Constitutional Law

Thoughts on Justice Breyer on the Second Amendment

Posted on December 16, 2010
Prof. Sanford Levinson has written on how views of the Constitution break down in a pattern very similar to the division in religious thought during the Reformation and Counterreformation. There are underlying considerations that escape notice, even as a person takes a position...

Justice Breyer on the Second Amendment

Posted on December 12, 2010
Short form: losing hurts. Of course the Framers knew of gun laws. They required most male citizens to have at least one. Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred....

Excellent shooting under pressure

Posted on December 10, 2010
Story here. The officer survived because when the would-be killer stuck the gun in his face, the hammer dropped on a fired round, and the officer swatted the gun with his flashlight as he fell back and drew. Thereafter he greatly improved the auto's air ventilation systems.

Another no tolerance = no brains

Posted on December 07, 2010
16 year old Montana honors student forgets a cased hunting rifle locked in trunk of car, then informs the school of her mistake, and now faces expulsion. Contact data is in extended remarks below.

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Colt comes up with new plastic cartridge cases

Posted on December 07, 2010
Very interesting. [ pdf, 1 meg]. One version uses a plastic case with a spiral surface; it is said to reduce ammo weight by about 40% and offer easier extraction.

Washington DC is famous for...

Posted on December 06, 2010
Here's a Google map of the US, showing the leading Google search strings relating to each State or other jurisdiction. For Texas, it's "Rangers." For Oregon, it's "Trail." For Kansas, "CIty Chiefs." Reader Steve Barr points out -- look at District of Columbia.

"Knife Rights" gets favorable NY Times writeup

Posted on December 05, 2010
The times, they are a-changing. I can't imagine the Times having anything good to say about any type of arms ten years ago. In fact I can barely imagine it now. [Update: I had to block gmail and yahoo email addresses due to waves of comment spam, but the blog will accept comments without an email address, so just omit it]

A new type of firearm

Posted on December 05, 2010
An interesting debate over at CleanUpATF.org. It's complicated, but I believe concerns what do you have when you have a shotgun with length below the NFA limits, but originally made with a pistol grip instead of a shoulder stock? Is it an ordinary handgun, since it is not designed to be fired from the shoulder? Is it an NFA arm, more regulated, since it is a shotgun with short barrel? Or is it a destructive device, most regulated of all, since it is over ...

John Lott on the nominee for head of BATFE

Posted on December 03, 2010
In National Review Online, John Lott discusses the record of record of Andrew Traver, nominee for Director of the agency. "Mr. Traver has done more than make clearly inaccurate claims about so-called ?assault weapons.? He has supported banning .50-caliber rifles, regulations that would force many gun shows to close down, the Chicago handgun ban, and repealing the Tiahrt Amendment, which protects sensitive trace data from being misused in frivolous municipal lawsuits against gun makers...

Silencer sales booming

Posted on December 03, 2010
With Texas leading the way. I like the quote from Jerry Patterson, Texas Land Commissioner: ""The only use I can think of for a silencer is if you are hunting hogs and have 15 to 20 hogs at a feeder," said Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a former state senator who shepherded conceal-carry legislation in 1995...

Josh Blackman on Heller & McDonald

Posted on December 02, 2010
Josh Blackman has up an interesting post analyzing an ABA Journal article on those decisions. The gist is that the decisions, while recognizing a right, failed to give lower courts much guidance on they go from here. That might be because the Court itself wasn't sure, and figured the best course was to let the lower courts explore the issues for a time (an approach which lower court judges might find a bit frustrating)...

Amtrak allows firearms in checked baggage

Posted on December 01, 2010
And Brady Center worries about train hijackings: "Once this takes effect," said Daniel Vice, senior attorney for the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, "you would be able to check, for example, a dozen AK-47s onto an Amtrak train -- and once they're on there, the baggage car's not secure like a cargo hold of an airplane...

NJ case -- seven years for handguns in trunk of car

Posted on November 30, 2010
Story here. Clean record, recently moved there, had two unloaded handguns in baggage in the trunk of his car. In most States, that would be "so what?" In New Jersey, it's seven years in prison. (I suspect armed robbers would get less time). Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred...

"No retreat" vetoed in PA

Posted on November 28, 2010
Gov. Rendell has vetoed a pro-self defense bill in PA. I use that term because the story describes it as a Castle Doctrine bill, but the text cited suggested it was a no retreat bill. The good news is that it passed both houses with large majorities, and the incoming governor has said he'll sign it.

Knife Rights Foundation has a success

Posted on November 28, 2010
Here's their press release.

Interesting ruling

Posted on November 25, 2010
US v. Huet, W.D. Pa. Defendant's live-in boyfriend plead out to felon in possession, and she was charged with aiding and abetting that possession. The court dismisses the indictment because there was no allegation or evidence that she aided or abetted other than by herself lawfully owning a firearm...

College President acknowledges error

Posted on November 25, 2010
Kilgore College president Holda admits he was wrong when claiming that legit gun owners were shooting each other during the Luby's cafeteria slaying. Not quite wanting to back down, he cites VPC and says they shoot each other on other occasions. Campuscarry...

Mtn to dismiss denied in Illinois FOID card case

Posted on November 23, 2010
The district court has denied the State's motion to dismiss in Mishaga v. Monken, which challenges Illinois' requirement of an FOID card to possess a firearm, while at the same time making nonresidents ineligible to obtain such a card. What I find interesting is that the judge suggests the parties should at some point argue whether there is a difference between possession in one's own home (Heller and McDonald) and possession while staying at someone else's home...

College president loses it over Luby's shooting

Posted on November 22, 2010
This is priceless. Bill Honda, president of Kilgore College in Texas, gets upset that a legislator has introduced a bill that would allow CCW licenseees to carry on campuses. He calls for legislation to be "based on a good body of information." Then he describes the mass shooting at the Luby's cafeteria in terms that suggest he is somewhere between uninformed and delusional -- in his version of events, "you had multiple shooters, and innocent people were killed by other people who had concealed, licensed handguns, because they weren?t sure who was the shooter and who was a defender...

Support for gun control plummets

Posted on November 22, 2010
The latest Gallup data shows that, from 1990 to present, support for stricter gun laws fell drastically, from 78% to 44%, support for relaxing gun laws rose from 2% to 12%, and support for the status quo went from 17% to 42%. Even these inflate the real data -- I recall one survey long ago where they asked if a person supported stricter gun control, AND then followed with open-ended questions along the lines of what do you want? Answers were things such as felons forbidden to own guns and other measures that had long been the law...

Impact of NRA on elections

Posted on November 22, 2010
A poll reports that 42% of voters listened to NRA's message at least some of the time, in relation to their voting. This would tie in with earlier research indicating that people who think they are NRA members outnumber people who really are current members by about 10:1...

WWII historical source

Posted on November 21, 2010
At a site called Lone Sentry. It's online records of the US Military Intelligence Service (reports largely derived from the British) as to enemy weapons. Effectiveness off the 88mm as an antitank gun, Japanese bombing tactics, Axis aircraft performance, etc, etc...

Looks like fun...

Posted on November 21, 2010
Shotguns, radio controlled planes, and exploding targets, all at once.

Article on McDonald amicus briefs

Posted on November 19, 2010
First time I've seen this done -- Ilya Shapiro has an article summarizing the amicus briefs in McDonald v. Chicago. It notes that McDonald's 50 amicus briefs are the fourth highest number for a Supreme Court case (and as I recall, Heller took second place in that roster)...

NRA opposes Traver nomination

Posted on November 17, 2010
Statement here.

David Kopel on the 2010 election

Posted on November 16, 2010
Here's Dave's thoughts about the result. It was, of course, good news.

Andrew Traver nominated for director of ATFE

Posted on November 16, 2010
Today the Administration announced the nomination of Andrew Traver to head up ATFE: it's a post requiring Senate confirmation. His background is "in the field" rather than in HQ, which seems a good thing. On the other hand, Truth About Guns is no fan of his...

Supreme Court on mandatory sentencing

Posted on November 16, 2010
The Supreme Court handed down its ruling in Abbot v. US. 18 USC 924(c) provides for a mandatory five year sentence for possession of a gun in connection with a drug trafficking crime. The sentence is to be in addition to any other imprisonment, except to the extent that a greater mandatory sentence is imposed by 924(c) or other law...

Maryland dragging heels in challenge to its "shall issue" carry law

Posted on November 15, 2010
Story here, at Only Guns and Money. The State filed a complex motion to dismiss Alan Gura's lawsuit, then when he filed a motion for summary judgment in return, suddenly begins squawking that his motion is too hasty and asks for a status conference. (Blogging should pick up after this ...

Thoughts on "may issue" in California

Posted on November 15, 2010
In the [Vacaville] Reporter.

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