Arms and the Law

He worked for a security contractor hired by the government to transport illegal aliens, and in the course of that passed two "detailed" security background checks.

Security guards at California nuclear power plants will finally be allowed to carry those nasty "assault rifles."

"Federal regulators said the Edison exemption became necessary after state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris was not willing to extend a state exemption granted by a previous attorney general in 2004.

"The lack of a written exemption from the current California Attorney General prevents the licensee's security personnel from having access to firearms and devices needed to implement the licensee's protective strategy at SONGS, since firearms dealers are not willing to honor the 2004 exemption letter," the NRC stated.

A spokesman for Harris, who is considered the front-runner for an open seat in the U.S. Senate, did not immediately respond to questions about why the Attorney General's Office was unwilling to extend the 2004 exemption."

Hat tip to Sally Sixgun....

1. He was a licensed security guard, working for a firm that provides security for nuclear facilities. So he passed (we may hope) some very tight background checks, and had a status that would have exempted him from most gun laws. (Even in DC, licensed security guards can carry. The peasants are to be trusted when they protect the nobleman's property).

2. He attacked (as seems to always be the case) in a gun-free zone. Must not have read the law. And this being Florida, home of "shall issue" concealed carry permits, gun free zones are about the only place where mass murder is feasible.

The question appears to be -- just which (and how many) gun laws did she break in making it?

18 U.S.C. §922(a)(3) makes it a Federal felony for anyone but a licensed dealer to "transport into or receive in the State where he resides" a firearm. Now, this is not violated when the transfer occurs; it is only violated when the recipient brings the firearms into their home State. So the film's producer has taken to claiming that they turned the firearms over to police and did not bring them back to Colorado. But--

18 U.S.C. §922(a)(5)makes it a felony for anyone but a licensed dealer to "transfer, sell, trade, give, transport any firearm to any person ... who the transferor knows or has reasonable cause to believe does not reside in ... the State in which the transferor resides." So a Coloradan couldn't generally convey a firearm to an Arizonan without violating this provision.

The Gun Control Act does have an exemption for law enforcement, but it doesn't seem applicable. It says that, with some exceptions the Gun Control Act does not apply to the "transportation, shipment, receipt, possession, or importation" of guns sold or shipped to a State. 18 USC §925(a)(1). This seems to insulate the State but not the seller (receipt is excepted, but not transfer).

I just received an email purporting to be from the Trump campaign and seeking donations. It was very well done, but (1) I'd never click on a link coming from a stranger and (2) it had my correct email address, but a wrong name.

I checked and found the correct web address for Trump donations is www.secure.donaldjtrump.com. The email link directed me to www.secure.trump2016.com.

The email claims to be from firedupconservative.com, which appears to be a registered url, created four months ago, that has no webpage.

It appears John Slaughter has been reincarnated... in the Philippines.

Now her director is on tape confessing to four felony violations of the Gun Control Act.

As Glenn Reynolds remarks....

Washington-area TSA airport screener turns out to be an accused war criminal. ""He oversaw some of the most incredible violence that you can imagine," Kathy Roberts, an attorney for the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), which is leading the civil lawsuit, told CNN. "He tortured people personally; he oversaw torture.""

Ammo.com makes a compelling case for B. H. Obama's right to claim that title. Since his inauguration, annual gun production has nearly doubled, Ruger's stock prices have gone up 1,019%, gun industry employment has gone from 166,000 to 288,000, and 5.2% of the adult population now hold concealed carry permits.

Bearing Arms has the story.

Katie Couric, et al., and "Under the Gun" get caught doctoring footage to make pro-gun speakers look dumb. She asks a question of a group of Virginia Citizens Defense League members, and in the film as edited they stare in dumfounded silence for eight seconds, unable to answer. But VCDL made audio footage of the interview, and in it the members promptly give several answers. She appears to have spliced footage of her asking the question to footage of the group sitting in polite silence when no question was pending.

More here.

It's Doe v. Franklin County, handled by Joshua Prince. The court held that any official who discloses, other than to law enforcement, information from a license to carry application is subject to a civil penalty and not shielded by official immunity. I'd suggest anyone whose information might have been disclosed contact Prince immediately.

Right here. As he says, "Don't write my obituary just yet, but these words needed saying."

Does the Second Amendment cover encryption? It covers "arms," after all, and when the private encryption tool PGP made its way outside the US, the government investigated the creator on charges of exporting munitions without a license.

It's rare that I can say that, especially on 2A matters, but Teixeira v. Alameda County meets that description. Basically, the county adopted and interpreted a zoning ordinance so that it in effect prohibited all new gun stores, and the 9th Circuit struck that down. Among other things, it recognized that a gun dealer may assert the rights of his future customers, that the Heller "categorical exclusions" (felons, commercial regulations, etc.) are to be read narrowly -- "it's sorta like that" is not good enough -- and suggests that language about a class of laws being "longstanding" and thus presumptively allowed requires a more specific showing that the type of regulation at issue is of a longstanding class.

The victorious attorney was Don Kilmer, of California.

Joyce Malcolm has thoughts on the subject.

David Codrea has it, and is seeking contributions toward its cost. Its back side sums things up well.

Before authorizing the gassing at Waco, Janet Reno received a briefing, and she or someone else requested that military advisors be present. The advisors chosen were reluctant to advise a law enforcement operation, but had little choice.
Here's the memo they made of the meeting. The civilian experts were quite unconcerned about the effects of the gas; the military advisors were far more concerned. Reno then asked "why now," and the FBI grossly misled her. Koresh had in fact said he would be coming out as soon as he finished writing the "little book" (too complex to explain here). The FLIR infrared had shown the Davidians were about out of water anyway (it was stored in big plastic tanks outside the building). As far as HRT suffering from lack of training, the military advisors had the simple answer: just pull them back for training. (FBI also had many of its SWAT teams manning the perimeter). There's also a mention of some military equipment (name and nature redacted) that was deployed to Waco.

Here are two pictures made from the air during the fire of April 19:

In the first, you see the Davidian home almost entirely destroyed by fire. There are no firetrucks present. In the second, you see the fire engines after they were allowed in, at a time when they could do no more than cool the ashes.

The sound track of the FLIR tapes picked up radio traffic. The agent at the scene was desperately calling for fire engines, while his superior was ordering them held up several miles away. The agent at the scene got to where he was practically pleading for them, his superior radioed were the trucks for the women and children, the agent answered yes, and his superior replied "they're the only ones, I hope."

I read in the May American Rifleman that Joe White passed on--I knew him since the late 70s, and was in touch within the last few months. He passed on at age 95. He served as NRA's deputy EVP, the only deputy EVP NRA has ever had, being one of the Border Patrol retired leadership that Harlon Carter brought with him to found the NRA. (I know, it'd been around for a century before then, but the organization as it is known today was really founded in the late 1970s). He's written a number of interesting books on the NRA, on growing up impoverished in the hills, and on handling real estate. Oh, and on being in the Border Patrol. A very good man.