2ND Amendment Ruling Due in 2008

[Shapley]

Senate Rejects Concealed-Weapons Measure

It garnered 58 votes, with 39 opposed, but required 60 to pass.

[analog]

might be a blessing it failed.

Now it's still up to the individual states to decide with which other states they will choose reciprocity.

Sounds to me like it would've let federal nose under the tent.

a.

[Shapley]

Actually, it's interesting to see some of those Democrats, such as Sen. Feinstein, talking about State's rights. I didn't even know they knew the concept still existed. Apparently, they're okay when they trample individual rights (such as when they resrict the right to carry firearms), but they're non-existent when they seek to protect the people from Federal intrusion into those rights.

I understand what you are saying about the nose under the tent, but that nose has been there a long time, along with the head and neck. They used States' rights only to restrict individual ones. Once this measure is dead an buried, they'll forget all about that concept, again.

[Shapley]

Made in Montana: New Montana Law Makes Certain Guns and Ammo Exempt From Federal Regulation

Looks like a new battle over States' rights may be brewing.

[Haggis@wk]

Made in Montana: New Montana Law Makes Certain Guns and Ammo Exempt From Federal Regulation

Looks like a new battle over States' rights may be brewing.

Among the shooting community of Texas (not an insignificant group) there is great interest in the similar Texas proposal. I plan to buy several when they start cranking them out.

[Shapley]

Among the shooting community of Texas (not an insignificant group) there is great interest in the similar Texas proposal. I plan to buy several when they start cranking them out.

I would like to see more states exercise their rights in this manner. Perhaps the time is right to carry this thing to the Supreme Court and get a definitive ruling on the Commerce Clause vs. Tenth Amendment issue. Let's hope Montana sticks to their guns (literally) on this issue.

[Haggis@wk]

IA SWAT raid over a Lego gun

If you were wondering what happens to 29-year-old men who still play with Lego, take Jeremy Bell as an example.

The partner at digital marketing company Teehan+Lax was surrounded by heavily armed tactical officers, cuffed and held against the wall of his Richmond St. W. office -- until, that is, the cops found the gun he had been holding in front of the window about 90 minutes earlier was a pile of blocks.

The BrickGun Semi-Automatic gun (purchased online from BrickGun, "designers and builders of the world's most realistic custom Lego weapon models") arrived at Bell's office Wednesday.

The lifetime Lego fan finished assembling his toy -- complete with build-it-yourself magazine -- at 5:40 p.m.
It was in one piece for about 10 minutes before it fell apart, he recalled yesterday.

But the tenant in an apartment about six metres across the way didn't see that last part. And so the tenant called the cops.
At about 7 p.m., as Bell and some colleagues played a video game, the Emergency Task Force moved in.

"They were screaming in the hallway for me to come out," Bell said. "When I went out there and I saw there was an officer kind of crouched down in the stairwell, it was clear what was going on."
Despite the very real guns pointed at him, Bell said he didn't fret.

"I'm not trafficking guns or selling drugs or anything like that, so as soon as I saw that these cops were legit, I was like, all right, this has got to be about this stupid gun."

Pressed up against the wall, his hands thrown in cuffs, Bell directed the cops to the pieces of fake gun sitting in a box by the window. Moments later, he was free.
"At least you have a story to tell now," he quoted one cop as saying.

The neighbour who called the cops tweeted an apology to Bell on Twitter and posted a note in his apartment window, Bell said.

"He's like, 'Sorry, dude, it looked real,' " Bell said.

No bad blood with the cops, either.

"A guy in an office with what appeared to be a gun, I get it, I appreciate it, I certainly cannot knock the way that they handled it," Bell said. "The stupid toy was purchased certainly not expecting this kind of fallout," he said. "I'm a sucker for Lego, always have been since I was a kid."

Here is Bell's account of what happened. You get some idea of the level of response the report of a man with a gun prompted, complete with air support:

A co-worker said she saw at least 6 SWAT, 2 uniformed officers, 2 undercover and a chopper in the air. I’ve since been told that the surrounding streets were blocked off with five cop cars in total, two ambulances, and a dozen cops all taking positions of cover around the office.

Between the response and the reactions, including by Bell himself, we're left with the feeling that it's all understandable, that the citizen is the one who should be sheepish, that the neighbor who reported things was doing his civic duty, and that the police responded in a reasonable and better-safe-than sorry manner.

After all, we're talking Canada here, where seeing a citizen with a handgun--especially in Toronto--is deemed a shocking (and generally illegal) sight. Still, there are plenty of examples we could point to here in the land of the Second Amendment where our countrymen would react with equal panic, and our police with an equally forceful response.

Yet add the magical trappings of a government-issued uniform with a badge amulet, and seeing an accompanying weapon on a fellow human is accepted as the natural order of things...this despite the fact that the very document used to found our system of self government explicitly proclaims "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

We have much work to do to dispel the powerful illusion cast by state authoritarians, by citizen disarmament proponents, and by their media allies that police are the only ones who can be trusted with guns.

[Shapley]

Obama Signs Law Requiring Gun-Toting Amtrak Passengers To Be Locked In Boxes During Travel

Yes. You read that right. The law requires the passengers to be locked in boxes during their trips if they are carrying firearms legally. Democrats are blaming a 'typo' for the letter of the law, which they claim was supposed to require that the firearms be locked in a box during travel.

The law will now have be repealed and revoted, apparently. Nancy Pelosi is trying to find an end-run around that requirement so that the law can be amended without a revote.

Methinks the idiots are now running the asylum.

[Haggis@wk]

Violent Crime Continues Decline (Even While Gun Ownership Increases)
Preliminary statistics released by the FBI for the first half of 2009 show that violent crime continues a downward trend that began in 2006. The figures show crime falling in all categories--robbery, aggravated assault, motor vehicle thefts, etc.--with murders down a remarkable 10 percent from the previous year.

The FBI statistics undermine a favorite argument of anti-gun groups and some mainstream media that "more guns equal more crime," especially when you consider that the decrease in violent crime from late 2008 through the first half of 2009 occurred at the same time that firearm sales were surging.

The most popular firearms selling at that time were handguns and modern sporting rifles (AR-style rifles)--two types of firearms that anti-gunners never miss an opportunity to demonize. Law-abiding handgun owners have been filling concealed carry classes across the country, and AR-style rifles--long a favorite of target shooters--are growing in popularity among hunters as new calibers are introduced for small and big game.

People across the country continue to exercise their Second Amendment rights. Consider this story from yesterday's Boston Globe:

The number of gun permits issued in Massachusetts surged by more than 15 percent over the past two years, reversing nearly a decade of steady declines and marking a pronounced departure for a state known for its antigun sentiment

.

The rise in gun permits (and, presumably, purchases) in the Bay State is reflected by National Instant Criminal Background Check statistics showing an increase of 25 million background checks from a total of 75 million to 100 million initiated by Type 01 federally licensed firearms retailers between April 5, 2007, and April 4, 2009 . (Background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing either newly manufactured or used firearms from federally licensed retailers. The checks serve as a gauge of sales but do not reflect the actual number of firearms sold.)

Crime is down. Gun ownership--by law-abiding, responsible citizens who pass a mandatory FBI background check at retail--is up.

Don't let anyone get away with telling you that "more guns equal more crime."

[Haggis@wk]

Another reason we love our governor in Texas

“Don't attack my dog or you might get shot’

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Another reason we love our governor in Texas

Sounds like normal, proper behavior to me. Anyone else who's ever lost a pet to a predator would probably feel the same.

Glad the pup's ok.

[Haggis@wk]

Yeah, I shot a couple of coyotes when I lived in the high desert.

[analog]

that governor -
hmmm he carries a .380 pistol for snakes? He must be a crack shot; around here for snakes most folks use shot loads not hollow point.

[Haggis@wk]

that governor -
hmmm he carries a .380 pistol for snakes? He must be a crack shot; around here for snakes most folks use shot loads not hollow point.

The article says he has a laser sight but that's the beauty of Texas CHL. he could carry an Desert Eagle if he wants to, heck he can carry 5 Desert Eagles if he could carry and keep them all concealed.

I've never understood anyone shooting snake since I've never seen snake that I couldn't outrun.....well, maybe that cotton mouth I annoyed in 1971

[Shapley]

Supreme Court Strikes Down Chicago Gun Ban!

[Haggis@wk]

Supreme Court Strikes Down Chicago Gun Ban!

It's Chicago; they'll find a way around it, they only want themselves armed.

[Shapley]

May be, but the ruling has implications far beyond Chicago.

When the Supreme Court threw out the D.C. Handgun Ban, it was said that it did not have any bearing on other locales, since D.C. is unique, is not a part of any State, is federally controlled, etc., Now, that argument is lost.

Yes, Chicago has already said it will draft a new ban in the face of the defeat of this one. That's what we expect of them.

[Haggis@wk]

RANDY BARNETT:

“Today, the Privileges or Immunities Clause has risen from the grave. Only a plurality was willing to use the Due Process Clause to apply an individual right to the states. The crucial fifth vote was provided by Justice Thomas’ extensive fifty-six-page originalist opinion that rested solely on the Privileges or Immunities Clause. Neither Justice Alito for the plurality, nor Justices Stevens or Breyer in dissent, even attempted to impeach Justice Thomas’ analysis, which now stands uncontradicted in the Supreme Court Reports. Decades of academic research that has lead to a remarkable consensus among constitutional scholars that The Slaughter-House Cases was wrongly decided have now been vindicated. Only a remarkably tepid and barely defended assertion of stare decisis by Justice Alito now stands in the way of a complete restoration of the ‘lost’ Privileges or Immunities Clause at the heart of Section One of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Restoration of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the 14th Amendment seems eventual and will finally resolve the 2nd Amendment debate.

[Haggis@wk]

Violent crime continues to plummet as gun ownership skyrockets

No, that isn’t how the Federal Bureau of Investigation would characterize the results of Crime in the United States 2009.
But they did note an across the board drop in violent crime, despite the dire economic circumstances we find ourselves in.
The common assumption held by many is that crime is motivated by economic desperation. As we are in a recession and the real unemployment rate is well over 15% once you factor in the under-employed and those who have simply stopped looking, falling crime rates come as a real shock.

The first year that conceal carry was authorized in Texas violent crime against women dropped. In 2009 almost 20% of all CHLs issued went to women of all races.
People aged 55 and up are the majority of CHL holders

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Heh. Even in cases where the possibility of an armed victim doesn't deter a critter, the armed victim may fix the whole recidivism issue.