Constitutional Law

More on injunction against park CCW

Posted on March 20, 2009
Dave Workman has thoughts and links. Having read the opinion (linked in a comment to the prior post), I can see how this happened. All agencies have to comply with NEPA, the National Enviro Policy Act. NEPA isn't, as we bureaucrats called it, an action-forcing statute, it doesn't dictate a result...

IL Supreme Court on Lawful Protection of Commerce Act

Posted on March 19, 2009
PDF here. Adames v. Sheahan. UPDATE: this is strange. The link stopped working. I had a perfectly ordinary pdf in another window, so to test it I hit reload ... and it went blank, too. Basically, a correctional officer kept a Beretta at home. His son got the gun (apparently despite being locked away) and thought that removing the magazine leaves it unloaded...

Charges against X-Caliber Guns dismissed

Posted on March 19, 2009
This is a strange case. The Arizona Attorney General (not ATF) brought State charges against a Phoenix-area gun dealer, claiming he'd supplied over 700 guns to Mexican drug cartels. And the AG loses on a directed verdict -- meaning the judge finds that the evidence is nonexistent: no rational juror could find for the prosecution...

Judge enjoins allowance of CCW in parks

Posted on March 19, 2009
Story here.

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DoD backs down on destruction of fired cases

Posted on March 18, 2009
I was delaying reference to this, trying to gather more info, but apparently the Dept of Defense has sold expended cartridges to companies that reload, but recently announced that it would cease doing so and only transfer cartridge casings after they'd been mangled into scrap...

65 Demo Congressmen write AG Holder...

Posted on March 18, 2009
telling him to kindly forget about an "assault weapon ban."

One year ago today

Posted on March 18, 2009
... was the oral argument in Heller. I didn't have the angle to see it, but a friend who did said that the face of DC's advocate, Walter Dellinger, fell when Justice Kennedy's questions showed he was pro-individual right. Kennedy was the likely swing vote.

Revival of "assault weapon ban"?

Posted on March 18, 2009
Story here.

Comment on 14th Amendment cases

Posted on March 18, 2009
Here, in the Wall Street Journal Online. It would be better if the writer didn't think of the right to arms in liberal vs. conservative lights.

Eugene Volokh on the increase in gun sales

Posted on March 18, 2009
He does an interesting month-by-month breakdown over several years and concludes that Obama's election and subsequent events are the most likely cause. Compared to the previous year, sales increased 3% in September, 15% in October, and 42% in November, and stayed high since.

Opening brief in Chicago case

Posted on March 17, 2009
Pdf here. As always, written in splendid manner.

Your tax dollars at work

Posted on March 17, 2009
The National Institutes of Health, after a study of children and teens in six States, concludes that.... "swimming lessons do not increase drowning risk."

BATFE explosives ruling overturned

Posted on March 17, 2009
Summary and link to opinion here. Issue was whether a model rocket fuel crossed the line from "burns fast" into "explosive." Court gave the agency two tries at formulating and explaining its ruling, and it still couldn't get it right.

New Admin and arming pilots

Posted on March 17, 2009
A Washington Times editorial. Mind you, given how lousy the last administration was on the issue, it would be hard to do worse, but they're at least giving it a game try.

A fellow's memories of Joe Foss

Posted on March 16, 2009
The Minot Daily News carries the recollections of businessman/photographer Mark Hamilton, including: "Hamilton's love of the outdoors and enthusiasm for every task he undertakes has also led to developing friendships with some very notable personalities...

Mexican drug cartels' armament

Posted on March 15, 2009
There's been some claims from the present Administration that US firearms are going south and fueling drug cartels' wars. It is probably the case that some US handguns are being shipped south, but the serious armament of the cartels is now full-auto AK-47s, former Soviet RPGs, hand grenades and some American light antitank weapons...

U.S. parks to eliminate lead projectiles & fishing weights

Posted on March 15, 2009
Story here. Hat tip to reader Jack Anderson...

More debate over St. George Tucker

Posted on March 15, 2009
A few months ago, Northwestern Univ. Law Review Colloquy published my paper on the lecture notes of St. George Tucker. One of the points I made was that the Stevens' dissent in Heller had picked up on an article by Saul Cornell that argued Tucker was a collective-rights type, and in fact this had greatly misconstrued his lecture notes...

Ted Cruz campaign website

Posted on March 15, 2009
Ted Cruz's campaign for Atty General of Texas has this new website. It has a link to video of him defending the 2A on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. Cruz filed a very good amicus in the Heller case....

Need to have priorities, I suppose...

Posted on March 13, 2009
Chicago's running a massive deficit, with things getting worse. For a time it cut back on snowplowing to save money. Mayor Daley is telling other mayors that they must "?Tell your employees that there?s going to be layoffs. Tell your citizens there is going to be cutbacks of services...

Historical question

Posted on March 13, 2009
Just had this pop into mind.... When John Wilkes Booth went to assassinate Lincoln, he carried a small single-shot derringer and a knife. He succeeded because Lincoln's usual bodyguard (who carried a pair of revolvers and a bowie) was away, and his replacement left his post to go drinking...

Texas Two-Step on Mexico's drug wars

Posted on March 13, 2009
Howard Nemerov has an excellent report.

More reform in TN

Posted on March 12, 2009
Eliminating fingerprints for gun purchases. Sounds like "common sense gun control." "Casada, of Franklin, cited Tennessee Bureau of Investigation information that the agency has only once asked for a thumbprint from the 2.3 million guns sold since the law went into effect in 1998...

Good lobbying day in Illinois

Posted on March 12, 2009
Story here. Turnout estimated at 3,500 - 5,000.

Good bills advancing in Utah

Posted on March 12, 2009
Discussion here. One protects employees who have a firearm in the car and park on a company lot, the other makes a number of liberalizations of the CCW laws.

?You can reject the post but not the will of God?

Posted on March 11, 2009
Indians (as in India) are really taking shooting seriously. I mean, Todd Jarrett was a great instructor, but none of us had religious visions concerning him. Well, nobody mentioned such, anyway.

Reform in Tennessee

Posted on March 11, 2009
Via Instapundit comes this report from Rustmeister's Alehouse. I found the ban on microstamped guns and ammo interesting. Normally, of course, it makes sense to manufacture stuff to the specs of the tightest (large) State, so it can be sold anywhere...

AHSA post election

Posted on March 10, 2009
I vote for Willing Shills.

Historical trivia

Posted on March 10, 2009
Napoleon termed his cavalry leader, Murat, the bravest of the brave. Murat sided with Napoleon after the latter's return from exile, and was shot. His son, Achille Charles Louis Napoléon, Royal Prince of Naples, 2nd Prince Murat, and nephew of Napoleon, wound up living in Florida, a militiaman and elected official, and married to a grand-niece of George Washington...

Followup lawsuit against DC

Posted on March 09, 2009
Press release here, and complaint, in pdf, here. As part of its new rules, DC adopted California's roster of acceptable sorts of handguns... largely ones that "look right." CalGuns Foundation lent a hand with the research and targeting. The suit singles out guns that were not certified because their manufacturers failed to pay the required fee, or had gone out of business, and listings that are exceptionally arbitrary -- i...

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