For Deputy AG: David W. Ogden -- his background: under the Clinton Admin, was Ass't Atty General for Civil Division, and Chief of Staff to the Attorney General. For Solicitor General: Elena Kagan. Her background: dean of Harvard law, taught at Chicago, clerked for Abner Mikva on DC Circuit and then for Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court. Fo...

Very interesting idea. If a gun is stolen, the victim sends in the data. It is not posted online, and in the database is encrypted with 256-bit encryption. If someone wants to sell you a gun, you can run it. If there is a match, victim and finder are both notified. There's also a provision for posting a reward. I know a few FFLs who have "connect...

The Brady Campaign ranks North Dakota 44th out of 50 States, with only 4 of 100 possible points. Just in time for the North Dakota Attorney General to announce that in 2008 the State had ZERO gun homicides. And only two homicides at all, both stabbings. Hat tip to reader Dan Mason.......

Glynn County, GA. Video here. Traffic stop, officer notices a legally-carried gun, draws, aims at driver's head (Using a wierd sideways gangsta hold, two handed) and threatens to kill him. Discussion over at GeorgiaPacking.org. The Sheriff did send a letter of apology (well, sort of), listed on the thread....

At SSRN, right here. It deals with the original public understanding of the 14th Amendment, as distinct from its Congressional history. The question under this standard is -- what did the American people think they were being asked to ratify? Key to that in the legislative history of Sen. Howard's speech upon introducing it in the Senate, where h...

Article here: "In the spring, the South Campus of Tarrant County College (TCC) declared that wearing empty gun holsters, even during an officially sanctioned protest in the school’s tiny free speech zone, was too much for its fragile students to bear in this scary, post–Virginia Tech massacre world. TCC student Brett Poulos had notified admin...

Very comprehensive story in the Hawaii Reporter....

Article here....

Story here. Pdf complaint here....

At Reason Online, Radley Balko posts some interesting data....

Clayton Cramer has agrees as to P or I incorporation of enumerated rights, but not nonenumerated ones. Having spent a fair amount of time studying the legislative history, there are two complicating factors. (1) When the framers of the 14th referred to the Bill of Rights, they sometimes referred to the first eight, and sometimes to the first ten...

Over at Balkanization, David Gans and Doug Kendall discuss the issue. Hat tip to reader Joe Olson.......

Here, in pdf. Gist of it: during 2006 there were 8,000,000 plus checks 117,000 denials (125,000 denials, offset by 8,000 reversals on appeal) 77,000 of these were referred to Field Offices for investigation (80% not involving felony records) 273 persons charged, and a whopping 73 convictions. US Attorneys declining to take cases appears a major...

An interesting look back in history. Hat tip to reader B. Taylor....

Nordyke v. King, presenting the 14th Amendment incorporation issue, is set for argument Jan. 15 at 1 PM. Here's its Wiki page, with links to the briefs. (An appeal has its own Wiki page? I feel so 20th Century at times like this). The case had already been briefed, with the incorporation issue raised below but not briefed, when DC v. Heller came ...

I voted the other way, but from this post on Chronicles of Higher Education, Obama has my profound sympathy" As a professor and an author, I speak with hundreds of female undergraduates and graduate students in their 20s and 30s. I know what they want: They want both careers and families. They want to be teachers, lawyers, engineers, biologists,...

Very impressive video. Scroll down to get to the video. A perfect sheet of ice, people who think they can drive on it. The newscrew just got into a good position and watched as the slow speed (and often in reverse) demolition derby unfolded....

Began with somebody trying to shake down a grandmother who ran a hospital....

Freedom States Alliance is an antigun organization heavily funded by the Joyce Foundation. And in press release today it states: "First, the Freedom States Alliance, which oversees our daily news blog, GunGuys.com, does not endorse political candidates."...

Right here. The writer's point is that, whatever the laws, people own guns. In nations with loose firearm laws, they own them legally. In nations with restrictive firearms laws, they own them illegally....

"The Lecture Notes of St. George Tucker: A Framing Era View of the Bill of Rights," 103 Northwestern U. L Rev. Colloquy 272 (2008). The pdf version is here and the html version here. At 277 I get into Tucker's notes on the 2d Amendment. At 278-79, I get into the Stevens dissent in Heller for having claimed that Tucker was ambivalent on the 2A. ...

Casting call here....

I've known him, and eaten and drank with him, and this is pure Jerry Patterson: ""After a great deal of consideration, and much soul-searching, I am today formally announcing my intention to join many of my fellow elected officials and not seek the U.S. Senate seat," said Patterson. "I have been urged by many of my fellow Texans to seek this seat...

Story here....

Sensibly Progressive, who is one of his constituents, has a favorable take on the nominee for Interior Secretary....

A ways back, Bob Barr filed suit for a Georgia FFL (Adventure Outdoor Sports) targeted by Mayor Bloomberg's "stings," alleging that Bloomberg had slandered the owner. Bloomberg's guys got it removed to Federal court, and argued NY law, giving public officials a wide privilege against defamation suits, should apply. (BTW, those are two different iss...

Filed against Delaware County, which apparently takes the view that if it ever lays hands on a gun, it takes a court order to get it back. It takes a lawsuit? Be careful what you wish for, as sometimes you get it....

Pdf of final rule here. They go into effect on January 9. The actual rule is two paragraphs long, at pp. 74971-72, and says that a person may "possess, carry, and transport concealed, loaded, and operable firearms within a national park area in accordance with the laws of the state in which the national park area, or that portion thereof, is locat...

In Orange County, conflict over the new sheriff's plan to revoke CCW permits en masse. The former sheriff issued them as political favors, the new one wants to revoke them by the hundreds. The wonderful nature of unbridled discretion....

Story here. The article doesn't make it clear, but given that he'd ruled earlier, I assume this means he dismissed the case, that is, entered an appealable order. Not a surprise to anyone. Even assuming the judge wasn't part of the local machine, the Circuit Court, which is over his head, ruled the other way in the original Morton Grove case, and...

VCDL is sponsoring "Lobby Day" at the State capitol on Monday, January 19. Here's the flyer, in pdf, and here's some video. Several rallies are planned, and they're looking for the best turnout they can generate....

Story here. This has not been a good week for those who would bust people for lawful carry.... H/t to reader Ambiguous Ambiguae.......

Story here. I mean, the State only outlaws .50 caliber rifles, but not possession of their ammunition. It doesn't require registration of ordinary ammunition sales. Hat tip to reader Robert E. .......

Here's the story. Fellow was openly carrying (and both has a license, and is military, either of which suffice to make open carry legal). His gun was seized and they refused to return it. Georgiacarry.org took the case, got return of the gun, damages, and attorney fees. Here's the settlement order....

AP release here. DC adds a training requirement before registration, and a re-registration requirement every three years....

Story here. Note a sales tax on firearms isn't a real constitutional difficulty: you can have a nondiscriminatory sales tax on things related to the First Amendment (TVs, radios, and even newspapers although I haven't encountered a jurisdiction that taxes the last). I do think there is a problem with places that impose significant costs on firearm...

Here's the testimony of on the reliability of the NFA database; the critical part being testimony of Fritz Scheuren in part 6 of the transcript, starting at 1016. Dr. Scheuren's credentials were hard to beat -- among other things, he's Vice President for Statistics at the National Opinion Research Center. I haven't had time to read the transcript,...

Just spoke to the folks at Independent Institution. Steve's book is up to No. 327. I reported that Amazon sold out, and they said a resupply is being shipped today, and should be available to fill orders within a couple of days....

Homeowner learns kids are going to TP his house, loads a squirt gun with fox urine, squirts them and is charged with assault. Snowflakes in Hell has the story. You'd have thought they'd regard it as one prank deserves another. The hardest part, I'm sure, was forcing the fox to urinate in the squirt gun (grin)....

First, from Violence Policy Center: "VPC Lauds Introduction of Blagojevich Bill to Ban "Pocket Rockets"" Next, from the Brady Campaign: "Brady Campaign Praises Governor Blagojevich for Standing Up To Special Interests and Protecting the People of Illinois" And they'd probably like to bury the image in the left margin of this article, too....

Right here, and for a lot less than governor Blagie... Bloga... Blagev... the Governor of Illinois was asking, too!...

Steve has just brought out his latest book, "The Founders’ Second Amendment." It's getting great reviews -- National Review calls it highly readable and interesting, "Every American who cares about this provision of the Constitution can now arm himself against the sophistries and oversimplifications that have permeated much of the popular and ...

In Florida and elsewhere, companies have argued OSHA (as federal law) overrides State laws allowing storage of firearms in locked cars in workplace parking lots. I think the argument relates to OSHA's vague statutory duty to make a workplace safe, rather than any regulations issued, so the following may or may not be relevant, but... Cass Sunstein...

An interesting thought, from Days of our Trailers: "he anti's are the ones that claim they're 'honest'. Is this what they mean? Blago is the second Brady Campaign endorsed state governor to take a fall for corruption this year. We all remember NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer, right? Almost half-a-dozen MAIG Mayors have fallen (Daley, we're looking at ...

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear? 2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are 3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas 4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me 5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and T...

Story here. As we'd say in Arizona, "that's Indian, as in India," since the vast majority of Indians here descend from folks who came across the Bering Strait about 20,000+ years ago....

So says the Blog of Legal Times. It reports a Supreme Court argument, with four advocates speaking (one having gotten his time by pointing out that no one else was defending the decision below), in which not a single advocate defended the Circuit's ruling....

Anti-gun IL governor Blagojevich was was arrested this morning on federal corruption and bribery charges. Investigation also involves his choice of pres-elect Obama's replacement in the Senate. UPDATE: USA Today says that his chief of staff, John Harris, was also arrested. Charges involve soliciting bribes in exchange for the Senate appointment, ...

Anti-gun IL governor Blagojevich was was arrested this morning on federal corruption and bribery charges. Investigation also involves his choice of pres-elect Obama's replacement in the Senate. UPDATE: USA Today says that his chief of staff, John Harris, was also arrested. Charges involve soliciting bribes in exchange for the Senate appointment, ...

Anti-gun IL governor Blagojevich was was arrested this morning on federal corruption and bribery charges. Investigation also involves his choice of pres-elect Obama's replacement in the Senate. UPDATE: USA Today says that his chief of staff, John Harris, was also arrested. Charges involve soliciting bribes in exchange for the Senate appointment, ...