2A News: March 25, 2016 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
Be prepared
At the 2016 ILEETA (International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association) Convention, attendees were advised in several high-end professional lecture classes that there will be “exciting” events (terrorism) this summer and fall on the international scene, and that we are all thus well advised to (1) stay alert and pay attention, (2) avoid international travel, and (3) go armed. We’ve already seen a bombing in Brussels this week, since I wrote this, and a couple of bombings in Turkey over the last couple of weeks. Judging from the news media, Belgium is more important than Turkey.
Atlantic Washington editor Steve Clemons, who phoned into MSNBC from Belgium at the time, blamed the “ease of getting guns here” for the bombing. Bright, that one.
Litigation
The US Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in favor of the Second Amendment rights of individuals to carry stun guns for self-defense. In the unsigned ruling, the justices said a Massachusetts court used faulty reasoning in upholding the state’s ban on possession of stun guns, because the state’s reasoning was inconsistent (not once, not twice, but three times) with the landmark 2008 Supreme Court’s Heller case ruling that said the Constitution protects individual rights to possess guns. This case is Caetano v. Massachusetts, and the justices sent the case back to the Massachusetts court for further unspecified action.
National Public Radio called the unanimous decision a “suggestion” by the Supreme Court.
This is the calm before the storm, which will occur after Justice Scalia’s liberal replacement is seated on the Court.
In a classic case of going postal, the Supreme Court also declined to hear the appeal from the 10th Circuit of the case Bonidy v. United States Post Office. Tab Bonidy, a Colorado resident with a state concealed carry permit sued the Post Office for infringing on his Second Amendment rights by declaring it a crime for him to carry on P.O. property, including Post Office parking lots, and including having or leaving a gun in a car in the P.O. parking lot. In its decision, the 10th Circuit relied on the exceptions created by the court in Heller that give authorities leeway in banning guns from some “sensitive places” such as schools and government buildings.
I’m not sure we wanted the Court to hear the case at this time, since one of our possible (and necessary) favorable votes died with Justice Scalia (who actually supported the PO gun ban and created the “sensitive places” doctrine). We also see nothing in the Constitution allowing such administrative outlawing of enumerated civil rights on public property, and certainly there is no Constitutional authority for creating the “sensitive places” doctrine. In fact, this is a very clear violation of the Second Amendment, which is evident to anyone including liars, liberals, and postmasters.
You know, the USPS is self funded. If we don’t use it, it goes broke.
The 10th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a lower court judge to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Colorado gun control laws passed in 2013 after the “gun free” movie theater massacre in Aurora, saying the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the case.
The challenged laws ban ammunition magazines of greater than 15 round capacity and required universal background checks/registration for gun buyers.
The lawsuit brought against Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) by county sheriffs, gun shops, outfitters and shooting ranges claimed that the laws unconstitutionally restricted Coloradans’ rights to own and bear arms under the Second Amendment.
A federal judge found in favor of the governor, saying no evidence had been produced by the plaintiffs which showed that their rights to gun ownership would be infringed by the laws. One wonders if the judge possesses a dictionary and the ability to read it, or even read the laws in question.
The plaintiffs then appealed to a three-member panel of the 10th Circuit, which instead decided that the plaintiffs had no standing to bring the lawsuit because they had not demonstrated that they would be personally harmed by the laws, and ordered the lower court judge to dismiss the action for “lack of jurisdiction.” (sic) Perhaps this was done in order for the court to avoid the Second Amendment issue.
We have a report that a federal court in Phoenix has received a lawsuit from the psychopathic nutball who shot former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and 20 other people, six fatally, suing her and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, alleging Giffords caused him emotional distress and should pay him $25 million. Other reports indicate the suit has the markings of a hoax.
The Mississippi Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that an employer may be liable for a wrongful discharge of an employee for legally storing a firearm in a locked vehicle on company property in a manner that is consistent with [Mississippi Code] Section 45-9-55.
http://courts.ms.gov/Images/Opinions/CO111640.pdf
Election
Apparently veteran FBI agents have leaked the information that FBI director James Comey and his investigators are increasingly certain that Hillary violated laws in handling classified government information through her private email server, but the FBI, if it wants to bring charges, is being stonewalled by the White House.
Not that we didn’t already know that….
Prosecuting Hillary apparently would also fall into unprecedented territory for the laws currently in place, and that will be the stated reason for lack of action, but it’s unlikely that a conservative official with a different name would be offered the same protection.
Priceless:
(source)
Enemies
- Last week we reported that the Entertainment Industries Council (EIC) has been spreading its “Firearm Depiction Tip Sheet” since 2000 to Hollywood insiders to make gun ownership of any kind look like a bad idea. We now learn that since that was outed, the EIC has pulled the webpage, but likely not the attitude.
- New York City’s nutball public advocate, Letitia James, is pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate Ruger’s disclosures to investors about the risks it faces, accusing Ruger of misleading investors about who used its products and of not adequately disclosing the reputational and liability risks it faced.
“Gun manufacturers must come clean about the dangers posed by their business and the risks it represents for even their own shareholders,” Ms James said in a statement. “As public advocate, I will continue to pursue every possible avenue to hold those gun makers and sellers accountable.”
I suggest that Ruger specifically name Ms James as a threat in its next disclosure to shareholders.
- MS Veterans Board against First AND Second Amendments AND veterans
For years now I’ve been donating my gun magazines (the kind you read), via a volunteer friend, to an area veterans (the kind that fought with guns in wars to save your butt) nursing home in Collins, MS, run by the Mississippi Veterans Affairs Board. We’ve just learned that the home no longer accepts anything with guns on it or in it, for its heroic residents. Keep in mind these are nothing but paper and staples and ink, and any 8-year-old can buy them at Wal Mart. We also know that the veterans greatly prefer these magazines to Southern Living and Marie Claire.
We don’t yet know whether to apply our adjectives and invectives to minions at this particular home, the state board, or both.
The Only Ones
- Retired PA state trooper Clarence Biggs killed a rookie turnpike toll collector and a security guard (who was retired from the NYPD) in a botched holdup at a toll plaza in south central PA, and then was fatally shot by unretired troopers while trying to escape with the money.
- We have a report that the City of Chicago has paid out about $662 million due to police misconduct since 2004. That’s about $60 million a year, or about $5 million a month.
Safety
- Jamie Gilt, the Florida pro-gun activist who was accidentally shot and wounded by her 4-year-old son who found her gun while they were riding down the road, is expected to face a misdemeanor charge of allowing a minor access to a firearm.
- The Camp Eagle Christian facility in Fincastle, VA is offering a concealed carry class that will also “teach about biblical responsibility” to protect family and loved ones, taught by veteran Roanoke County Police Sergeant Mark Jervis, who is also the owner of Jervis Firearms 101 LLC.
Army Chief: Forget all the Pentagon procurement nonsense — just let us buy Glocks.
If memory serves, this is the same general who doesn’t want our troops armed…
3 Firearm Truths Everyone Should Know — Pass it on to everyone you know.
Right or Left (Wrong)? You pick.
“I simply and honestly proposed that our schools, our children, should be protected at least as much as our jewelry stores or banks or stadiums, and maybe the Oscars in Hollywood the other night. The national news media savaged me. What parent wouldn’t feel safer dropping their kids off at school with a police car parked out front?
The political and media elites set their hair on fire. Screaming and screeching, they called me just about every evil, nasty name in the book. But in state legislatures and school districts all over the country, the American people began implementing what I proposed, placing trained, armed security in their schools. They didn’t wait for the president or Congress to act. They took matters into their own hands to protect their children.
As a result, millions of our children go to school today, no longer the sitting ducks of the worst and most dangerous of all lies — gun-free zones. The news media, protected by their own armed security, will never admit it, but today, millions of children are safer for one reason: the NRA. The overwhelming majority of Americans agree with the simple truth that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The politicians and the media be damned!”
— Wayne LaPierre, March 3, 2016
Meanwhile, another new report has found that turning mass murderers into mass-media anti-heroes apparently encourages that behavior among other unstable, anti-social people.
Well, duh. This is why I don’t name these evil psychopaths here. (I mean the killers, not the media minions.)
Life advice from Farnam
“You’ve never met America. And you outta pray you never do.” — by Mr. Charlie Daniels. Only takes 1 minute.
The definition of Patriotism (h/t Jim Shepherd)
Patriotism: “Love of one’s country; the passion of which aims to serve one’s country, either in defending it from invasion, or protecting its rights and maintaining its laws and institutions in vigor and purity. Patriotism is the characteristic of a good citizen, the nobles passion that animates a man in the character of a citizen.” — Noah Webster’s 1828 definition in the American Dictionary of the English Language
Patriotism: “Love for or devotion to one’s country.” — 2004 Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary
Look where we’re headed…
The sweetest battle implement ever devised….
Products
- The NRA Basics of Pistol Shooting Course is now available online.
- Webley & Scott has reintroduced its first rifle after over 100 years, made by Howa. The new Empire rifle has a two-stage trigger, pillar-bedded Italian Walnut stock, 22″ #2 contour barrel with 1:10″ twist rifling. 7.8#. Current calibers available are .30-06, .308, .243, 7mm-08, and .270. $950.
- Burris Optics has launched a free suite of four online tools to help shooters analyze and configure their Burris riflescopes. These tools allow the user to learn any Burris reticle, build a dope card, program an Eliminator LaserScope, and order custom elevation and windage knobs.
- The Tac Shield gun belt. (also here)
- Wilson Combat is now in the 9mm AR business with its new AR9, “designed from the ground up as the new standard in pistol caliber carbine reliability.” The blowback-operated weapon is available with your choice of Glock, Beretta or S&W pistol magazine compatibility, barrel length, custom Armor Tuff colors and other accessory options, as well as pistol and SBR versions. Around $2000, plus options.
- Daniel Defense has entered the ammunition market with its First Choice™ brand. Their first load is in .300 AAC Blackout, with 5.56mm and 7.62mm to follow. The .300 load uses a 220 grain Lapua-Scenar-L OTM bullet at 1100 fps. $50 per 30 round box. Free shipping for 4 boxes or more.
- Streamlight’s 18650 Lithium Ion Battery and Charger are available to power products that accept 18650 rechargeable batteries. The charger will run on AC/DC or USB power sources and has a two-bay cradle that can charge either one Streamlight 18650 Li-Ion battery or two batteries simultaneously, charging a single battery in as little as 3.5 hours. The new Li-Ion Charger and Battery are available in a kit that includes two Streamlight 18650 batteries and either a 120V AC cord with an MSRP of $70.00, or a custom micro-USB cord, with an MSRP of $60.00. The charger also can be purchased separately, with an MSRP of $25.00. Individual 18650 batteries are available at an MSRP of $20.00 each, are rated at 3.7V, 2600mAh, and are rechargeable up to 500 times.
- H&N Sport’s new Sniper Magnum air rifle pellets are designed to be effective at long ranges (they claim to be “optimized” for 100 yards) due to their unique elongated barrel-shaped design to reduce drag and maximize weight. Available in .177, 15-grain for $10/300 and .22, 18-grain for $12/250.
- The Spartan Javelin bipod is expensive, lightweight, springless, quiet, instantly attachable with magnets, and apparently works very well.
Quote of the Week
“In a mass murder situation in progress, if you choose to peacefully resolve the situation yourself without the use of violence or calling the police, please let me know how that works out for you. The police will come and take photos of the bodies, call the Coroner and investigate the crime.” — Sheriff Brad Rodgers, Elkhart County, IN
