Category: Gun Rights

Reid is considering the “nuclear option” to ending the filibuster. At this point, it may only end up applying to nominees, but that’s not clear. It’s worth noting that the filibuster is the only thing keeping gun control from passing the Senate. Of course, it’s also the only thing keeping national reciprocity from passing as well. We could end up with a Manchin-Toomey like deal with national reciprocity tacked on to it. How bad do the likes of Bloomberg want Manchin-Toomey? Probably not at the cost of letting us tote firearms in Manhattan.

Communities have until Friday to get in under Illinois’ grandfathering, because all firearms ordinances get preempted. Several are going to try for bans this week. This is like the lottery, you have to play to win, except the odds of winning are much much higher when we play.

In yesterday’s news links, I linked to an article that actually linked to my Tiny-Tiny RSS instance. Ooops. I fixed the link, but the article, written by Tam, I think was good enough to link here. Just a bit of perspective.

With the threat of a temporary injunction looming, the State of Colorado decided to back off the claim that even temporary transfers of magazines constitutes a transfer, and magazines with removable baseplates will no longer be considered “readily convertible.” Apparently this agreement will have force of law. The lawsuit will still go ahead, but this is at least some progress. Hopefully not progress that will quell any flames of anger gun owners feel to the politicians who did this to them. They still need to get the boot come election time.

While on principle I have no issues with something like this, because it’s not government, it’ll likely end up being used by our opponents to punish responsible gun owners. Especially those of us who are vocal about standing up to them.

“The gun rights community has been busy making personal threats (we remain unconcerned), as well as spamming the Gun Geo Marker database with false markers,” he exclusively told FoxNews.com. “Though these fake markers are not useful for identifying dangerous guns and owners, they are certainly representative of the highly paranoid reaction we have come to expect from any attempt to improve gun safety in the United States.

I kind of like the idea of a disinformation campaign, but at the same time I’d hate to drag some random schlob into this whole thing.

Been battling on multiple fronts, but none of them are the blog, so here’s all the news that’s fit, or perhaps unfit, to link.

The 2nd Circuit has found that charging more than 300 dollars to get a license to exercise a fundamental constitutional right is just peachy.

Das Iron Glock. I guess they don’t have to be made of plastic. Looks like something someone could make in their garage.

Ruger is opening a plant in North Carolina. Well, it’s not the first time that people have been driven out of New England by religious fanatics, is it?

Meanwhile, Kahr is moving from New York to Pennsylvania. I’d have kept moving south. I’ll feel better about Pennsylvania if Corbett gets a second term, and Kane is a one termer. Until then, I think there’s a danger we’re going blue all over eventually.

Meanwhile, NSSF is filing suit in Connecticut, challenging their new gun control on the grounds that Governor Malloy abused the emergency legislation provision of state law. I’d consider this a long shot. A similar challenge against New York’s intolerable acts hasn’t fared all that well so far.

Speaking of courts not taking rights seriously, the 2nd Circuit court of appeals has found New York’s 300+ dollar permit to be just fine constitutionally. Poor people don’t need rights, or at least not rights that are disapproved of by the blue elite.

The Congressional Black caucus is urging Obama not to back off gun control.

A word of caution to mulsurp lovers out there.

.50 cannon ring.

ABA hears stand your ground testimony in Philadelphia. There’s concern about racial disparity. Everything has to be about race these days. SYG should equally protect people of all races if they are engaged in lawful self-defense. End of debate on that count.

A debate over at Volokh on whether “arms” as in those you keep and bear, means you can keep and bear more than one. Both say yes, but one disagrees it can be arrived at textually. Response to that here. And even more here.

All gun deaths are equally tragic?

The Ms. Magazine train wreck is to the continue. I love all the talk is how we’re bullies. To the gun control advocates, a bully is just someone with better arguments.

You can’t order a sense of perspective off Amazon, but you can go read this.

The Chicago PD has issued a directive to its officers not to enforce the previous laws which are now off the books:

D. Members will not enforce the following city ordinances:

8-4-010(i) – Disorderly Conduct in that a person carries in a threatening or menacing manner, without authority of law, any pistol or revolver or conceals said weapon on or about the person or vehicle.
8-20-020 – Unlawful Possession of Handguns
8-20-030 – Unlawful Possession of Long Guns
8-20-035 – Unlawful Possession of Unregisterable Firearms – relative to 8-20-170(b) and (c)
8-20-040 – Firearm Kept or Maintained in a Home
8-20-080 – Possession of Ammunition
8-20-110 – Chicago Firearm Permit (CFP) – Required
8-20-140 – Firearm Registration Certificate – Required
8-20-180 – CFP and Registration Certificate – General Provisions
8-20-185 – Additional Duties.

Hey, hey, hey, Goodbye! Eat it Rahm! Chicago is now preempted in these matters.

Mehl v. Blanas was a carry case in California brought by Attorney Gary Gorski that had the potential to upset the whole apple cart of Second Amendment litigation in the 9th circuit. Given that the Supreme Court has denied cert in the 2nd Circuit and 4th Circuit cases [UPDATE: Not for Wollard though. Williams was denied.], and the 7th Circuit case has now been remedied legislatively, the 9th circuit carry cases are more important than ever. Calguns offers a scathing review of the issues at hand with the Mehl case, and the attorney arguing it. They conclude with:

We are certainly not guaranteed a positive result in Richards and Peruta but we are very encouraged that Mehl was disposed of on grounds that do not injure those critical cases or, most importantly, the precious civil rights and millions of law-abiding people they represent. As we live to watch the Seventh Circuit force handgun carry by non-prohibited people upon Illinois and anti-gun rights municipalities like Chicago, we believe that the ultimate outcome — up to, and potentially including, a United States Supreme Court decision — will respect and protect our right to keep and bear arms for self-defense outside the thresholds of our homes as the framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights intended.

It’s certainly encouraging. They could have taken Mehl and used it as a vehicle to screw us, but they didn’t.

Earlier today, the house voted 77-31 to override, and just now the Senate voted 41-17 to override. The concealed carry bill is now the law-of-the-land in Illinois. While the bill is far from perfect, and far from what we’d like to see, it is a start. In most states where the initial bill has been a bit of a disappointment, we’ve been able to come back later and improve the situation once politicians realize the sky has not fallen. Also not out of the question is litigating on some of the aspects of this bills we’re not happy with. At this point, the 7th Circuit is probably the strongest circuit in the country when it comes to Second Amendment law.

UPDATE: Howard Nemerov has more over at PJ Media.