Arms and the Law

Story here.

The perp was caught in a stolen car, but released with a citation due to "covid protocols" that led to demands for fewer incarcerations.

"Aside from the stolen car, arrest records show Mr. Walton was currently on felony probation for a carjacking out of Contra Costa County in May of last year. Plus, three other felony arrests and a felony conviction related to auto theft and resisting arrest in California. Not to mention, Walton had a bench warrant out for his arrest in Georgia for a felony domestic violence case against one of the victims he is now suspected of murdering."

Story here Bowie, MD: four armed robbers try to rob and carjack a person, who shoots one of them and drives the others off. "The victim is described as a 38-year-old man who had a registered handgun from another state."

We may hope the police agree to look the other way, since Maryland doesn't recognize other States' carry permits nor their registrations, and carrying without a permit is a serious offense, punishable by up to three years' imprisonment.

It looks like they call them "gel blasters", but however they term them, they seem to think they are just too deadly. Perhaps they are useful in crime over there, but I wouldn't recommend trying to stick up a store with a paintball gun in, oh, Texas or Florida or any free state.

Story here. They raise an interesting question of why other pro-gun groups have not responded.

And it looks like the blog is working again. It's generally not been, for the last week or so.

there has been a problem.

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Britain: criminal fatally stabs screaming woman, witness runs criminal over, "Detectives have now arrested a 26-year-old man, the driver of the car, on suspicion of murder." Other witnesses were too frightened to intervene.

Letter to the Court here. It'd signed on to an anti-2A amicus. Now it writes the Court to say that its position has changed 180 degrees.

"Following the change in Administration on January 15, 2022, the Attorney General has reconsidered Virginia's position in this case. The purpose of this letter is to notify the Court that Virginia no longer adheres to the arguments contained in its previously filed brief. Virginia is now of the view that New York's handgun permit regime is irreconcilable with the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which secures an individual right to bear arms outside the home for self-defense.

Virginia now urges this Court to reverse the Second Circuit. First, New York's requirement that its citizens show "proper cause" to carry a handgun in public is incompatible with the original public meaning of the Second Amendment."

Elections have consequences.....

Surprise, the hostage-taker bought it from a convicted felon. Look for that story to be buried.

Here's their summary, with links to the cases.

We're all familiar with cases where hospitals audit their drug supply and find they are missing 5,000 pills (strangely, never Amoxicillin).

Arkansas Dept of Corrections finds it is missing 28,000 rounds of .38 Special.

The armorer is suing (legal merits of that debatable) with some startling allegations. (1) The ammo supplier supplied the set with a mix of live and dummy rounds, and (2) the scene proceeded without her even being on the set ("had Hannah been called back in"). Also in badly-worded article, it seems to say that the ammo supplier Kenney said that "all rounds are rattle tested before being sent to film sets." Rattle tested? I've heard of dummy rounds with a BB inside that would rattle when shaken, but personally, when I make a dummy, I drill holes in the side so I can be sure it holds no powder.

As we know, the rules of gun safety are so devised that you can break one or a few and still no one gets hurt (although they may get scared), to hurt someone a person has to break them all. Looks like these morons broke them all, plus a few just meant for movie-making, and two bystanders paid the price.

Story here. The charges were a big stretch, the plea (no contest to two misdemeanors) is a prosecution face-saving move. "We can't afford to dismiss the charges, but offer him a misdemeanor and a fine that will be less than his legal costs."

Justice Gorsuch incorrectly says "I believe" flu kills hundreds of thousands, correct number tens of thousands, and people go nuts. He's displaying his ignorance, spreading disinformation, making false statements, etc.

Justice Sotomayor says Covid has put 100,000 children in the hospital, actual number 700-3,300, and nobody seems much concerned.

Here's his article. I'd agree. We'll probably see this ruling at the end of June, because the Court likes to hand down the most controversial rulings of each Term in its last few days, and to break and end the Term just before the 4th of July.

A French cuirass recovered from the battlefield at Waterloo. They were meant to protect against pistol shots and saber slashes, not against a direct hit from artillery. The caption says the wearer was "wounded by a cannonball." I doubt he was wounded for very long.

Article here.

Lead case: perp caught after burning a car with murder victim dead in the trunk. Perp and victim are known to have been involved in an unemployment fraud scheme. Perp was free on bond after gun charges filed. Perp asked mother to follow him to where he dumped the car and give him ride back. She asks no questions.

Perp is charged with a misdemeanor, concealing a body.

At the end is a list of other Chicago cases where a perp killed someone while charged with a gun offense but was released or charges were dropped. In one, a convicted felon began a gun fight that left a person dead, and was charged with unlawful use by a felon rather than homicide. "Mitchell was on bail for two separate felony cases at the time of the shoot-out."

Chicago sets an all-time record for homicides. In fact, it managed to have more homicides than 47 of the 50 States. And a suspect can be located in only about one case in ten (witnesses know that their lifespan will be short if they talk), the rate is likely to continue.

Story here. I do find this amusing, as fear of mass crime comes to the gated communities where crime was seen as a reaction to deprivation and self-defense was seen as uncivilized, if not outright racist.

Interesting results. Firearms ownership 32% (probably understated: some gun owners don't like to reveal that to strangers). One-third have used gun at least once in self-defense, amounting to 1.67 million defensive gun uses per year.

48% of gun owners own or have owned magazines that hold over ten rounds, and 30%, or over 24 million, own or have owned an AR-15 platform rifle.

Not good news for anti-gunners, at all. When tens of millions of Americans already own what you want to ban.... your cause is out there with the dinosaurs already.