Tag Archives: Licensing

Amicus Brief: Torcivia v. Suffolk County, NY

Via David Codrea, I saw this amicus brief for TORCIVIA v. SUFFOLK COUNTY. It’s an interesting case, for the sheer police-state thuggery involved. The brief summarizes the circumstances.

Try to keep your blood pressure under control.

The defendant police officers testified that Petitioner would “‘yell and scream,’” “‘explode,’” “‘start ranting and raving and screaming….’” Id. at 349-50. That testimony was contradicted by the fact that the Petitioner’s wife remained asleep in the house during the entire encounter with the police. Id. at 349 n.4.

At some point, the police handcuffed Petitioner, and transported him to a hospital for an emergency mental health evaluation, which demonstrated that he was neither a suicide risk nor a risk to others, and recommended he be discharged. Pet. Cert. at 10. Nevertheless, while Petitioner was at the hospital, officers learned from a computer check that Petitioner possessed a New York State pistol license. Id. at 9-10. Although both Petitioner and his wife refused multiple requests for the combination of the firearms safe to facilitate their seizure, eventually Petitioner was coerced by the threat of continued confinement until he provided the combination for his firearms safe. Id. at 11. Officers returned to Petitioner’s home and seized his firearms without a warrant. Id.

I found this part very interesting, for reasons not specific to this case; it’s more of an extension of the amicus argument.

This case represents a growing trend in the lower courts to reduce Fourth Amendment protections when firearms are involved. There is no basis for courts to create various types of firearms exceptions to the Fourth Amendment. It is well established that the exercise of one constitutional right cannot be conditioned upon the forfeiture of another constitutional right.

“It is well established that the exercise of one constitutional right cannot be conditioned upon the forfeiture of another constitutional right.”

the Second Circuit may not use Torvicia’s exercise of that constitutional right to render him vulnerable to government searches and seizures of his firearms which violate Fourth Amendment protections

You can’t violate his privacy and property rights because he chose to exercise his Second Amendment protected right.

And yet, New York already had, even before this unlawful and unconstitutional firearm confiscation.

The state violated Torcivia’s Fourth Amendment rights when they required him to register himself and his pistol before allowing him the “privilege” of exercising the right to keep and bear that pistol. How secure  are your “ persons, houses, papers, and effects” when you have to provide a list of them to the state in get permission to have them.

And this case shows exactly how dangerous forfeiting your privacy is: the state used that no longer private information to steal an innocent man’s property. Registering his exercise of the 2A did “render him vulnerable to government searches and seizures of his firearms.” Torcivia was not “secure” the instant he got a pistol license, and the state used that vulnerability against him.

Any one right does not exist in a vacuum. All constitutionally protected rights are fundamental and individual, and they interact. HELLER Established the the Second Amendment is an individual right. And from NYSRPA v. Bruen:

The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need. The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self defense is no different.

Second Amendment rights are no different than other rights… and Fourth Amendment rights are no different than the Second.

Licensing and registration force one to choose between giving up your constitutional Fourth Amendment right or surrendering your Second Amendment right. At your peril, either way.

 

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Another Licensing Proposal

Thomas Gabor, a Canadian pontificating on US policy, thinks we can solve all our firearms crime problems by registering, taxing, folding, stamping, spindling, and mutilating gun honest gun owners. Sort of.

Point of View: U.S. needs a more comprehensive licensing system to curtail mass shootings
A central theme of gun rights advocates is that gun laws are futile as “bad guys” will simply get around any background check system by buying their guns on the illicit market. However, in many recent mass shootings — Thousand Oaks, Pittsburgh, Parkland, Las Vegas, Sutherland Springs (Texas), Orlando, Charleston — the shooters obtained their weapons legally from licensed firearms dealers after passing the FBI’s background check system (NICS). They either had no criminal records or had run-ins with the law that were not recorded in the FBI’s databases.

This “criminologist” proceeds to explain that comprehensive, universal, and astonishingly arbitrary firearm owner licensing will solve everything “mass shootings”.

Note the immediate bait and switch: When rights advocates suggest criminals will just break more laws, Gabor suddenly points and exclaims, “Look! Over there! Mass shooting!” And pretends the issue was never more general.

By suddenly shifting the discussion to “recent mass shootings,” he deflects attention from the simple facts that 63% of murderers using firearms had prior felony convictions, and that over 93% of firearms used in crimes are obtained through unlawful channels bypassing background checks. By focusing on a few high profile crimes (and ignoring shootings such as Sante Fe where the firearms were obtained illegally; and mischaracterizing the Sutherland Springs and Charleston shooters who did not obtain their weapons legally), he rationalizes licensing that cannot and will not deter the overwhelming majority of gun-armed criminals already ignoring laws.

His proposed licensing system is quite general though. Besides universal background checks preemptively-prove-your-innocence prior restraint on all sales, he wants:

I recommend a comprehensive licensing system that would identify signs of troubling behavior beyond criminal records. Law enforcement would interview license applicants, consult references, and examine criminal, military, and mental health records. Spouses or ex-spouses would be notified of the application and could inform authorities of disturbing behavior.

Applicants would receive police training and testing in the proper use of force, safe handling of firearms and marksmanship. A 15-day waiting period would preclude gun purchases by those in the midst of a crisis. The license would apply for five years and a fee would support the licensing process.

We already know none of that will deter the vast majority of killers, but maybe it will work on those inclined to commit massacres.

For the record, Russia has far more draconian licensing laws than even Gabor is advocating. They don’t seem to have worked very well. I suppose Russia doesn’t count since gun controllers always leave it out of the comparisons between developed nations.

Norway seems pretty developed, and has licensing similar to Gabor’s concept.

In fact, Norway ranks higher than the US for mass shootings.

Hmm… Maybe we should check Gabor’s own Canada.

Oops. And look at those restrictions.

Gabor’s proposal fails cost (loss of constitutional guaranteed rights):benefit (fewer firearms fatalities) analysis.


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How much training? And why?

In ransacking the news for the weekly newsletter, I ran across this letter to the editor which reminded me of a typically ban bunny tactic to make firearms less accessible to honest folk.

Support smart gun laws
On the other hand, I am appalled and always have been by the fact that only one hour of practice is required to get the permit.
[…]
When one picks up a gun and consciously gets a license, it is with the intent to defend yourself, up to and including killing another human being. It is a weapon more intense than an automobile, which requires many more hours of training before someone gets behind the wheel.

When I got my driver license 40 years ago, I had to pass a ten question — as best I recall — written test and a five minute road test. There was no mandatory classroom or road training back then.

My truck has several controls. Steering wheel, shifter, clutch pedal, accelerator pedal, brake pedal, parking brake, headlight switch, hi/lo switch, wiper switch, turn signal switch, dash light dimmer switch, emergency flasher switch. I won’t bother mentioning the rest which don’t relate directly to driving the vehicle safely. But for all that, ten questions and five minutes on the road. Training wasn’t mandated by law, but I undertook that on my own so I’d know how to work all those controls properly. It seemed the sensible thing to do. After all, I’d be operating a device with the kinetic energy of a small bomb while carrying a fuel tank with the chemical energy of a large bomb. Thousands more people die by automobile than by firearm in America.

My usual carry gun has a trigger, magazine release, and a slide lock/release. Note the lack of a steering wheel, because if you can point your finger you can point a pistol.

For that, gun controllers — when they deign to allow us to be armed at all — want us to — just as examples from bills I’ve seen over the years — 1) get a license to purchase a firearm, 2) undergo forty hours of classroom training, 3) sixteen hours of range training, 4) pass a hundred question written test, 5) pass a fifty round range test, 6) get fingerprinted, 7) get photographed, 8) pass a background check, and 9) get a judge’s permission to carry. In some places, not others.

Given the requirements for operating a potential weapon of mass destruction, the requirements for carrying a defensive tool with three controls seems.. a little excessive.

Someone planning to get a gun certainly should get some education and training. I did; some through military and law enforcement sources, and quite a bit more on my own, by my choice.

While I’ve never been a certified instructor, I have informally trained quite a few people. In a couple of hours or less I can get the basic laws regarding carry defensive shooting across to most people of normal intelligence. Then spend another half hour on the “four rules”, familiarization with the new shooter’s specific weapon, sight picture, trigger control (a little dry fire included). I’ve found that when the trainee starts live fire, 50% of them put the first round in center mass. quite a few do the same with the first full magazine. I don’t recall any who missed the silhouette. (As opposed to a law enforcement officer who routinely failed her annual weapons qualification because she couldn’t paper with a shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot at twenty yards. The only time I routinely wore my ballistic vest was when I had to be on the range with her. Another officer tried to buy it from me when he heard she was coming.)

The simple fact is that that defensive handguns are designed to be operated without a huge amount of training.* Clueless “useful idiots” in the gun control camp may not realize that, but their leadership does. The mandates are only intended to restrict honest people’s right to self defense.

Train, yes. Mandated unreasonable, restrictive requirements, no.


* Design is what matters, not mechanical simplicity. A broadsword has no moving parts, the only “control” is the hilt. Yet a new would-be swordfighter might require days or weeks of training before I’d let him armor up fully and engage in a regular full speed bout. Swords are mechanically simple, yet difficult to master. This is why medieval Japan banned firearms; too many highly trained-samurai-backed tax collectors were getting killed by peasants with those newfangled guns.

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