August 2008 – Page 14 – Shall Not Be Questioned

New Sheriff in Town

Orange County California has a new sheriff.Â What is one of her first acts?

“The good-cause threshold you have to meet has gone up,” Nighswonger said. “The prior sheriff had more of a right-to-carry philosophy. Some of the things that were considered good cause won’t be now.”

Orange County has now gone from, essentially, right to carry, to right denied, unless you can convince the Sheriff to allow you to exercise your right to self-defense.Â Hopefully she’ll deem you worthy.

Oh, and it looks like she has a blog.Â No comments though.

US Wins Gold in Double Trap

Walton Eller, a Texan, has won the gold medal in Men’s Double Trap in Beijing.Â Silver was Italian Police Officer Francesco D’Aniello.Â Bronze goes to China’s Hu Binyuan.Â Italians seem to be pretty dominant in the shotgun sports.Â But be all those fine expensive shotguns.

Evanston Effectively Drops Gun Ban

Evanston, IL has modified its gun ban to be in line with the Heller ruling:

The National Rifle Association sued Evanston and other Illinois communities with gun bans after the court ruled in June that a gun ban in Washington, D.C., is unconstitutional.

In response the city’s legal staff drafted a new ordinance that would let most residents keep guns in their homes, but ban possession of most guns by minors and of all guns by narcotics addicts, mental patients, the mentally retarded and persons under 21 years of age with criminal records.

That’s probably good enough to get the lawsuit dropped.Â Hat tip to Carl in Chicago.

Justice Kennedy on Heller: A Must View

Orin Kerr points out a video by Justice Kennedy that mentions the Heller decision as a great teaching decision (38 minutes in).Â Professor Kerr opines:

In particular, Justice Kennedy appears to suggest around the 40-minute mark that he will take a living constitutionalist approach to the Second Amendment that may point to more gun rights under the Second Amendment than an originalist approach would provide.

I believe I read a few weeks ago that Alan Gura was not quite so worried about Justice Kennedy as he was about others.Â This would indicate that was good judgement.Â I wouldn’t bet the farm on it, but it would seem that Justice Kennedy might not be the vote we have to be concerned might waver.

Federal Court Upholds Lautenberg

If the federal courts are going to keep casually dismissing any serious analysis that would seem to be required by Heller, my initial optimisms that this case will be anything more than a limited, obscure ruling a la Lopez, is beginning to wane.

UPDATE: On the bright side, at least they do seem to be deciding that strict liability for Felon-in-Posession might be unconstitutional.Â That’s good news.

Philadelphia Begins Enforcement Today

Philadelphia will begin enforcing its law requiring victims of theft to report their stolen firearms to police or face jail time and a hefty fine.Â This law is probably illegal under Pennsylvania’s preemption statute, but someone has to be charged before they will have standing to raise that challenge in court.

Atlanta Airport Injunction Denied

A federal judge has denied a preliminary injunction in the case of GeorgiaCarry.org and Atlanta-Hartfield International Airport.Â This doesn’t mean they lost the case, just that the judge doesn’t view that they are substantially likely to win.Â I see a few problems with this line of reasoning.

One is that the TSA doesn’t currently prohibit guns in the non-sterile area of the airports
Two, the TSA doesn’t appear to have any unilateral authority to do so.
Three, there’s no law in Georgia making carrying a firearm in an airport a crime.

So I tend to think they have a strong likelihood of winning their case, but this goes to show how hazardous it is to depend on the federal courts for enforcement of gun rights.

UPDATE: The federal judge in question is a notoriously liberal Carter appointee.Â So take that for what it’s worth.

Liquor Control Always Gets Their (Wo)man

Looks like Megan McArdle has had a run in with Pennsylvania’s puritannical Liquor Police in her past.Â The continuing existence of the LCB has always been a curiosity to me.Â I’ve never met anyone who likes the system, yet it persists. LCB has their own set of agents who are charged with enforcing Pennsylvania’s byzantine laws regulating alcoholic beverages.

Megan went to school just across the street from me, at about the same time too.Â LCB agents love staking out University City drinkeries, becuase let me tell you, there’s no problem facing the City of Philadelphia that’s more serious than 19 and 20 year olds having a beer with their friends.Â You might get mugged on the way back to your apartment, but we’ll spare no expense and trouble to make sure you don’t dare risk “uncontrollable vomiting”

On the other side of the coin, I’ve never heard of LCB agents breaking down anyone’s door and shooting their dogs.Â So maybe by modern law enforcement standards, I shouldn’t complain.

First US Medal in Shooting

Michael Bane has the coverage.Â Bitter was lamenting over the weekend why the United States doesn’t absolutely dominate at the shooting sports.Â I think part of the reason is that a lot of our really good shooters compete in other shooting disciplines, and don’t get involved with the Olympic shooting sports to the extent people do in other countries.

Think about how many good high-power shooters there are out there?Â Not an Olympic sport.Â I do Silhouette, which is also not an Olympic sport.Â IPSC?Â IDPA?Â Steel Challenge?Â Pin shooting?Â Olympic sports none.Â I think the reason Americans don’t dominate Olympic shooting is because here, there’s just so many other disciplines to choose from, many of which are a lot more interesting than standing stationary ten meters away from a paper target with a $2000 air gun.

Confederates in the Attic

Clayton Cramer reviews a book by Tony Horowitz “Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War.”Â Â Sounds like a very interesting book, and Clayton’s review is sure to generate some discussion.

From there, Horwitz explores a darker, more worrisome side of “Confederate” America–people who are still nursing grudges about the Civil War–and making excuses for the Confederacy. If I hadn’t met more than a few people like this over the years, I would find myself wondering Horwitz was exaggerating. But I’m afraid that he isn’t.

I’ve also heard a number of folks point out that the Civil War wasn’t about slavery, so it is a fairly widespread belief.Â But I think the resurgence in these types of beliefs can also be linked back to my post from last week on the lack of dignity and respect afforded southern culture by elites driving a lot of resentment.

For the record, I think slavery is America’s original sin, and the institution was a stain on all America, not just on The South.Â But we’ve put it behind us, and I think it’s time to move on.