Arms and the Law

Sheriff David Clarke, of Milwaukee County.

That's the title of a rather interesting article by Josh Blackman and Ilya Shapiro.

Right here. Very interesting trends. In 1986, a total of three million firearms were produced. In 2013, it was well over ten million. Pistols (here used to mean semiauto handguns) totaled over four million in 2013 -- so the number of handguns made in that year was greater than total firearms production in 1986. Total gun production doubled, repeat doubled, between 2010 and 2013.

Looking at Exhibit 1a, by the early 2000s, production was about what it'd been in the late 1980s, with about the same distribution except that the proportion of revolvers had declined. The current surge in production began in about 2005-2006, and became spectacular after 2010. The only product that hasn't expanded much is shotguns. Everything else, rifles, handguns, and "misc. arms," have had their production greatly increase. Even "miscellaneous firearms" went from 4,000 to 495,000 over 1986-2013.

(2013 is the latest year reported -- reports are delayed since manufacturers want exact production figures treated as trade secrets and kept quiet for a time).

The latest exchange is detailed at Above the Law. A short summary: Georgetown issued a generic statement to the effect that it mourned Scalia's passing (he was a Georgetown undergrad). Two law profs sent out a response, which stopped only a little short of "we're glad he's dead." It called him "a defender of privilege, oppression and bigotry, one whose intellectual positions were not brilliant but simplistic and formalistic." Profs Randy Barnett and Nicolas Rosenkrantz responded, and hit hard. "[W]ere Georgetown Law a genuinely diverse intellectual institution, I doubt any faculty member could have been so callous on this occasion."

Tam asks : Are AR-15/M-4s "high-caliber, rapid-fire rifles ... essentially killing machines" as one of its articles claims, or "simply too small for modern combat," as another article claims?

Her ironic answer: "I guess the Stoner weapons system only reaches its full automated death-spraying-made-easy capability when wielded by untrained civilians. The Army should look into this."

Todd Rathner, an NRA Board member from Arizona, explains why he opposes the attempt to recall Grover Norquist from the Board.

Right here.

At Captain's Journal.

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.