Constitutional Law

The Palm Pistol

Posted on September 18, 2008
An interesting invention -- a modern palm pistol. Invented by activist Matt Carmel. It can be fired by a person who lacks the dexterity to work a slide, has nothing to snag on clothing, and is probably more accurate in untrained hands than a traditional firearm...

Ohio court strikes down city ban on guns in parks.

Posted on September 18, 2008
Opinion, in pdf, here. The suit was brought by Ohioans for Concealed Carry, and challenged a city ban on guns in parks, as applied to CCW licensees, since the State law said a licensee could carry other than in specified areas (which did not include parks)...

More on "the other NRA"

Posted on September 18, 2008
Here's a pic, from a reader, of a National Recovery Administration meal sign that once hung in a store: From another reader comes a discussion of the mail chaos when the National Rifle Association and the National Recovery Administration were officed in the same building: "Sacks of targets, used in NRA tournaments, were delivered to puzzled clerks in the offices of the National Recovery Administration, while the National Rifle Association staff sorted through pleas for financial aid to locate its own correspondence...

Fellow arrested during DNC convention released

Posted on September 17, 2008
Story here. Sounds like a false arrest suit in the making. Not knowing of the convention, he checks into a Denver hotel with two hunting rifles and two handguns, all in cases. Nancy Pelosi is staying at the hotel, so over this they "evacuate" her (guns in the same building!)...

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House passes bill cutting back DC gun laws

Posted on September 17, 2008
Story here. As predicted, the mushy version went down in flames, and the stronger one passed 266-152. From here it goes to the Senate, with uncertain results. Hat tip to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae...

ATF has trouble with its own records

Posted on September 17, 2008
Story here. An audit found that over a three year period the agency simply lost 75 guns and hundreds of laptops. About half of the guns were stolen, and two of these were used in crime. The rest simply vanished or are at any rate missing from inventory...

DC City Council amends laws as Congress debates its bill

Posted on September 16, 2008
Story here. To think the Heller ruling is not yet three months old, and DC is trying to run faster than a Demo Congress can pursuit it....

New disease spotted

Posted on September 16, 2008
Palinosis. It has a sudden onset; symptoms include dementia, frothing at the mouth, panic attacks, and rage. Via Instapundit.

Memoir of "the other NRA"

Posted on September 16, 2008
An ad from 1933, featuring "the other NRA's eagle." I read somewhere that for a time in DC the National Rifle Association and the National Recovery Administration were officed in the same building. Every day they'd sort out the mail to "NRA" that had gone to the wrong NRA and exchange.

Brady fundraising insight

Posted on September 16, 2008
The Chronicle of Philanthropy notes: "Other charities that have changed their names have faced trouble. Gifts to Handgun Control, the advocacy organization, dropped after it changed its name to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in 2001. ?Seven years later, we still use the old name on the outer envelope of our mailings because responses drop when we don?t,? said Mary Ester, the Brady Campaign?s director of development...

More on DC legislation

Posted on September 15, 2008
Yup, back in town, dog tired. The Washington Post reports that the DC City Council is considering a further retreat, to try to avoid Congressional legislation. It may repeal the ban on semiautos, and the requirement that firearms be disassembled or trigger locked...

NRA prez to compete in National Championships

Posted on September 15, 2008
Story here. John Sigler, NRA president, will shoot in that nationals, prone at 600-1,000 yards. He'll use a 6.5x.284 rifle.

Blogging a bit slow

Posted on September 12, 2008
Outa town for the weekend, so won't posting much. Saw Sebatian & Bitter last night...

Open carrier taken into custody outside Obama rally

Posted on September 10, 2008
Story here. The fellow was carrying openly (utterly legal in Pennsylvania), but does so outside an Obama rally. He doesn't try to enter the park where it was being held (which requires passing thru metal detectors), Someone sees the gun, and he winds up arrested, charged with disorderly conduct (essentially disturbing the peace) -- which I can't see...

More on the fight over the Federal DC legislation

Posted on September 09, 2008
Politics can be confusing. Story here. Basically, the House committee is expected to report out a much watered-down version, but the rule for debate (fixed by Rules Committee, directly under Pelosi's thumb) allows a quick up or down vote between that and the stronger version (which, with nearly half the House cosponsoring, will likely win)...

Not a product I'd care to own

Posted on September 09, 2008
Snowflakes in Hell has a posting (via Ry Jones) about a converter kit to turn a Ruger 10-22 rifle into a pistol. I'm not utterly sure of the benefit (why not just buy a Ruger pistol?) but I'd agree that the legal risks are considerable. ATF's position is that the receiver is the gun, and a rifle receiver is thus a rifle, so one turned into a pistol becomes a short-barreled rifle...

ATFE authorizes electronic A&D books

Posted on September 09, 2008
Pdf of ruling here. If anyone ever doubts that licenses have serious recordkeeping duties, the ruling should answer that. Even the electronic recordkeeping will likely require custom-written software (which won't be cheap). There are thirteen requirements to be met...

Court considering rebriefing death penalty case

Posted on September 09, 2008
Discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy. It concerns Kennedy v. Louisiana, where the Court ruled that the death penalty for child rapists was cruel and unusual punishment, based in good part on finding a national consensus that it was too much. The majority noted that there was no federal law allowing such punishment, and only 6 of 30 States that have the death penalty allowed it, and mentioned that Congress, in establishing a federal death penalty, had not extended it to rapists of children...

Election getting foul already

Posted on September 09, 2008
Facts: back in 2000, Alaska enacted a law barring police departments from charging victims for rape investigation kits. Sounds logical: if somebody shoots at me, I wouldn't expect to pay for the ballistics test. A reporter for a small town newspaper hunting for the "other side" interviews their police chief, who opposes the bill because the cost to the town is high, they like to bill the victim's medical insurance "when possible," and the offender ought to be made to pay the cost as restitution...

House to vote today on DC bill

Posted on September 09, 2008
Story here. Sounds like the leadership IS rushing the bill along. A lot of blue dog Demos in tight races were demanding the vote, to show their gunny credentials. Again, how far the nation has changed. I can't picture Pelosi allowing it, or having her comrades pushing hard for a vote on it, a few years ago, and ten years ago arguing that something like this would happen would have seemed delusional...

FrontSight offers free training to Chicago residents

Posted on September 08, 2008
Offer here.

VCDL takes on Great American Family Restaurants

Posted on September 08, 2008
Very nice videos at their website here. It's the second video down.

The National Parks gun ban

Posted on September 08, 2008
Sensibly Progress has a take on the present rules.

Blog on Obama and the gun issue

Posted on September 08, 2008
Right here. Hat tip to Dan Gifford. While we're at it, just found out that historian J. Norman Heath has a blog on 2A issues.

Firearm sales increasing

Posted on September 08, 2008
Chart here. Nearly 7.5 million NICS checks so far this year, and August showed a 4.3% increase over last year.

WashPo on bill affecting DC gun laws

Posted on September 08, 2008
Cam Edwards has a fine post dealing with a WashPo editorial that seems to have been based on reading the Brady Campaign's press release, rather than the bill in question.

Freudian slip?

Posted on September 07, 2008
Obama may have made Freudian slip: "If you?ve got a gun in your house, I?m not taking it,?? Obama said. But the Illinois senator could still see skeptics in the crowd, particularly on the faces of several men at the back of the room. So he tried again...

Events in Maryland

Posted on September 07, 2008
Posting here. Description is a bit overwraught, but essentially, a collector buys ammo from an FFL who keeps ammo records (not required) and gives them to the State Police. They show up at his house past midnight, because he bought ammo for guns for which there was no dealer record of their purchase...

Now, this is a bit embarrassing...

Posted on September 06, 2008
Tho there was probably no other wise course of action: Police hear a woman crying for help from inside a house, knocks at the door yield only more cries for help, they break in to rescue her .... And find a cockatoo , giving the cries in its owner's voice...

Todd Jarrett shoots 1000 rounds in 10 minutes

Posted on September 06, 2008
YouTube here. By the end the gun is so hot that the trigger is burning his finger. That the gun keeps going is a tribute to the 1911 design, and to Para USA's execution of it. Hat tip to reader David McCleary....

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