Constitutional Law

Supremes rule in US v. Stevens

Posted on April 20, 2010
Opinion in pdf here. At issue was 18 U. S. C. §48, which outlaws the commercial creation, sale, or possession of videos or other depictions," in which ?a living animal is intentionally maimed, mutilated, tortured, wounded, or killed,? if that conduct violates the law where ?the creation, sale, or possession takes place...

DC voting "rights" bill ended

Posted on April 20, 2010
Good riddance. Some legislators, while wanting to violate Article I, thought giving up violating the 2nd Amendment was too high a price.

Former president of Blackwater indicted on NFA charges

Posted on April 19, 2010
Story here.

DC voting "rights" bill

Posted on April 17, 2010
The WashPo is publishing the thoughts of six spokesmen, relating to the proposal to (a) give DC a seat in the House; (b) offset this Demo seat by giving Utah an extra, likely Republican, seat and (c) attach a rider rolling back most of DC's onerous gun restrictions...

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Safe at last!

Posted on April 16, 2010
Department of Defense has reacted to the Ft. Hood shootings by imposing regulations on private arms possession. Muslim fanatic Nidal Hasan would certainly have stopped in his tracks if he knew he would have to violate regulations in order to carry out a mass murder...

California legislators moves to ban open, unloaded, carry

Posted on April 15, 2010
Story here. CA allows carry if it's open and the firearm is unloaded, but some think that's just beyond tolerance. Brady Campaign says ?They are pushing the gun culture onto the community " and a California police chief complains that officers have to check before knowing the gun is unloaded.

Colo. Ct of Appeals rules in favor of on-campus carry

Posted on April 15, 2010
News story here. It appears that the Court of Appeals ruled that the Statewide pre-emption statute covered universities, and requires that CCW permittees be allowed to carry.

Brady Campaign's quest for relevance

Posted on April 14, 2010
After flip-flopping on health care, Michigan congressman Bart Stupak has decided not to run for re-election. Whereupon Brady Campaign gives him rather belated praise for having, ten years ago, cosponsored its failed proposal for background checks on private sales...

Order re: defendant transfers rights to his firearms before conviction

Posted on April 14, 2010
Here's an interesting recent district court ruling regarding firearm confiscation. A gunowner named Edward Brown faced the fact that he might be convicted of felony tax fraud. If he was convicted, at that instant he becomes a prohibited person and the firearms are subject to forfeiture...

Owners STILL seeking guns seized during Katrina

Posted on April 14, 2010
Story here.

Replacements for Justice Stevens

Posted on April 12, 2010
David Kopel gives his thoughts on likely replacements.

We're from the government, and we're here to save you...

Posted on April 12, 2010
A report from the Justice Dept Inspector General, in pdf, on how well the department is working to prevent terrorism. Let's see... 1) ATFE and FBI are engaged in turf wars over explosives cases. They retain two separate labs for investigation, and race each other to crime scenes in the belief that the agency who gets there first becomes lead agency...

Hutchens hopefully on way out as Orange County Sheriff

Posted on April 11, 2010
And Crime, Lies, and Videotape is celebrating.

AZ approves "Vermont style" concealed carry

Posted on April 09, 2010
Story here. It now goes to the governor, who will likely sign it. Egad, for most of my life AZ followed the rule of most western States -- carry openly without limit, but nobody except a peace officer can carry concealed, and there are no permits, either...

Open carry in Nevada

Posted on April 07, 2010
Story here.

Tourniquets and combat medicine

Posted on April 07, 2010
A Wall St. Journal article on advances in combat medicine notes that the tourniquet is making a comeback, with some troops carrying them strapped to their thigh for fast use. The military ought to do more looking into BlackHawk's Integrated Tourniquet System uniforms...

Prohibited gun purchaser, 1939 version

Posted on April 06, 2010
From Arizona's 1939 Code: Under that code, the two classes of persons forbidden firearms purchase (but not possession) were (1) juveniles under age 14, who could not be sold handguns, and (2) Indians, who could not be sold rifles or handguns. (At that, there was no penalty provided for the purchaser, so a juvenile or an Indian would managed to obtain a forbidden firearm could keep it).

Chicago's Superintendent of Police Bugs Out

Posted on April 06, 2010
Story here. Apparently he was giving a video interview on problems in a high crime area when gunshots were heard nearly, he said "I've gotta run," and vanished. Officers at the scene of the shooting say wherever he ran to, it wasn't their crime scene...

Mixed news

Posted on April 05, 2010
Good news: the Taliban are lousy shots. Bad news: the M4 has major reliability problems in dust. (The spokesman tries to spin it as 98% reliable -- meaning it only jammed one round out of fifty). [Mixed news: a year and a half after the test, the Army has announced it will consider replacements or improvements -- in late summer, maybe.

Even in AZ we have a few...

Posted on April 04, 2010
From an Arizona Republic Op-Ed: "This week, I drove over 15 miles to eat at a healthy place that served soup and salad. I saw a customer bearing his gun, while holding hands with his 5-year-old son. I got sick to my stomach and left the restaurant...

Musket drill, circa 1791

Posted on April 03, 2010
According to this page, the American 1791 drill manual was almost a literal translation of the French manual of the same year. Count on governments to make a complicated process even more complicated. In place of taking aim, the manual instructs: "Let the muzzle be below the level of the eye a little, and the right elbow kept lowered, without being pressed against the body; shut the left eye; look along the barrel with the right eye; sink forward the head towards the butt in order to level; and place the fore finger on the trigger...

In honor of April 1....

Posted on April 01, 2010
A few great BBC pranks-- A 1957 special on harvesting the crop from spaghetti trees, and A more recent special on flying penguins that migrate to South America in the winter.

Shocking court decision in Ohio

Posted on April 01, 2010
It's unbelievable. Be sure to read the post to the very end.

More women getting guns?

Posted on March 31, 2010
There are some reports that this is the case. Hat tip to Sixgun Sarah...

Heller's potential progeny

Posted on March 31, 2010
It's an article in the Wall Street Journal Blog.

Ten Rules for Dealing with Police

Posted on March 31, 2010
An article in the Washington Post. Here in Tucson, I'd have some others: 1. Before retrieving your registration from the glove compartment, tell the officer that you have a loaded .45 in there and offer to let him hold it. This is only polite. 2. Remove the magazine and clear the action...

FOPA protections for travelers

Posted on March 31, 2010
Over at his conspiracy, Eugene Volokh discusses the recent Third Circuit ruling in Revell v. Port Authority of New York. I once heard Mr. Revell describe his experience, and it was pretty appalling. He's flying from Salt Lake City to Allentown, PA, with a firearm properly stowed in his checked-in baggage...

Case with implications for DV misdemeanor pleas

Posted on March 31, 2010
Padilla v. Kentucky, handed down this morning. Defendant was a lawful permanent resident, and pleaded guilty to transporting a large load of marihuana. His attorney advised him not to worry about deportation, and he pled guilty. When he discovered that deportation was in fact inevitable, he challenged the plea on ineffective assistance of counsel bases, and a majority of the Court agrees...

Government blocks access to Clean Up ATF

Posted on March 29, 2010
Dept of Justice computers that try to access Clean Up ATF.org now find it is blocked, and get a response designed to be intimidating: "Please be advised Internet usage is monitored and logged. This site has been categorized as Government/Legal. Your IP address is ____________________ Access to this web site has been filtered per the policy set forth by the Department of Justice...

Perry Mason gets arrested....

Posted on March 27, 2010
For practicing law without a license.

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