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May 2012
VA Atty General opinion on carrying in a vehicle
Story here. Gist of it appears to be that, pursuant to a 2010 amendment, a person without a CCW permit may carry a firearm in the glove compartment or other container, so long as it is closed, but not necessarily locked.
That's what the law was here in Arizona, until they repealed the CCW restriction entirely.
I must say I never thought we'd see that change in my lifetime. For most of my life, AZ followed a simple rule: anyone could carry openly with virtually no restrictions, but no one but a peace officer could carry concealed, period. No permits. There was even an Attorney General opinion on whether a Justice of the Peace could carry concealed, and the answer was: generally, no. A JP is only a peace officer, and allowed to carry concealed, if he is responding to a riot. (One of the traditional duties of a JP, and presumably why the office was Justice of the Peace, was to respond to a riot. In England, that also meant reading the Riot Act. Literally. Only after the Riot Act was read, and the rioters refused to disperse, did rioting become a felony, meaning deadly force could be used to suppress it. Until the Act was read, so long as the rioters hadn't yet committed felonies -- arson, theft, etc. -- no felony was involved. Of course reading the Act to a hostile mob was not a popular, nor safe, duty.
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (2)
A new Million Moms March
Not quite like the old one. Although I suspect no more likely to number above a million.
USF issues Florida alert
DATE: May 30, 2012
TO: NRA & Unified Sportsmen of Florida Members and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President
The Governor’s Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection a.k.a. the Governor's Task Force on the "Castle Doctrine / Stand Your Ground" law will hold the second meeting in central Florida.
LOCATION: Longwood, Florida
DATE: June 12, 2012
TIME: 9:00am - 5:00pm
PUBLIC COMMENT: Begins at 1:00pm
PLACE: NorthLand Church
530 Dog Track Road
Longwood, Florida
The 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. meeting will take a one hour break at noon. According to the Governor's office release, speakers will be allowed on a first come, first served basis.
The Florida Channel will stream the meeting online at http://thefloridachannel.org and hopefully on your local Florida Channel on your TVcable.
The task force was created following the shooting of Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman in Sanford.
National agitators and numerous state legislators and congressional representatives have been trying to undermine your basic right of self-defense by calling for the repeal of or damaging changes to Florida's "Castle Doctrine law.
If you want to be heard on maintaining your self-defense rights and cannot attend the meeting in Longwood, you may send an email to the Task Force to express your views.
THE EMAIL ADDRESS IS: [email protected]
Veteran attacked in Washington DC
He opens the door to find guns pointed at his head. He comes outside as commanded, then watches them kick in his door and vandalize his apartment, slicing up his luggage, breaking stuff and throwing it on the floor.
Well, that's the DC police department for you.
I'm reminded of the line from The Wild Bunch, where they enter a Mexican town to find houses burning, corpses in the street, and weeping widows. "Villa's men did this to you?" "Oh, no, senor, it was our Federales. If it had been Villa, it would have been much worse."
Permalink · arms law victims · Comments (7)
Bloomberg gang breaking law again?
Have they no shame? They give a grant to Orlando, which hires a person (adding on lots of taxpayer money to the effort) who will serve as MAIG's regional coordinator while working for the city.
I don't know Florida law on the subject (Arizona's constitution forbids government units making gifts to private entities), but at the very least the taxpayer money used to sweeten the deal would constitute a reportable donation to MAIG.
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (2)
My draft article on McDonald v. Chicago is up
Online at SSRN, and in circulation to law reviews. " McDonald v. Chicago: Fourteenth Amendment Incorporation, and Judicial Role Reversals." I start off with a note that in McDonald, the liberal wing turned conservative, and the conservative wing liberal, with the most liberal justice, Stevens, rejecting all of the Warren Court decisions, and one of the most conservative justices, Thomas, becoming heir to the (on this issue anyway) very liberal Justices Black and Douglas. That and Justice Scalia discovered that precedent can trump originalism, while the liberal wing discovered the virtues of judicial restraint.
I found the dissent very, very, weak, and point out a few problems with the plurality. I also try to resolve what may have been the unuttered concerns of the plurality with privileges or immunities incorporation.
Permalink · Chicago aftermath · Comments (4)
Malcolm X endorses the Second Amendment
Video here. He gets to the topic around 3:15 in the footage.
Louisiana proposal calling for strict scrutiny
An interesting idea -- require arms restrictions to pass a strict scrutiny test, via a State constitutional amendment specifying that.
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (0)
Not again....
Yet another Bloomberg Mayor is busted on felony charges.
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (1)
.45 ACP ammo recall
This is from over a year ago, but if anyone has supplies from that era, they might check. It involved several lots of Federal .45 ACP.
Fifth Circuit reverses itself on firearm seizure
Back in March, the Fifth Circuit decided Houston v. New Orleans, involving a plainly vindictive arrest and firearm seizure, with the prosecution refusing to return the firearm despite having dismissed charge. The court ruled that plaintiff had no 2A case, since the right to arms did not extend to the right to have this particular arm at this particular time, and no due process case, since Louisiana law allowed a person to challenge a seizure by filing a motion, thus giving due process.
The Fifth Circuit just granted reconsideration and reversed itself, ruling that State law gave the plaintiff the right to return of the firearm when it was no longer needed for any real purpose. Thus, if he cannot secure its return by that method, the due process issue must be addressed.
Hat tip to Eugene Volokh, of the Volokh Conspiracy...
Permalink · General con law · Comments (1)
My May 22 post
May 22, 2009, cancer, but I made it.
May 22, 2003, cancer, and Frances did not.
Permalink · Personal · Comments (8)
Police file wrong charges
Instead of felon in possession of a firearm, they should have charged him with constructing an explosive device.
Media reaction to allowing open carry
Apparently (the article isn't clear) Oklahoma allows concealed carry if you have a permit, and requires that the firearm be concealed, and there is a proposal to allow permitees to carry openly, as well. The Norman Transcript worries:
"The open carry law may not make much difference in the state. It will bring questions and stares from visitors.... Police officers don’t want to see open carry either, as they can’t easily discern the good guys with guns from the bad guys with guns. In a life-threatening situation, no one is going to ask which one has a permit.
It can’t help economic development, either. A consultant brought in earlier this year said the state had an image problem because of too many tornado sightings. He didn’t mention gun sightings, but we can’t help but think it, too, doesn’t project the state’s best image."
I find these worries rather strange (how does open vs. concealed carry make it harder for police to sort out good guys vs. criminals?), but then Arizona for most of my life followed what I term the western rule. Unlimited open carry, and no concealed carry (no permits for it, either, until it went to "shall issue" and then no permit required). There at least you could see the rationale: carrying was seen as completely normal and mainstream, so it should be done openly. It's hard to see a rationale for the opposite rule, except perhaps "someone might get scared if you didn't hide it."
Permalink · CCW licensing · Comments (8)
US reverses position on arms trade treaty
Story here. Under the Bush Administration, the US wanted no part of it (thank you, John Bolton!). The position now will be that we expect a consensus decision ... but does that mean unanimous (as in we also agree) or just "a large majority."
Permalink · UN · Comments (12)
Brian Terry Memorial Act
A few days ago, David Codrea pointed out a dilemma for the administration: President Obama could hardly veto the Brian A. Terry Memorial Act, but if he signed it it'd be customary to hold a signing ceremony with Terry's next of kin, who had not been kind about Eric Holder's conduct in the matter.
The solution:
"On Tuesday, when Obama signed the bill into law, he did not hold a public signing ceremony with Terry’s family. The announcement that Obama had signed the memorial act into law was stuffed in the middle of a White House press release packed with other announcements not relevant to Terry.
The press release contained no quote from Obama or from White House press secretary Jay Carney about Terry."
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (6)
D.C. holding onto serviceman's guns
The Washington Times has the story. While transporting his guns interstate (and thus likely within the protections of the Firearm Owners' Protection Act), he stopped at Walter Reed, inside DC. The story says he plead to a misdemeanor that was later dismissed, which sounds like pretrial diversion. But DC refuses to return his guns.
Permalink · arms law victims · Comments (7)
Getting squishy....
From Rollcall:
"Behind the scenes, Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) have expressed reservations about the political impact of holding Holder in contempt.
. . . . .
A GOP aide also warned against a racial backlash if Republicans are seen as unfairly targeting the first black attorney general, who is serving under the first black president. “Especially after Trayvon,” the aide said, referring to slain Florida teenager Trayvon Martin."
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (12)
Florida's no retreat law retains public support
A poll indicates approval, by 50% vs. 32%.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (2)
DC mayor holding up gun law reform
The Council unanimously passed a measure to reform its gun laws so they are merely unreasonable and unconstitutional, instead of being utterly insane. DC's mayor apparently has a problem with this.
20th anniversary of Ruby Ridge
Sara Weaver, then 16 years old, looks back.
Bill to ban lying to Congress
A budget amendment that would prohibit use of appropriated funds in lying to Congress. Its importance would be that any use of appropriated funds that is outside the purpose of the appropriation is a violation of the anti-deficiency Act, which bureaucrats worry about. Although since lying to Congress already is a crime, how much good this does may be doubtful.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (6)
An interesting problem
The Brian Terry Memorial Act, which among other things renames the Bisbee AZ Border Patrol station after the murdered agent, passed the Senate unanimously, and should easily pass the House. David Codrea and others point out the dilemma for President Obama at that point. Protocol would be to invite Agent Terry's family to the signing ceremony.... but they've uttered some "strong opinions frankly voiced" regarding his Attorney General.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (1)
Breitbart.com interviews McNulty about Fast and Furious film
Story here.
Fast & Furious heating up again
The House votes to cut a million dollars from the Justice Department budget over its stalling on release of documents -- that's pocket change to a big Federal agency with a $27 billion budget, but better than inaction.
In the meantime, more support for a contempt citation aimed at the AG, which would have a more direct effect.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (2)
50th anniversary: Battle of the Coral Sea
To be precise, of the last day of the battle, May 8, 1942. Its main significance was to set up the truly decisive Battle of Midway a month later.
The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence isn't always against gun violence
When gun violence is perpetrated by a government agency, then the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence thinks it's OK, or at least not very bad.
Permalink · antigun groups · Comments (5)
Issa circulating draft of contempt citation
Against Eric Holder. There have been indications that Memorial Day is the deadline.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (2)
"Trayvon and Zimmerman: the Structure and Elements of a Disinformation Campaign"
An interesting and provocative essay at The American Thinker. It would explain one things that had me wondering, which is why the story suddenly became hot weeks after the actual event.
Rogue police officer
A police officer goes rogue in New Jersey. All is under control now.
Order from Seattle Mayor
His order for confiscation of weapons carried on the street, issued yesterday afternoon.
Hat tip to #GunBlogger_Conspiracy...
UPDATE: The order was rescinded the next day. Here's some press conference material.
Gun scare in northern CA
"The CHP, Twin Cities and Mill Valley police, and the Marin County Sheriff’s Office responded" to two teens carrying airsoft rifles. The kids were "released to their guardians," implying they were arrested, and the police "took the rifles for safekeeping."