2A News: December 9, 2016 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
Litigation
MS State Supreme Court (MSSC) Chief Justice William Waller has issued an order to judges in the 14th Chancery District to answer Rick Ward’s complaint filed with the MSSC after Lowndes County Chancery Court Senior Judge Dorothy Winston Colom issued an order (co-signed by the other two other judges in the 14th district, Kenneth M. Burns and H.J. Davidson, Jr.) in November, 2011, banning all firearms from the courtroom, courthouse, courthouse grounds and even 500 feet from the door of the courthouse, contrary to state law. The order applies to all courthouses within the 14th Judicial District which includes Chickasaw, Clay, Lowndes, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster Counties.
In May, 2016, Ward filed a Motion to Revise or Dismiss the chancery court’s order, but the court failed to respond to the motion. So Ward’s attorney contacted the court clerk and asked for a hearing. The court administrator advised Ward’s attorney that the judges had discussed the matter, apparently ex parte, and saw no reason to act, but a couple of weeks later Judge Colom issued an order, without a hearing, dismissing Ward’s Motion to Revise or Rescind her order, because Ward was not a resident of Lowndes County, had no daily business there, and was represented by a Harrison County attorney. (Local attorneys throughout the state are unwilling to challenge local judges before whom they might appear in other cases, because they think, apparently rightly, that the judges will illicitly retaliate.) Judge Colom further reiterated that Ward’s rights had not been violated citing that the court has the authority to issue “administrative rules.” But this rule violates statutory law and is enforced by law enforcement officers who indicated that violations would result in arrests.
In July, 2016, the MSSC entered Ward’s Petition for a Writ of Prohibition (Case # 2016-M-01072) to prohibit the lower courts from issuing these orders contrary to statutory law, and issued an order on December 2, 2016 to the chancery judges requiring them to answer the Petition for a Writ of Prohibition not later than January 7, 2017.
Complete copies of the complaint and the order may be viewed at: https://courts.ms.gov/appellate_courts/generaldocket.html by entering the case number or Ward’s first and last name in the General Docket area.
Attaboy, Rick.
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the State of New York were sued this week in US District Court for the Northern District of New York over the state’s ban on tasers and stun guns. The Firearms Policy Coalition and the Firearms Policy Foundation sued the state in conjunction with Middleburgh, NY Mayor Matthew Avitabile.
The suit is brought on Second Amendment grounds and follows the Supreme Court’s decision on a similar Massachusetts case in which they found that a stun gun is covered by the Second Amendment. This week the Court ordered Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to reexamine the state’s ban on stun guns after a woman convicted of carrying a banned stun gun claimed the statute violated her constitutional right to bear arms. The state’s highest court affirmed the conviction in 2015, ruling that the stun gun ban did not violate the Second Amendment because stun guns did not exist when the Amendment was added to the Constitution in 1789. Sort of like how typewriters and TVs didn’t exist and aren’t protected under the First Amendment, right?
But the Heller case stated that “Some have made the argument, bordering on the frivolous, that only those arms in existence in the 18th century are protected by the Second Amendment. We do not interpret constitutional rights that way,” and that the Second Amendment extends “to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding.”
The Virginia Court of Appeals has ruled that Circuit Courts cannot require a photo ID with a concealed handgun permit application. Several circuit courts across Virginia continue to impose additional requirements on CHP applications, even though Virginia law prohibits courts from requiring applicants to provide anything other than what is required by the code and on the application, according to the plaintiff’s attorney. I wonder if that attorney has a license to practice in Mississippi….?
FL CCW licenses may now be renewed online
- The Gun Writer: “Florida concealed weapon licenses can now be renewed online“
And they have nonresident licenses which are reciprocal with many states.
Enemies
An Islamist group with secret compounds and questionable ties to radical organizations is allegedly stockpiling weapons to use in anticipation of conflicts with the Trump administration.
During a press conference Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said it was natural for World War II veterans to be “embittered” about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Pearl Harbor this week, but they should get over it for the sake of America.
I say we should get over the current occupants of the White House.
Speaking of which, President-not-much-longer Obama said this week that the Constitution’s First and Second Amendments, and global warming, are to blame for terrorism.
I did not make this up.
Lipstick on a pit bull — ladies should watch
- TFB: “CCW For Women” — video
Situational awareness
- Lucky Gunner: “What is Situational Awareness?“
DGU
- Lisa’s story from The Well Armed Woman: “Be A Survivor, Not A Victim“
Not a DGU
Remember last week’s post about Missouri’s governor-elect, former SEAL Eric Greitens? It seems his wife was held up at gunpoint in St. Louis this week. Unfortunately, law enforcement caught up with the three perps before Gov. Greitens did.
The Only Ones
- FBI Special Agent Ruben Manuel Hernandez, 35, was charged with assault with intent to commit great body harm, a 10-year felony, assault with a dangerous weapon, a 4-year felony and brandishing a firearm in public, a 90-day misdemeanor, after he was arrested early Tuesday morning for firing a handgun at (and missing) a Grand Rapids, Michigan police sergeant outside a fitness club. The sergeant was responding to reports of a man brandishing a gun inside the club. Hernandez’s attorney says his client was paranoid and that alcohol may have been involved.
- An unidentified Fresno County, CA, Sheriff’s Deputy suffered a case of cop leg when his gun fired while still in his uber-cool thigh holster. Investigators said the deputy’s equipment was inspected and tested. They believe a part of a buckle got caught between the trigger and the holster, causing the gun to fire. Apparently they did not say there was any defect in the equipment, which leaves exactly one other place for the blame.
Stats
There are 315 million people in the US. Last year there were 5.8 million violent crimes here. That’s one violent crime for every 55 people, annually, or one for every 30 adults.
Bear attack tip
Forgotten weapons
You’ve probably heard of the Liberator pistol. But what about the Liberator shotgun?
Products
- Austrian firearms manufacturer Voere has developed a laser ignition system for their X3 precision rifle. The system consists of a replacement bolt, which has an integral battery-powered laser instead of the firing pin assembly. The system works with any conventional ammunition with the primer changed to a special one. Apparently it uses the same mechanical trigger, and we don’t know how that interfaces with the laser bolt. I predict very slow sales here in the USA. Remember the Remington Etronix?
