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December 2012
Sauce for the goose....
The White Plains (NY) Journal News has put online an interactive map which displays the identity and address of every person with a handgun permit. So an enterprising blogger put online addresses, twitters, facebook pages and phone numbers of the editorial staff. It seems to have an effect: when you click on the chief editor's facebook page, you find it's been taken down.
Permalink · media · Comments (1)
Time to bring it onto the radar screen....
President announces push for gun control.
Joyce Malcolm's latest article
"Two Cautionary Tales of Gun Control". The two tales are those of Britain and Australia.
Permalink · non-US · Comments (2)
Further data on the "Meet the Press" interview
I've commented on David Gregory of NBC waving an AR-15 magazine around which, given that the NBC studio is inside DC, made its possession illegal. Now, it turns out that NBC had previously contacted the DC police and been warned that this would be illegal.
NBC declines to comment.
Permalink · media · Comments (12)
That's gotta hurt....
NBC's David Gregory criticized NRA's proposal for armed guards in schools -- and now it's revealed that he sends his own kids to a school protected by armed guards. Same is true of Rahm Emanuel.
Permalink · media · Comments (2)
Speaker on Meet the Press violates DC gun laws
Even while arguing we need more gun laws. Oops.
White House petition to deport Piers Morgan
The petition already has 22.962 signatures (and probably more when you read this, after having been up for two days.
I wonder why the pitch for signing omits the strongest reason: "pontificating, underinformed, supercilious twit, whose arrival here was in violation of the legal prohibitions against importing foreign insect pests."
Comment on my documentary
For some years, I've had a Second Amendment documentary released. Its Youtube trailer this morning got the following comment:
"David Hardy is as responsible for all dead children at Sandy Hook Elementary are the shooter himself.
The NRA is the enabler of death-paranoid, delusional and as venomous as a scorpion. With the weak-kneed acquiescence of our politicians, the National Rifle Association has turned the Second Amendment of the Constitution into a cruel and deadly hoax."
Sigh. Not even a death threat. I guess I just don't rate anymore.
Wayne LaPierre's speech of today
Transcript here The mass media are going to be hopping mad over this one, so it's best to read it as it was given, and compare it to what you'll hear tonight or read tomorrow.
UPDATE: no need to wait until tonight. The Washpo just gave it a one-sentence summary: "National Rifle Association’s CEO: Another Conn.-type shooter is waiting in the wings."
UPDATE: A reporter posts that "Reporters on my Twitter feed seem to hate the NRA more than anything else, ever." A few samples:
"LaPierre as delusional as any dictator. His speech against music videos, hurricanes has the feel of a Castro rant or Mugabe tirade."
"No two ways about: This is gross, awful, dishonest."
"This is nuts."
Permalink · NRA · Comments (5)
Tell me it isn't true...
Barber shop patron says he'd like to have killed the recent school shooter. Another patron says "you'd like to murder me?" and shoots at him. The shooter turns out to be someone convicted of homicide and illegal firearms possession.
Hmmm... a murderer who identifies with the school shooter, and wants to kill a stranger? Maybe the shooter wasn't wrong, the first patron would have wanted to shoot him. And I have trouble seeing much wrong in that.
Permalink · Crime and statistics · Comments (0)
Good grief....
Not only was a Fast and Furious gun recovered at the recent cartel crime scene, but so was a gun personally purchased by the ATF's Assistant SAC. Just for good measure, he gave a false address on the 4473.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Piers Morgan gets owned
By Larry Pratt. He tries to talk over Larry, Larry just talks over him, and he gets hacked off, and Larry has some real fun. "
Hat tip to David Codrea.
BP Agent Brian Terry's family sues
Story here and court filing here.
The complaint is for constitutional violations; I haven't done the research, but that might have problems. They might amend to add Federal Tort Claims Act claims, after that time limit runs (you have to file an administrative claim, then give the government six months to act on it, as I recall.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
Another Fast and Furious gun recovered
Story here. Sen. Grassley is upset that it was recovered last month, but Congress was not notified, despite his request for such notice.
Permalink · BATFE · Comments (0)
RIP Jim Jefferies
I just received word of the death of Col. James H. Jeffries, III (Ret. USMC). Jim's been retired for some years, but back when he was practicing he was probably our greatest expert on NFA law.
Mass killings and civilians shooting back
A few days ago I linked to a study of mass killings stopped by police vs. stopped by civilians, finding that the average death rate of those stopped by police was 14.3, and the average death rate of those stopped by civilians was 2.33. Not surprising, since the armed civilians are usually on the scene, while police necessarily respond many minutes later. The killers are not stupid: they don't attack if a uniformed LEO is within sight. The result suggest what Joe Olson said years ago: in a situation with an "active shooter" who is willing to die, the only thing that stops him is quick and accurate return fire from someone not in a police uniform. Whether that person is an off-duty officer or an armed civilian doesn't matter.
I posted below to a story indicating that the Clackamas Town Center shooter may have stopped and committed suicide because he saw a CCW holder who drew and had him in his sights. Here's more on the story.
Now comes a story of an apparent attempt at a mass slaying in Texas, which was halted when an off-duty officer shot the attacker. Total casualties, apart from the perp, were one man wounded.
I'd say we're seeing a pattern here.
Permalink · Crime and statistics · Comments (0)
Mass shooting stopped by CCW holder
Story here. He threw down on the shooter, but held fire due to innocent people being on the other side. The killer saw him, and committed suicide at that point.
Strangely, this seems to have stayed a local story. The blogs are carrying it, but the national media seems absent.
Permalink · Crime and statistics · Comments (4)
Reforming mental commitment statutes
From Cato Unbound comes "A Libertarian's Proposal to Reform Involuntary Commitment".
"Because of the inadequacies of our current civil commitment practices, 5,000 individuals with mental illness commit suicide annually.[2] Another 200,000 are homeless.[3] Of course, those are not primary concerns to libertarians, most of whom believe that individuals have a right to kill themselves or live homeless.
But as a result of our current restrictive commitment procedures, persons with mental illness kill 1,000 individuals annually, roughly 10% of all homicides.[4] The most likely victims are family members,[5] police, and sheriffs.[6] ...
Because of restrictive civil commitment laws, individuals with serious mental illness are regularly shot by law enforcement who believe their erratic and irrational behavior is putting their own safety or that of the public in immediate danger.[7] People with severe mental illnesses are killed by police in justifiable homicides at a rate nearly four times greater than the general public."
I can remember back to the beginnings of the deinstitutionalization movement in the late 60s and early 70s. Back then, commitment was much more broadly allowed, but actual treatment (as in medications) was in its infancy. The result was that patients were "warehoused" unless and until they spontaneously became sane, which wasn't very likely. Today the prospects are quite different, hundreds of medications in the spectrum, and the main problem is getting a person to stay on the meds. But commitment has become so rare that people don't think of it as a possibility. The guy here who shot Rep. Giffords -- his college was so scared of him they banned him from coming there, and sent security guards to his home to notify him. But nobody thought of calling the police to take him to the psych ward for a check out.
As Clayton Cramer has pointed out, the seriously insane were largely moved from mental institutions to jail.
VCDL protests AutoZone firing of employee who stopped a robbery
Story here. In an email, the VCDL president reports:
"I could not believe all the cars and trucks honking their horns and waving enthusiastically as they passed the group! All of us were surprised and elated. People were pulling into the mall to go shake Devin's hand. A few people passing by stopped to join the protest!
The AutoZone parking lot, for the most part, looked like a ghost town. I wished I had a tumbleweed to toss in their parking lot! ;-)
For those of you who couldn't make this one, you really missed a great event - the public support for a hero was clear and strong.
The Shady Banks Shopping Center, where AutoZone is located, was extremely nice to us and gave us specific permission to park in their parking lot and to marshall there. The Mall did ask us not to protest in the parking lot and we honored that request.
The 7-11 across the street was giving our members FREE coffee! When I learned of that, I walked over to thank them for their support and generosity. They, too, were supporting a hero."
Chicago's latest contribution to NRA
This is for attorney fees incurred while winning the main attorneys' fees award. Steve Halbrook emails that, seeing as Rahm Emanuel is becoming a regular contributor, they should at least send him a hat.
Permalink · Chicago gun case · Comments (3)
NY State firearms law history
I have a question.... the original Sullivan Act required a permit to possess a handgun, and another to carry one concealed. It appears that if you had the permit to possess, you could carry openly without a permit.
At what point in time did New York require a permit for all handgun carrying, either by providing a person needed a permit to carry in any way, or by outlawing open carry?
UPDATE: The Sullivan Law made it illegal to "to have or carry concealed upon his person" a pistol, and provided for permit to "have and carry concealed." It's possible this could be read as making it illegal to "have upon his person or carry concealed upon his person," and conversely making the permit one for carrying, but concealed only.
In the wake of the 7th Circuit ruling....
Otis McDonald is celebrating.
Chicago is not.
UPDATE: reader Eric sends the following, with regard to a bill that has been pending:
"Here is a link to the bill.
It appears to be shall-issue. It starts out talking about "permitting the sheriff" to issue licenses, as if there is discretion, but an amendment further down seems to require the ISP to issue a license thru the sheriff once a person meets qualifications."
Permalink · Chicago aftermath · Comments (3)
Wyoming is not the place to try armed robbery
Robber enters a nail salon, probably figuring it was a safe target, and pulls out a gun. "At that moment, a woman who was getting her nails done reached into her purse and got her own firearm." The robber thought it best to leave at once.
UPDATE: Pennsylvania isn't the best place for robbers, either.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (1)
Major lawsuit over Philadelphia's disclosure of permit holders
Story here. Pennsylvania has a statute that renders secret the identifying data on licenses to carry. Philadelphia managed to violate that in truly remarkable fashion, by putting all appeals from denied applications online, together with reason for denial and an interactive map where a viewer could see where they lived.
Permalink · State legislation · Comments (0)
A great summary
From Kurt Hoffman: "It takes a special kind of control freak to say "out of control" three times over the course of two sentences."
Astonishing ruling!
Moore v. Madigan, 7th Circuit. A long and well-thought out opinion, I'm only partway thru, but it strikes down Illinois' general ban on carrying open or concealed, and stays its mandate 180 days so the legislature can try to come up with something constitutional. The theme of the opinion is largely, "don't try to re-argue Heller, you lost that one, and we're going to apply it honestly."
The author is Judge Posner, who is no friend of the Second Amendment, but does believe in following precedent.
UPDATE: I think we have something of a Circuit split, between this and the 2nd Circuit's ruling in Kachalsky. The 2d Circuit treated right to carry very narrowly, "may issue" is perfectly OK, and the law can be justified by the fact that the legislature thought it was a good idea. Moore treats the right to carry much more broadly, and holds that restrictions must be justified by hard proof that there are benefits, not speculation. It's not a perfect split, but pretty close to one.
Permalink · Chicago aftermath · Comments (11)
Oral arguments in three 9th Circuit cases
I haven't listened to the third one yet, but the first two are challenges to California sheriffs refusing to issue permits to carry (now required for all handgun carry), under California's "may issue" regime.
Peruta v. San Diego, backed by NRA and California Rifle and Pistol. Paul Clement argues. Audio here
Richards v. Prieto, backed by SAF and Calguns. Alan Gura argues. Audio here.
Baker v. Kealoha, backed by the Hawaii Defense Foundation. Audio here.
The panel sounded skeptical at the sheriffs' cases, which suggests a favorable outcome.
The sheriffs had a novel defense: the infringement of the right to arms is a product of the State legislation. The sheriffs merely have the power to lift that, so their only role is either to let the State infringement continue, or to provide relief from it. Therefore, they should not be liable.
I don't think that's a good argument. Suppose California enacted a law forbidding political speech unless authorized by a sheriff. One sheriff says "OK, in my county everyone may speak freely." He shouldn't be a defendant. Another sheriff says "in my county, only my friends may speak on politics." I think he's a valid defendant.
Comparison of death tolls in shooting rampages
Davi Barker does a study of 93 mass killings (narrowing them to thirty where either police or a civilian stopped the crime) and finds--
"The average number of people killed in mass shootings when stopped by police is 14.3
The average number of people killed in a mass shooting when stopped by a civilian is 2.3."
Permalink · Crime and statistics · Comments (5)
This is too much to think of right now....
An Iraqi national is arrested after detonating a small bomb outside a Social Security office.
It turns out that he came to the US in 1997, but in 2008 he was denied a green card because he had been involved in terrorist activities.
Rep. Gosar is asking why he was still here in the US four years after he was denied a green card on the basis of terrorism.
His terrorism consisted of fighting against the government of Sadaam Hussein.
This is just too much to contemplate now.
George Zimmerman sues NBC
Story here. I think he has an excellent chance on liability (i.e., of overcoming all the Court-created restrictions on liability for defamation). Damages might be a harder issue. But if he does well in his criminal case, and I think he will, it'd have some beneficial effect here.
Another antigun pol caught with a gun
This time it's Ill. State Senator Donne Trotter, caught trying to board a plane with a concealed gun.
He's the third Illinois legislator currently facing criminal changes, and can reflect at least that he's not charged with a crime of moral turpitude; the others are charged with bribery and bank fraud. He was running to replace U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., who resigned over financial improprieties, who had run to replace Rep. Mel Reynolds, who resigned over being convicted of statutory rape AND fraud. Maybe they oughta elect him on the theory that the mores of that seat seem to be improving over time, and this would be part of the trend.
Latest in Trayvon Martin case
I'd say it looks like George Zimmerman indeed got beaten up. But the prize for "bad choice of wording" goes to the attorney who filed suit against him: ""Trayvon Martin .... had every right to stand his ground to defend himself."
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (1)
Reader quoted in story re Minn. shootings
Joe Olson, a/k/a 30yearlawprof, is cited in an article about self-defense.
I'd say of the incident that is the focus of the story: his first shot at each would probably have been legally justifiable, his followup shots at the guy would be a call for the jury, but his followup shots on the female sound to be plainly over the line. (Not to mention that his story for those is unbelievable).
John Lott takes on NFL announcer Bob Costas
The announcer claimed, over the air, that if Jovan Belcher hadn't had a gun, he wouldn't have been able to kill his girlfriend and then himself. As Lott points out, does Coastas think a 228 pound NFL linebacker couldn't kill someone with his bare hands, a club, or a knife?
$5.9 M grant and no one can say where it went
Five years ago, the Federal government gave Ohio a $5.9 million grant to do all sorts of things about gun-related crime. Now, nobody is clear about where the money went, or what was achieved.
My Dred Scott article is online
Right here. I found that the case was "cooked up." Scott's attorneys sued John Sanford (and spelled his name as "Sandford"), a New York businessman who had no claim at all to being Scott's slaveholder, but stipulated that he did. So why name him? The purpose was to keep the name of the woman who did have a claim out of the case an out of the papers, because she had married a prominent anti-slavery Congressman. The pro-slavery press knew, and kept quiet until the Supreme Court ruled, then began attacking him as a hypocrite.
It was the Court's first interpretation of the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and of Fifth Amendment due process. It was also a prime example of the law of unintended consequences. Chief Justice Taney stretched far in order to protect slavery in every possible way (he could simply have ruled that Scott was not a citizen and could not sue, and ended it there).... but his ruling helped in the rise of Lincoln, completely destroyed Stephen Douglas, and resulted in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
No shopping at Auto Zone for me...
A robber sticks up an Auto Zone. An employee runs out to his car, gets his gun, returns with it, and the robber flees. His manager is grateful, but company HQ fires the employee because he violated their policy against employees have guns in the store.
Here's their "contact us" page.
Permalink · Self defense · Comments (9)
Possible breakthroughs in Fast and Furious
Katie Pavlich is is reporting that the supervisors involved in F&F are being fired or demoted.
What's especially interesting is the case of Bill McMahon, who took a job in Singapore, I believe, for JP Morgan (which issues the ATF credit cards), nicely getting him beyond the reach of Congressional subpoenas. But he didn't give up his ATF job, he was still listed as an employee on leave, meaning I could return to his old job eventually.
I posted on that -- a Federal employee can only carry over so much annual leave from year to year, I forget now whether it's 20 or 30 days -- how can he have enough leave to hold out for months?
Pavlich reports that he wasn't on leave, he was still drawing his Federal pay, while out of country working for a hefty private sector salary! I could see criminal charges arising out of that one.