Arms and the Law

That's the title of this hyperventilating article. It centers upon the fact that Clayton Williams Energy Inc. gave a million to NRA, and suggests that oil and gas interests are trying to influence the Association to oppose habitat and suchlike issues.

Clue: Clayton Williams Energy was founded by (you guessed it) Clayton Williams, whose hunting career is staggering even by Safari Club standards, and who presumably really likes guns.

Houston: a perp tries to snatch a woman's purse, she holds on. Perps find themselves looking down the barrel of a bystander's gun. After police arrive, the bystander buys some candy for his kids and goes home.

So much for the ammo shortage. The article seems to suggest that ammo has a shelf life. If it does, I've never found out what it was. I've shot plenty of 20 year old ammo without a misfire.

From Charles Cooke, an article in National Review Online:

"Contrary to the paranoid sneering of America's ever-impotent gun controllers, the National Rifle Association is not imbued with magical powers, nor can it avail itself of an unlimited supply of money and favors. The National Rifle Association is successful because it is popular, because its members are highly engaged, because it is defending a right that is enumerated in the nation's founding document and a tradition that is cherished by members of both major political parties, because its opponents routinely embarrass themselves with their hysteria and with their lack of rudimentary knowledge about the topic at hand, and, most of all, because it is a single-issue organization that maintains its focus."

His ultimate point is that we have to retain our focus on that single issue, and not stray into others.

I've not posted much, because I'm at the NRA annual meeting in Indianapolis. Yesterday I attended the Moms Demand Action "protest." It was actually staged about 3/4 mile away from the convention (probably because they didn't want their handful to be seen against a backdrop of tens of thousands of NRA members going into the convention hall(, When I set up a videocam, one of their members stood in front of it, blocking the view, I assume to ensure that only trusted mass media could get footage. Given how pitifully few showed up, that was understable. In the cell phone image below, the dozen or so people in white T-shirts are the protestors.

"Seventy-two killed resisting gun confiscation in Boston".

"Speaking after the clash, Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage declared that the extremist faction, which was made up of local citizens, has links to the radical right-wing tax protest movement."

Drake v. Jerejian, the challenge to New Jersey's "may issue" system for licensing to carry, was set for the conference (where votes are taken) of last Friday. Today the Court issued its orders from that conference, and said nothing about the case. It's now up for consideration on April 25.

Conferences are entirely private, so we can't know what went on. I can think of several possibilities. Most obviously, perhaps some Justices wanted longer to think it over. A good sign. Or perhaps they wanted to see what would happen in the Ninth Circuit -- will California be allowed to intervene, which might mean a petition for cert.? There really is no way to say, although either of these possibilities mean the Court is giving it serious consideration.

Story here. Under pressure from the mayor and high level administrators, police reports are changed to reclassify murders as non-criminal deaths, and aggravated assaults are understated by nearly 25%.

It's the title of this piece, by Mark Stein. NYC police open fire on an unarmed mentally ill person. They miss him but hit two bystanders. So the DA charges the person they tried to shoot with aggravated assault, on the theory that his conduct caused the officers to shoot the bystanders. As Stein concludes, "If this flies in New York, then there is no law." Which probably means it will fly.

I can't say that I'm surprised. The College of Cardinals takes forever on things like this, and they appoint a Devil's Advocate, who would surely have raised the point that a living person is ineligible for sainthood.

My article on the Dred Scott case is out at Northern Kentucky Law Review. It was a set-up, I tell you! And the greatest legal example of the law of unintended consequences. CJ Taney meant to insulate slavery in every way possible (Federal courts have no jurisdiction over allegedly free blacks, Congress cannot limit slavery in the territories, and territorial legislatures cannot, either), and instead his ruling made Lincoln president, and led directly to the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.

In the Clinton Presidential Library I found this memo, listing the administration's claimed successes in the gun control area.

On page two, under "Enforcing Zero Tolerance for Guns and Other Weapons in Schools," is a notation that Clinton signed the gun-free schools act, requring schools to expel anyone bringing a firearm to school, and issued a Presidential Directive to enforce that.

Of course, it's one of their employees, and the arrest took place in India. Still, it's amusing to see Chuck Schumer asking for a gun law violation to be excused because it was so technical.

With regard that stand-off in Nevada, it appears the FAA declared a no-fly zone around the property. A rather small one (3 miles radius, and 3000 feet and below altitude above ground). with an exemption: "ONLY RELIEF AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS UNDER DIRECTION OF BLM ARE AUTHORIZED IN THE AIRSPACE"

This is not a case of good judgment. The killer was not a model citizen. He had prior convictions for drug offenses, resisting arrest, theft, assault on an officer, and a sex crime.

You can check your serial number against their list here. The affected rifles are 700s and Model 7s made between May 2006 and now, using the XMP trigger. They've found that under some conditions it can accidentally discharge.

Let the NRA run America. Its Board of Directors has had no sex or economic scandals, works for no pay, does its job in nine days out of the year, and has numbered plenty of Medal of Honor winners among its ranks. Of course to be fair, Gun Owners of America, Second Amendment Foundation, and Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership should also get seats. And we could turn over California to CalGuns, and New York to NYSRPA for an equally beneficial effect. The shortest route to honest and efficient government! Which is of course why it will never be done.

This the NJ appeal involving gun permits issued upon a finding of "justifiable need," whatever that means. Scotusblog has pdfs of all the filings. The reply points out that now the Third Circuit, involved in this case, and the Ninth Circuit, which handed down Peruta, are in clear conflict.

The Court will vote on April 18 whether to take it.

Egad. No wonder there are ammo shortages. Federal LEOs number about 25,000, and almost every agency has them. The Corporation for National and Community Service (which I'd never heard of) has 9. HUD has 264. DHS has 686. EPA has 265.

They're set for Friday.

According to the linked article,

"BELLEVUE, WA - Funeral services for gun rights champion Otis McDonald will be held this Friday at the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Harvey, Ill., the Second Amendment Foundation has learned, with interment to follow at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood.

A pre-pass celebration of Mr. McDonald's life will be held from 10 to 11 a.m., and the service begins at 11 o'clock. Mr. McDonald passed away April 4 following a long illness, leaving behind his wife, Laura and five children. His nephew, the Rev. Dr. Fred Jones, will officiate, and host pastor is the Rev. Dr. J.C. Smith."