2015 – Page 44 – Shall Not Be Questioned

ATF Comment on M855

RealClearPolicyÂ wrote and article about the M855 issue, and managed to get this comment from BATFE:

Green-tip rounds were classified as AP [armor piercing] in 1986 because the steel penetrator is what is considered the core. It’s the regulatory process, and everyone can argue semantics and perhaps it’s not written very well, but that is the story behind it. … Having the additional component behind the tip isn’t enough to get it out of AP classification.

Only if you unilaterally rewrite the law, which is what they did. If the law is actually followed, any rounds which contains lead, which M855 does, cannot fall under the definition of armor piercing.

(B) The term â€œarmor piercing ammunitionâ€ meansâ€”

(i) a projectile or projectile core which may be used in a handgun and which is constructed entirely (excluding the presence of traces of other substances) from one or a combination of tungsten alloys, steel, iron, brass, bronze, beryllium copper, or depleted uranium; or

(ii) a full jacketed projectile larger than .22 caliber designed and intended for use in a handgun and whose jacket has a weight of more than 25 percent of the total weight of the projectile.

So does it fall under subsection (i)? No, because it’s not made entirely from those elements. Does it fall under (ii)? No, unless you count the steel penetrator as part of the jacket, which would be twisting the definition of jacket to an extreme.

h/t to Dave Hardy.

Judge Issues Stay in Pittsburgh Case

After a Pennsylvania court refused to issue a stay in the Lancaster preemption case, in Allegheny County, a judge has issued a stay in NRA’s lawsuit there. This means that the case by NRA against Pittsburgh over that city’s illegal firearms ordinances won’t be able to proceed until the Pennsylvania courts resolve the constitutionality of Act 192.

Opponents of Act 192 argue that it violates Pennsylvania’s constitutional requirement that a bill may only be of a single subject matter. As we noted previously, enhanced preemption was attached to a bill about metal theft. Pennsylvania courts have generally been deferential to the legislature on matters of germaneness, but it’s not a slam dunk case for either side.

Regardless of the outcome, Act 192 has been a powerful message to local municipalities that the General Assembly means what it says when it comes to Pennsylvania’s 1974 preemption law. Guns rights are a matter of statewide concern, and the General Assembly is the only body that may lawfully regulate firearms in this commonwealth. For 40 years local municipalities have thumbed their noses at the law, and that’s changing one way or another.

Another Anti-Second Amendment Court Ruling.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rules that a stun gun is a “dangerous and unusual” weapons, and thus not protected by the Second Amendment, so banning them is fine. No need for a Second Amendment analysis, as there is just no right at issue here.

We acknowledge that stun guns may haveÂ value for purposes of self-defense, but because they are notÂ protected by the Second Amendment and because a rational basisÂ exists for their prohibition, the lawfulness of their possession and use is a matter for the Legislature.

How long is the Supreme Court going to let lower courts thumb their noses at them? The next level of appeal for this is the Supreme Court of the United States. Maybe it might be worth trying a non-firearm case. Also, note, the Court here only recognized there was a Second Amendment right to a gun in the home. That’s it. It’s like they never even bothered to read the rest of the decision, which recognized the right as not being one limited to the home.

What They Think of You

NRA Testimony starts at about 4:25. After that, anti-self-defense advocates start at 5:20. We’re all just a bunch of unstable people just itching to shoot people, apparently. It even includes a defense attorney arguing that it’s wrong to put the burden on the state, when it comes to self-defense.

Note that NRA was the only one to speak in favor of the law. Where were all the gun owners?

News Links for Monday 03-02-2015

March is here, but it still feels like February. I hate to drop a news link dump, but I’m feeling positively uninspired by the current news cycle. So here we go:

Alan Gura: Putting Teeth in Heller’s Promise.

Dave Kopel:”Lyman Trumbullâ€™s role as a Second Amendment champion was somewhat accidental, for he was not a â€œgun guyâ€; he didnâ€™t carry a gun for protection, even when traveling, Â and his preferred sports were sailing and croquet. The reason that he ended up doing so much for Second Amendment was that Â during public career of 1840-96 he was always an ardent champion of the working man. In congressional statutes and in court cases, he defended Second Amendment rights because those rights were necessary for the working man to resist oppression by the wealthyâ€“for the freedmen in the Reconstructed South to Â protect themselves fromÂ de factoÂ re-enslavement, and for the immigrant laborers of the industrial North to defend their rights to organize and protest.”

Yeah lady, Trayvon did bit the crap out of Zimmerman, which is why he got shot.

I guess DC decided they didn’t want the negative publicity a denial would undoubtedly cause. Being the squeaky wheel is not usually a bad strategy.

NRA is trying to whip up action in Congress to fix the issue with M855 ammunition. Looks like a modification to the language may be in process which would also restore some other ammo ATF has banned in recent years. It would also end this nonsense of “as soon as someone makes a pistol,” we get a ban.

Arizona moving on legalizing SBRs, SBSs, and suppressors. Wait, I thought they were already legal in AZ? Something tells me a reporter is confused.

Glenn Reynolds has some interesting thoughts about the Third Amendment at USA Today.

Joshua Prince is trying to get the names of people who donated to Lancaster’s defense fund. I’d bet it’s all politicians or former politicians. Price has argued in the past that it’s a conspiracy to violate state criminal law to donate.

Rand Paul tops the CPAC straw poll. I believe the future of the GOP is more libertarian than conservative, and while I think Paul will do better than many think, I think there are enough foreign policy hawks in the GOP to ensure he doesn’t win. At least not this time. I blame Putin!

Mass shooting in South Korea, where guns are banned.

Drone control will be about as successful as gun control. It’s only going to deter people who mean no harm.

PowerLine Blog discusses the M855 ban. This is really getting some serious traction. Bob Owens thinks this “may spectacularly backfire.” I agree. I think Obama might have bitten off more than he can chew with this.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you these people don’t want to take your guns. They were ready to celebrate a broad ban on ammunition, before they were corrected. BTW, I’m seeing it go around gun circles too that they are looking to ban all 5.56mm/.223 ammunition. Overall, that might end up being a good thing if it helps some people get off their butts and do something.

Campuses that allow guns: good enough for Shannon Watts’ kids.

Hey, when you demand they use strict scrutiny, it’s surprising what the courts are willing to do.

Eric Holder: It’s just too hard to prosecute people for lawful self defense.

Constitutional Carry is doing well in Kansas.

I guess publishing the information on handgun license holders isn’t a wise career move in the long term.Â I don’t feel the least bit sorry for her.

Giving ATF asset forfeiture powers. What could possibly go wrong?

Philly news station: Man shot after verbal dispute. What they didn’t note is that the man who was shot ended up that way because he was arguing usingÂ a knife. They don’t want to admit that ordinary people can defend themselves — doesn’t fit the narrative.

NRA Convention vs. CPAC

Charles C. W. Cooke of National Review did this interview with a Philadelphia radio station yesterday, and I loved a comment that he made about the size of CPAC – a general right-of-center, every issue you can imagine convention – versus the NRA annual meeting which is largely single issue.

“And this is going to sound ungrateful, but it’s small because I’m used to the NRA convention which is Madison Square Garden-sized.”

This is the argument I used for years with people in the conservative movement when pointing out that they need to look more to what the NRA has done over the years. It seemed like the gun issue was so often overlooked, yet the NRA consistently turned out more people to participate than anything that was happening in DC circles. So it’s kind of funny to hear Cooke mention the vast difference in size for an event that wants to represent an entire “side” of the political aisle and the many different issues that come along with it.

Besides, the NRA convention is more fun in my experience. I was sick of CPAC by the time I went for the fourth time. Most of my friends felt the same way when I was in DC. But I still look forward to the NRA convention. While I’ve shifted what events I tend to visit at the convention, there’s still something interesting going on each day. I like that it’s a chance to dig deep into the issue – whether it’s connecting with other people passionate about grassroots, the law, or just getting out to shoot.

Anyway, go listen to the interview since I think it’s a really good one beyond the NRA comparison. I’ll have to add Cooke’s new book, The Conservatarian Manifesto: Libertarians, Conservatives, and the Fight for the Right’s Future, to my wish list now.

Not just gun control

Remember, it’s not just guns they want to control. I find several parts of this whole fiasco disturbing. Right from the beginning of the article, DHS and FAA held a “conference was open to civilians, but explicitly closed to the press. One attendee described it as an eye-opener.” When one of those attendees (who runs a small drone shop) posted a picture and notes from the conference, DHS asked him to take it down (he complied).

Then we get to the meat of the issue – that a drone manufacturerÂ unilaterally chose to add all of DC to their drones’ internal “no-fly” map. First, of course, that their drones have a “no-fly” map in the first place, and secondly, that “DJI is preparing an update that will increase the number of airport no fly zones from 710 to 10,000, and prevent users from flying across some national borders.” This is of course, pointless, as there are other manufacturers as the spokesam for DJI points out. Wired also points out that this won’t prevent terrorism, because there will always be workarounds, legal or otherwise.

Sebastian noted a while back about the wishes of gun-control advocates to be able to erect “no-smartgun” zones at will. It looks like their counterparts in drone control will get that wish. I can only hope that DJI gets what Smith and Wesson got from firearms enthusiasts when they kow-towed to the government.

Another one bites the dust

While not herself a Mayor Against Illegal Guns, NJ State Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D) has been a consistent and loud voice against the RKBA in NJ’s legislature, and is a close political ally of MAIG member MayorÂ Colleen Mahr (D) of Fanwood, NJ. So there’s some fresh schadenfreude for me to find in the news that she’s resigning ahead of a couple of scandals involving residency and political payback, and that the state AG’s office is investigating her and her husband’s actions.

She’s run twice that I know of for the US House of Representatives, getting beaten both times; so just a reminder that NJ isn’t entirely a lost cause.

Federal District Court Upholds California’s Handgun Roster

The case is Pena v. Lindley, a Calguns Foundation case challenging the constitutionality of California’s handgun roster. A roster that was created specifically for the purpose of banning cheap handguns. Not a right for the poor, I guess. Under California law, handguns that don’t appear on the roster are illegal to sell. Manufacturers have to pay recurring fees to stay on the list. The firearms have to be micro-stamped. They have to be drop tested. Otherwise they may not be sold.

There was no intermediate scrutiny two step. The court ruled that the Second Amendment wasn’t even implicated here, and this was among the kinds of regulations that were “presumptively lawful,” per Heller. The statute survived rational basis review, which is all that the court felt was required. The court believed that as long as you could still buy some handguns, the state was perfectly justified in banning large numbers of them. The judge also wasn’t buying the equal protection arguments in the case, so police can be a special class of citizen as far as the judge is concerned.

This is unfortunately not shocking, that a federal judge would so summarily dismiss a restriction on a fundamental right. We’ve seen it time and time again. Needless to say this will be appealed. It’s worth noting the judge in this case was a Clinton appointee.

Sad Panda Alert: Gun Control Fail in Vermont

At least for now, we seem to have pushed Bloomberg back, so there are gun control supporters in Vermont and New York City now who are very sad pandas. Bloomberg doesn’t have the ballot to use in Vermont, so he had to try for a traditional attack through the legislature. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for him, in this kind of fight it’s our grassroots advantage can trump his pocketbook, because all that is required is direct action. When it comes to a fight that involves buying support from low-information voters, Bloomberg’s money is Â more useful. Nonetheless, they say they aren’t going away:

â€œWe have a very long view on this,â€ Braden said. â€œTwo years ago, there wasnâ€™t any way any gun provision would be debated. This is a long-term campaign to really change the conversation, so we can pass legislation to keep guns out of the wrong hands.â€

It looks like they might still get a felon-in-possession law in Vermont though.

He said many of his constituents who oppose expanding background checks support the mental health and felon provisions.Â As for requiring Vermonters who are conducting private gun sales to go to a gun dealer for a background check, Sears said his constituents have been more consistently opposed.

But I thought 92% of gun owners supported Bloomberg proposal?

UPDATE: Think Progress are sad pandas too, but this time because when gun control comes threatening, it strengthens the hand of gun rights groups more than it does gun control groups.