Category Archives: Courts

authoritarian swine, Bump-Fire, Courts, gun control, Law, SCOTUS

Hoffman Tactical Super Safety vs. The ATF

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Hoffman Tactical has an interesting new design for an AR-pattern firearm part. It’s the Super Safety Active Trigger System.

Basically, it’s a 3D-printed crossbolt safety, instead of the familiar rotating lever. I actually kinda like crossbolt safeties, and might be interested in trying this on an AR just to see if I could get used to it (after forty plus years of M-16s and AR-pattern semiautos).

But that’s not really the truly fascinating part of the Super Safety; it’s the “active trigger system” aspect.

This might sound like a digression, but it isn’t. You may recall the Rare Breed Triggers FRT-15, the forced reset trigger loathed and banned by ATF determination. Pull the trigger, fire a round, and the bolt moving forward again actively forces the trigger to reset forward. If you maintain trigger pressure after firing (rather than manually releasing the trigger), you can immediately press the trigger, firing quite rapidly. It isn’t something I need, but for expensive range fun and certain specialized field situations, it could be handy. The ATF naturally –being the unconstitutional scumbags they are — immediately “determined” that the FRT-15, and other similar devices are machineguns. And, oops, manufactured after May 1986, so no forced reset devices for you. The ATF applied the same pseudo-logic from their bump stock ban, where they redefine “single operation of the trigger” to actually mean “single manual, volitional movement of the finger.”

That wasn’t a digression because Hoffman Tactical’s Super Safety has three switch positions: safe, ready… and right in the middle… forced reset. Yep, albeit with a different mechanism, it can accomplish the same trigger reset as the FRT-15.

You might be wondering why this isn’t covered by the same FRT-15 rule that the ATF used to go after Rare Breed Triggers and Wide-Open Triggers.

There is no such rule. The ATF used a mere “determination letter.” Tim, at Hoffman Tactical noted, “The ATF has not made a proper regulatory determination in regards to forced reset triggers. If that changes, then our intentions may be altered.”

To shut down the Super Safety, the ATF — using their current process — would need to obtain a Super Safety, inspect it, and determine that it specifically is a “machinegun.” Just like they did to Rare Breed.

At which point, Hoffman Tactical need only not 3D-print a Super Safety, leaving the ATF to redefine itself as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, and Computer Code. Which hasn’t gone well for the the feds in their fight with Defense Distributed over Ghost Gunner CNC mill computer code.

Or the ATF could just keep blasting out individual determination letters, like shot from a shotgun, every time someone clever comes up with yet another forced rest system. At which time, the innovators just generate yet another forced reset system (I’m thinking a modified bolt carrier group). Lather, rinse, repeat.

Alternatively, the ATF could promulgate another rule generally declaring any forced reset device to be a machinegun, and go after the smart folks automatically. For what it’s worth, I don’t think the ATF can legally make any such regulatory determination. That would require legislative action, not fiats from bureaucrats (FRT-15, unfinished frames/receivers, pistol braces, bump stocks, open-bolt semi-autos, etc). Thus far, the ATF has been relying on Chevron deference to get away with reinterpreting laws for its own benefit.

Right now, Chevron deference is in serious trouble. And several courts are noting that Chevron deference is only supposed to apply to civil law, not criminal law with criminal penalties. If LOPER BRIGHT ENTERPRISES v. RAIMONDO tosses deference, then a large swath of ATF rules will be ripe for toppling.

Would the ATF then simply go back to individual determination letters? (At least they might be too busy with paperwork to kick in doors and stomp kittens.)The fact is that even determination letters of the sort used for forced rest, bumpstocks, and pistol braces still rely on deference to allow them to redefine words.

Deference is on thin ice. It is used by courts to “defer” to bureaucrats in cases where the law is so vague that even the court can’t decide what the devil the lawmakers were trying to do; so they leave it up to the unelected bureaucrats. That’s lazy, and that’s wrong.

If a statute really is that vague, then it is unconstitutionally vague and must be voided. If the statute is clear, then the bureaucrats have no business “interpreting” it, to expand their power.

It’s a binary solution set: Either the law means exactly what it says, no more, no less; or the law is void for vagueness.

The ATF might find it a little harder to make “determinations” that your neat gadget violates an unconstitutional and voided law.

I wish Hoffman Tactical the best in the inevitable legal conflict with the ATF goons.

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"News Media", Constitution, Courts, Israel, Jewish history, Law, mindset, Politics, Sellouts and traitors

Who’s Fault?

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Yesterday was Tisha B’Av or the ninth of the month of Av. I’ve written about the 9th of Av or Tisha B’Av a few times.  But a quick refresher from Chabad.org 18 Tisha B’Av Facts Every Jew Should Know Just a bit

  1. Tisha B’Av Is the Saddest Day of the Jewish Calendar

Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av (Jul. 26-27, 2023), is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. Referred to by the prophet as “the fifth [month] fast,”1 it is second in severity only to Yom Kippur, which is mandated in the Torah.

  1. It Commemorates Several Tragic Events

Both Holy Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this date. The First Temple was burned by the Babylonians in 423 BCE and the Second Temple fell to the Romans in 70 CE, unleashing a period of suffering from which our nation has never fully recovered.

In fact, the tragedies of the 9th of Av predate the destruction of the Temples: this was the date upon which the spies returned from the Promised Land with frightening reports and the Israelites balked at the prospect of entering the land.

In 133 CE, the Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans ended in defeat. The Jews of Betar were butchered on the 9th of Av and the Temple Mount was plowed on the same date.

Later on in our history, many more catastrophic events happened on this day, including the 1290 expulsion of England’s Jews and the 1492 banishment of all Jews from Spain.

Also events that affected the whole world, as in the start of both world wars.

But this is more about why the temples were destroyed. As Rabbi Tovia says in the following clip, some will say the Babylonians did it (The First Temple) some will say the Romans did it (The Second Temple) but no, actually it was because of the hatred we had for each other.

Baseless hatred. This is probably something that should have a bit of rumination as both Israel and America are bitterly divided right now. There are similarities. The fomenting of hatred and division is coming from the left in both countries now and it’s reaching a fever pitch.

In Israel the division is manufactured by the left and financed by NGOs, the US State Department (tax dollars that haven’t yet been laundered in Ukraine) George Soros and the like. They have admitted that, just not the amounts. The vehicle chosen for this is something called “Judicial Reform” and it is sorely needed.

Moshe Feiglin made the comment recently that “The left would be willing to burn down the country just as long it would be them standing on top of the ashes proclaiming they’re taking over the power.”

The IDF like the American military has been taken over by the left. IDF doctors are also threatening to not show up to work. The IDF including the upper echelon are apparently willing to abandon their country for their devotion to the left, a country with no borders and a religion unto itself. Before American readers feel to smug about this, may I just say Mark Miley, Lloyd Austin and Rachel Levine? Those are strong military leaders? To the left the goal is to demolish the more conservative right, not protect their country.

I listened to a podcast recently and I really wanted to have this column done before the 9th of Av, but that didn’t happen.

So in case you don’t want to listen to the whole thing, here are my points. Judicial reform; in Israel no one including the left is questioning the results of the election they lost. They don’t use voting machines or have drop boxes. It was an honest election. The left lost as most knew they would. So the left does what the left does, they hold their activist Supreme Court so they know they can still get their way. The Israeli Supreme Court is not elected, the members of the Knesset are, by the people. The Knesset make the kind of laws they said they would when they were campaigning. For example, Israel has illegal invaders as well. The illegal invaders have made South Tel Aviv very dangerous, which is bad because that’s where the Central bus terminal is, but even without that, it’s scary. So, the Knesset passed a law, if you’re an illegal invader you no longer get Israeli tax dollars to support you. Go home. They were trying to remove some of the incentives for the illegal invaders to hang around. Yea!! At one time 80% of the Knesset has talked about judicial reform, including the left. The Israeli Supreme Court said nope you can’t do that. Think of a Supreme Court made up of Sotomayors, Jackson Brown, Kagen and the like. You know, useless stupid people that lie. Their whole court is like that. So really, the average Israeli citizens have no representation. Meanwhile the MSM and the leftwing Non-Governmental Organizations who flood Israel with money and influence have convince far too many citizens that their elected officials, that they voted for, being able to pass and implement laws is a threat to democracy. So they are out in the street disrupting lives and traffic, threatening law makers and generally acting the fool. And as Dr. Mordechai notes, the protests against the law and the attempt to overthrow the elected government was in place before the election even happened. It gets really interesting at 4:24 in. Ok, the whole thing is interesting.

In America, we have a President that has clearly betrayed our country. Every decision, every statement harms average Americans and aids either a country that has given his crime family large amounts of money or the illegal invaders flooding our country, many of them young single men of military age. How long before New York looks like France burning? Where and when will the first acts of terrorism occur that the left will try to use to limit the rights of law abiding citizens occur?

I recently heard or read a statement that a certain percentage of viewers of CNN and MSNBC are unaware of any of the Biden crime family’s activities. Unaware! And having in the past had a conversation with consumers of those type of “information” outlets I can tell you pretty confidently that any attempts to offer information or an alternative viewpoint will be met with a parrot like croak of “Fox news talking point”. That’s all they can say. Unless their quoting a medical paper written in Rolling Stone magazine. I’m not even making that one up.

Wayne Allen Root makes the case that the national divorce is already happening. That productive responsible citizens are fleeing blue states with their high taxes, crime, and corruption for red states. I’m sure they are, if they are fortunate enough to have the means to flee.

But it’s more about the mindset of those that choose to live in the left’s alternative reality where Hunter Biden, who has been selling access to his father for years is just a poor boy with a “problem” and his Dad the president is just standing by his son, “A father’s love” according to the harpies on The View and the left wing propaganda outlets. Nope, a corrupt family hanging together. And no matter how much evidence is presented, they will be unaware of it.

There is a reason for the divisive hatred boiling in both countries. And it’s all stemming from the left, they foment and feed it. And the propaganda arm disseminates it. Yes, neither country really has a functional military or an actual justice system. America is functioning more as a banana republic than a serious country at this point. But I find it incredibly sad that the day after the 9th of Av both countries are so bitterly divided, and in both countries,  it comes from the same direction. Both countries were founded on G-dly principles and the left is trying to destroy that as much as anything I think, as they try to take down both countries. Moshe Feiglin is correct and this bitter division has cost dearly before. Have we learned nothing? I believe, I truly do, we need to pray for Israel to accept their sovereignty and build the Third Temple. I think that would be a good first step in beginning to right the world.

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authoritarian swine, Constitution, Courts, gun control, Law, SCOTUS

BRUEN Overturned??

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No, SCOTUS did not overturn its own BRUEN decsion; a federal district judge in New York effectively did it.

The case is Goldstein et al v. Hochul, challenging New York’s post-Bruen state law banning firearms in “sensitive places,” specifically in this case places of worship. Plaintiffs requested a temporary injunction to prevent the state and other parties enforcing that law pending the outcome of the case.

Judge Vernon S. Broderick denied the injunction. His… reasoning (for some values of that word) was…

Well, let him tell it.

The implications of firearm ownership in both the founding and reconstruction eras was thus dramatically different from those in 2023, and thus, answering the question of whether statutes and regulations from those respective time periods are “relevantly similar under the Second Amendment”, Bruen, 142 S. Ct. at 2132, is an enormously difficult task that is likely to lead to inconsistent decisions that are untethered to reality, and is considered by many to be an impractical and intellectually flawed approach.

You can follow that link and see who appointed this… person, but you can take one guess and probably nail it.

Vern, it isn’t your place to second guess the Supreme Court, ignore its rulings, and go your own way.

The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.

Vern, you’re a judge in the Southern District of New York. That makes your court“inferior” to the “supreme” Court, and you have to follow its decisions. Like it or not.

What’s next? While I wouldn’t expect it in pro-abortion New York, thus depriving Broderick of the opportunity to declare the DOBBS overturning of Roe V. Wade to be “impractical and intellectually flawed” and “untethered to reality,” will some other judge follow his lead here?

If a federal district judge can blow off the Supreme Court, can we blow off his decisions when we don’t like them?

 

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authoritarian swine, Courts, Law, Politics

Nomenklatura: Laws For Us, But Not For Them

Hunter Biden has finally been charged for that handgun he bought (and lied on the 4473) back in 2018 when he admitted to being a unlawful drug addict. But they’re essentially letting him off.

With “diversion.”

The defendant has agreed to enter a Pretrial Diversion Agreement with respect to the firearm Information.

The remaining tax charges are — conveniently — mere misdemeanors. So the Tier-1 offender escapes any felony conviction. Not so much for us Tier-2 peons, as Deja Taylor recently discovered.

Crackhunter is charged with violating 18 U.S. Code § 922(g)(3), unlawful drug user in possession of a firearm. What he mysteriously is not charged with is a 18 U.S. Code § 922(a)(6) violation: lying on the 4473.

(6)for any person in connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of any firearm or ammunition from a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector, knowingly to make any false or fictitious oral or written statement or to furnish or exhibit any false, fictitious, or misrepresented identification, intended or likely to deceive such importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of such firearm or ammunition under the provisions of this chapter;

That’s what the feds nailed Deja Taylor on, along with using unlawful drugs. Biden dodged both, for some strange reason. Must be nice to be the son of President Gropey Dementia.

18 U.S. Code § 924(a)(2), establishes penalties, and here I see a problem. (a)(2) reads:

(2)Whoever knowingly violates subsection (a)(6), (h), (i), (j), or (o) of section 922 shall be fined as provided in this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

But the crackhead is charged with violating 18 U.S. Code § 922(g)(3). The applicable penalty for that is in 18 U.S. Code § 924(a)(8).

8)Whoever knowingly violates subsection (d) or (g) of section 922 shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for not more than 15 years, or both.

So let’s summarize: If you’re not a Biden, within mere months of being caught lying on the 4473 and unlawfully possessing a firearm, you’ll be facing two years of hard time in Club Fed.

If you are a Biden, the feds will cover for you for years, and when finally cornered and forced to appear to do something, you’ll be allowed to avoid any felony conviction, much less any prison time. And they’ll “accidentally” use the wrong penalty citation to make it look like you faced less time than what federal law actually calls for.

You might want to bear that in mind if you, as a second tier citizen as opposed to Tier-1 nomenklatura, get busted for a pistol brace or bump stock; and act accordingly.

 

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authoritarian swine, Courts, Culture, gun grabbers, guns, Politics

Too Big for their Britches

A friend of mine in far away Nicaragua sent an article recently that reminded me very much of one I wrote years ago. I attempted to find the disc I have the original on to pick some sections out if it to quote. But well, once I hit some old photos and started copying and pasting and had gone through about a half dozen or more discs I decided to knock it off and just go off recall. Some of the worst I can remember. Besides which, it fits into a larger pattern I’m seeing and I don’t like it, and I don’t like where it’s headed.

So, what’s put the burr under my saddle blanket this time and has me highly annoyed?

UN-elected bureaucrats. They are often confused with bottom dwelling pond slime, so be able to tell the difference, it’s very slight sometimes.

Apparently in Virginia some bottom feeder from Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources decided they could go wherever they chose, in camo, and steal a man’s game camera and terrify his family while they played basketball by lurking in the family’s woods and behaving like a voyeur, a state funded stalker if you will. When the terrified wife ran for her husband the state funded thief took off. With their game camera. There’s more of course. Virginia wildlife officials trespassed on man’s land, stole his trail camera, lawsuit alleges

Now it doesn’t take much to set me off on the Department of Conservation, I despise them. They can and do come onto your land without a warrant, poke around wherever they choose, if you have locked gates it doesn’t matter. If you have livestock and they let it out, they are not liable. If your livestock gets out in the road and causes and accident, they aren’t liable, you are. If it was livestock you were fond of? Tough. Like I said, bottom dwelling pond scum. In the article I wrote years ago it talked about some pretty egregious things. There was a movement in my state a few years ago to rein them in. They’ve been known to seize mounted deer heads worth a lot of money and claim the owner wasn’t entitled to them. No warrant. Game meat taken out of freezers, there was a large group that had met several times to discuss what was going on with the Department of Conservation. People contacted their elected representatives, promises were made and, nothing, zip, nada. Their behavior really is criminal. For example;

Once I asked Ziehmer if he approved of the situation down in Douglas County where a dying man had willed 200 acres of land to the Department of Conservation. Just after the man died the department sent in their surveyor and attempted to rearrange the boundary so that it would take about 25 or 30 acres from three neighboring landowners without ever notifying them.

This involved cutting trees from neighbors’ land, setting a new boundary and posting signs telling the real owners of the land to stay off the land they had owned for decades. The landowners had to pay lawyers quite a lot of money and go through a long legal battle just to get back that land. In that interview I asked Ziehmer why they had done such a thing. Draper looked at him as if to say ‘‘keep quiet’’ and then he answered with something that sounded as if he had written it down and memorized it.

“The people of It Could Be Any State USA expect us to accumulate and expand land for them to hunt or hike or otherwise enjoy,” he said.

My next question was, “Do you think the people of Missouri collectively would approve of what you did there next to land a dying man gave you, a man who had long known and respected his neighbors. If all It Could Be Any State USA citizens knew all about it, would the majority be happy with what you have done?”

My latest interaction was they showed up on my land for no good reason. One of my neighbors tipped me off they saw him snooping around. I’m a vegetarian. I don’t hunt and I don’t allow it. So. I called up the local game warden and politely introduced myself “Yes this is Sheila at 1313 WhatTheHeckAreYouDoingOnMyProperty Lane. I’ve been informed you were on my property, uninvited. Why?” I managed to keep the growl out of my voice, and I’m very proud of that. Well, turns out he was looking for baiting. I’m a vegetarian and I don’t allow hunting. Why didn’t you check with me? Now I’m well aware they don’t have to. These unelected bottom feeders can go anywhere, even the country sheriff can’t really do that without a reason, I don’t believe. Well, he finally admitted he was on the wrong property….ass. Bet he votes Demoncrat.

But with the way things are going I can well see a department that already abuses their authority to do unscrupulous activity for an unscrupulous law enforcement agency. Need a little look-see and don’t have a warrant and can’t get one? Call your local game warden. Bottom feeders. Ok, ok, I’ll admit, I’m biased, but I don’t like bullies and I don’t like liars. YMMV, but you might want to look into what your Department of Conservation can get away with.

But this next too big for their britches, or their job description I think we can agree on.

It Begins: 20 Heavily Armed IRS and ATF Agents Raid Great Falls Gun Store, Seize Firearm Purchase Records

In MONTANA! For pete’s sake in MONTANA!!

“We have now confirmed that both the IRS and the ATF were at Highwood Creek Outfitters in Great Falls around 7 am this morning. Both the IRS and ATF would not say why they were there,” KMON Radio reported.

“A spokeswoman for the IRS would only say they were there on official IRS business. The ATF says it was providing assistance to the IRS. We attempted to enter the store today and were stopped by agents at the door who would only say that the gun store is closed and will reopen tomorrow,” the news outlet added.

….

Although the Montana Department of Justice claimed no involvement in the incident, an IRS spokesperson confirmed their presence at Highwood Creek Outfitters but refrained from providing further details.

….

The recent incident has attracted political attention, with Congressman Matt Rosendale expressing his concern over the IRS and ATF’s actions, interpreting them as another example of the Biden regime’s weaponization of federal agencies against hardworking Americans.

“I’m incredibly disturbed by initial reports that the IRS and ATF closed Highwood Creek Outfitters without any warning today,” said Rep Rosendale in a statement.

Well, no flies on Rep. Rosendale…what did people think the IRS would do when they got all that shiny new firepower and ammo except use it on law-abiding citizens. Dealing with criminals is dangerous! These days there is no government bureau that is not abusing it’s power and will not abuse it.

You know, we’ve sent an awful lot of taxpayer money to be laundered in Ukraine and sent back shiny and clean to the Bidden crime regime. We’ve got to cut corners somewhere. Defund the ATF, FIB, CIA and IRS. It won’t begin to cover the debt, but it’s at least making a start.

They’re too big for their britches.

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authoritarian swine, Courts, gun control, Law, Rights

Idiocy And Deprivation Of Rights In Sherbourne County, MN

A young man in Minnesota is facing a September trial for the unlawful possession of two firearms without serial numbers. The problem with the charges is that the firearms in question were home builds; private manufacture, not commercial.

 

The County Attorney and law enforcement have charged Walker with violating MN 609.667 because his privately made firearms do not have serial numbers on them – despite not being required under federal law – and, in our opinion, not needed under Minnesota statutes.

Lessee. 609.667 FIREARMS; REMOVAL OR ALTERATION OF SERIAL NUMBER. does seem to require serial numbers…

Whoever commits any of the following acts may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both:

(3) receives or possesses a firearm that is not identified by a serial number.

…but, it not quite.

As used in this section, “serial number or other identification” means the serial number and other information required under United States Code, title 26, section 5842, for the identification of firearms.

So let’s take a look at 26 U.S. Code § 5842.

Each manufacturer and importer and anyone making a firearm shall identify each firearm, other than a destructive device, manufactured, imported, or made by a serial number which may not be readily removed, obliterated, or altered, the name of the manufacturer, importer, or maker, and such other identification as the Secretary may by regulations prescribe.

If you’re an idiot Sherbourne County deputy, county attorney, or judge mostly unfamiliar with federal law, that probably seems clear. They forgot to look at the chapter definitions, described in 26 USC 5845.

(a)Firearm
The term “firearm” means (1) a shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length; (2) a weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length; (3) a rifle having a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (4) a weapon made from a rifle if such weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches or a barrel or barrels of less than 16 inches in length; (5) any other weapon, as defined in subsection (e); (6) a machinegun; (7) any silencer (as defined in section 921 of title 18, United States Code); and (8) a destructive device. The term “firearm” shall not include an antique firearm or any device (other than a machinegun or destructive device) which, although designed as a weapon, the Secretary finds by reason of the date of its manufacture, value, design, and other characteristics is primarily a collector’s item and is not likely to be used as a weapon.

That chapter is talking about commercial manufacture and NFA firearms. Unless Walker‘s firearms are short-barrel rifles, or other NFA item, federal law does not require serial numbers. The firearms in question appear to be an AR-pattern 9mm pistol and an AR-10 with a 20 inch barrel. Not NFA.

My guess is that — unless someone hits the County Attorney with a clue bat, Walker will initially be convicted, the courts being what they are these days.

He should win on eventual appeal; though Ghu only knows how high the appeals will have to go. It’s going to be expensive, so if you can, you might contribute a little something to his GiveSendGo legal fund.

And once Walker’s record is cleared, he needs to sue the ever-loving s–t out of the idiot deputies and the County Attorney. None of them can claim good faith ignorance of the law since…

Walker informed the deputy of the federal laws around PMFs and not requiring a serial number if for personal use. And since he is a lawful gun owner, no restrictions on owning them. The deputies detained Walker for several hours, and confiscated his firearms.

Yes, the 18 U.S. Code § 242 – Deprivation of rights under color of law lawsuit should be amusing. False arrest, deprivation of rights, malicious prosecution. I could probably think of a few more.

 

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authoritarian swine, Constitution, Courts, genocide, gun control, gun grabbers, Law, resistance, SCOTUS, So Much Stupid!

Ban All The Guns?

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So demands the irrational Here4TheKids.

Guns ARE the problem. Here4TheKids is a national movement with a state focus.

We demand that Colorado Governor Jared Solis sign an executive order to ban guns and buy them back.

An executive order pushes Democrats to finally TAKE REAL ACTION to put an end to this nightmare.

They plan to hold a sit-in — which somehow isn’t a “protest” — in Denver on June 5, 2023. If Solis is psychotic enough to do as they wish, their “nightmare” has just begun.

Their site doesn’t list any contact email; just a couple of form to “volunteer” or register for the sit-in. I guess they don’t want to answer any inconvenient questions. Like…

1. You may not like it, but doesn’t the Second Amendment exist?

2. Didn’t HELLER establish the the right to keep and bear arms preexisted the Second Amendment; that it only protects a right that exists anyway?

3. Didn’t MCDONALD establish that the Second Amendment is incorporated to the states, meaning Colorado and Solis have tto obey it, too?

4. Didn’t BRUEN establish that restrictions on the Second with no general, historical tradition are unconstitutional; and that it protects arms beyond those in existence at the time of ratification?

5. Does this mean that Here4TheKids is advocating for the overthrow — by fiat executive order, no less — of the Second Amendment and the Constitution that established the authority of the Supreme Court? Basically, the overthrow of our Constitutional representative republic. The overthrow of the government?

6. Doesn’t that get into treason territory?

So… another set of victim-disarming lefties who want to do away with the Constitution and courts. As I recently noted:

Baker had better hope that the Courts don’t get disavowed. The little remaining confidence in the courts is the only thing standing between himself, and his doorkickers, and six to twelve million heavily armed, non-compliant SOBs.

A final question for the lunatics at Here4TheKids: Do you really want to declare Hunting Season… on yourselves? Because once we can no longer rely on the Constitution, Courts, or basic sanity on the part of idiots like you, I’m afraid there are some who would be happy to take matters into their own hands, and rid themselves of infringers.

And their cheerleaders. Like you.

We’ll try to talk those excitable folks down, but if you actually manage to field confiscating door-kickers, it won’t be easy.

And we’ll have less incentive to try to control them.

 

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“All that nonsense about the Second Amendment”

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Lefty Russ Baker says it’s time to get rid of America’s guns. And that pesky Second Amendment isn’t a problem. If he’s trying to climb out of his recent obscurity, he didn’t think it through. His solution?

Just ignore it.

Why Nearly All of America’s 400 Million Guns Have Got To Go
Everyone already knows all the reasons “nothing will be done.” Congress, as currently constituted, will not pass meaningful legislation. We need a better Congress. Courts are more interested in protecting the dubiously cited Second Amendment than in protecting kids. We need better judges and better law.
[…]
So I would say that the rest of us need to stop mollifying them. Forget all that nonsense about the Second Amendment.

Just forget it. After all…

Obviously it won’t be easy, and a small number of Second Amendment hard-liners will resist violently

Only a few will resist. Of course, that’s “only a few” of more than one hundred million people. Based on surveys I’ve seen for the past few years, more like 120 million. Russ’ stormtroopers will be in trouble if even 5% of 120 million “resist violently.” Six millions HANSOBs would make quick work of them, despite Baker’s irrational belief otherwise.

None will actually defend us against our military or other militaries. Guns in the hands of untrained, unvetted, potentially irresponsible users do much more harm than good. Period.

Tell it to the Taliban. Or the four terrorists who tied up 90,000 police and troops for days.

Untrained? He might note the large number of gun-owning military veterans. Or the competetion in the field of firearms training classes. Or the millions of concealed carry licensees, which is several states requires training.

The boy is delusional.

But note his disdain for the courts upholding that stupid 2A. Where have we seen that before?

Occasionally-firing-Cortex, demanding that the Xiden administration just ignore court decisions that she’s dislikes.

The current “Campaign to Delegitimize the U.S. Supreme Court” with dubious ethics complaints, and again, calls to ignore rulings.

I do see that Baker does like one — former — Justice’s “opinion” on the 2A.

Even conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice Warren Burger said the argument that it referred to individual gun ownership (and not the clearly stated “well-regulated militia” being necessary to “the security of a free State”) was a misrepresentation of the Constitution, law, and history.

I love how these anti-rights types trot out that Parade magazine opinion from an elderly retiree. If Burger truly thought that the 2A was being misinterpreted…

why didn’t he use his position as Chief Justice to espouse it, instead of waiting until retirement to write an opinion column not subject to Associate Justice ridicule and judicial dissent?

I’ll see Baker’s 30-something year-old magazine opinion, and raise him four real SCOTUS decisions: HELLER, MCDONALD, CAETANO, and BRUEN. That’s on top of MILLER, CRUIKSHANK, PRESSER, and even DRED SCOTT, all prior to Burger’s little adventure in post-retirement attention-seeking.

Baker had better hope that the Courts don’t get disavowed. The little remaining confidence in the courts is the only thing standing between himself, and his doorkickers, and six to twelve million heavily armed, non-compliant SOBs.

 

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Courts, duty, Law, shooting

Yet Another Interesting Baldwin/Rust Shooting Development

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You may recall that I’ve been wondering how a live round ever made it onto the Rust set.

One thing that always bothered me was presence of live rounds on site at all. Where did they come from? Who brought them? How did at least one end up in the gun?

We may have a better idea of who that was, now. Armorer Gutierrez-Reed had tried suggesting the company that supplied blanks had mixed the live rounds in with the right stuff. The forensic examination of components strongly suggested otherwise. Then there was the report that she had retrieved the gun after the shooting, before the police arrived, and removed the spent case. That’s odd,and sounds rather like tampering with evidence.

I just ran across this tidbit, which — if true — may explain a lot.

The New York Post reports that police gathered text messages from Reed that indicated she had attempted to use live ammunition on the set of her previous film.

Did she bring them again, for the Rust filming? And was she trying to conceal evidence of what she’d done? I suppose we’ll see when her trial starts.

This may be part of the new forensic evidence that the prosecutors cited when dropping charges against Baldwin for now. I still think the actor completely failed to exercise “due caution and circumspection,” but if Gutierrez-Reed herself knowingly brought the live rounds onto the set, and loaded one into the gun, a lot more of the culpability for the resulting death and injury shifts her way. Not all, but some.

 

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Constitution, Courts, gun control, Law, SCOTUS

Hanson v. DC: “Large Capacity” Magazine Ban

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I’ve only been up for a couple of hours (as I begin typing), and the news is already full of stupidity that I’ll need to address. I’ll lead off with a case challenging Washington, DC’s “large capacity” magazine ban, Hanson v. DC. The judge, one Rudolph Contreras, denied a preliminary injunction against the ban. His… reasoning is… remarkable. Or something; I’m trying to be somewhat polite.

A weapon may have some useful purposes in both civilian and military contexts, but if it is most useful in military service, it is not protected by the Second Amendment.
[…]
[Large capacity magazines] are not covered by the [2A] because they are most useful in military service.

Oddly, Contreras cites HELLER in making that point. I can’t find that argument in HELLER, which was largely about whether non- military weapons could be regulated, and how, but there is this.

It may be objected that if weapons that are most useful in military service—M–16 rifles and the like—may be banned, then the Second Amendment right is completely detached from the prefatory clause. But as we have said, the conception of the militia at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification was the body of all citizens capable of military service, who would bring the sorts of lawful weapons that they possessed at home to militia duty. It may well be true today that a militia, to be as effective as militias in the 18th century, would require sophisticated arms that are highly unusual in society at large.

Rather the opposite of Contreras’ weasel-wording, eh? Indeed, HELLER even cites the earlier MILLER, which establishes that militarily-useful arms are protected by the Second Amendment.

In the absence of any evidence tending to show that possession or use of a ‘shotgun having a barrel of less than eighteen inches in length’ at this time has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well regulated militia, we cannot say that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to keep and bear such an instrument.

Having chucked decades of SCOTUS precedent already, Contreras proceeds to demonstrate an amazing lack of judicial awareness of current events and Supreme Court decisions. Now that he’s established in his own deluded mind that standard capacity magazines are not 2A-protected, he addresses whether this particular restriction of such magazines is permissable.

WARNING: If you’re drinking, swallow before proceeding, for the protection of your screen.

Under this “two-step approach,” a court must “ask first whether a particular provision impinges upon a right protected by the Second Amendment; if it does, then . . . go on to determine whether the provision passes muster under the appropriate level of constitutional scrutiny.

Umm… BRUEN, moron. (All right; “somewhat polite” is off the table after all.) Associate Justice Thomas spent a fair amount of ink taking lower courts to task for continuing to use the two-step approach.

The Court rejects that two-part approach as having one step too many. Step one is broad y consistent with Heller, which demands a test rooted in the Second Amendment’s text, as informed by history. But Heller and McDonald do not support a second step that applies means-end scrutiny in the Second Amendment context. Heller’s methodology centered on constitutional text and history. It did not invoke any means-end test such as strict or intermediate scrutiny, and it expressly rejected any interest-balancing inquiry akin to intermediate scrutiny.</b
[…]
To justify its regulation, the government may not simply posit that the regulation promotes an important interest.
[…]
The government must then justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.

HELLER rejected two-step government interest scrutiny.

MCDONALD rejected two-step government interest scrutiny.

BRUEN rejected two-step government interest scrutiny, and bitch-slapped lower courts for continuing to use it in direct defiance of the Supreme Court.

At this point, I wouldn’t blame Clarence Thomas if he is looking for a 2X4 and Contreras’ home address.

 

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