Constitutional Law

Newspaper supports reporting requirement for stolen guns

Posted on March 23, 2008
Article here. The claim is that it would prevent straw men and illicit gun suppliers from claiming a gun had been stolen from them, after it turns up in crime. To my mind: 1) It's interesting that none of the calls along these lines ever come up with numbers, or even a single anecdote...

"The Bloomberg Collection?"

Posted on March 22, 2008
Lauer Custom Weapony, which produces camo paints for firearms, has released The Bloomberg Collection, named after the mayor. Bloomberg is described as "outraged," but I suppose they could respond, "so sue us."

In line for Heller, Clayton Cramer eats up an anti-2A type

Posted on March 21, 2008
It's on YouTube. He has her for dinner. UPDATE: Yep, at 05:04 that's me coming down the steps. To the right is Clayton, and behind us Bob Cottrol.

Now, this can't be a Nigerian Business Scam....

Posted on March 21, 2008
I mean, it's by unanimous vote of their Senate! OFFICE OF THE SENATE HOUSE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN PAYMENT (RESOLUTION PANEL ON CONTRACT PAYMENT) IKOYI-LAGOS NIGERIA. Attn: BENEFICIARY , We receieved your file on Wednesday 19/03/2008 regarding the activation of your approved Contract payment method which has been signed by the Chief Accountant General of the Federation and from the office of the Presidency...

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In line for the Heller case

Posted on March 21, 2008
Clayton has some pics he took of the determined folks standing in line to get in for the Heller argument. These were taken around 9 PM the night before and yes, they were camped out in sleeping bags. Most of those who got in, I'm told, camped out TWO nights, beginning in line Sunday...

ATF bid solicitation

Posted on March 21, 2008
It seems that a while back ATFE made a solicitation for bids for a custom Leatherman, to be "Engraved with: ATF-Asset Forfeiture AND "always think forfeiture""

Heller: photo of the usual suspects

Posted on March 21, 2008
L to R: Clayton Cramer, Alan Korwin, Bob Cottrol, myself (w/ beard in rear) and Joe Olson. And yes, we were feeling good!

Transcript of Heller argument

Posted on March 19, 2008
Transcript is here, in pdf. Here are reports from the Washington Times, the Detroit Free Press, and a take from Leibowitz's Canticle. Joe Olson and I were out drinking with Alan Gura last night, and he was getting a constant stream of emails from machinegun owners on his pda, denouncing his statement that full auto arms' possession might not be protected by the 2nd Amendment...

Up and moving

Posted on March 18, 2008
4:50 AM DC time, 1:50 to my biological clock. Rather astonished that my aged system can manage this sort of thing. Metro system opens at 5. Heading out to the oral argument in the predawn darkness. If I get in, won't be back here until some hours later...

Heller argument

Posted on March 18, 2008
Too tired to do much more, but here are my notes on the argument, in pdf format (8 pages). I showed up for the Supreme Court Bar line at 6 AM, got No. 28. They let around 55 of us in, the rest went to the overflow room with audio but no visual. Report was that they had 60-70 seats for the general public, and since several hundred showed up, if you didn't sleep in line last night you didn't get in...

SCOTUsBlog will be covering Heller tommorrow

Posted on March 17, 2008
Just got that notice from SCOTUSblog.

Just drove by Supreme Court..

Posted on March 17, 2008
8 PM EDT, and I'd say there were 80-100 people waiting in line. Media crew just packing up and departing.

Waiting line for Heller argument already begins

Posted on March 17, 2008
According to the Volokh Conspiracy, the line began forming yesterday at 5:35 PM. 40 hours before the case is heard.

The trials of antiquated hotels

Posted on March 16, 2008
No wireless, and only one ethernet connection per room. It's a three bedroom suite, housing myself, Prof. Joe Olson, and Clayton and Mrs. Cramer. Clayton and I brought computers. So we have to alternate on blogging, and the three of us have to alternate reading email...

ScotusBlog on amicus briefs

Posted on March 16, 2008
Here. I thought it nice to cite the Academics for the Second Amendment amicus. Altho the complaints about the amicus briefs being advocacy rather than dispassionate history don't ring very true when DC's historians' amicus was among the more hopelessly biased pieces of advocacy/history that I have ever seen...

Len Savage interview

Posted on March 14, 2008
Here. On the way to DC for the Heller argument, so blogging will be light for a while. UPDATE: reader Chris Masure writes that part two of Len's interview is available at: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/politics/2008/03/14/tucker.government.guns.part...

Len Savage to be on Lou Dobbs tonight!

Posted on March 13, 2008
War on Guns has the report. Sounds like likely times are around 7:30 and around 8:30 PM EDT, on CNN.

FLA bill out of committee

Posted on March 13, 2008
Marion Hammer of Unified Sportsmen of Florida, states that HB-503 was reported out of committee. That was a bill to prevent businesses from barring employees and customers from having guns in their cars while parked on premises. The bill was amended (over USF objection) to protect only employees who have CCW permits...

Column on Heller and the conflict within DoJ

Posted on March 13, 2008
In the Washington Post. In trying to understand bureaucratic infighting, you must grasp: (1) political appointees are a tiny, tiny oil film atop the ocean of career people. Esp. at Justice. (2) They often have no experience at all, and are dependent upon what their subordinates tell them...

Student disciplined for T-shirt with gun image

Posted on March 12, 2008
Story here. NRA had one of those cases, and won it. Had some fun with the school, pointing out that every classroom has the Virginia flag in it. A flag that depicts a woman holding a spear, a corpse at her feet, and the motto Sic Semper Tyrannis. Oh, and for some reason she has one breast bare...

One shot ends rabid mountain lion risk

Posted on March 12, 2008
Story here. Fortunately, this happened in Arizona, and not on a National Park.

Interesting study of media slant

Posted on March 12, 2008
Right here.

It's nice to live in Arizona

Posted on March 12, 2008
Story here. "An Arizona bill that would allow concealed guns on college campuses has gained national attention, sparking a debate over whether to let students and teachers arm themselves. But it's only one of at least 15 measures in the Republican-led Legislature this year aimed at loosening gun controls in a state that has long had a fascination with firearms...

Response to Larry Tribe column

Posted on March 12, 2008
Over at Townhall.com, Jacob Sullum responds to Larry Tribe's Wall St. Journal op-ed that claimed the DC laws were reasonable regulation. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson...

How to get a maximum sentence

Posted on March 11, 2008
Local newpaper reports the case of a fellow.... he'd been sentenced to a 97 year term, at age 16, for offenses including robbery and forcible rape. Given the length of the sentence, I'd guess that a long list of robberies and rapes were involved. This time he grabbed a female prison guard, held her with a homemade knife, demanded transfer to a Montana prison...

Article on Heller amici

Posted on March 11, 2008
In the National Law Journal. The number of amicus briefs (67) doesn't beat the all-time record (107 in the Michigan affirmative action case) but should rank in the top ten. It's far above the average (six). ""The broad range of issues developed in the gun amicus briefs is interesting and supports the idea that Supreme Court cases are often about things far more important than what is important to the immediate parties," said Collins...

Rather funny cross examination

Posted on March 11, 2008
In Great Britain.

Editorial--now this is the media we're used to!

Posted on March 10, 2008
Editorial in the (VA) Daily Press. Count the nonsequiturs. My favorite: a bill allowing CCW holders into restaurants that serve alcohol, so long as they do not drink it themselves, was properly vetoed because " Alcohol and firearms are a dangerous mix...

A bit of First Amendment chilling?

Posted on March 10, 2008
War on Guns has the story.

Ooops...

Posted on March 10, 2008
NY Governor Elliot Spitzer is caught on a wiretap making an appointment with a prostitution ring. Of course he might only have been looking for advice on politics... but he'd better get used to sleeping on the couch for a time.

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