The US Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that illegal aliens (criminals) in the US have a Second Amendment right to bear arms, but are still barred from doing so by a separate law because the government has a strong interest in preventing people who have already broken the law by coming to the country illegally from carrying guns. (I can’t figure that out either.)

“…we see no principled way to carve out the Second Amendment and say that the unauthorized (or maybe all non-citizens) are excluded.”

But three or four other federal circuit courts of appeal have come to the opposite conclusion.

The (illegal) plaintiff plans to request an en banc hearing by the court, with an appeal to SCOTUS if necessary.

A Notice of Appeal has been filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, by plaintiff Jay Aubrey Isaac Hollis in his complaint against US Attorney General Loretta Lynch and ATF Acting Director Thomas E. Brandon. The original Hollis v. Holder/Jones lawsuit (since renamed), sought relief against the de facto ban on the private transfer or possession of a machine gun manufactured after May 19, 1986. The appeal is necessary to keep the case going forward after the court issued an August 7 opinion and order siding with the government and dismissing the case.

Meanwhile, the ATF wants to reclassify some legal machine guns as illegal.

Judge rules that SIG’s muzzle device is in a gray area of the law.

Drone indictment

This week a New Jersey grand jury handed down indictments on two felony charges, which could total over 10 years in prison, for a New Jersey man who shotgunned down a RC quadcopter near his home. The Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office says the man will face felony charges of criminal mischief in the second degree (up to 10 years) and possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose in the fourth degree (up to 18 months), following the return of the indictments. (Also see drone item under “The Only Ones.”)