Arms and the Law

He was found in his room at a Texas resort ranch. Age 79.

UPDATE: Demos want to rush nomination of replacement; Repubs say no. I hope the Senate leadership has guts enough to stick to that.

Minor problems at the Department of Homeland Security:

"Inventory reports, obtained by the news site Complete Colorado and shared with FoxNews.com, show that over 1,300 badges, 165 firearms and 589 cell phones were lost or stolen over the span of 31 months between 2012 and 2015."

News from Washington: Billionaire George Soros dropped $6 million on Priorities USA, a pro-Clinton super PAC.

Not too surprisingly, Priorities USA is 100% antigun. Here's one example. Here's another.

Story here.

I suppose we learn all we need to know about whether the original order was actually mandated by law or not, from the fact that its proponents were ready to rescind it as soon as they got a political benefit in exchange for doing so.

Story here.

"Quick said three programs established by the Integrated Defense team enable commanders to increase security through conceal-carry. One of the new initiatives, the Unit Marshal Program, enables commanders at every level permission to work with security forces to train Air Force members and allow them to open carry their M9 service pistol at their duty location.

The Security Forces Staff Arming program enables more security officers to carry a government-issued weapon while on duty."

We've already decided Air Force members are can be trusted to fly A-10s and F-16s, and handle 20mm and 30mm rounds, cluster bombs, Hellfire missiles, and a lot of other adult fireworks, I suppose we can figure they can be trusted to handle a 9mm or .45.

A spokesman for the Campaign to Stop Gun Violence is quoted as saying "Don't hold your breath waiting for them [base commanders] to embrace America's degenerate gun culture."

Brady Campaign accuses Sanders of supporting "one of the most evil pieces of special interest legislation passed in this nation in decades" -- the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act." He responds by saying she's choosing to push gun control in New Hampshire, while downplaying the issue in Iowa.

Richard Nixon used to say that in Republican politics you ran to the right in a primary, to win the nomination, then ran back toward the center, to win the general election. On the gun issue, tho, I think both Demos have run so far to the antigun side that there is no coming back or hedging their position in the general.

Story here. In some years, repeat some years, the justifiable homicides have made up around 15% of total homicides. The overall average appears to be about 5%.

The Florida Sheriff's Association is pitching an alternative to legalized open carry.

As an Arizonan, I find these debates rather strange. In Arizona, open carry has always been legal -- it was concealed carry that was viewed with suspicion until fairly recently (presently, it's allowed without even a permit). Open carry was a matter of -- if a person carries where everyone can see it, he's unlikely to be thinking of doing something illegal. The idea of laws that permit concealed carry, but allow the carrier to be arrested if anyone else happens to see that he's carrying, is very hard to understand from this viewpoint.

I know this is becoming an issue between Trump and Cruz, and wanted to call attention to recent Congressional Research Service memo. English law imposed some restrictions on persons who were not natural born subjects (they couldn't be appointed to the King's privy council, for instance) and so the subject was debated and defined for many centuries before the Framers drafted the provision. The memo concludes that persons born outside the US to parents who are citizens qualify as natural born citizens.

I can see that, but also an argument that the 14th Amendment defines as citizens those born within the U.S. and those naturalized into it, so that anyone not born here is naturalized (either individually or en masse by statute). On the other hand, might the 14th Amendment be seen as an addition that extended citizenship to everyone born here, so that it's not the exclusive definition of citizenship, but added on to the existing concept? I'd have to do more research than I am likely ever to have time to do before reaching a conclusion.

It's in America's First Freedom's latest issue. I found a lot of interesting things in the files.

According to Ass't US Attorney Richard Southwick,

"llegal gun traffickers buy firearms in southern states with lax restrictions, such as Georgia, for about $150 per gun. The buyers only have to show ID, undergo a quick background check and they walk out a dealer's door with their weapons.

Then they drive a few hundred miles to states with strict gun laws, such as New York, where they find eager customers willing to pay $300 or $400 per handgun, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Southwick said. That's a mark-up of 100 percent or more."

Let's see--they show *out of State* ID and buy guns from a licensed dealer? A federal felony on both ends of the transaction. And they can buy guns at retail for $150? Gad, Georgians are so lucky with those prices, heck, they can probably get center-fire ammo for $10 a box, too...

Right here. A short presentation on "All Things Considered," but a good one, and fair.

Story and video here. While nothing in real life is 100%, the carriers (some well trained, some minimally trained) were quite effective in simulated conflict.

Hat tip to reader David McCleary....

Airplane passengers subdue and hold mental case who disrupts flight. As Glen Renolds remarks, the militia that the Framers referred to is everywhere, and capable of organizing on the spot to defend themselves and to keep order.

Mike, who has done so much (beginning with: he and David Codrea were the keys to exposing Operation Fast and Furious) is fatally ill. He is the blogger at Sipsey Street Irregulars, and inventor of the "three percenters" idea. David Codrea has posted an appeal for funds for his medical expenses, and his family. It's quite a worthy cause, in light of all that Mike has done for our cause. I'd suggest relaying the webpage to all the blogs and bulletin boards you can reach.

Right here. I don't see where they add much to anything, and in any event the first page reads "The guidance set forth herein has no regulatory effect and is not intended to create or confer any rights, privileges, or benefits in any matter, case, or proceeding, see United States v. Caceres, 440 U.S. 741 (1979)."

Translation: "if you comply with this booklet, and we arrest you anyway, the Department will disavow these instructions."

Patton and Pancho, on General Patton and Pancho Villa during the Pershing Expedition into Mexico in 1916.

Chicago: policeman manages to accidentally kill a female bystander.. They also killed a 19 year old student, not by mistake.

In related news, am I the only one that thinks this shows a third-world tinpot dictator introducing a rather unimpressive general?

Well, I suppose that's not far off the mark.

Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe is proposing various forms of gun control, and has by executive order banned firearms in State offices. Va State Senator Charles W. Carrico Sr. has an interesting response: defund the governor's armed guards. "It's easy for someone who is surrounded by armed state policemen to tell someone else they can't carry a weapon to protect themselves."

The idea has lots of potential. If a public figure maintains that, oh, firearms should be limited to ten-round magazines, the legislature could ensure that his body guards are limited to those. After all, if ten rounds is enough to defend against a criminal attack, and the body guards are there to prevent criminal attack, they can set the example for the rest of us.

Actually, we might wonder why a governor needs body guards. I can't recall a single case of a governor being attacked while in office, with the exception of Huey Long eighty years ago. And there are some that argue that Long was hit by an errant shot from his body guards.

Article here. And as with anything Massad writes, well thought-out and worth reading.