Constitutional Law

7th Cir goes other way in Chicago case

Posted on June 02, 2009
Just got word. No capacity to upload opinion just now.

In the ICU

Posted on May 27, 2009
7 hours under the knife. UPDATE and two units of blood and a load of morphine....

7th Circuit panel of judges

Posted on May 26, 2009
Chicago case, heard today: Posner, Easterbrook, Bauer. Posner=bad news. Bauer -- wrote the antigun Morton Grove ruling many years ago.

Thoughts on gun rights and partisan politics

Posted on May 26, 2009
Right here.

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Open thread on Chicago case

Posted on May 26, 2009
I'm off to the hospital soon, and won't be in condition to blog for several days, maybe a week. But I know some readers will be going to the oral arguments in the 7th Circuit, so feel free to tell us how it went. (Note: I also won't be in condition to do very much if the spam blocker arbitrarily blocks a post...

Open thread on Sotomayor nomination.

Posted on May 26, 2009
Here are Dave Workman's thoughts on the nomination.

DC crime drops post-Heller

Posted on May 26, 2009
Say Uncle notes that violent crime and gun crime are down in the District following Heller. Doesn't prove causation, of course, but does refute "striking the DC law will cause a bloodbath." Via Instapundit.

The Mythical Major Caudill

Posted on May 25, 2009
Interesting story here. In 2007, a blogger writes "Why the Gun Is Civilization," an essay that begins "Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force." It argues that weaponry eliminates the ability to use force, requires reasoning, and thus is an underpinning of a civilized society...

"To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant's Face"

Posted on May 24, 2009
I blogged earlier on history prof Robert Churchill's new book on the origins of the militia movement of the 1990s. Here's the U of Michigan Press description page. I've had time to read it, and it is excellent! He has no agenda, is simply out to write accurate history...

Regret to report...

Posted on May 23, 2009
My blogging will be light in the next week, and maybe the week thereafter. I've been diagnosed with bladder cancer. The doc took out the four tumors, but they proved to be high grade and thus almost certain to recur, at about 4-5 year intervals, 10% chance of fatality each time...

Six years ago

Posted on May 22, 2009
Six years ago today my son Mark awakened and heard no labored breathing. His mother, my ex Frances, had died of cancer. Her webpage is here. About this time I was at the funeral home in Falls Church VA, making arrangements.

Interesting

Posted on May 22, 2009
In the left sidebar, I have had a link to the 2004 Department of Justice report on the Second Amendment, taking a individual rights view. Click on it since the change in administrations, and the link is broken. Apparently, they archived certain papers of the last administration...

The world turned upside down....

Posted on May 21, 2009
An editorial in Pravda attacks Obama for being socialistic. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson...

It must really suck to be on the other side, part 352

Posted on May 21, 2009
Kurt Hoffman has thoughts. He notes the changes in the Brady rhetoric (using that term in its proper sense, persuasive expression). Right after the election: we kicked butt! We rule! Let's get moving! Today: slowly awakening to "we wuz screwed."

Chuck Michel's partner elected LA County Attorney

Posted on May 21, 2009
Cal. State Rifle and Pistol reports that Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich won the election with 55% of the vote. Of his opponent, it notes: "This is a tremendous victory for the Second Amendment, because Trutanich's opponent, rabidly anti-gun- owner Los Angeles City Councilmember Jack Weiss, works closely with the gun ban lobby to advance its agenda...

Carry in parks amendment passes!

Posted on May 20, 2009
Roll call here. Passed about half an hour ago, 279-147, with 105 Demo votes. Hat tip to reader Alice Beard... update: on a quick read, it appears that the House also voted for the bill as an entirity, and that it voted it out as an approval of the Senate version...

Guns in parks legislation likely to pass

Posted on May 19, 2009
Or so the NY Times thinks. It was attached to a credit card bill, scooted thru the Senate, and now is in the House. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson....

Some notes from NRA Board meeting

Posted on May 18, 2009
1. Jim Porter was elected 2nd vice president. (David Keene moved up from 2nd VP to first VP, and Ron Ron Schmeitz from first VP to president. John Sigler stepped down as president and was elected to the Executive Council). The new president announced, among other things, that membership was increasing by 100,000 a month, and that over 10,000 new members had signed up during the convention.

New Para series

Posted on May 17, 2009
Stopped by the Para USA (formerly Para Ord) booth. They made the gun blogger special edition last year, and I've become very fond of mine, a 1911 action with double-action trigger. They're now bringing out their Gun Rights models. 1911 .45s, single and double stack, fiber optics sights and match trigger, and Para is donating $25 to NRA from every sale...

At NRA meeting

Posted on May 17, 2009
Haven't blogged much for past few days since I'm in Phoenix at the NRA annual meeting, and busy as heck. I heard the dinner last night was the largest dinner in the State's history, with 5,500 people. (I suppose it's not hard to calculate which is the largest, because anything in that ballpark would have to take place in the convention center)...

Senate passes bill allowing carrying in parks

Posted on May 13, 2009
Story here. Vote was 67-29. Hat tip to reader Jim Kindred...

Los Angeles gun buyback

Posted on May 13, 2009
Gun buybacks' primary function is to enable gunnies to sell their junkers for above market value, so I probably should not be critical of them, but report seems exceptionally brainless. One of the organizers says of the people who turned out, "It's a pretty good-looking group of citizens," he said...

Amicus briefs in Chicago 14th Amendment case

Posted on May 11, 2009
They're all posted here. Five for the Plaintiffs/Appellants, four for the scoundrels.

Washington Times calls for arming ship crews

Posted on May 11, 2009
Editorial here. A thought: it might take no more than a pistol. assuming the target ship unbolts its ladders, they have to come up via grappling hook. As soon as the first guy's head appears, the crewman shoots him. The pirate crew now must call for volunteers to be the next up...

Florida alert

Posted on May 11, 2009
United Sportsmen of Florida is sending an alert (see "below the fold") that the Legislature raided most of the funds produced by CCW licenses, which are supposed to be set aside to handle license issuance only. Legislature also put in a proviso to pressure against veto, by saying if provisions of the appropriations bill are vetoed, the money to finance them will come out of the education budget.

He IS "The One"

Posted on May 10, 2009
To the gun industry, that is. Obama continues to justify his title as the Greatest Gun Salesman of All Time. Sturm, Ruger's corporate report, in pdf. Firearm sales up 55%, production up 69%, but not keeping pace with demand, backorders are up to nearly half a million firearms...

Self defense in the grand style

Posted on May 09, 2009
"Startled burglar pleads for his life." Can't say as I recommend his approach, tho. We had a Judge Meehan here, Marine, former LEO, great fellow. One night he finds someone crawling in his bathroom window, which was right the tub. He grabs the guy by the back of his collar and yanks him in, sending him head-first into the tub...

Now this is the media I'm accustomed to!

Posted on May 09, 2009
From yesterday's New York Times: "the so-called wisdom" "timidity about standing up to the National Rifle Association" "needed measures to curb gun violence." "well-founded enthusiasm for reviving the assault weapons ban" "this season of successive mass shootings" "the nation?s lax regulation of guns" "N...

Forest fire danger from muzzleloaders?

Posted on May 09, 2009
The Forest Service has a presolicitation, forest-fire related notice out for "Multi-variable analysis on the probability and prediction of fire ignitions from muzzle loaded guns". During the Civil War, musketry did start fires at the Wilderness and a few other fights...

Car violence

Posted on May 08, 2009
Horward Nemerov asks why no one discusses auto violence, when the DUI death toll exceeds that for all forms of murder.

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