attitudes toward guns and gun owners better than anyone...
Justifiable homicides up
Posted on October 15, 2008So reports USA Today, with the note that it must reflect a "shoot first" mentality. A few problems: they're not up by much, and police justifiable homicides are up, also. One criminologist, who sounds like he spends too much time in the ivory tower, theorizes that because police have been issued more powerful arms, everyone else figures it's OK to shoot...
RIP Billy Chapman
Posted on October 15, 2008Just received word that longtime Texas activist Billy Chapman passed away this morning. He was napping in a chair on his porch and didn't wake up.
Women !!!
Posted on October 14, 2008An intruder breaks in, fires a shot, the couple arms, and this happens: "According to Babecki, his wife would have fired the rifle, except that she feared she might kill her pet birds in their cage right outside the bedroom."
A great beginning
Posted on October 14, 2008"North Philly, May 4, 2001. Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a three dollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He?d made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood...
More from Britain
Posted on October 14, 2008They're now instructing people who use barbed wire to keep out thieves to take it down lest a thief get hurt and sue. "Mr Malcolm's plight comes just weeks after Bristol council angered allotment holders by urging them not to lock their sheds in case burglars damaged them breaking in...
New gun blog
Posted on October 14, 2008It's Tell Me Why. Just starting out, but will focus on products and tips.
Brady Campaign endorses Obama-Biden ticket
Posted on October 13, 2008From their press release: "The difference between the two tickets is clearest with regard to assault weapons. Senator Obama made his position clear in his acceptance speech in Denver when he said "the reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than they are for those plagued by gang violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals...
Heller team reply on motion for attorneys' fees
Posted on October 13, 2008Here, in pdf. As might be expected, it is well-written and merciless. In trying to hold the award down, DC apparently argued that it was a perfectly ordinary appeal, so Gura takes all their requests for extensions of time, which universally claimed that it was unbelievably complex, and sticks it in their craw...
Update on Akins Accelerator
Posted on October 13, 2008Georgia Packing has a webpage with all the pleadings and motions in the case.
So much for calling 911, part 1,223
Posted on October 13, 2008Another case of "dial 911 and die." This time the future victim was told to stop calling or she'd be arrested.
New book on the Heller case
Posted on October 13, 2008It's due out in November, but can be pre-ordered. Author is Reason magazine's Brian Doherty, publisher is the Cato Institute. Here's a Cato video on the Heller case. Press release says: In Gun Control on Trial, journalist Brian Doherty tells the full story behind the landmark District of Columbia v...
Thoughts on different sports
Posted on October 12, 2008The Armed School Teacher's comment on the previous post brings to mind the nature of different sports. Soccer: Soccer hooligans terrorize European games, tearing down goal posts, assaulting opposing fans, and rioting. Shooting's equivalent: Two spectators get dirty looks for muttering "Semper Fi" a little too loudly after a Marine takes his shot...
Todd Jarrett webpage
Posted on October 12, 2008I didn't know Todd Jarrett, our instructor at Blackwater, had his own webpage, but here it is. He was a superb instructor. Tho from my standpoint, I was like a high school student taking serious college courses; I really needed more experience and training to (1) be able to benefit more and (2) to save him the trouble of remedial ed...
More thought on the Akins Accelerator
Posted on October 12, 2008Reader Unix Jedi (here's his blog) has this thought: "As much as I hate to... ATF's got a damn good case here. Let me point you to Mike Williamson who detailed why, it changed my mind: http://mzmadmike.livejournal.com/42839.html http://mzmadmike.livejournal...
Akins Accelerator district court ruling
Posted on October 10, 2008Pdf of ruling here. As I understand it, the Akins involves letting the action slide in the stock so that the trigger essentially pushes itself against the finger, firing as fast as the device can cycle. ATF initially ruled that an Akins-equipped firearm was not a Title II since the trigger is pulled once for every shot...
Inspiring story
Posted on October 10, 2008The story comes via Instapundit... Knox County (TN) Commissioner Greg Lambert hears a commotion at the shopping mall, cries that someone had been shot. Two unarmed security guards are trying to respond. Luckily Lambert is a CCW carrier, so when they find the armed suspect he holds him for police...
Georgia citizen detained for open carry
Posted on October 09, 2008Another one. GeorgiaCarry.org filed suit and reports on the case. (A bit of background: the plaintiff is enlisted military, and was openly carrying in a store. He was stopped and the firearm confiscated. When he asked for its return, he was told it couldn't be returned, because they had forwarded it to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation...
Not again, again
Posted on October 09, 2008I've previously posted about a Norfolk VA fellow who open carries, entirely lawful in VA, was arrested, sued and settled for $10,000.... And a few days later, doing the same on a bus, was detained by Norfolk police. Well, Virginia Civil Defense League held a dinner rally in his support...
AHSA: just Brady Campaign in a flannel shirt?
Posted on October 09, 2008An interesting concept. Sensible Progressive lists the positions of American Hunters & Shooters Assn and Brady Campaign on gun control issues and demonstrates, surprise, that they are identical.
NRA to make announcement tomorrow
Posted on October 08, 2008I'd guess it might be a certain endorsement. I'm just glad I don't have to make this schedule -- four cities, from the east coast to Nevada, in a single day. Details in extended entry below.
I know these guys would do anything to win an election...
Posted on October 08, 2008But misappropriating the National Shooting Sports Foundation emailing list, to send out pro-Obama emailings? Snowflakes in Hell has the story. And here's the NSSF release on it, with links to their cease and desist letter.
Article on Nordyke v. King
Posted on October 08, 2008An article in Reason, dealing with the Methusala of gun cases. Hat tip to reader Mark Noble...
Settlement in New Orleans gun seizures
Posted on October 08, 2008AP reports the case has settled. It suggests that part of the settlement is a permanent injunction against seizures in similar future situations. UPDATE: Here's the NRA press release giving more details.
False flag operations enter the election
Posted on October 08, 2008The antigun false flag American Hunters and Shooters Association is stumping for Obama in Ohio.
District court rulings post-Heller
Posted on October 07, 2008The Volokh Conspiracy has discussions of Industrious v. Cauley, and US v. Yanecy, both prohibited person prosecutions. Industrious strangely cites the Parker Court of Appeals dissent as if it was the rule of Heller -- and botches the dissent at that (seeming to think it means the 2A only applies in DC, when the dissent claimed the 2A didn't apply in DC)...
Video from Blackwater Gun Blogger Weekend
Posted on October 07, 2008Here, via Michael Bane's Downrange TV. If you want to see how fast Todd Jarrett can fire on the move, check out the "shooting on the move clip." If you'd like to see the fun in the shoothouse, try "lasers in the shoothouse." Not to say you get a little zoned out during that exercise, but this was the first I knew the videographer was behind me (and he's toting a big professional camera)...
Another 911 call
Posted on October 07, 2008Video here. The video clip doesn't relate the whole story; apparently she called 911, wound up relayed to wrong police department, got transferred, related her location (although too panicked to give an exact address), fled to the police station and was killed in their parking lot after being kept out by some manner of fence...
Documentary passes 6,000 DVD mark
Posted on October 06, 2008I'm happy to report that my documentary DVD just passed 6,000 in circulation! Amazon has it under consideration for streaming download under their system for that.
NRA expanding ad campaign
Posted on October 06, 2008Announcement here. The expansion is aimed at six States, I'd guess chosen because they are in play and have high firearms ownership.
Obama, the Joyce Foundation, and the Heller case
Posted on October 06, 2008I have a Pajamas Media article up exploring the connection between the three. UPDATE: the comments to the story have several commenters saying that their Dish Network suddenly began defaulting to the Obama Channel. I had someone say that to me this morning, too...
ACLU suit against ATF?
Posted on October 05, 2008Joe Huffman reports on it. A lady was driving around on April 19, 2006 (the anniversary of the Waco fire) with "remember the children of Waco" written on her windows, and got pulled over and questioned. At least from the description, it sounds like local police, rather than ATF, stopped her...
Amusing historical find
Posted on October 05, 2008While researching the 14th Amendment, I found in the Chicago Tribune a report of same-sex marriage ... in 1866! "Women's Rights -- A Woman with a Wife [From the New Bedford Mercury, 4th] About a year ago, a daughter of Major Daniel Perry, who was somewhat deranged, disappeared, and wandering off, was at last lodged in the Sullivan County, New York, alms house as a vagrant...
Clinging to guns and religion
Posted on October 05, 2008A Jewish Manhattan resident clings to his guns and his religion.
Another dumb crook report
Posted on October 04, 2008Arrested for burglary, posts bond, is released and is immediately caught in the jail parking lot, going thru cars.
Navy finds lost sub
Posted on October 03, 2008Story here. It's the Grunion, last heard from in 1942, and found off the Aleutians. Ah, a much fuller account. I have a foggy memory that one of her officers (who wasn't on her last tour) wrote a book about the ship.
Roundup of Nordyke briefs
Posted on October 03, 2008Gene Hoffman has the collection, in pdf. UPDATE: he also has the State's (i.e., King's) brief, here. So far as I know there were no amici supporting the State.
"dangerous and unusual weapons"
Posted on October 02, 2008Prof. O'Shea's comment to a prior post led me to wonder: just what were the "dangerous and unusual weapons" that common law viewed as outside the right to arms? Everybody had muskets, pistols, knives, and before that bows and pole arms. For much of the period, no gentleman would go out without his sword...
Study finds no link between gun shows and gun deaths
Posted on October 02, 2008For me, a man bites dog story. But a rebuttal to those who contend that criminals flock to gun shows to get firearms. Press release and summary The study in pdf.
Bank bailout bill
Posted on October 02, 2008The 451 page monstrosity is online. Good grief. The bailout ends around page 297. The next 150 pages is comprised of benefits to one or another region or group, either to round up congressional votes or just slipped in. It included changes to the Internal Revenue Code, benefits for film production, disaster relief to the Midwest, changes in how Forest Service does business, exemption of wooden arrows for kids from (I assume Pittman-Robinson) taxes, etc...
So much for dialing 911
Posted on October 01, 2008Account here. In Arizona, on the few times I or a relative have called 911, the reaction has been fast (even tho Pima County Sheriff's Office is stretched thin). That's not the case everywhere.
But is it NFA registered?
Posted on October 01, 2008Video here. I've heard that ATF has opined that a shoelace, properly tied, can be an NFA weapon, but I don't know about catgut...
One fast rifle
Posted on October 01, 20082,000 rounds per minute, cyclic, set for a fast 3 round burst. Hat tip to reader David McCleary....
Jury deadlock in case involving NFA records
Posted on October 01, 2008Posting here. The defense challenged the government's NFA records, brought in a top-notch statistical expert who testified they were not something you could use as anything but an investigatory lead. The jury deadlocked 7-5 (no word on who had the seven and who the five)...
Amicus briefs filed in Nordyke
Posted on October 01, 2008Here's amicus of Prof. Aynes, Curtis, Lawrence and Van Alstyne. Prof. Curtis is one of the biggest names in 14th Amendment scholarship, and Van Alstyne is one of the biggest names in constitutional law, period. Here's the amicus for NRA and CalGuns. Both are quite good, and filed a little early (deadline is tomorrow)...
New group supporting knife rights
Posted on October 01, 2008Webpage is here. I talked with Doug Ritter, the chairman, at the Gun Rights Policy Conference. It was interesting to go into the restrictions on knifes -- bars to this or that type, States that bar unlicensed CCW and have licenses only for carrying a concealed firearm, but not any other form of weapon, etc...
VA open carry in parks OK
Posted on September 30, 2008Virginia's Attorney General has ruled (pdf) that the State agency regulating its parks was without authority to promulgate a rule forbidding open carrying.
Conflicting news out of NJ
Posted on September 29, 2008Story here. On the one hand, the Court of Appeals upheld a ruling striking down Jersey City's one-gun-a-month ordinance. On the other, a bill to impose the same limitation statewide is moving ahead.
A slip
Posted on September 29, 2008Sensibly Progressive takes on a grad student, publishing in the Yale campus newspaper. The grad student begins by demonstrating that crime rates rose after Connecticut went to "shall issue" CCW in 1969. The minor problem being that Connecticut isn't "shall issue," and nobody was passing "shall issue" laws in 1969; the only laws being enacted back then were more and more restrictions on firearms.
A cert petition to watch
Posted on September 29, 2008Question: is a requirement of unanimous vote to convict part of the Sixth Amendment, and is it incorporated against the States? The petition for cert. is up for vote in the first conference of the Supremes, likely to be announced in a few days. The Sixth Amendment on its face says nothing about the question, but as the petition notes, it's quite clear that that was the practice, and the understanding, at the framing period...
MO governor takes on the Obama Truth Squad
Posted on September 28, 2008And he doesn't mince words. ?What Senator Obama and his helpers are doing is scandalous beyond words, the party that claims to be the party of Thomas Jefferson is abusing the justice system and offices of public trust to silence political criticism with threats of prosecution and criminal punishment...
Gun Rights Policy Conference
Posted on September 28, 2008Just got back from it, tired as can be. Some notes in wrap up: Alan Gura was appropriately commended, gave a speech, and received a standing ovation. Two, actually, if my foggy memory is correct. I rec'd Citizens' Committee's Bill of Rights Award. (I thought the awards were over when the last speaker got it, so I stepped outside for a bit -- when Peggy Tartaro found me, I had to rush back in and improvise a speech on the fly)...
The ultimate in live blogging
Posted on September 27, 2008At the Gun Rights Conference, right now I'm at the head table. David Kopel is speaking, I'm next up, Just before this adjusting the legal end of concerns from the hotel about open carry (legal in AZ, and the ability of a public facility has to provide lockers if it wants to restrict it)...
At the Gun Rights Policy Conference
Posted on September 27, 2008Here at the Sheraton Crescent in Phoenix. Very solid attendance -- best head count I can make is around 400 people. I've bumped into Chuck Cunningham, Dave Kopel, Scott Hattrup, Timothy Wheeler, John Velleco, Scott Bach Alan Gura, and Howard Nemerov.
Obama Campaign continues to try to cut off NRA ads
Posted on September 26, 2008Here's the latest: a page where members can mass email TV station management. I went up on it, gave a fictitious name, address and email, and sent the stations an email thanking and encouraging them. One of the webpages (you go thru three to send the mail) has the following: "Time and again, Barack has defended citizens? Constitutional right to bear arms, as well as the rights of sportsmen and hunters...
FFL found innocent of straw man charges
Posted on September 26, 2008Story here. The story, at least, doesn't suggest there was reason to suspect the dealer, but when ATF caught a felon in possession (and with drugs) they let him walk in exchange for trying to set the dealer up. The jury didn't buy it.
Threats to Missourians who dare to oppose Obama
Posted on September 26, 2008Video here. Gist is that an "Obama Truth Squad" (using that title) is being organized, specifically composed of prosecutors and sheriffs, to respond immediately to any ads or "statements" that might violate Missouri ethics laws. I can see nothing wrong with a squad that rebuts the other side or lays out its version of the truth...
PA court throws out Philadelphia's challenge
Posted on September 26, 2008Story here. I figured it was just some politicos' publicity stunt anyway -- a city sues the State over its pre-emption laws. The PA Court of Appeals held that, under those laws, Philiadelphia's one-gun-a-month and its "assault weapon" ordinances were invalid.
FoxNews on NRA "Fact Check"
Posted on September 26, 2008Story here. I'm not holding my breath on the rest of the media picking it up. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson....
Obama spokesman gets grilled on Fox over NRA ads
Posted on September 25, 2008Breitbart video here. The interviewer eats the Obama spokesman for lunch. Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred...
Chicago antigunners trying to win friends and influence people
Posted on September 25, 2008If they can't get their way, they'll block access to State buildings until Mommy Gives In. Somebody oughta write the Curia about "Father" Pfleger. I think Benedict would take a dim view of such things, even if the guy's bishop apparently doesn't (unless he touts a presidential candidate, which can put the tax exemption at issue).
NFA: NFRTR challenged
Posted on September 25, 2008News release here. Background: the National Firearms Act of 1934 requires tax payment, and thus registration, of full autos, short barreled firearms, etc. In any NFA prosecution, the government must prove the gun is unregistered and that the tax wasn't paid on the transfer to the current possessor...
NY case against traveller dismissed
Posted on September 25, 2008Story here. It doesn't name the person, but I know of several arrests at NYC area airport where someone, for example, missed a connection or had a flight cancelled, had firearms in properly checked baggage, but had to retrieve them and check them in again, and were arrested under the NY gun laws...
CCW permit revoked for legal open carry
Posted on September 25, 2008Soccer mom in Pennsylvania has a CCW permit, but open carries to soccer games -- as is legal, permit or no. The other moms say this makes them "uncomfortable," and the sheriff revokes her CCW permit. Hat tip to Eric Schultz and Mark Noble (who's a candidate for US Congress in Ohio-15).
Obama campaign tries to get stations to refuse NRA ads
Posted on September 25, 2008Story here, with links to the campaign's letter and NRA's response. The letter is pretty thin, not much more than (1) the Washington Post denies what NRA argues, so it must be a pack of lies and (2) the ads say Obama "supports" things ... OK, he *supported* them in the past, but it's not on his webpage at this moment...
"Fact checking" sites
Posted on September 25, 2008An interesting article from NPR. Basically, most people prefer the sites that are clearly partisan to those which purport to be nonpartisan. I suppose there would be two things driving this. (1) We all like to hear our views reinforced. (2) You're probably more likely to approximate the truth by reading avowedly partisan views of both sides...
Gun blog gun got here!
Posted on September 24, 2008It got here today! Click on the thumbnail for a larger image. It is SO sweet! Basically, a custom edition of the Para USA LDA TAC-5. The TAC-5 is a 1911 with a LIGHT double-action trigger (feels to be about 5-7 lb), ramped barrel (reported to feed lead semiwadcutters), full-length guide rod, enamel brown finish (no worries about fingerprints causing rust), loaded chamber indicator, and a greatly beefed up extractor (the extractor being the 1911's only weak point)...
NRA ads churning up a battle
Posted on September 24, 2008NRA is running anti-Obama TV ads, and FactCheck.org claims that they're false. Gist of the article seems to be: NRA says Obama is antigun, Obama's campaign denies it, therefore NRA must be lying. Duh.... It's being picked up by pro-Obama blogs under titles such as "Fact checkers find that National Rifle Association is spreading flat-out lies"...
A great obituary
Posted on September 24, 2008Right here. Hat tip to Bernie Oliver. UPDATE: via reader J. Norman Heath comes this obit. One gathers that the survivors had their differences with the deceased.
Blackhawk holsters
Posted on September 24, 2008Here's the Gun Blogger .45 housed in a Blackhawk Serpa holster; click on the thumbnail for a bigger image. Their holsters were quite interesting. Made of carbon fiber, if I remember. One model has a detent holding the gun; this one had both detent and a finger lever, engaged by the trigger finger, and which holds the front of the trigger guard...
Science deals with deer hunting camo
Posted on September 24, 2008Article at the NY Times Blog. Which probably explains most of the comments.
Field & Stream interviews the candidates
Posted on September 23, 2008Right here. Obama: Chuckle. His explanation of his "clinging to guns and faith" remark: "What they do expect is at the very least they can preserve those traditions that have been so important to them, like hunting, like their faith. That ends up being the focus of their attention [rather than economic issues]...
Thoughts on the media
Posted on September 23, 2008I've been doing some 14th Amendment research, reading newspapers of 1866-68. One thing is striking: they actually reported news then. The change has been so gradual that we can't see it (I've seen the alternative my entire life). But back then the New York Times would report, say: A concise summary of what happened to the 14th Amendment that day in Congress...
New Korwin/Kopel book bout
Posted on September 23, 2008"The Heller Case: Gun Rights Affirmed.". I've got a chapter in it. It's selling at a pre-release discount for at least a few more days (I think it's printed and en route to him).
Obama's not much of a speaker
Posted on September 23, 2008Gad, here's some YouTube video of him when his teleprompter broke down. I've heard comment that he's good reading a teleprompter and helpless otherwise, but this is pitiful. He must not have done courtroom work, is all I can say.
Gun Rights Policy Conference this weekend
Posted on September 22, 2008Here are the details. It's being held in Phoenix, and speakers include Bob Barr, Alan Gura, David Kopel, Alan Korwin, David E. Young, and your humble servant. David Young will be bringing his latest book, and I'll be bringing my documentary, for a bit of marketing...
New Orleans residents buying guns
Posted on September 22, 2008Just as in Florida, hurricanes boost gun sales, as people realize they may just be on their own for a time. Hat tip to reader Rich, who notes the reporter does need to learn a little about the subject. "First-time gun owners, Robertson said, should bypass automatic weapons and purchase a single shot revolver instead...
Legal thoughts on the Palm Pistol
Posted on September 22, 2008The inventor of the Palm Pistol has added, not only the ATF approval letter, but Steve Halbrook's letter to ATF, which goes into much more legal detail. (It's all one pdf file, Steve's letter follows that of the ATF). The key argument appears to be that a "pistol" has a "grip" (whereas 19th century palm pistols did not) that is at an angle to the bore (which cane guns, etc...
Not AGAIN!
Posted on September 21, 2008Understand, this is a Virginia (African-American) who has a CCW permit but likes to open carry. In the past he's picked up his girlfriend, who works at a bank, and the Norfolk police have given him lots of trouble, as in publicly frisking him, handcuffing him, putting him in a squadcar, etc...
CCW licenses up in Florida
Posted on September 21, 2008Now one in 35 residents has one. An official notes applications surge in the aftermath of hurricanes. And its crime rate and violent crime rate is falling. What? How can that be?
Monks with guns?
Posted on September 19, 2008In Burma, the Buddhist monks are the value of arms against a despotic government. When they get down to Old Nuns with guns ... that's a prospect that would have had Stalin begging for mercy.... Reader Trap Tee emails with word that it's already happened, in Kosovo: Kosovo's nuns take up arms Independent, The (London), Aug 23, 1998 by Paul Wood SISTER Anastasija, calm and serene during most of our conversation, became animated on the subject of the weaponry held at the Orthodox convent of Devic in central Kosovo...
Fed. district court rules for FFL
Posted on September 18, 2008Story here. The court turned down the usual rationale for license revocation, that a continuing series of errors proves the required "willfulness." I always thought that shaky. To log a firearm out to a customer requires 43 entries, if we count the 4473 and the bound book...
The Palm Pistol
Posted on September 18, 2008An interesting invention -- a modern palm pistol. Invented by activist Matt Carmel. It can be fired by a person who lacks the dexterity to work a slide, has nothing to snag on clothing, and is probably more accurate in untrained hands than a traditional firearm...
Ohio court strikes down city ban on guns in parks.
Posted on September 18, 2008Opinion, in pdf, here. The suit was brought by Ohioans for Concealed Carry, and challenged a city ban on guns in parks, as applied to CCW licensees, since the State law said a licensee could carry other than in specified areas (which did not include parks)...
More on "the other NRA"
Posted on September 18, 2008Here's a pic, from a reader, of a National Recovery Administration meal sign that once hung in a store: From another reader comes a discussion of the mail chaos when the National Rifle Association and the National Recovery Administration were officed in the same building: "Sacks of targets, used in NRA tournaments, were delivered to puzzled clerks in the offices of the National Recovery Administration, while the National Rifle Association staff sorted through pleas for financial aid to locate its own correspondence...
Fellow arrested during DNC convention released
Posted on September 17, 2008Story here. Sounds like a false arrest suit in the making. Not knowing of the convention, he checks into a Denver hotel with two hunting rifles and two handguns, all in cases. Nancy Pelosi is staying at the hotel, so over this they "evacuate" her (guns in the same building!)...
House passes bill cutting back DC gun laws
Posted on September 17, 2008Story here. As predicted, the mushy version went down in flames, and the stronger one passed 266-152. From here it goes to the Senate, with uncertain results. Hat tip to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae...
ATF has trouble with its own records
Posted on September 17, 2008Story here. An audit found that over a three year period the agency simply lost 75 guns and hundreds of laptops. About half of the guns were stolen, and two of these were used in crime. The rest simply vanished or are at any rate missing from inventory...
DC City Council amends laws as Congress debates its bill
Posted on September 16, 2008Story here. To think the Heller ruling is not yet three months old, and DC is trying to run faster than a Demo Congress can pursuit it....
New disease spotted
Posted on September 16, 2008Palinosis. It has a sudden onset; symptoms include dementia, frothing at the mouth, panic attacks, and rage. Via Instapundit.
Memoir of "the other NRA"
Posted on September 16, 2008An ad from 1933, featuring "the other NRA's eagle." I read somewhere that for a time in DC the National Rifle Association and the National Recovery Administration were officed in the same building. Every day they'd sort out the mail to "NRA" that had gone to the wrong NRA and exchange.
Brady fundraising insight
Posted on September 16, 2008The Chronicle of Philanthropy notes: "Other charities that have changed their names have faced trouble. Gifts to Handgun Control, the advocacy organization, dropped after it changed its name to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in 2001. ?Seven years later, we still use the old name on the outer envelope of our mailings because responses drop when we don?t,? said Mary Ester, the Brady Campaign?s director of development...
More on DC legislation
Posted on September 15, 2008Yup, back in town, dog tired. The Washington Post reports that the DC City Council is considering a further retreat, to try to avoid Congressional legislation. It may repeal the ban on semiautos, and the requirement that firearms be disassembled or trigger locked...
NRA prez to compete in National Championships
Posted on September 15, 2008Story here. John Sigler, NRA president, will shoot in that nationals, prone at 600-1,000 yards. He'll use a 6.5x.284 rifle.
Blogging a bit slow
Posted on September 12, 2008Outa town for the weekend, so won't posting much. Saw Sebatian & Bitter last night...
Open carrier taken into custody outside Obama rally
Posted on September 10, 2008Story here. The fellow was carrying openly (utterly legal in Pennsylvania), but does so outside an Obama rally. He doesn't try to enter the park where it was being held (which requires passing thru metal detectors), Someone sees the gun, and he winds up arrested, charged with disorderly conduct (essentially disturbing the peace) -- which I can't see...
More on the fight over the Federal DC legislation
Posted on September 09, 2008Politics can be confusing. Story here. Basically, the House committee is expected to report out a much watered-down version, but the rule for debate (fixed by Rules Committee, directly under Pelosi's thumb) allows a quick up or down vote between that and the stronger version (which, with nearly half the House cosponsoring, will likely win)...
Not a product I'd care to own
Posted on September 09, 2008Snowflakes in Hell has a posting (via Ry Jones) about a converter kit to turn a Ruger 10-22 rifle into a pistol. I'm not utterly sure of the benefit (why not just buy a Ruger pistol?) but I'd agree that the legal risks are considerable. ATF's position is that the receiver is the gun, and a rifle receiver is thus a rifle, so one turned into a pistol becomes a short-barreled rifle...
ATFE authorizes electronic A&D books
Posted on September 09, 2008Pdf of ruling here. If anyone ever doubts that licenses have serious recordkeeping duties, the ruling should answer that. Even the electronic recordkeeping will likely require custom-written software (which won't be cheap). There are thirteen requirements to be met...
Court considering rebriefing death penalty case
Posted on September 09, 2008Discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy. It concerns Kennedy v. Louisiana, where the Court ruled that the death penalty for child rapists was cruel and unusual punishment, based in good part on finding a national consensus that it was too much. The majority noted that there was no federal law allowing such punishment, and only 6 of 30 States that have the death penalty allowed it, and mentioned that Congress, in establishing a federal death penalty, had not extended it to rapists of children...
Election getting foul already
Posted on September 09, 2008Facts: back in 2000, Alaska enacted a law barring police departments from charging victims for rape investigation kits. Sounds logical: if somebody shoots at me, I wouldn't expect to pay for the ballistics test. A reporter for a small town newspaper hunting for the "other side" interviews their police chief, who opposes the bill because the cost to the town is high, they like to bill the victim's medical insurance "when possible," and the offender ought to be made to pay the cost as restitution...
House to vote today on DC bill
Posted on September 09, 2008Story here. Sounds like the leadership IS rushing the bill along. A lot of blue dog Demos in tight races were demanding the vote, to show their gunny credentials. Again, how far the nation has changed. I can't picture Pelosi allowing it, or having her comrades pushing hard for a vote on it, a few years ago, and ten years ago arguing that something like this would happen would have seemed delusional...
VCDL takes on Great American Family Restaurants
Posted on September 08, 2008Very nice videos at their website here. It's the second video down.
The National Parks gun ban
Posted on September 08, 2008Sensibly Progress has a take on the present rules.
Blog on Obama and the gun issue
Posted on September 08, 2008Right here. Hat tip to Dan Gifford. While we're at it, just found out that historian J. Norman Heath has a blog on 2A issues.
Firearm sales increasing
Posted on September 08, 2008Chart here. Nearly 7.5 million NICS checks so far this year, and August showed a 4.3% increase over last year.
WashPo on bill affecting DC gun laws
Posted on September 08, 2008Cam Edwards has a fine post dealing with a WashPo editorial that seems to have been based on reading the Brady Campaign's press release, rather than the bill in question.
Freudian slip?
Posted on September 07, 2008Obama may have made Freudian slip: "If you?ve got a gun in your house, I?m not taking it,?? Obama said. But the Illinois senator could still see skeptics in the crowd, particularly on the faces of several men at the back of the room. So he tried again...
Events in Maryland
Posted on September 07, 2008Posting here. Description is a bit overwraught, but essentially, a collector buys ammo from an FFL who keeps ammo records (not required) and gives them to the State Police. They show up at his house past midnight, because he bought ammo for guns for which there was no dealer record of their purchase...
Now, this is a bit embarrassing...
Posted on September 06, 2008Tho there was probably no other wise course of action: Police hear a woman crying for help from inside a house, knocks at the door yield only more cries for help, they break in to rescue her .... And find a cockatoo , giving the cries in its owner's voice...
Todd Jarrett shoots 1000 rounds in 10 minutes
Posted on September 06, 2008YouTube here. By the end the gun is so hot that the trigger is burning his finger. That the gun keeps going is a tribute to the 1911 design, and to Para USA's execution of it. Hat tip to reader David McCleary....
The Todd Jarrett grip
Posted on September 05, 2008Captain of a Crew of One has an excellent visual depiction of the hold that Todd Jarrett teaches at Blackwater. It's not Weaver, more Isoceles, and involves a more extensive weak hand grip over the strong hand. Considering that he's the world's practical pistol champion, there is much to be said for it...
What doesn't work in Chicago won't work in Cheyenne
Posted on September 05, 2008Chicago's handgun ban seems functioning as expected: 125 homicides over the summer, more than the KIAs in Iraq. Glenn Reynolds suggests that with escalating violence and a corrupt regime, maybe we should just pull out of Chicago. One of the latest: four gang members charged in murder of 10 year old girl...
Not recommended to the prudent
Posted on September 05, 2008Even if a perp has a shotgun, he shouldn't get between a mother and her kids. Fortunately, the perp couldn't comprehend that the safety was on, which enabled the mother to grab the barrel, and the father to get it away from him and blast him. Hat tip to Bernie Oliver...
Upcoming law review articles on Heller
Posted on September 04, 2008Nelson Lund, Heller and Second Amendment Precedent argues that Heller erred in trying to reconcile its result with US v. Miller, when it should simply have recognized that Miller was wrongly decided. Nelson Lund, Anticipating the Second Amendment Incorporation: The Role of the Inferior Courts argues that the 2nd Amendment should be incorporated into the 14th, and applied to the States, and that lower courts should not rely upon anti-incorporation case law and upon "it's up to the Supremes to change things...
Another Bloomberg Mayor becomes a prohibited person
Posted on September 04, 2008Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleads to two felonies. He'll resign, turn over his pension to the city as restitution, serve 120 days. The charges are based on perjury during a civil police whistleblower trial, and in denying that he tried to fire a police official who was investigating corruption committed by his inner circle...
I regret to report
Posted on September 03, 2008I regret to report that this is not a genuine image of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. My heart was broken by this debunking. Hat tip to Dan Gifford (sigh)...
Author arrested in MA
Posted on September 03, 2008Story in the DC Examiner. Apparently police responded to the tripping of his burglar alarm, wound up searching his house, and now the 67 year old author faces up to ten years in the slammer because (1) his permit had expired and (2) he had an AR-15 and several magazines.
85 year old burglary victim takes novel approach
Posted on September 03, 2008She solves the problem of how do you hold the perp at gunpoint while calling police -- by forcing the perp to call them for her.
Interesting thought
Posted on September 02, 2008In light of "identity politics," folks have been seeing Sarah Palin's nomination as intended to peel off women voters. But might nominating an attractive woman who loves to hunt and shoot be aimed at a different demographic?
KY Supremes to consider retroactivity of "no retreat"
Posted on August 31, 2008Story here. Had the same issue here in AZ. It'd help if drafters of legislation remembered always to include a saving clause. I.e., this legislation applies to events occuring after the effective date, or prosecutions filed after its date, or cases pending on its date, or cases or appeals pending on its date...
10th Circuit rules against Wyoming
Posted on August 29, 2008Story here. Reduced to a nutshell: federal law says a conviction does not count if it has been "expunged," or firearm rights have been restored. Under Wyoming law (and that of a lot of other States), a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction can be "expunged," with a ruling say that it is so, even tho the record is not physically destroyed and can be used, if the person offends again, to enhance the sentence...
McCain picks Gov. Sarah Palin for VP
Posted on August 29, 2008She's an NRA lifer, which is good, and a hunter. Gotta say, she adds more to his ticket than Biden adds to Obama's.
Ruling on shoulder stocks
Posted on August 29, 2008District Court ruling, in pdf, here. Defendant, a reservist, has two handguns (one a semiauto, one a registered full auto) and two shoulder stocks that would fit either. The shoulder stocks double as holsters, and he has one handgun in each when ATF raids him (on other grounds, which turn out to be a legal mistake)...
Obama actually supported a gun owner, once
Posted on August 28, 2008Story here. OK, maybe it wasn't the type of gun owner most of us would care to be around, but it must count for something. Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred...
And on the return from Blackwater
Posted on August 28, 2008Before returning, I head to DC for a business matter, and stay in a three story motel in Arlington VA. Tuesday morning I'm awakened by a lot of engines running outside, sound of people walking around and talking. At first I thought it was construction ...
Blackhawk Co. van
Posted on August 27, 2008This was our transport down to Blackwater (click on thumbnail for bigger image). Pretty nice! It picked us up at the hotel and then stopped at Blackhawk's headquarters for a tour and presentations. We were issued a pair of their holsters, which were VERY nice...
Driving to Blackwater
Posted on August 27, 2008Here's the inside of the Blackhawk bus that took us to the shoot. It was quite a comfortable ride, altho not so classy as the Suburbans we later drove. Click on image to enlarge.
Vehicles at Blackwater
Posted on August 27, 2008They loaned us a couple of Suburbans that had been lightly used in the "ram your way out of an ambush" exercise. The insides were full of spent and live ammo, one had two bullet holes, both had windows gone. It was unspeakably cool transportation. This was the one in better condition...
The ammo we used at Blackwater
Posted on August 25, 2008It was some astonishing stuff. Made by International Cartridge Corp., of Reynoldsville PA. It's made of sintered copper and tin. The 9mms weighed in at 100 grains, the ,45s at 155. We shot steel plates at 3 yards and no splash back, no jacket fragments, a couple of times I felt something touch my leg, that was it...
Sunday at Blackwater
Posted on August 25, 2008Didn't have time to post before this, but it was wild! Todd Jarret took us thru the shoot house, twice! Imagine a steel building (it looked like 3/8" plate, covered in plywood) divided into rooms, all doors shut, you open the door and there might be anything inside...
second day at Blackwater
Posted on August 23, 2008I ache all over. Eight hours of shooting. Shooting while moving toward, away from, or parallel to the target, shooting at moving targets, shooting while moving at moving targets. I don't know how many hundred rounds. My right hand feels as if it were sandpapered...
ATF's expansive definition of "manufacturer"
Posted on August 22, 2008pdf here. How they reconcile with the GCA 68 definition of firearm as the receiver (so that manufacture = making the receiver) is beyond me. By their definition, a person who assembles receivers to other components is also a manufacturer, as is a gunsmith who regularly sporterizes military guns into hunting rifles.
First day at Blackwater.
Posted on August 22, 2008Pretty tired. Sitting here with six gun bloggers (now that Sebatian/Snowflakes in Hell came upstairs). They're probably concentrating on the shooting so I'll cover what led up to it. First a trip to sponsor Blackhawk, which made the holster and other equipment we're using...
Off to Blackwater!
Posted on August 21, 2008In a short time I'll be on the plane for the Blackwater shooting facility, to meet with the other gun bloggers who won the Para Ordinance competition and will also be training there. Blogging will be light for a few days, tho I may be able to post some pics and relate the experience...
What doesn't work in Chicago may also not work in Cheyenne
Posted on August 19, 2008With regard the Demo platform acknowledgment that "What works in Chicago may not work in Cheyenne," it's worth noting that: "This election season, for instance, the residents of Obama's hometown are being murdered at a clip not seen in five years. Murders have risen 18 percent over a year ago...
Brady Campaign on TX school district allowing armed teachers
Posted on August 19, 2008Press release here. Of course, they're opposed. I wonder if they see the incongruity of one section of their press release, considering that they pushed "gun free school zones" on the claim they were needed to protect children: "?It is a myth that ?gun-free schools? somehow make our children more vulnerable,? said Brady Center President Paul Helmke...
Study of killers of LEOS
Posted on August 19, 2008Right here. Tho I am a bit suspicious of the claim that they frequently practice with weapons (80% practicing, average 23 times a year). A big city gang banger is going to be hard put to find open countryside in which to shoot. I note they only studied 43 offenders, so perhaps the results should be taken with a bit of salt.
American Hunters & Shooters Ass'n director takes out new antigun ad
Posted on August 19, 2008John Rosenthal, the millionaire founding director of AHSA (he resigned last year after his antigun connections became a little too publicized) has taken out a billboard that is a fake gun store front proclaiming "We Sell Guns! No ID required. No background checks...
Chicago suburbs trying to get around Heller
Posted on August 18, 2008Chicago Public Radio has a story. The group doing the drafting, Legal Community Against Violence, is a Joyce Foundation subsidiary.
Difficulties of getting a handgun in DC
Posted on August 17, 2008Story from WTOP News. One FFL dealing with the public (temporarily out of business while he changes address), $125 charge to transfer and paper a gun. Interesting that, while before Heller, the city government was predicting the fall of Republic if their ban wasn't sustained, and now the Chief of Police is simply encouraging people to get firearms safety training, and suggesting maybe someone ought to open an indoor shooting range in the city.
US v. Fincher: no 2A right to own an NFA in a private militia
Posted on August 16, 2008The 8th Circuit has so ruled. (pdf). The ruling essentially says that a well organized militia must be a State organized militia (and the State law recognized non-Guardsmen only as the "unorganized militia") hence his possession of the NFA firearms was not related to service in a well organized militia...
Disney backs off a little in FLA
Posted on August 16, 2008Story here. It's claiming that its license to store fireworks (explosives) puts it within an exemption to the statue allowing employees to leave firearms in their parked, locked, cars while working. That's not how I read the statute. Disney has now agreed that employees at sites other than the big one, which has the explosives license, are protected by the law.
TX school district allows teachers to carry guns
Posted on August 15, 2008Story here. Hat tip to reader Charles Oldfield....
FedEx workers charged with stealing 146 guns
Posted on August 14, 2008Report here. They were selling so many stolen guns on the street that locals complained. I find it surprising that police then had to set up a sting to catch them. I'd have thought FedEx would have a little more security, i,e,, security cams inside), or at least a system where workers could carry seventy boxes shotguns out to the parking lot...
Len Savage reprisals
Posted on August 14, 2008Here's an article on the latest. Len is a firearm inventor and designer, who starting having serious problems with ATF Technical Branch after he testified as an expert witness against them several times.
National Rifle Assn ... of India.. getting big boost
Posted on August 14, 2008Its member, Abhinav Bindra, just won India's first Olympic Gold Medal (in any sport) and has returned home to a hero's welcome ""As long as the sun and moon remain, the nation will remember your name," chanted the crowd at New Delhi airport." Another report: "Bindra returned from Beijing on Thursday to be immediately engulfed by an adoring crowd, followed by a series of meeting with dignitaries including President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi...
FLA gun buyback
Posted on August 14, 2008With the usual result: people who are not criminals pick up some cash for old guns. The sad part here is that some of those had history, ownership by grandparents, purchase by a fellow, as a child, 70 years ago, etc.. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson...
Judge Posner's criticism of Heller
Posted on August 13, 2008At The New Republic. Generally, he's a good thinker and writer. But not on this subject.
Summing up the British experience
Posted on August 13, 2008For self-defense, a fellow in Scotland was reduced to carrying, under the seat of his car, a gobstopper (a very law jawbreaker type candy) in a sock. The story comes to light after he was fined 400 pounds for carrying the weapon. "Sheriff Kenneth McIver told him that, even though it was not in the same category as a knife or axe, it was capable of inflicting a nasty injury...
Justice Kennedy on Heller and 14th Amendment
Posted on August 12, 2008Here it is, in RealMedia video format. Justice Kennedy is speaking at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference. He gets to Heller about 38 minutes in (and the rest of it is interesting, too. He has a great sense of humor. My notes: Audience member asks him what are the best teaching cases of his time on the Court...
Blog devoted to Obama and the gun issue
Posted on August 12, 2008Right here. It's just getting going, but I figured folks might want to get in on the readership ground floor!
Evanston IL drops handgun ban
Posted on August 12, 2008Story here. "[Alderman] Rainey suggested that the city might want to consider printing the names of all those who have state firearms cards in the local paper. "Do you want your grandchild going to visit someone who has a gun?" Rainey asked. But no action was taken on that suggestion...
Post-Heller case on Lautenberg matter
Posted on August 11, 2008At the Volokh Conspiracy, Gene Volokh has a posting on a rather thinly reasoned District Court case, involving a gun possessor who had a misdemeanor DV conviction. The court does little more than cite other post Heller district court decisions upholding other restrictions (e...
Obama's gun problem
Posted on August 10, 2008My friend Jim Warner has a column on the subject. In the meantime, the Demos keep digging. Their draft platform (pdf) at p. 43, states: "We recognize that the right to bear arms is an important part of the American tradition, and we will preserve Americans? continued Second Amendment right to own and use firearms...
New trouble for Detroit mayor
Posted on August 08, 2008Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, one of Bloomberg's mayors, gets out of jail for violating conditions of release, on a perjury charge, and is promptly charged with two felony counts of assault on an officer.
I guess John Edwards is off the short list for VP
Posted on August 08, 2008His explanation doesn't do him much good, either. Yeah, he did her (and apparently was trying to last week) but he doesn't love her and he's sure the child isn't his, but sired by one of his staffers. I suspect there are quite a few who don't demand that a politician keep his zipper shut, but do expect him not to be a cad afterward...
TSA contemplates banning guns at airports entirely
Posted on August 08, 2008Snowflakes in Hell discusses it. The story is a bit ambiguous: it says TSA is considering "authorizing" airports to ban from everywhere, including parking lots. Note that the request for the action comes from the Atlanta airport, which is facing lawsuits over its rule to that effect, which reportedly conflicts with Georgia's pre-emption statute...
More on the raid on the mayor in MD
Posted on August 08, 2008From the Baltimore Sun. "When the shooting stopped, two dogs lay dead. A mayor sat in his boxers, hands bound behind his back. His handcuffed mother-in-law was sprawled on the kitchen floor, lying beside the body of one of the family pets that police had killed before her eyes...
What Congress should do, post-Heller
Posted on August 08, 2008Bob Levy and Dave Kopel have an op-ed in the Wall St. Journal on the subject.
Aftermath of DC v. Heller
Posted on August 07, 2008The National Shooting Sports Foundation is scheduling gun courses for DC residents. And DC residents are forming a lobbying group.
Downfall of another "Mayor Against Illegal Guns"
Posted on August 07, 2008Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is prominent in Bloomberg's group. It's amusing to read this report, which ends with "The mayor's chief of staff, Kandia Milton, will run the city while Kilpatrick is in jail, mayoral spokeswoman Denise Tolliver said."
Heller and W. Va. municipalities
Posted on August 07, 2008Not that there's a lot of strict gun laws there, but even so, Heller is having an impact.
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
Posted on August 06, 2008Story here, regarding their first national meeting in D.C.. Rather slanted -- a five second clip from the meeting, and more from their opponents -- but then it's hard to expect much else.
CA bills up for vote
Posted on August 06, 2008Calif. Rifle and Pistol Assn has an alert out that three bills could be considered in the CA Senate Appropriations Committee tommorrow: Assembly Bill 2062 would require an individual to possess a license to purchase ammunition, require vendors to keep a detailed record of the transaction, and simply ban mail or internet ammunition orders...
Dumb crooks roundup
Posted on August 06, 2008Story here. Don't know if I liked the story about the guy who tried to steal copper wire from a live line, or the one about the lady who crashed her car into a convenience store and then tried to buy beer, more.
Another "oops" moment
Posted on August 06, 2008If you're going to pull a SWAT raid, and shoot two dogs, don't do it to the mayor. That's gotta hurt promotion protential.
New roundup site for gunblogs
Posted on August 05, 2008Right here. It performs an excellent service, as an aggregator of aggregators, as it were.
Data on the SiteMeter bug
Posted on August 05, 2008I don't use sitemeter (nor IE unless I have to), but a few days ago a lot of people were having trouble accessing blogs that do. Here's the info on the source and cure of the problem.
Next
Related Law Articles
Self Defense
It's legal to defend yourself and your family
#1 Online Legal Resource
On 08-28 at 21:13PM
Ten months later, Fed must reveal names of emergency lending recipients #FOIA
On 08-25 at 19:02PM
Squeaky Fromme, would-be Ford assassin and Manson devotee, released from prison
On 08-14 at 15:19PM
Likely unintended consequence of cash-for-clunkers stimulus is dampening of 2010 spending
On 08-14 at 14:34PM
Palm seeks to halt Palm Pre Android theme on copyright and trademark ground
On 08-12 at 17:30PM
Congressional investigation demonstrates Karl Rove lied about his active role in US attorney's firing
On 08-12 at 16:20PM
Family of New York City swine flu victim to sue city for failure to secure school #nyc #swineflu
On 08-12 at 12:59PM
Real Network's DVD copying software deemed to break DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions
On 08-12 at 12:57PM
Prepaid funeral operators indicted for $100 Million fraud
On 08-12 at 12:53PM
NY Jets join Cincinnati, Dallas, Green Bay, Houston & Seattle #NFL teams offering branded state lottery games
On 08-12 at 12:43PM
Are you the author of this blog? Adding USLaw.com to your Blogroll increases relevance. You qualify to display a USLaw Network badge.
Suggest changes to this blog's description or nominate another for inclusion. Register for updates.
 |
|
Contact Us | About Us | Celebrity Law Blog |
Our Partners | Disclaimer
| Law Blog Directory
| Law Jobs
| Law Tweets
| GoDaddy Hosting
All original material © 1999-2009 by USLaw.com. |