Constitutional Law

WV firearm safety training bill

Posted on February 01, 2008
A West Virginia legislator has introduced a bill calling for firearm safety training as part of PE classes.

Story on Jack Miller

Posted on February 01, 2008
Here it is, with the first photo I've seen of the appellee in US v. Miller. I should mention another good historical piece on him and the case, arguing that the district judge, while ruling in his favor, was setting him up to lose in the Supreme Court...

Concurring Opinions insight on Heller

Posted on January 31, 2008
At Concurring Opinions, Prof. Michael O'Shea has a take.

"In Search of the Second Amendment airing in Portland

Posted on January 31, 2008
My documentary "In Search of the 2nd Amendment" will be airing on local cable in the Portland OR area next month: Sunday 2/10/2008, 8:00 AM, Channel 22 Thursday 2/14/2008, 12:00 PM, Channel 22 Sunday 2/17/2008, 8:00 PM, Channel 23 Wednesday 2/20/2008, 1:00 PM, Channel 23 Shameless self-promotion: you can order it by clicking on the link in this blog's left margin...

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Amusing event

Posted on January 31, 2008
Governent stages a cyber-terrorism drill ... and finds the players can't resist the tempation to hack the computer. Reminds me of an event at Interior. Energy was running a drill called, if I remember, Bright Star. Bunch of folks assemble in the Nevada desert, they'd actually light a junker plane on fire, and the drill was that it was a bigger plane, carrying plutonium, which was burning and becoming a deadly smoke cloud moving toward towns and cities...

New work by Prof. Cottrol and Diamond

Posted on January 31, 2008
Their chapter, "Public Safety and the Right to Bear Arms," for the upcoming book THE BILL OF RIGHTS IN MODERN AMERICA (2008) is now online at SSRN. It's a pretty impressive survey of arms issues, sweeping from 1688 up to the modern day.

More on Citibank

Posted on January 31, 2008
Story here. It terminated the account of a licensed firearms dealer, and is withholding $75,000 of it, and is giving conflicting, and rather foolish, explanations. First, the ground was that he was making illegal sales to persons in other states. NSSF pointed out that's perfectly lawful, so long as he ships to a licensed dealer in the other state, for pickup there (interstate *sale* is lawful, it's the *delivery* that is controlled)...

Missouri Union militia during the Civil War

Posted on January 30, 2008
An interesting historical find. A roster of (I would gather) State-issued militia weapons. The militia traditionaly turned out with whatever they had, but given the supply problems created by the Civil War, it looks as if State governments issued militiamen whatever they could find...

I've heard of problems picking a jury, but...

Posted on January 30, 2008
...but having to send police to round up jurors? 100 summonses were sent out, and not enough jurors showed up to hold a civil trial. UPDATE: I'm very pleased with juries around here. The Ariz. Supreme Court, as a very successful experiment, allowed them to submit written questions that are reviewed by the judge and, if proper, asked by him...

Interesting title for a bill...

Posted on January 30, 2008
Eugene Volkh points out it's a rather strange title for legislation: The Libel Terrorism Protection Act. Is it protection for libels, for terrorists, for persons defaming a terrorist? Turns out it it would bar domestic enforcement of defamation judgments secured in places that don't have our first amendment...

Informant turns out to be a bit less than reliable...

Posted on January 29, 2008
Story here. A lady spent 16 months in the slammer as a result of an informant cooking up a story about her dealing drugs. "Using a thinly veiled murder threat is an odd come-on of the sort that would occur only to a psychopath, or perhaps to a government employee (or do I repeat myself?)...

An interesting offer

Posted on January 28, 2008
The Arizona Legislature is considering a bill that would allow teachers to arm themselves on school premises. So Ignatius Piazza, founder of Front Sight Firearms Training Institute, has made an offer: if the Legislature passes the bill, he will provide a free four-day course at his Institute to any teacher who asks for it...

Why don't they just ban everything and be done with it?

Posted on January 28, 2008
Some New York City officials have proposed a requirement of a police permit to own an air pollution detector or a geiger counter. Why? Well, if people use them, they might detect something, guess that it was terrorism, and flip out and cause a public panic...

I guess Brady Campaign *doesn't* like the SG position

Posted on January 28, 2008
From today's Legal Times. (Registration required. I've put the major parts of the story in extended remarks below. As usual, their argument as to the 2A's purpose goes in circles. (1) It is tightly linked to the militia; (2) but don't dare say the militia was meant to deter the Federal government...

One incredible case

Posted on January 27, 2008
Story here. She's suing her police deparment for failure to protect, and sounds like it survived the Court of Appeals. Incredible situation. Former husband tried to kill her twice, she got a restaining order (which no one would enforce). As in -- not even after he told her he was digging a grave for her and the kids, and she took an officer over there, and sure enough, he'd been digging a big grave.

An impressive letter to the editor

Posted on January 25, 2008
About a battlfield convert, over at keepandbeararms.com.

ATF's mtn for summary judgment denied in Red's Trading Post case

Posted on January 25, 2008
Story on their blog.

Nomination of new ATF head: AP picks up on story

Posted on January 25, 2008
Right here.

Ret. Green Beret court-martialed after shooting burglar with .22

Posted on January 24, 2008
The charges: failure to use a weapon of sufficient caliber. I'd have thought conviction was a certainty on those facts, but he had a good lawyer. Hat tip to Budd Schroeder...

Britain to crack down on knife crime

Posted on January 23, 2008
Where have we seen this before? A pic of tons of weapons laid out on a table. "His intervention follows a string of high-profile fatal stabbings." "Camilla Batmanghelidjh, founder of the charity Kids Company, warned that the proposals would not address the underlying causes of knife crime - gang culture and the drug trade...

Robber gets popped...

Posted on January 23, 2008
OUCH!! Hat tip to Jay Printz... UPDATE: yup, this is a situation where the official legal standard -- you can shoot only if you reasonably believe your own life is in danger at the time -- poses a problem. But it's been my experience that police and, when it gets that far, grand jurors, figure that (1) shooting a robber is a public service and (2) shooting him in the back is the safest way to deal with that situation...

I suppose there's one comfort for the Solicitor General

Posted on January 23, 2008
The SG has hacked off every gun organization, the Wall St. Journal, the Washington Times and now the Washington Examiner, not to mention half the internet. But they can take one comfort. The Brady Campaign likes them. Sort of.

DC gun law in action

Posted on January 23, 2008
WashPo has the story. Second offender arrested with guns. Prosecutor in a typo doesn't list his name in the criminal complaint, court says rewrite it and come back in the morning. In the morning there's a failure to coordinate, officer is doing the paperwork but doesn't know court wants it now...

Wall St. Journal takes on Solicitor General's brief

Posted on January 22, 2008
Right here. Ouch! "[I]t is nothing short of astonishing, and dispiriting, that the Bush Justice Department has now weighed in with an amicus brief that is far too clever by half." "This is supposedly necessary because of this single phrase in Judge Silberman's 58-page ruling: "Once it is determined -- as we have done -- that handguns are 'Arms' referred to in the Second Amendment, it is not open to the District to ban them" (our emphasis)...

Parker/Heller set for argument

Posted on January 22, 2008
Argument is Tues., March 18. No time to say more, worked about 14 hours on the case yesterday, will be doing more today. Update in light of comments: nope, no television. I forget which Justice replied, when asked about televising arguments, "over my dead body...

Interesting take on DC's amici defenses

Posted on January 21, 2008
Over at Snowflakes in Hell.

Interesting Taser development

Posted on January 20, 2008
Taser has brought out a version as a 12 gauge projectile. Range is about a hundred feet. The prospect of having a Taser, with four rounds of buck behind it in case the Taser fails, is interesting.

More on the Solicitor General's brief

Posted on January 20, 2008
In the WashPo. "If the justices accept that advice when they hear the case in the spring, it could mean additional years of litigation over the controversial Second Amendment and could undo a ruling that was a seminal victory for gun rights enthusiasts...

McCain, and an Oregon iniitiative on gun shows

Posted on January 20, 2008
Story in the Oregonian.

VA kills gunshow bill

Posted on January 18, 2008
Washington Post reports that a VA bill to require background checks of private sales at gunshows has died in committee.

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