Timbs v. Indiana handed down today...
Opinion here. The holding is that the 8th Amendment's bar to excessive fines is incorporated under the 14th Amendment and applicable to the states. But the astonishing thing is that Justice Ginsberg writes the majority opinion and repeatedly cites McDonald:
"This safeguard, we hold, is "fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty," with "dee[p] root[s] in [our] history and tradition." McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 767 (2010)..."
"When ratified in 1791, the Bill of Rights applied only to the Federal Government. Barron ex rel. Tiernan v. Mayor of Baltimore, 7 Pet. 243 (1833). "The constitutional Amendments adopted in the aftermath of the Civil War," however, "fundamentally altered our country's federal system." McDonald, 561 U. S., at 754."
"But when a Bill of Rights protection is incorporated, the protection applies "identically to both the Federal Government and the States." McDonald, 561 U. S., at 766, n. 14."
"In short, the historical and logical case for concluding that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Excessive Fines Clause is overwhelming. Protection against excessive punitive economic sanctions secured by the Clause is, to repeat, both "fundamental to our scheme of ordered liberty" and "deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition." McDonald, 561 U. S., at 767..."
And on the side, Gorsuch's concurrence suggests he might join with Thomas in privileges & immunities incorporation. He treats the present case as what has been called unitary incorporation: whether it's the due process clause or the privileges and immunities clause, it's in there somewhere.
SHOT Show gun thieves caught
Story here. ATF was clever here. The show requires exhibitors to remove firing pins from all displayed guns. So ATF asked all gunsmiths in the area to be on the lookout for anyone wanting to buy a firing pin. When they asked an FFL about a firing pin, giving some lame excuse, he tipped off the agency.
Ha--the first time I viewed the story, no problem. The second time the page gave notice that I was using an ad blocker (actually a popup blocker) and asked me to remove it in order to see the story. Never saw that sort of thing before.
Don't think I've ever seen this before....
It doesn't pay to hack off the Supreme Court. They're ruled that a state cannot execute a person who is sufficiently mentally disabled, and given a general framework on how that is to be determined. The Texas Court of Appeals held that an execution was in order, and the Supremes reversed and remanded. Apparently, the Texas Court of Appeals changed their wording a little, used the same approach they had used the first time, and the defendant filed a second petition for certiorari.
This time the Court issued a per curiam reversal (not signed by any one judge, generally meaning "this case is a slam-dunk") and did so with nothing but the petition for cert. in front of it! That is, it granted the petition and ruled on the case in same order!. No briefs, no argument. (I've also never seen a per curiam with dissent).
Justice Ginsberg returns to the Court
As a cyborg named Ruth Bader Gins-Borg.
New York State RPA v. New York -- briefing schedule
Both parties have requested that the Supreme Court schedule the opening brief for May 7 and New York's brief for August 5. They note this would allow the Court to have argument during its October "sitting" (a two-week period for hearing arguments, meaning October 7-8 or 15-16.
The regular briefing schedule would have ended up in late May, I think, and since the Court normally breaks around July 4 until October, there would have been little time to read the briefs, schedule oral argument, take a vote, and write opinions.
More comes out on the Illinois shooter
From Fox News:
"Martin purchased the gun that was used in the shooting in 2014, police said. Ziman said Martin purchased the weapon after being issued a firearm owner's identification card and after passing the initial background check.
Five days after taking possession of the weapon, a Smith and Wesson 40 caliber handgun, Martin tried to obtain a concealed carry permit.
But during the fingerprinting and background process it was discovered that he had a felony conviction for assault in Mississippi, police said. The date of conviction was in 1995. Police said the conviction would not necessarily have shown up on the background check for a gun owner's license.
Because of the conviction, Martin's concealed carry permit was rejected and his license to own a weapon was revoked by Illinois State Police, police said.
Ziman said as part of the investigation into the shooting, investigators would try to determine why Martin never surrendered his weapon to police as he should have."
A new type of government
I refer to Second Amendment Sanctuary Counties.
Nice to see a unit of government standing up for the rights of its citizens....
"Assault weapons" and self-defense
Clayton Cramer's Civilian Gun Self-Defense Blog has begun to focus on the topic.
Amusingly, the first case he cites (Houston, homeowner shot three armed home invaders) also makes the antigun Gun Violence Archive. I guess they include self-defense against home invaders as "gun violence."
TN: CCW Permittee Shoots Murderer
Local police describe him as "a hero."
Hunter pays $110,000 to pop mountain goat in Pakistan
When I was in DC, representing US Fish and Wildlife Service, one of the biologists explained to me he'd set up conservative arrangements in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The locals were meat-hunting; the mountain goats were just a stringy dinner. Once he showed one mountain goat could be worth more in hard currency than the entire village earned in a year, they suddenly became great conservationists! Those goats weren't dinner; they were a way to become rich beyond their wildest dreams.
He told me the locals caught one of the wealthiest men in Pakistan poaching. They stomped him, took his rifle and his pants and left him alone in the wilderness. When he protested to a tribal elder, the man said he agreed that the young men had acted badly. "I will tell them, the next time they see you, they are to shoot you."
Of course, the biologist who set this up was later run out of the agency....
New antigun, or anti-FFL, measures in Illinois
Story here.
"They Shall Not Grow Old"
An unbelievably good movie -- here's the trailer. The Imperial War Museum got the director of the Lord of the Rings series to work on their century-old WWI footage, on the condition that the entire film must consist of real footage, improved as best his team could. No talking heads, no modern re-enactors. They did an unbelievable job, improving resolution, turning early movies' slow frame rates into modern speed, colorizing, using lip readers to tell them what people were saying and then creating a sound track with that speech (speakers chosen to match the proper local accents).
It's here in Tucson through Tuesday. Oh, and, they managed to make some of it 3-D (but only some showings have that).
UPDATE: you can find tickets on Fandango. Just input your zip code at the top right menu.
"Big John" Dingell has passed on
After Age 92, after serving 60 years in Congress. I met him a few times, circa 1980 .... gad, 39 years ago. He did much good for the right to arms, extending back to the Gun Control Act controversy... over half a century ago.
ATF changes mailing addresses
ATF has changed the mailing addresses for many of its forms, including FFL issuance and renewal, import licensing, and many NFA forms. I'm told this was incidental to their changing banks; it looks like all the forms are ones that require payment.