Of Arms and the Law

Shipping guns in baggage has risks

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:49:55 -0700

At least they caught this guy. $100,000 in items stolen from baggage in his house.

Frontier Justice

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:11:19 -0700

Beer thieves, horse thieves, what's the difference?

State of emergency in NC

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:58:58 -0700

Paul Valone makes some observations about how the governor's office, having declared an emergency, is trying to side-step on the State law that forbids carrying of a firearm after such an emergency is declared.

Conflict over transit system firearm ads makes CBS

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 13:22:29 -0700

Story here.

Other side's assessment of things

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:23:35 -0700

The Legal Community Against VIolence [a handful of attorneys and a big Joyce Foundation grant] has posted its annual report in pdf.

It starts with, well, that little setback in McDonald v. Chicago and Heller v. DC. (p.8 8-9), predicting it will unleash a flood of litigation from the progun side.

Their explanation of legislation they'd like to see (their hopes, not their successes) occupies 3 1/2 pages, pp. 10-14.

Their explanation of where they were defeated recently (guns in parks, guns on Amtrack, Tiahrt Amendment, DC statehood defeated over an amendment cutting back DC gun laws, State legislation including Firearm Freedom Acts ("Regrettably, many state legislatures are running amok") and expanded "shall issue" CCW permits, runs seven pages.

Good timing....

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:32:08 -0700

The Bateman case is a challenge to North Carolina's statute that makes it illegal to carry a firearm off your own land during a declared emergency; defendants have moved to dismiss, as I recall. So here comes Hurricane Earl, and the governor's declaration of a state of emergency, three days before dove season starts.

Hate speech -- does it lead to violence?

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:32:20 -0700

Somehow I don't think we'll see that debate in the the case of the gunman who took hostages at Discovery Channel headquarters.

"Lee is believed to have distributed a manifesto outside the Discovery building several weeks ago that called on the network to "broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet."

"All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions," the list of demands read.
. . . . . . .

He said he was inspired by "Ishmael," a novel by environmentalist Daniel Quinn and by former Vice President Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth.""

Good news from California

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 09:03:34 -0700

Last night the legislature voted down registration of long arms, a prohibition on open carry, and a proposal for ammunition registration -- that is, not just requiring recordkeeping, but filing of those records with the government.

Interesting story

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 08:55:45 -0700

In Alabama, a 69 year old grandmother shoots a burglar, and gets a nice writeup, complete with a picture of her holding the gun. What's astonishing is, the story is carried by the New York Daily News.

Hat tip to Sixgun Sarah...

This is so great...

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:52:15 -0700

SAF and CalGuns Foundation are sponsoring the annual Firearm Rights Policy Conference, in San Francisco, on Sept.24-26. (Talk about marching into the teeth of the enemy!). They know that the San Fran public transit authorities have a rule against allowing advertising on bus shelters or buses that shows an image of a firearm. So they created one, and dared them to ban it ... thereby setting up a First Amendment challenge. Apparently the powers that be backed down, because here's a pic of the advertisement.

Thanks to reader jdberger ...

Surprise: Chicago rarely enforced it gun law

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:17:09 -0700

Story here, thanks to reader Joe Olson.

An interesting note toward the end of the article: Joyce Foundation gave the city $20,000 for its legal defense.

Insiders' views of turmoil in BATFE

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 09:50:04 -0700

Over at Cleanup ATF. All sorts of things that outsiders would never think of. Treasury and Justice agencies have different outlooks, merging their functions results in friction. Having an acting director for years means nobody at the top who can make major organizational decisions (and everyone knows he'll be gone, soon, in agency terms). Further, in a turf war with other agencies looking to move into your turf, an acting head can't stand up to their moves. Rumors of moving alcohol and tobacco functions to FDA. Supervisors getting away with expense fraud (and with sexual ... well, to call it misconduct is like terming an axe murderer a misuser of a garden tool).

Turf War!

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:02:20 -0700

These things can get nasty! ATF vs. FBI, fighting over explosives investigations. The division had been that FBI gets it if it involves terrorism; ATF gets it if it doesn't. But drawing that line in the real world is difficult. So with any high profile case, the investigation has to be preceded by the inter-agency battle.

"Glenn A. Fine, the Justice Department's inspector general, reported last year that battles were flaring at crime scenes from Baltimore to Houston, delaying witness interviews and impairing the government's ability to spot trends in bombings."

Swords crossed in the challenge to NY's "may issue" permit system

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:19:25 -0700

Only Guns and Money has the update. It's the usual beginning to a test case: defendant files an "everything but the kitchen sink" motion to dismiss.

LEO seeks to reverse "no guns in parks" conviction

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:56:38 -0700

Story here. The quirk about DC area roads is that many are technically elongated national parks, so before the law was changed people could wind up charged with illegally having a gun in a park when they'd just seen it as driving down a highway in Virginia or Maryland, while in full compliance with State law.

Hat tip to XD Owner....