Arms and the Law

Right here. They make some mistakes about the firearms, but it's otherwise good. One question I've had: what were the two Secret Service counter-snipers doing without spotters? Each should have had a spotter with binoculars looking at the big picture.

At Volokh Conspiracy, discussion of a case holding unconstitutional the federal ban on private "stills." Part of the reasoning is that the taxing power is limited to, well, taxes, and a prohibition on private stills raises no taxes. Nor is it "necessary and proper," since it does not punish non-payment of a tax, but imposes a penalty on people before the tax is due (i.e. liquor has been distilled).

At the Volokh Conspiracy, Prof. Volokh discusses a recent Ohio ruling. The plaintiff is the county coroner, the defendant someone who wanted some records, and got quite obsessive and obnoxious about it. The trial court issued a protective order forbidding the defendant to mention the coroner's name online, and forbidding him to possess firearms. The Court of Appeals held that the first restriction violated freedom of speech, and the second violated the right to arms.

The Supreme Court recently upheld 18 USC §922(g)(1), which forbids firearms possession by those subject to a restraining order issued after a finding that the person posed a "credible threat" to a family member. The Ohio decision suggests there may be a valid challenge to §922(g)(2), which forbids firearms possession by a person who is restrained from "harassing, stalking, or threatening" a family member, and where the restraining order "explicitly prohibits the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against such intimate partner or child that would reasonably be expected to cause bodily injury." The (g)(2) order requires no finding of a credible threat.

Opinion here. I'm still reading. It's by Roberts and 8-1, Thomas dissenting.

Opinion here. You can find a very good analysis at SCOTUSBlog, here.

It isn't a 2A case, but one of statutory construction. The majority holds that a bump stock equipped rifle neither fires more than one shot per trigger function, nor does so "automatically," both of which are required for a firearm to be a machine-gun under the NFA. Alito concurs to stress that Congress can fix the statute if it likes.

Antigun group has negligent discharge during gun "buy back." I guess neither they, nor police, nor the company scrapping the guns, knew how to check whether a muzzleloader is loaded. If the company doing the scrapping begins it by cutting down the barrel, I hope they check out the National Firearms Act, as well.

From PJ Media:

"Just a couple hours after his son Hunter was found guilty on three federal gun charges, Joe Biden is set to speak at Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund's "Gun Sense University" conference."

Strange that they don't mention this presidential visit and address on their Facebook page.

NRA v. Vullo, handed down this morning. 9-0, no less!

Not that the good guys are entirely out of the woods -- the Second Circuit had ruled that the suit must be dismissed because (1) there was no First Amendment violation and (2) even if there was the defendant was protected by qualified immunity. The Supreme Court only granted cert. as to (1), and will now remand to the 2nd Circuit, which is free to say, "aha, we rule in NY's favor anyway, on argument (2)!" See slip op. at 7-8, n. 3.

His statement right here. Well done. This sounds like an arrest that could have been handled with a phone call--we have a warrant, have your attorney call us to arrange a good time to surrender--or at most a squad car to the house or workplace. The alleged offense wasn't violent, the defendant was a guy with a clean record. Why raid in the night, cut power to the house, and risk a homeowner assuming it was a home invasion?

Haven't been blogging much, been sick and busy....

From a few years back, Dave Kopek explains the significance of the day to gun collectors.

News here.

Tomorrow, Saturday, at 11 AM Arizona (Mountain Standard, same as Pacific Daylight) time there will be a memorial service for Jay Knox, widow of Neal Knox, the first real head of NRA-ILA. You can view it online here.

Truth About Guns has the story.

"The arrest report lists Ceasefire/FLIP, two Chicago anti-violence programs, as his employer.

He's charged with Class X armed habitual criminal and being a felon in possession of a firearm. His previous felony convictions include being a felon in possession of a firearm in 2014 and narcotics cases in 2018, 2013, 2008, and 2007."

Lara v. Commissioner struck down the Pennsylvania ban on carrying by those age 18-21; the Court recently denied a motion for rehearing en banc. The dissent from the denial raises at length the question of whether a court should look primarily to the timeframe of the Second Amendment or that of the Fourteenth Amendment. Bruen dodged the issue by noting that the understanding of the right to arms, at least that relevant to the New York statute under consideration, was the same at both periods.

Virginia Citizens Defense League is reporting that Gov. Youngkin has vetoed (Oops, delete "voted") 30 anti-gun pieces of legislation! Here are his veto messages.

It's reported that he beat Carlos Hathcock's record. More.

US v. Emmanuel Ayala, Middle District of Florida. I haven't posted for a time -- I was both ill and busy -- but mean to get back to it.

Story here. Normally, an appeal is heard by a three-judge panel; from that the loser can appeal to the entire court, en banc. En banc hearings are restricted by rule (requiring a split between panels or other special grounds).

In this case, a panel had struck down Maryland's permit requirements, and the court voted to take that en banc. While it was at it, it voted to take two more appeals en banc, even though the panels hadn't yet ruled. I've never seen that done before.

Here. It's the memoirs of George P. Lebrun, New York City coroner at the time. He says that he wrote it and convinced "Big Tim" Sullivan to push it.

She's running to replace George Santos. "Lefties are practically wetting themselves because Pilip is an Orthodox Jewish Woman of Color Onetime Synagogue Vice President Former Machine-Gun Toting Paratrooper Mom of Seven."