Arms & The Law

Lights out for Canada’s long gun registry

by Of Arms and the Law April 10, 2012 Arms & The Law

The measure ending it passed their Senate 2-1 and received royal assent.

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"cut shells"

by Of Arms and the Law April 7, 2012 Arms & The Law

I remember reading about this when I was young. Though at the time when it was popular, they had cardboard shells, and so the shooter had to be careful to *almost* cut thru them.

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Guilty pleas in Fast and Furious

by Of Arms and the Law April 6, 2012 Arms & The Law

Three defendants plead out. Jaime Avila Jr.”faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to dealing guns without a federal license and conspiracy to deal guns without a license, making false statements in a gun purchase and smuggling goods out of the U.S.” So much for the US Attorney’s instructions to ATF during [...]

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Vanderboegh recovering, may be out of hospital soon

by Of Arms and the Law April 6, 2012 Arms & The Law

He reports the problem is a post-op abscess. David Codrea suggests donations to help with his family’s expenses. As he says, “if you get value from Mike’s work [meaning Fast and Furious, and other issues], returning that value in the form of a voluntary subscription, say, a buck a month, is the appropriate and moral [...]

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No more Coke

by Of Arms and the Law April 5, 2012 Arms & The Law

I prefer the taste of Pepsi, anyway.

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Ill ruling: are "assault weapons" firearms in "common use"

by Of Arms and the Law April 5, 2012 Arms & The Law

In Wilson v. State, at 15-19 (I have the link open in one window, but it doesn’t work in another), the Illinois Supreme Court remands to the lower court to determine that and a number of other questions. It notes that Cook County’s AW ban is not like a handgun ban, in that handguns are [...]

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Back

by Of Arms and the Law April 5, 2012 Arms & The Law

Released from the hospital yesterday afternoon, still rather weak. Last night I got a sound sleep, but the night before got only an hour or so. The usual hospital noises, awakenings for blood draws and vital checks, plus a special disturbance…. patients in the next room over who listened to the TV or talked loudly [...]

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Sheriff Mack running for Congress

by Of Arms and the Law April 4, 2012 Arms & The Law

Sheriff Mack is running for Congress against Lamar Smith. Mack is a friend, and I represented him in the challenge to part of the Brady Act, which went to the Supreme Court. He once remarked that he’d never owned an SKS, and never planned to, but as soon as the government proposed to ban them, [...]

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I feel so safe….

by Of Arms and the Law April 3, 2012 Arms & The Law

“ICE arrests 3,100 convicted criminal aliens in sweep”. Until you read that only 204 of them will actually re recommended for a prosecution. Others will be subject to removal proceedings, which is a broader concept than actual deportation and includes agreeing to voluntarily being removed. The article lists two individuals who will be subject to [...]

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Little blogging for next few days

by Of Arms and the Law April 2, 2012 Arms & The Law

I was admitted to the hospital yesterday… I thought it was a kidney stone, but it turned out to be an infected kidney. On IV antibiotics now.

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NBC doing internal investigation regarding alteration of Zimmerman audio

by Of Arms and the Law April 1, 2012 Arms & The Law

Story here. In running a story on the Florida shooting, NBC’s Today Show altered a 911 call to make it fit the narrative, turning “Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about. Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — [...]

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MA gun ban for permanent resident aliens stricken

by Of Arms and the Law March 30, 2012 Arms & The Law

Fletcher v. Haas, ruling entered this morning. Brought by individuals and SAF and Commonwealth Second Amendment (altho the court holds that the organizations lacked organizational standing). The ruling includes an interesting discussion of alienage and the voting franchise. The two were not anything near synonymous in the 18th and 19th centuries, since on the one [...]

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SAF win against NC emergency regulations

by Of Arms and the Law March 29, 2012 Arms & The Law

SAF and Alan Gura scored a win today in Bateman v. Perdue, E.D.N.C.. At issue were North Carolina statutes prohibiting carrying a firearm off one’s own land during a declared emergency (which can be declared by the governor, or county, or city). The district court followed the 4th Cir. standard, which is (1) is the [...]

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Ruling on Portland OR limit on open carry

by Of Arms and the Law March 28, 2012 Arms & The Law

Eugene Volokh discusses it at the Volokh Conspiracy. The ordinance makes it illegal (with some exceptions) to knowingly possess a firearm in public, “recklessly having failed to remove all the ammunition from the firearm…” The question is, what does “recklessly” mean here? In the Oregon Court of Appeals, the majority hold that it means reckless [...]

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What is the smallest caliber you’d trust for self-defense?

by Of Arms and the Law March 27, 2012 Arms & The Law

“What is the smallest caliber you trust to protect yourself? My personal favorite defense gun has always been a Beretta Jetfire in 22 short. I’ve carried it for many years including while hiking. I never leave without it in my pocket. Of course the first rule when hiking in the wilderness is to use the [...]

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Court upholds NYC $340 permit fee

by Of Arms and the Law March 27, 2012 Arms & The Law

Kwong v. Bloomberg, opinion here. The court finds that the $340 fee is meant to recover costs of administration, which the City claimed were actually a bit higher than this figure. Creative accounting, I suspect.

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Getting hammered in the Supreme Court

by Of Arms and the Law March 27, 2012 Arms & The Law

Sackett v. EPA. Under the Clean Water Act, EPA can issue orders, and violation of the orders is punishable by a civil penalty of $37,500 per day and up. EPA’s position was that such an order was not a final agency decision, and thus not reviewable by a court. If you received one, and disputed [...]

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Some guys are late getting the message

by Of Arms and the Law March 27, 2012 Arms & The Law

“Mayor Bloomberg: Trayvon Martin Shooting Makes the Need for Gun Control All Too Clear.”

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More on Trayvon shooting

by Of Arms and the Law March 26, 2012 Arms & The Law

Story here. The evidence seems to fit together, and is strong for a “good shoot.” Zimmerman tells police that he wasn’t the aggressor, that Trayvon knocked him down and was pounding his head against the sidewalk, and that he cried out for help. Police found Zimmerman bleeding from wounds to the back of his head, [...]

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Administration proposes to slash firearm training for pilots

by Of Arms and the Law March 26, 2012 Arms & The Law

The Obama Admin proposes to halve funds for training pilots so they can be armed in the cockpit. As it is, the training procedures seem designed to be impossible to meet: “To gain certification to carry a gun onboard, pilots must take a six-day training program in Artesia, New Mexico. They must attend a half-day [...]

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Police report on Florida shooting

by Of Arms and the Law March 25, 2012 Arms & The Law

Right here. The responding officer found the shooter, Zimmerman, bleeding from nose and the back of his head, and saying he had cried out for help, which matches the eyewitness who reported that the man on the bottom was being beaten and was crying out for help.

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More coming to light in FLA shooting

by Of Arms and the Law March 24, 2012 Arms & The Law

The case gets some complicated: “The dispatcher advised Zimmerman not to follow Martin. Moments later, neighbors bombarded 911 with reports of a struggle between the men and the sound of a gunshot. When police officers arrived, Martin was lifeless, face down on the ground, while Zimmerman was bleeding from his head and his back was [...]

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Bloomberg looking for unemployed attorneys, paying $20/hr

by Of Arms and the Law March 24, 2012 Arms & The Law

Story here. “Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the gun-control group co-chaired by Mayor Bloomberg, is looking for out-of-work lawyers to research doctrine related to the Trayvon Martin case. Laurin Grollman, the mayor’s senior counsel for firearms policy, sent out the following email, forwarded by a reader: From: Grollman, Laurin Looking for lawyers who are out of [...]

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PA test of Castle Doctrine and/or No Retreat

by Of Arms and the Law March 24, 2012 Arms & The Law

Hard to tell which from this story. It might really have been a test of neither. Two drunken aggressors come into a person yard with baseball bats, pursue him, continue to menace him even after he displays a gun, and he takes a hit in the head before firing. You don’t need castle doctrine on [...]

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This is pitiful, part 26….

by Of Arms and the Law March 23, 2012 Arms & The Law

A couple of weeks ago, I posted on how Coalition to Stop Gun Violence was vigorously denying that gun sales were up. Now comes word that Ruger has had to stop taking orders thru May, due to already having received over a million orders in 2012, far exceeding their capacity to produce. The result is [...]

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Fast & Furious Keeps getting worse, part 1,236

by Of Arms and the Law March 23, 2012 Arms & The Law

It was recently revealed that the chief target of Fast and Furious was caught, six months into the operation, smuggling ammo at the border, but released upon a promise to cooperate. Now, it turns out, he was also caught two months before that, in illegal possession of a gun.

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Fast & Furious keeps getting worse

by Of Arms and the Law March 22, 2012 Arms & The Law

The LA Times has the story. As previously noted, the key target actually was apprehended inside the US, about six months into F&F, but released to return to Mexico on a promise to cooperate. (Reports that the ATF supervisor made him swear “cross my heart and hope to die / stick a thousand needles in [...]

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Trayvon Martin shooting and "stand your ground"

by Of Arms and the Law March 22, 2012 Arms & The Law

One of many articles on that shooting that ties it to “stand your ground” laws. I cannot see the connection. “Stand your ground” means that, if a person reasonably believes they are under lethal attack, they can defend, and the fact that fleeing was an option doesn’t change that. From what I’ve seen, if media [...]

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"A Safer Society — WIth Guns"

by Of Arms and the Law March 21, 2012 Arms & The Law

It’s staggering that the Boston Globe ran this article.

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Anvil shooting

by Of Arms and the Law March 21, 2012 Arms & The Law

I’ve read of this practice in days of yore. Video here. I’d have backed up farther, tho. I count the anvil as aloft for seven seconds which, using Newton’s Law, means it rose over 200 feet.

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March 20

by Of Arms and the Law March 20, 2012 Arms & The Law

27 years ago tonight, Bill Avery, my late wife’s father and my best friend, died. A few days later I wrote a letter to some of my friends.

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Nordyke: the county blinks

by Of Arms and the Law March 20, 2012 Arms & The Law

At oral argument, en banc, the county says it has amended its gun show ban to allow shows so long as guns are attached to the table by cable Hat tip to thirtyearlawprof…..

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Just when you thought Fast and Furious could get no worse…

by Of Arms and the Law March 19, 2012 Arms & The Law

Comes word that, six months after it began, ATF apprehended its primary target smuggling ammo into Mexico, he admitted his ties to cartels, and they let him go. He went right back to smuggling, of course. In his car was a ledger tracking payments to “Killer,” in case there was any doubt about the type [...]

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Interesting idea

by Of Arms and the Law March 18, 2012 Arms & The Law

Crowdsourcing Madison’s notes on the Constitutional Convention.

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An interesting question

by Of Arms and the Law March 16, 2012 Arms & The Law

After President Obama apologized to Afghanistan for a soldier who cracked and killed 16 Afghanis, shouldn’t he apologize to Mexico for the 300 deaths caused by Fast and Furious?

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