Constitutional Law

Fight over whether congressmen are allowed to blog

Posted on July 16, 2008
Story here. A Congressman is using Twitter and posting videos, and this revolutionary approach to communicating with Americans is causing a stir: "Culberson's actions have put him in possible violation of House rules that appear to ban blogging or other work-related activities on non-House Web sites...

State constitutional rights to defend self and property

Posted on July 16, 2008
Here's a recent article (pdf) by Prof. Gene Volokh on the subject. Via, of course, the Volokh Conspiracy.

Slight improvement in the UK

Posted on July 16, 2008
It sounds from this story as if the improvement is essentially: "formerly, if you defended yourself in a very restrained way, we would prosecute you anyway and require you to prove your innocence: now we won't file charges." That this is viewed as a reform tells us all we need to know...

Perpetual victimhood

Posted on July 15, 2008
Article here. It recounts the story of John White, a black who moved into an almost-entirely white area of Long Island. A gang of white youths shows up on his lawn at night, cursing him and threatening to kill his son. He draws a .32, one of them slaps it away, and he plugs him...

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Still more on Great Britain

Posted on July 15, 2008
At Rachel Lucas. One comment hits it on the nose: thank God that Nelson and Churchill aren't alive to see it. Via Instapundit....

Guest editorial on Heller

Posted on July 15, 2008
My column is here.

Video of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms party

Posted on July 15, 2008
Hosted by Independence Institute, sounds like a heck of a party.

Thought on claims that DC ban had effect on ... anything.

Posted on July 14, 2008
There were a few studies that claimed to find that DC's handgun ban had some dramatic effect on homicide, suicide, jock rash, and whatnot. There have been lengthy debates over the studies' problems (like cherrypicking dates, ignoring that crime was already trending down and, in at least one case, picking the wrong effective date for the ban)...

DC talking about new rules

Posted on July 14, 2008
Story here. The most noteworthy features are ballistic testing (i.e., storing a fired bullet, which was tried somewhere, Calif. perhaps, and proved utterly useless, and a provision that the firearm must be in a safe or trigger locked except in immediate self-defense...

Bob Levy on the post-Heller world

Posted on July 14, 2008
Here's his article, in Cato Unbound.

Posr-Heller Federal legislation

Posted on July 14, 2008
H.R. 1399, the "D of C Personal Protection Act." is moving. They're talking about a discharge petition. You can move a bill that is stalled in committee by one of those, which discharges the committee from responsibility and moves the bill to the floor...

Oops

Posted on July 13, 2008
American pastor, going to meet a fellow clergyman in Russian, brings a gift that lands him in a Russian jail. A box of cartridges for his host's new rifle.

Disney firing security guard: the legal end of things

Posted on July 13, 2008
Editorial here. Apparently when FLA passed the provision allowing employees to leave firearms in their cars, business interests began pushing for exemptions. Nuclear plants. Places whose primary business is making explosives. And then businesses holding a federal explosives permit...

Animal rights working into the classroom

Posted on July 12, 2008
Story here. Hat tip to Jim Kindred...

Interesting article on popular panics, media, and laws

Posted on July 12, 2008
Right here. It focuses upon media driven panics, with little or no basis in fact (e.g., a "study" that indicated 80% of internet images are porn, and a claim that 50,000 sexual predators are online at any moment), that led to federal legislation, specifically anti-internet-porn laws and concern over MySpace being exploited by hordes of sexual predators...

More on ACLU Nevada and Heller

Posted on July 12, 2008
The Las Vegas Sun has a more detailed story on it. As I mentioned earlier, I expect the Texas ACLU will join them as soon as it had a board of directors meeting. My memory is that in the past they endorsed "shall issue" permits in their State.

More detail reports on Chicago progun rall6

Posted on July 12, 2008
Here's a more detailed report, with pics and summaries of the presentations.

Chicago gun rally

Posted on July 11, 2008
Here's a report, with photos. Via Instapundit. Strangely, I can't find any coverage on the Chicago Tribune site...

Guns in parks comment period extended

Posted on July 11, 2008
Story here. "The period for public comment on a controversial rule change that would allow loaded guns in national parks has been extended to August 8 after pressure from congressional leaders. ..... "The comment period was scheduled to end on June 30, but the chairs of the Senate and House national park subcommittees sent a letter to the Secretary of the Interior days before the deadline requesting an extension, according to a statement by the National Parks Conservation Association...

Anti-gun movement seeking new angle?

Posted on July 11, 2008
At Snowflakes in Hell, Sebastian has a thought about the antigun group's apparent increase in references to suicide rather than homicide. He suggests they're angling for recruits among the families of suicides. It's unlikely that they are aiming to find a winning argument for the general population; suicide is the ultimate in "if he can't get a gun, he'll use something else" situation...

Congressman tries to butter up hunters and slips

Posted on July 11, 2008
Bitter has the story here. Mark Udall of Colorado issued a press release saying he would introduce a bill designating part of Pittman-Robertson money (an excise tax on guns, ammo, and other things) for hunter safety and range development, and allowing agencies to roll over unspent money to the next year...

Justice Breyer's dissent misreads DC law?

Posted on July 10, 2008
At Concurring Opinions, Prof. Mike O'Shea has a post demonstrating just that. Breyer's dissent argued that the DC law was a reasonable regulation, since he thought militia purposes were the most important aspect of the 2A, and a person could still own and practice with rifles...

Nevada ACLU breaks ranks

Posted on July 10, 2008
ACLU of Nevada has broken with the national position: "The Nevada ACLU respects the individual's right to bear arms subject to constitutionally permissible regulations. The ACLU of Nevada will defend this right as it defends other constitutional rights...

member of Bloomberg's group under indictment

Posted on July 10, 2008
Jackson, MS mayor Frank Melton, a member of Bloomberg's Mayors' group, is in hot water again. This time he's under indictment for federal civil rights violations. Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred....

High gas prices affecting even gang drive by shootings

Posted on July 10, 2008
Chicago is reporting a gang-related bike-by shooting. Reminds me of-- What is this sound? Clippity-clop, clippety-clop, BANG! BANG!" clippety-clop. Answer: an Amish drive-by shooting.

Interesting public opinion poll

Posted on July 09, 2008
Story here.

Lower court follows pre-Heller law

Posted on July 09, 2008
Gene Volokh has a post on it. The federal trial court notes that " Ostalaza neglects to substantiate that argument with citations to any authority. Instead, Ostalaza points to District of Columbia v. Heller, a case that was pending before the Supreme Court at the time his motion was filed...

Brady: A permit holder is just someone who hasn't committed a crime, YET

Posted on July 09, 2008
Video debate over Florida's statute allowing CCW in parking lots, mass transit and airports here. The Brady Campaign spokesman says "We've gotta be reasonable here .... getting a concealed weapons permit just means you haven't committed a crime, yet...

Jim Lindgren takes on study of DC homicides

Posted on July 09, 2008
At the Volokh Conspiracy, Jim Lindren gives a devastating critique of the 1991 Loftin study claiming that DC's gun ban cut homicides.

"Peer review"

Posted on July 08, 2008
Frequently I've seen the claim that articles published in historical or medical journals are somehow more reliable than those in law reviews, since the former are subject to "peer review," i.e., review by other scholars in the field, whereas law reviews are subject to edit by student editors...

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