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January 2017
Concurrence [corrected] by Judge Gorsuch, the SCOTUS nominee
US v. Games-Perez, 667 F.3d 1136 (10th Cir. 2012). Statutory construction: does the provision barring felons-in-possession require proof of knowledge that the defendant knew he was a felon? Majority says no, Gorsuch sez yes. In so arguing, he writes:
"I suppose we might consider trying to rescue Capps [prior case law saying the prosecution doesn't have to prove such knowledge] by resorting to the absurd results doctrine, asking whether some implausible result might follow from (and thus perhaps allow us to overcome) the statute's clear textual direction....
But it's hard to see how that might be the case here. Following the statutory text would simply require the government to prove that the defendant knew of his prior felony conviction. And there's nothing particularly strange about that. After all, there is "a long tradition of widespread lawful gun ownership by private individuals in this country," and the Supreme Court has held the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to own firearms and may not be infringed lightly. Staples v. United States, 511 U.S. 600, 610, 114 S. Ct. 1793, 128 L. Ed. 2d 608 (1994); District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 171 L. Ed. 2d 637 (2008). At the same time, of course, the Court has expressly indicated that laws dispossessing felons are consistent with the Constitution. Heller, 554 U.S. at 626, 128 S. Ct. 2783; but see United States v. McCane, 573 F.3d 1037, 1048-49 (10th Cir. 2009) (Tymkovich, J., concurring) (questioning the Court's analysis on this score). And given all this, it is hardly crazy to think that in a ยง 922(g)(1) prosecution Congress might require the government to prove that the defendant had knowledge of the only fact (his felony status) separating criminal behavior from not just permissible, but constitutionally protected, conduct."
Thoughts on heroism
At Downhill, Donna Weisner Keene has "Hero Gets Bounced Around Too Often."
More info on NRA elections
Soldier of Fortune and Col. Brown have endorsed seven candidates. They give highest priority to Steve Schreiner, who's running for re-election. He's a Colorado activist, and Vietnam vet (Silver Star and Bronze Star with V for valor). They also endorse Tom Arvas, John Cushman, Curtis Jenkins, Sean Maloney, Linda Walker, and Heidi Washington.
David Codrea supports Steven Stamboulieh, and gives his answers to a list of questions on his positions. He's definitely solid on the Second Amendment.
Supreme Court candidates may be down to three
So says Amy Howe, at SCOTUSBLOG. From the 2A standpoint, Thomas Hardiman seems the best. He dissented in Drake v. Filko, which upheld the NJ carry permit requirement, permits being issued on the vague standard of "justifiable need." In dissenting, Hardiman gave some very fine analyses:
"Although the State must show only a "reasonable" fit, New Jersey comes nowhere close to making the required showing. Indeed, New Jersey has presented no evidence as to how or why its interest in preventing misuse or accidental use of handguns is furthered by limiting possession to those who can show a greater need for self-defense than the typical citizen."
"The counterintuitiveness of the idea that limiting handguns to those who have a special need for self-defense reduces misuse or accidental use is borne out by the experience of other States that issue handgun permits on a shall-issue basis, which is what New Jersey's Handgun Permit Law would look like without the justifiable need requirement. For example, Florida has issued 2,525,530 handgun carry licenses since 1987. To date, Florida has revoked only 168 licenses-0.00665%--for crimes involving firearms."
"[A] rationing system that burdens the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right by simply making that right more difficult to exercise cannot be considered reasonably adapted to a governmental interest because it burdens the right too broadly."
The other two candidates are Judge William Pryor and Judge Neil Gorsuch. I can't find anything on the first, and find this opinion written by the second. It doesn't disclose a lot about his 2A views, tho.
Growth in "constitutional carry"
From Charles Cooke, in the National Review Online:
"In 1990, some form of "constitutional carry" obtained in just 0.25 percent of the geographical area of the United States, and for only 0.22 percent of the population. Today, those numbers are 42 percent and 18 percent, respectively."
And, as he notes, those numbers are likely to grow appreciably in 2017.
Computers and the law
I just came across an 1977 issue of the legal journal Case and Comment, which has an article about using computers in the practice of law. It casually mentions that they are the size of a refrigerator, and can be used for word processing and billing. "A computer capable of doing the operations cited in this article can be obtained for about $25,000. [$99,000 in 2016 dollars] More advanced models may exceed $300,000 to purchase. [upwards of a million in modern money]"
Software would cost $2,000 to $10,000 -- $8,000 to 40,000 in modern terms.
The first legal computer I saw was in the office of Margrit Cromwell, now sadly deceased, here in Tucson, around 1980 or so. It was indeed huge, ran on 8" floppy disks (no hard drives) and cost her $15,000, if I recall correctly.
NRA bylaw changes
My ballot issue finally arrived, and it looks like a package of bylaw amendments is also being put up for a vote. Some people did a lot of work here.... a lot of them are simply going thru the bylaws and correcting errors that crept in over the decades. Some of the bylaws being amended date back to the Cincinnati reforms of 40 years ago, and in the intervening decades sometimes a something was changed without realizing that the change also affected another bylaw, that manner of thing.
There are substantive changes, too, and I rather like them. One bylaw required disclosure when a director did "any business" with NRA: that's amended to read when the director receives payments for goods or services. In the past, a lot of directors' disclosures involved disclosing that they or their firms had, for example, purchased advertising in the NRA publications. The disclosure requirement was meant to shed light upon any director's receiving funds from the organization, not upon his giving funds to it.
Some deadlines are created for the nomination process, which were quite needed. The number of signatures required to nominate by petition and to petition for removal of a director are expressed in terms of percentages of the vote cast in the last election, instead of being stated as a hard number. (A lot of these regulations date to 1977, when membership was 1/8 to 1/10 its current number).
Bylaw amendments will henceforth be made by mail-in vote of the entire membership; the procedure for amendment at the annual meeting (I don't recall if any have been made that way in the last 10-20 years) is removed.
NRA Board elections overall
I've posted on several candidates, but want to discuss some more, and also my theory of voting. The ballot issues haven't come out yet, or at least mine hasn't hit the mailbox, but a voting member will probably be able to vote for about 29 directors out of probably 35-40 possibilities. I know there are folks who "vote against" -- that is, figure out how many they cannot vote for, say six, and decided on those six, and vote for everyone else. I never do that--the danger is too high that someone I considered really vital to the organization, and would have voted for as #1 or #2, will be beaten by someone I thought was OK but important, and would have voted for as #36 or 37. Instead I vote for the handful of people who I think very, very important to the NRA.
I've posted a few before, but would like to add:
Curtis Jenkins. A very good fellow. He spent 16 years in the Georgia House of Reps, with a continuous A+ rating from NRA, and authored the nation's first bill protecting firearm manufacturers against harassing lawsuits. He is an incumbent, and serves on the Legislative Policy, Legal Affairs, and Finance Committees, plus the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund. He's also an NRA Certified Rifle and Shotgun Instructor.
Charles Cotton. Incumbent, and serves on the Legal Affairs and Bylaws and Resolutions Committees, plus the Civil Rights Defense Fund. Operates several pro-gun websites, and active in the Texas State Rifle Association.
Patricia Clark. Incumbent, serves on the NRA Airgun, Youth Programs, Finance, Smallbore Rifle, Competitions Rules and Programs, and Silhouette Committees. Received the Sybil Ludington Freedom Award for promotion youth shooting. She's pretty much indispensable to the competitions and youth aspects of the organization.
Yours truly on Fox Business Network
Speaking about Michael Moore's futile quest for relevance.
Thought for the day
"The poor federal courts are overworked. We need to add more judges. A lot more judges."
Heidi Washington, candidate for NRA Board
Just got word that Heidi Washington, daughter of the late Tom Washington, who died in 1995 while serving as NRA President (he died after suffering a heart attack while deer hunting). It's worth mentioning that, when George H. W. Bush resigned from NRA after a "jack-booted thug" reference, Washington released very effective response. Heidi is an endowment member, endorsed by the nominating committee, head of the Michigan Department of Corrections and supporter of the Warden's Cup competition.
Looks as if as head of the Dept of Corrections she has received some praise as a reformer.
Ezell II -- another victory over Chicago!
7th Circuit US Court of Appeals' ruling here. Chicago of course banned handguns -- that got struck down in McDonald. Then it went to strict licensing, with a requirement of training on a range, while banning all firing ranges. That got stuck down in Ezell I. Then it tried restrictively regulating ranges, which gets struck down here. Of the city's three requirements, two are stricken 3-0 and the remainder was struck 2-1.
Hat tip to Alice Beard, who points out that the opinion is written by judge Diane Sykes (who I think wrote Ezell I also), who is on Trump's list of 21 judges he'd be willing to appoint to the Supreme Court.
Liberals buying guns, prepping for Trump years
Story here.
"In fact, Mr. Waugh has "made 'bug-out bags' stuffed with ammo, energy bars, and assorted survival gear for his wife and their three cats. He's begun stowing water and browsing real estate listings in Gunnison County, Colorado, which he's determined to be a 'liberal safe-haven.' Last month, Waugh added a 9mm handgun to his arsenal."
NRA elections: Todd Rather's candidacy
Todd has established a Facebook page to document his candidacy.
How researchers attributed authorship of the Federalist Papers
Article here. The main contenders were James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, and at the end there were a dozen papers with unsettled authorship. Comparing other, known, writings of the two men, they found both used sentences of the same average length, but there were other clues, as as Hamilton used "while" but Madison used "whilst."
Story with a happy ending
Here in AZ, a perp shot and wounded a highway patrolman. A driver then stopped and fatally shot the perp, the used the patrolman's radio to call for help. Story here.
RIP Roy Innis
Roy Innis, NRA director and head of the Congress on Racial Equality, died on yesterday at age 82. Here's his obit story in the Washington Times. I'd spoken with his son Niger at the NRA meeting a few days before that, and he mentioned that Roy was in serious decline. A very good man.
John Ross as head of BATF?
It would be an interesting idea. It might fit in with making the whistle-blowing agents head of the Office of Inspector General for Justice. The OIG is charged with rooting out "fraud, waste, and abuse." That can be an interesting, if full time, assignment. And a lot of fun.
Soldier of Fortune's endorsements for the NRA Board
Right here. Number one is Steve Schreiner, very good pick (full disclosure, I've gone drinking with him). Silver Star, Bronze Star with V for valor, gun activist in Colorado and takes no s__t on the gun issue. Or on anything else.
UPDATE: Willes Lee is another veteran running for the board; his website is here. A pretty impressive resume', including graduation from West Point and rise to light colonel. Being a gun rights activist in Hawaii means he doesn't mind handling the impossible.
ANOTHER UPDATE: And then there's Adam Kraut, website here. Again, impressive. An attorney who runs a gun shop as well as practices firearms law, and loves NFA firearms.
If there are any candidate webpages I've missed, please point them out in comments. (My ballot issue of The American Rifleman came in while I was out of town, and I haven't yet gotten it from my daughter. As I recall, Lt. General Leroy Sisco mentioned he was up for election. He is founder of Military Warriors Support Foundation, an incredibly effective organization that centers upon providing houses to injured military and their families.
"A War Without Rifles"
Finally had time to finish James Gibson's recent book, "A War Without Rifles: the 1792 Militia Act and the War of 1812." I greatly enjoyed the book and the research. The "without rifles" part reflects that military and militia planning in the early 19th century leaned strongly toward muskets rather than rifles, which posed problems in the War of 1812 (the British had adapted to the Napoleonic Wars with tactics that involved swarms of skirmishers moving up to harass opposing troops, and by issuing the Baker rifle to some skirmishing units). Plenty of other research here, including the fact that Secretary of War James Monroe proposed the first American military draft (the male population 18-45 to divided into units of 100 men, each required to furnish four recruits, the other 96 to pay their bounties).
Canada
From the Canadian Firearms Blog comes eight reasons why Canada isn't all bad on guns. The variances between Canadian and US law are interesting. No special restrictions for short-barreled rifles in Canada. Most Americans don't have to get permits to possess firearms, but we generally have to go thru an FFL to buy one interstate. Canada requires the permit but allows private parties to buy inter-province.
With all those variances, why, a fellow might start to think that the gun regulations of both counties are arbitrary rather than rational.