The Firearms Blog has some coverage of the gun laws in Hungary. Looks like they mostly shoot air guns there, because that’s basically all that’s legal. There’s some kind of rubber ball gun that’s apparently relatively unrestricted that looks like it would do some damage if shot at someone. But everything looks pretty restricted otherwise. Sharp contrast from Neighboring Czech Republic, which is relatively unrestricted by European standard. Even Austria’s gun laws aren’t too bad in comparison.
Year: 2009
Separation of Powers
Orin Kerr over at the Volokh Conspiracy takes a negative view of briefs filed at the Supreme Court by legislators:
Amicus briefs written on behalf of sitting legislators strike me as inappropriate. Of course, legislators can influence the judicial process in many ways. They write the legislation that the courts interpret; they control the rules that govern judicial hearings; they can control much of the Court’s docket; and they even control how many Justices are on the Supreme Court. Further, legislators take an oath to uphold the Constitution, and they have an independent (albeit sporadically exercised) duty to ensure that legislation they enact passes constitutional muster.
From a theoretical point of view, I can understand where Professor Kerr is coming from here. But I am not a law professor. I’m a Second Amendment activist, and from my point of view, as long as the courts take an attitude of deference to the elected branches, I have no problems with the elected branches demonstrating for the Court that they have a preference for a certain outcome in a particular case or controversy, especially when such an important and key constitutional issue is at question, such as the case with McDonald. In an ideal world, the Supreme Court would decide cases based solely on what the law and constitution says, and the elected branches would stay out. But we do not live in that ideal world.
Understanding McDonald vs. Chicago
Dave Kopel has an excellent podcast that explains in some pretty good detail the issues that are at hand in McDonald vs. City of Chicago. It’s a good listen if you want to understand the case better.
More Gun Control Groups Joining with MAIG
Thirdpower notes that John Rosenthal of  Stop Handgun Violence, and founder of AHSA, has joined MAIG in supporting closing the “terror gap” which translated from anti-gun rhetoric to reality means government bureaucrat taking away constitutional rights from Americans with no due process. Thirdpower also has a graphic of the ad MAIG is running promoting the same.
Not Hiding the Agenda too Well
Joe Huffman reports that the Bradys’ allies aren’t going a great job of hiding their overall goals. This is one reason MAIG scares the crap out of me. They don’t carry any of this baggage of the Ghost of Gun Control Past. They are a post-Heller group in both their strategy and their thinking. While I think they have accepted prohibition is off the table, they are still determined to destroy the shooting culture in this country by a death of a thousand cuts. And I think they can still do it too.
Neat German .50BMG Pistol We’ll Never See Here
A German company develops a .50 BMG pistol. I can’t imagine what it’s like to shoot this thing. Granted, it’s 15 lbs, so it’s unbelievably heavy for a pistol. Still, it’s good to know the Germans have a bit of  “making it just because we can” left in their firearms industry. I doubt we will see it here because of the importation restrictions in the Gun Control Act of  1968, let alone the fact that it’s an AOW under the National Firearms Act.
Leaving No Doubt What MAIG Is
Look at this article from the Jewish Exponent:
Much of CeaseFirePA’s efforts are focused on curbing “straw sales” to felons and enacting more stringent requirements for reporting lost or stolen handguns. The campaign seeks to gather enough leaders to force the legislature to move on this issue.
As part of its push, CeaseFirePA has also partnered with mayors from upwards of 150 towns, and police chiefs and law enforcement officers from more than 100 communities across the state.
Emphasis mine. I wonder who those mayors are? Mayors like Mayor Mitchell Mogilski of Wind Gap, PA, who are standing behind MAIG’s talking points. Hopefully we’ll soon see more grass roots attention on these mayors, because they really do break the back of our legislative strategy. It’s pretty clear they are working with the gun control groups here in Pennsylvania, as we’ve extensively documented. There’s no doubt what Mayors Against Illegal Guns is at this point, we just have to make sure the mayors know who they stand with, and more importantly, who they stand against.
Late Start This Morning
Spent 12 hours in bed today. Went to the doctor yesterday because my cold symptoms worsened after a week, including fever, and worst of all my eyelids welding shut from crap oozing out at of my eyes at night.. Turns out I have a secondary bacterial infection after the cold. Started an antibiotic Z-Pack yesterday and already feel a lot better. Not real keen on starting my vacation sick, but I’m only taking the days because I’ll lose them if I don’t, so not much recourse there.
Some Idea of the MAIG Legislation
They are looking to boost funding for BATF, it looks like, and have them inspect FFLs at least once a year. There’s no way we’re going to agree to increase ATFs funding without passing ATF reform first. Let me say, these guys are very good. They know what issues to push.
New Legislation Being Introduced Tomorrow?
Fresh off landing an endorsement from an erstwhile liberal holdout and foe, Rep. Jerry Nadler, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is scheduled to appear tomorrow with another former House colleague and onetime political opponent, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy.
Gillibrand is to join the Long Island congresswoman, Mayor Bloomberg, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, the Brady Campaign and New Yorkers Against Gun Violence at John Jay College for a so-called “major announcement” (according to a press release) of a “new federal measure to combat gun violence.”
Based on this ad campaign that Bloomberg will be doing with MAIG, I would say it’s legislation designed to deny constitutional rights to Americans based on their presence on a secret government list, otherwise known as denying gun sales to people on the terrorist watch list. I would encourage everyone to make sure their MAIG mayors understand this, and definitely make sure they know it’s unacceptable.