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October 2011
Speaking of sheriffs...
I wish we had this one in my county.
"He said Lance [the attempted rapist] "doesn't fight police or men folk -- he just goes after women." He said Lance is not married because, "No woman can stay married to him because he beats them down too much."
Wright said, "It's too bad someone with a concealed weapons permit didn't walk by. That would fix it." He said people are tired of doing the right thing and criminals getting away with their actions.
He said several times, "I want you to get a concealed weapons permit."
At one point, Wright held up a fanny pack and said, "They make this right here where you can conceal a small pistol in them. They got one called The Judge that shoots a .45 or a .410 shell. You ain't got to be accurate; you just have to get close."
. . . . . .
Wright said in his view, gun control is, "Is when you can get you barrel back on the target quick. That’s gun control.""
Fast & Furious: local newspaper tries to grill sheriff
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (3)
Ah, the traditional mass media!
Thug robs older lady, for pure fun pistol whips the heck out of her, is pursued by a person, turns and aims at his pursuer ... only to find he has a pistol and a concealed carry permit, and is a good shot. OK, at least the story had a good ending.
Shot in the Dark points out, tho, that the local (Miinneapolis) media have been trying to turn it into a tragedy, and not based on the lady whose face the thug smashed up. Why, “He has a good, loving family, and he has lots of friends. He wasn’t 100 percent bad,” his mother, Mary Evanovich of Minneapolis, said in an interview Thursday." He died in his sister's arms. She was conveniently present, since she was his accomplice in the robbery. No mention, of course, of the robber having aimed at the defender, and the beating of the lady becomes "accosting" her.
Permalink · media · Comments (1)
New sights for the Glock
Very clever design!
Permalink · humor · Comments (9)
Opposition to AW bans at all-time high
CBS reports that self-reported gun ownership and opposition to "assault weapon" bans are both at an all-time high.
I'm convinced there is some manner of cultural shift here, as the US returns to its long term norm of being a nation of gunnies. It's something that need not have a single cause, or multiple causes. It simply is. And, as CBS notes, homicides fell by half (which means the rate fell by more than half) over the same time.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (2)
Operation Gunwalker
By request of the majority, AG Eric Holder agreed to testify on Dec. 8
In the meantime, the ranking minority member says the committee should hear testimony from former acting director Melson/
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
PJ Media tracks down "unreachable" White House staffer
Story here. One important question in Fast and Furious is how much the White House knew about the gun walking. A key witness on that would be Kevin O’Reilly, member of the president's National Security Council... but the White said he was in Iraq, and unreachable.
Pajamas Media comes through, discovering that he was (out of the blue) made director of the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau for Iraq, found his office phone (which unless I'm reading it wrong, is in the Maryland suburbs of DC, area code 240), called it, and were told he was on a conference call. They left voicemail, and when they called back the number had been disconnected.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (6)
Safety warning for hunters
As hunting season approaches, the Missouri Department of Conservation has a warning for hunters. Here in the southwest, with its dry climate and open spaces, hunters are probably at less risk.
Update: here's advice from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It notes the ailment is formally called "Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome."
Hat tip to Sixgun Sarah...
Permalink · humor · Comments (1)
Gun "buy back" good for collectors
I've seen this elsewhere. CeaseFire Oregon holds a "gun buy back" (which of course is no buy "back"), so gun collectors line up outside to buy all the good ones. It's not hard to outbid CeaseFire, when it's offering a $50 gift certificate good only at one store.
Don Kates on polling and gun ownership
Don Kates emailed these thoughts:
Below are set out some results from the latest Gallup polls. They are
presented in a cheery manner for gun owners. But much of this is
deceptive and, in the long term misleading. The problem w/ polling as to
highly controversial subjects like guns is that people have a tendency
to answer dishonestly. How would you react if a complete stranger called
you up and asked if you have a gun? Would you tell them the truth? Lots
of people would not.
In the 1950s and 60s polls showed 50% or more people owned guns. But
as gun ownership became controversial and anti-gun laws were enacted,
the number of people who admitted gun ownership to pollsters went
sharply down. Was that because millions of guns just disappeared -- or
because people became more reluctant to admit ownership?
Some time in the 2000s two gun ownership polls were taken about a
year and a half apart. The first one indicated that millions more guns
were owned than the second. If one took them seriously one would have to
assume not only that gun ownership had sharply declined in a period of
less than two years, but that tens of millions of guns had just
disappeared over the period of a year and a half.
Not all of the disparity can be attributed to recent controversy
however. It has always been the case that production and importation
figures show tens of millions of more guns exist in America that no one
admits owning. What is interesting about this recent poll is the great
increase in the number of women gun owners. Also the great increase in
the number of people who reject gun control as a crime reduction strategy.
==============
HTTP://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/gallup-poll-record-43-of-us-women-have-gun-in-house.html
Gallup poll: Record 43% of U.S. women say household has a gun
October 26, 2011
The number of U.S. women who say their household possesses a gun is at a
record high.
A Gallup Poll released Wednesday says 43% of American women report a gun
in their home or somewhere on their property. That number is up seven
percentage points, from 36% in 2010.
Men were even more likely to say their household has a gun. This year
52% of men reported a gun in their house or on their property -- also
seven points higher than in 2010, when 45% said so.
The gender gap is more pronounced when people are asked who owns the
gun. Twice as many men as women say they own a gun -- 46% of men, 23% of
women.
These results come from Gallup's Oct. 6-9 crime poll, which also found
that public support for Americans' right to bear arms has hit an all
time high. When asked whether there should be a law banning possession
of handguns, nearly three-quarters said they opposed such a law. A
little more than a quarter supported such a law.
It's unclear, however, whether more households actually have guns.
Perhaps more people feel comfortable admitting that they do.
Some other interesting details from the report:
47% of Americans report they have a gun in their home or elsewhere
on their property. That's the highest number Gallup has recorded since
1993, when 54% said so.
55% of Republicans admit having a gun on their property, compared
with 40% of Democrats. But that gap is shrinking. Last year, 52% of
Republicans said they had a gun on the property, compared with 32% of
Democrats.
Education level plays a role in whether someone owns a gun.
According to Gallup, 29% of college graduates say they personally own a
gun, compared with 40% of those without a college degree.
Interesting events at Occupy Atlanta
(An operation carried out more efficiently by Billy Sherman, come to think of it. A Georgiacarry.org member went down to talk with them and explain how he supported their right to protest, while lawfully carrying his AKS-47. The police are cool with it -- it's legal. His sign reads that he disagrees with their message, but they have a right to express it.
But when the mayor hears someone has an AK in the park, he orders the demonstration shut down. "They escalated the events to the point where they were no longer consistent with our city’s values related to civil disobedience…"
Lady Magadelen's is on Youtube
Neil Schulman's pro-liberty and pro-gun comedy, Lady Magdalene's, is now available on the web for free. Not every comedy has a director who authored "Stopping Power: Why 70 Million Americans Own Guns and Alongside Night"!
Nationwide concealed carry passes House Judiciary
It passed the committee yesterday.
[One comment was in limbo for a time, because the word "casino" is on the "hold for approval" list, and I was away from the computer]
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (23)
Percent of households with guns, by State
An interesting chart, albeit a bit dated (2001). In ten States, gun ownership topped 50% of households, the highest being Alaska at nearly 58%. Conversely, the impact of "reasonable" gun regulation can be seen in Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York (12%, 12%, and 18%),
Support for gun control drops even farther
Those are the results of the latest Gallup Poll. The result on support for a ban on semiautos reminds me of a remark Prof. Brian Patrick made at the last Gun Rights Policy Conference. He cited a poll where people were asked just what a semiautomatic is, and given four choices. 23% got it right. He remarked a band of drunken monkeys should be able to score 25% on a four option question.
He had another interesting insight. He held up a "No guns in the park" sign and asked if anyone knew what it really was. His answer: "magic." The belief that if you hang this talisman up, bad spirits or at least bad people will have to stay away.
NYPD gunrunning
8 NYPD officers charged with running guns, including M-16s.
"The gun-trafficking allegations strike at the heart of one of the New York Police Department’s most hard-fought and robust initiatives, and one that has been a central theme of the administration of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg: getting guns off the street of New York City."
The logic is lacking
Look at this story. Theme: woman is going to prison for running guns to the Zeta Cartel. After twice serving time for burglary and people smuggling. This is tragic, since her mother says she was trying to be nice. The solution: we need more gun laws.
At the bottom: "(Editor’s note: This aticle was written as part of the Media Matters Gun Facts fellowship. The purpose of the fellowship is to comprehensively monitor, analyze, and correct conservative misinformation in the US media. Some of the worst misinformation occurs around the issue of guns, gun violence and extremism, the fellowship program is designed to fight this misinformation with facts.)"
From this and other events, it's apparent that in the last month, Media Matters' paymaster has indicated they should turn to the gun issue. It's also apparent one tactic is to hire writers, via these fellowships, to publish articles. A newspaper would never accept an outside group paying their reporters to write on a particular theme, but apparently they'll go along with people holding fellowships, with the same result.
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (4)
Comparing Fast & Furious with Operation Wide Receiver
Over at the Examiner, David Codrea calls out Bob Weiner on the subject.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Video on Operation Fast and Furious
Here, Hitler gets the word that CBS is covering Operation Gunwalker. I like the ending.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Rick Perry on his "love affair with guns"
Story here.
Article on ATF whistleblower Jay Dobyns
at Townhall. The agency discards a guy who put his life on the line (or even tries to get him killed off), while protecting the guys who sat under air conditioning dreaming up Fast and Furious.
Just a small sample:
"When Dobyns reported the incident [arson of his house] to both ATF and Newell and asked for an investigation into the case, Newell not only refused to investigate, calling the incident "just scorching," but allowed his subordinates, including Gillett, to attempt to frame Dobyns, accusing him of purposely burning down his own home with his family inside, has named him as a suspect and is investigating him. Newell conspired to destroy and fabricate evidence to "prove" his case. Emails, witness testimony, phone conversations and other documentation show the ATF Phoenix Field Divisions’ intentions, led by Newell, were to frame Dobyns, yet Newell denied under oath any involvement in this activity. His subordinates Gillett and ATF Tucson Group Supervisor over Operation Wide Receiver Charles Higman, also denied any attempts to frame Dobyns under oath, despite evidence showing otherwise.
The retaliatory actions of Newell, and other ATF management agents, were reported to ATF senior management at the highest levels and were ignored.
ATF is notorious for retaliatory action against field agents, but the Dobyns case brings that retaliation behavior to a new level. Credible death threats, backed by evidence from inside the prison system, the investigation of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and the Office of the Inspector General in the Bush Justice Department, were ignored by ATF management in the Phoenix Field Division Office and at ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. Evidence of the threats was also sent to Congress and the President of the United States."
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
The circle is completed...
For many years, American gunmakers have been producing semiauto AKs -- now, Russia is producing AR-15s!.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (1)
SG files opposition in gun in parks case
SCOTUSBlog has a link and discussion. The brief argues that (1) the regulation has been revoked by legislation, hence its constitutionality is not worth reviewing, and (2) the regulation could be justified under intermediate scrutiny.
UPDATE: I think he's referring to intermediate scrutiny, which is applied (as I recall) to most content-neutral time-place-manner restrictions on speech. I.e., you can't use a bullhorn at night in a residential area, and we don't care which side or what issue you speak on.
Permalink · Chicago aftermath · Comments (1)
Media Matters comes up with a loser
Its headline: "NRA's Cox Deceives Over Arms Trade Treaty.".
It charges: "National Rifle Association chief lobbyist Chris Cox claims in Guns & Ammo magazine that a proposed United Nations Arms Trade Treaty is "completely unnecessary" because the United States "operates what even Hillary Clinton admits is the 'gold standard' of export controls for arms transfers.'" But Clinton made that comment while expressing U.S. support for a treaty that would "promote the same high standards for the entire international community.""
And here's the quote it gives: "On a national basis, the United States has in place an extensive and rigorous system of controls that most agree is the "gold standard" of export controls for arms transfers."
That sounds rather like what he was saying. What Media Matters elaborates is that, since she was arguing for the treaty on the basis that it would raise other countries nearer to the US standard, they think it unfair to quote her, however accurately. Of course, that leaves us with... what difference does it make whether the US signs the treaty or not?
Permalink · non-US · Comments (2)
Veterans and gun rights
The Daily Caller reports that over a hundred thousand veterans are barred from gun purchase by the Brady Act background checks. The core problem is really GCA 68. That prohibits firearm possession or purchase by anyone found "mentally defective." What Congress meant by the phrase is anyone's guess. Its use had long faded out even by 1968. My speculation is that when Sen. Dodd was drafting the act, he copied it from some State statutes which themselves were ancient. Or maybe he copied it from a different statute.
Permalink · Gun Control Act of 68 · Comments (2)
Big mistake....
Kidnapping an infant is generally a bad idea, much frowned upon by the law, but if the mother is armed it's apt to fatal. (I'd agree this bears further investigation).
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (0)
Article on Justice Thomas
Right here. I always liked and respected him, and that's grown a lot over the last five years. He stands out as one who decides cases using his view of the Constitution, which is consistently applied, and not fudged to reach the result he'd like to see.
Permalink · Supreme Court caselaw · Comments (1)
Heller II and its implications
The Captain's Journal has some observations.
Permalink · Chicago aftermath · Comments (0)
Oops
21 submachine guns stolen from LAPD SWAT Team. They were stored at its training facility, which is unguarded and appears to lack gun safes or an alarm system.
ILA staffer goes thru basic training -- at age 57
Here's the article. Mark Overstreet is an ILA researcher.
"Completing 70 push-ups, 75 sit-ups and clocking a 13-minute, 40-second two-mile run all good for 340 points, Overstreet easily breezed through his physical training test. But then this is a man who said he takes care of himself and runs marathons at an age when many Americans would rather drive that far or stay home. He then qualified expert with his rifle, though again not a surprise for a man who competed in inter-service competitions with the Navy Reserve shooting team.
. . . . .
{The battalion commander said] "Actually, it's been pretty easy to motivate them when there's someone out-running and out-shooting them. When some of them are 30 or 40 years younger than that person, the young Soldiers get the idea they don't want to be the one lagging behind," he said.
Permalink · NRA · Comments (0)
Sebastian ("Snowflakes in Hell") opens a new blog
It's "Shall not be questioned", from the PA right to arms guarantee.
New Glenn Reynolds piece on the 2A
"Second Amendment Penumbras: Some Preliminary Observations." He suggests that the core right to keep a gun for self protection carries with it penumbral rights to buy it, and ammunition for it, and to practice with it to prepare for such use. I just downloaded a copy, will read it later. SSRN rates articles by how many downloads they have, so downloads tend to make an article more prominent to other academics.
Permalink · Academic treatment · Comments (1)
If you want a gun-related tattoo...
Don't choose this one. I really like the 1911, but there does seem room for an unfortunate misunderstanding here.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (3)
WI issues temp regs on "shall issue" carry permits
Story here. The story doesn't give enough detail for any meaningful comment.
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (6)
CalGuns releases data on California license issuance
Pdf available here. According to the CalGuns blog, only about one in a thousand California non-LEOs have been able to secure a license. With the ban on open, unloaded carry, that means that 99.9% of its population are forbidden to carry in any form.
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (2)
More on Operation Gunwalker
CBS covers the case of the fellow whom Justice Dept allowed to run grenade casings to Mexico. In this case, ATF was begging to stop him, and Justice refused to allow it.
"Attkisson added on "The Early Show" that, in August, Mexican authorities raided Kingery's stash house and factory, finding materials for 1,000 grenades. He was charged with trafficking and allegedly admitted not only to making grenades, but also to teaching cartels how to make them, as well as helping cartel members convert semi-automatic rifles to fully-automatic. As one source put it: There's no telling how much damage Kingery did in the year-and-a-half since he was first let go."
Fox reports even more Justice emails on Fast and Furious have popped up.
I think Holder's defense -- he got over a hundred weekly reports each week, and had no time to read them (though you'd think he would have done so before testifying before Congress) -- points out how the national government has grown so large that it really isn't manageable. The nominal head of Justice -- named by the President, and confirmed by the Senate -- can't even read the memos being sent up by his subordinates. His immediate subordinates, the Assistant AGs and their equivalent -- probably are in the same fix. Even the heads of agencies below them aren't much better off -- look at Melson's statement that he became nauseous at reading what had gone on, and that was an operation in which he'd taken a serious interest.
I saw this at Interior. At one point the Secretary enjoyed calling staff attorneys to see how a particular case was going (he was being given a briefing book, actually many books, which explained each case and had the staff attorney's name and phone). We were given written orders not to take his phone calls. He was to make a request thru channels, and receive an answer that had been prepared by the staffer, edited by his boss, his boss's boss, and the Solicitor, to ensure it was "our position."
Larry Pratt goes to town...
on Violence Policy Center's claims that licensed CCW holders have been involved in crime. Other than including "victims" who were shot in self defense, double counting others, and including as murders people who are very much alive, he doesn't have a lot of say.
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (2)
Operation Gunwalker -- the subpoena drops
Here's the description of what it requests. Whew, essentially every communication or report or note of meetings relating to F&F, not mention the FBI ballistics reports on the bullet that killed BP Agent Brian Terry. The more interesting items are the more specific: "All communications sent or received between August 7, 2009 and March 19, 2011 between and among former Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual; Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer; and, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz." That's specific enough to show the committee knows details about who wrote to whom.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
New article by Prof. Winkler
"Is Gun Control Racist?" in The Daily Beast. He's writing to an audience, and tends to overstate things in ways that fit their beliefs, i.e., that one can find virulently racist literature at a gun show. Someone trying that in the places I've lived would be at risk to have the stuffing beat out of him.
Permalink · 14th Amendment · Comments (0)
Never....
Never bring a bow to a gun fight.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (2)
Never....
Never bring a bow to a gun fight.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (2)
AG Holder walks out of press conference when questioned about Gunwalker
CBS reports that Rep. Issa's committee is issuing a subpoena directly to Atty General Holder.
Asked out it at a press conference, Holder gives an empty answer and leaves.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (2)
The spread of "shall issue" laws
No Lawyers -- Only Guns and Money-- has an interesting graph. To abbreviate ... from 1986 to present, "shall issue" went from about 10% of the US population to over 60%, while "no issue" of CCW permits fell from 33% to about 5%. Another interesting trend is that States tend to go from "no issue" to "shall issue." Arizona did that in a way, going from no issue to shall issue to no permit required. It never had a "may issue" stage.
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (4)
Issa to Holder: that's gotta hurt!
David Codrea has the story.
"Incredibly, in your letter from Friday you now claim that you were unaware of Fast and Furious because your staff failed to inform you of information contained in memos that were specifically addressed to you. At best, this indicates negligence and incompetence in your duties as Attorney General. At worst, it places your credibility into serious doubt."
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (1)
California ban on open carry signed into law
Jerry Brown yesterday AB 144 into law. The statute bans open carry of unloaded handguns. (Previously you could carry openly, only if it was unloaded).
The one good thing is that this puts the challenges to California's "may issue" CCW permit system in a solid position. Previously the licensing authorities could and did argue that their permits only limited one form of carry, you could carry open and unloaded without a permit. Not any more. Now the only way to carry is to convince the licensing authority to allow it, in their own discretion.
Hat tip to alert reader James Madison...
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (15)
Kalashnikov Museum
Here's the online tour.
I was recently at a luncheon where NRA president David Keene mentioned that NRA had made Kalashnikov an honorary life member. Not for his firearms designs, but for a speech he gave at a birthday celebration (attended by V. Putin, no less), where he said his greatest hope for Russia was for a government that did not fear an armed populace.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (1)
Comparison of Bush era gunwalker with Obama era gunwalker
Story here. Bottom line: the 2006 Operation Operation Wide Receiver tried to use radio locator devices in the rifles, tracked by aircraft. They found the plan didn't work. The antennae of the radio locators had to be folded up to fit, shortening their range, the smugglers ate up time until the aircraft had to refuel. Upon discovering that it wasn't working, the Operation was canceled in 2007.
There are still some unanswered questions such as why the transmitters and couldn't have been modified with more space for the antenna a batteries, and the leaks don't tell us whether the guns would have been interdicted. But the bottom line was the operation was canceled, leaving the question of why Operation Fast and Furious was begun a few years later, sans (with a few exceptions) radio locators.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (1)
Primer tests
Pretty impressive differences!
Permalink · shooting · Comments (0)
Issa: More subpoenas coming
Aimed at the Attorney General's Office.
By the way, the local newspaper has finally started to cover gun walking. It'd never mentioned that the US Attorney for the state resigned. And covered all the past events via a couple of wire services stories buried in the paper. One of the whistleblower agents lives right in town, but they've never interviewed him, or if they have, they killed the story. I once joked that the only place their writers were allowed to criticized government officials was in the sports section.
But with the government's trying to defend by releasing data on an earlier, Bush-era episode of gun walking, suddenly that story gets coverage. It's been in front page articles three of the last four days.
Yep, they're a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democratic Party. Frankly, I'd be as annoyed if they were a wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP. It's not a matter of slant on an editorial page, but one of self-censoring even local news that would inconvenience the party of choice.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (2)
Center for Biol. Diversity lead ammo case -- ruling
I mentioned the ruling a while back, and here it is, in pdf.
Permalink · shooting · Comments (0)
Emily gets her gun
It's going to be a series at the Washington Times, as one of their reporters tries to get a gun legally in D.C..
Permalink · women & guns · Comments (5)
CBS reporter talks about White House reaction
On the O'Reilly Factor. She confirms cursing and shouting, from the White House flack hired to cover the issue. She adds that there are a lot more revelations to come. I do wish O'Reilly would pipe down and let her speak more.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (4)
Medicinal pot prescriptions and CCW permitting
Winters v. Willis pending on petition for cert. in the US Supreme Court.
The sheriff refused to issue a "shall issue" CCW license to person who holds medicinal pot prescription, claiming federal law (which forbids users of marihuana to possess firearms) prevents its issuance. State law may require him to issue (the State law has several prohibited person categories, but none relating to this), but Federal law pre-empts the issue. [Yes, it presents the anomaly of a State official actually arguing for more Federal control over him. I don't know if pot use does strange things to a person's mind, but the pot issue certainly seems to do it].
The Oregon Supreme Court holds that the Gun Control Act provision does not pre-empt the State CCW law.
Deeply shocked that Federal law is not restricting his official conduct, the sheriff petitions the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari.
The Respondent waives her right to file an opposition (commonly done when odds of a grant seem very law--why spend a thousand or two on printing costs?[ , but last week the Court ordered her to respond. That a sign it is at least thinking seriously about taking the case.
I can't see the pre-emption, since you can have a marihuana prescription without actually using it, and a CCW permit without possessing a firearm. I'd think the minimum requirement for a conflict would be that the Federal law forbids firearm sales to anyone with a prescription, whether they use it or not.
UPDATE: a reader emails, and the spam filter blocked for some reason, the following comment:
I have no dog in this fight, but I find it even more interesting that the ATF's letter to FFLs indicating
that medicinal user also places the purchaser in the category of unlawful user.
http://blogs.denverpost.com/crime/files/2011/10/ATFOpenLetter0921111.pdf
looks like a serious issue between the states and the feds here brewing.
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (4)
White House moving to shut down CBS reporting of gunwalking
Story here. When the White House and DoJ screaming didn't work, it looks as if they tried pressuring her bosses. Washington can reward a news outlet by feeding it advance tips and interviews with "unnamed sources," or it can punish it by cutting those off and feeding them to its rivals.
Via Instapundit. Who will never, ever, get any advance tips or "unnamed source" interviews.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (1)
Shakeup at ATF HQ
here's the press release. Twelve changes ... I see one involved in F&F is demoted, but one alleged involved in gunwalking in FLorida appears to be promoted.
Hat tip to Sixgun Sarah....
UPDATE: here's more on the changes.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Local paper almost covers Fast and Furious
The Arizona Daily Star is based here in Tucson. The Border Patrol agent was murdered just south of here, the operation was run out of Phoenix to the north, the US Attorney for the state resigned, one of the whistleblower agents lives right here in town ... and the Star has barely covered the story. But today it got on the front page ... sort of. "Bush-era Operation Let Guns 'Walk,' Too, Federal Officials Say."
The story amounts to a statement by an unnamed Justice Department person that during an undercover operation, straw men were allowed to receive guns. OK, that's in the nature of an undercover operation. Nowhere in the story is it claimed that the straw men were allowed to ship the guns into Mexico, which is the key point.
Oh, well, at least the Star is being reasonable.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (1)
Court upholds use of traditional lead ammo
I've got the opinion, but it's not yet online. News story here. Chuck Michel represented NRA as an intervenor; plaintiff was Center for Biological Diversity. The suit challenged a variety of activities, including use of lead ammo in hunting on BLM lands in northern Arizona. The court ruled that BLM doesn't regulate hunting there, the State does, and hence BLM could not be used over it.
Ruling in Heller II challenge to DC's replacement laws
Ruling by the DC Circuit is here.
On a quick read, it applies intermediate scrutiny. It picks up on the Heller language about longstanding regulations being presumptively allowable, and reads that broadly to mean regulations that have been around for decades, not those known to the Framers. (Why regulation of a right would be OK if the idea of regulation had been known for some time is unclear, but so is the reference to it in Heller). It concludes that DC's new registration requirements aren't supported by the present record and remands to take more evidence on them. On "assault weapon" and large cap magazine bans. It concludes those are "in common use" and thus protected by the right to arms, but that the ban survives intermediate scrutiny since other arms more suitable for self-defense are allowed and there isn't a showing that these are particularly suited for self-defense.
Judge Kavanaugh dissents (and the majority adds an appendix to reply to him). "In my view, Heller and McDonald leave little doubt that courts are to assess gun bans and regulations based on text, history, and tradition, not by a balancing test such as strict or intermediate scrutiny."
He goes on, in a very impressive opinion:
"The Supreme Court struck down D.C.’s handgun ban because handguns have not traditionally been banned and are in common use by law-abiding citizens, not because the ban failed to serve an important government interest and thus failed the intermediate scrutiny test. And the Court endorsed certain gun laws because they were rooted in history and tradition, not because they passed the intermediate scrutiny test.
One final aside about the appropriate test to apply: Even if it were appropriate to apply one of the levels of scrutiny after Heller, surely it would be strict scrutiny rather than the intermediate scrutiny test adopted by the majority opinion here. Heller ruled that the right to possess guns is a core enumerated constitutional right and rejected Justice Breyer’s suggested Turner Broadcasting intermediate scrutiny approach. And McDonald later held that “the right to keep and bear arms” is “among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty.” 130 S. Ct. at 3042.
For those fundamental substantive constitutional rights that the Court has subjected to a balancing test and analyzed under one of the levels of scrutiny – for example, the First Amendment freedom of speech and the rights protected by substantive due process – the Court has generally employed strict scrutiny to assess direct infringements on the right. See, e.g., Citizens United v. FEC, 130 S. Ct. 876, 898 (2010) (First Amendment strict scrutiny in context of infringement on “political speech”); Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, 530 U.S. 640, 648 (2000) (First Amendment strict scrutiny in context of infringement on freedom of association); United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., 529 U.S. 803, 813 (2000) (First Amendment strict scrutiny in context of content-based speech regulation); Washington v. Glucksberg, 521 U.S. 702, 721 (1997) (substantive due process doctrine “forbids the government to infringe fundamental liberty interests . . . unless the infringement is narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest”) (internal quotation marks and alteration omitted); see generally Richard H. Fallon, Jr., Strict Judicial Scrutiny, 54 UCLA L. REV. 1267, 1271 (2007) (“the Supreme Court adopted the strict scrutiny formula as its generic test for the protection of fundamental rights”).""
Permalink · Chicago aftermath · Comments (9)
Practical effects of Heller and McDonald
Before both decisions, the advocates of handgun prohibition predicted blood in the streets if the laws were struck down, but John Lott points out that crime rates fell in DC and Chicago after the decisions. Not that that proves causation, of course, but as he points out, had crime rates risen, that would have made for major stories with the causation simply assumed.
I remember back when the DC handgun ban was new, there was an article arguing that homicide rates were lower after it was passed (again, with causation simply assumed). Problem was that in the year after its passage homicide rates in fact went up. The authors played with the figures until they found that if you averaged the two years before and the two years after (but not three and three), you could say that the homicide rate declined, so they used that scale and got the desired result.
Permalink · Chicago gun case · Comments (0)
Fast & Furious: AG Holder caught in perjury?
CBS News has the story. Holder was sent briefing papers on it in July of last year, but in May of this year testified that he;d only heard about it "for the first time over the last few weeks."
The July 2010 brief devotes a paragraph to F&F on p. 7. To be fair, it doesn't mention government gun-running.
October 2010 emails show Deputy Ass't AG Jason Weinstein noting, "It's a tricky case given the number of guns that have walked." James Trusty, head of DoJ's Organized Crime and Gang Section, replies, "It's not going to be any big surprise that a bunch of US guns are being used in MX, so I'm not sure how much grief we get for 'gun walking."
Story via The Sipsey Street Irregulars.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
That's got to hurt!
Judge finds EPA guilty of malicious prosecution, awards $1.6 million judgment against it. The judge found that the bureaucrat in charge of the prosecution was acting out a personal grudge, and dragged out the case so that he could keep having an extramarital affair with the FBI agent assigned.
The EPA person was charged with perjury and just plead out. The judge found that he acted "with intent and reckless and callous disregard for anyone’s rights other than his own, and reckless disregard for the processes and power which had been bestowed on him, to effectively destroy another man’s life.”
Permalink · General con law · Comments (1)
Sup Ct turns down State v. Williams
News report here. It was an appeal from a conviction for transporting a gun in Maryland, a challenge to "may issue" licensing. It's possible that the Court doesn't want another right to arms case just now, or that it saw cleaner cases (he'd been convicted, and had never applied for a permit) already on the way up.
Permalink · Chicago aftermath · Comments (0)
Confirmation hearings for Traver not fast and furious
In fact, the White House hasn't even asked for them.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Reports of plans for abolition of BATF
Report on Townhall.com. Meanwhile, CleanUpATF.org is reporting that the new acting director plans major management shakeups.
The second would be splendid. The first .... "We've decided that Operation Fast and Furious was a murderous disaster that only a lunatic could have created. So we've promoted those who created and pushed it, and now we'll lay off all the agents who weren't involved." Even by DC's rather loose standards of sanity, that's nuts.
Hat tip to alert reader Jim D. ...