Litigation

U.S. Constitution
Article I
Section 1: Congress

“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”

I don’t see the ATF or any other administrative agency in there. Over half of the states’ attorneys general agree and are suing the ATF.

Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation jointly filed a lawsuit (pdf link) with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton challenging the Biden administration’s pistol brace ban, calling it an unconstitutional rule that violated the American Procedures Act. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition and a host of others have also filed a lawsuit challenging the ATF’s pistol brace ban in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. The case is Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Inc., v. Merrick Garland. Also supported by the NRA, other plaintiffs are: SB Tactical, B&T USA, Wounded Warrior Richard Cicero, and a coalition of 25 states led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley, also including Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, MISSISSIPPI, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. The Firearms Policy Coalition filed a similar lawsuit in Texas last month.

About the Rahimi case, which is the recent U.S. Fifth Circuit ruling against the section of federal law denying the RKBA to people subject to a restraining order for stalking or domestic violence.

Two California laws, which deal with gun owner privacy and with gun advertising, have been challenged and now appealed to the U.S. Ninth Circuit.

US District Court Judge Stephen McGlynn has issued an order requiring the State of Illinois to provide illustrative examples of each and every item banned under the expansive catch-all Illinois Firearm Ban Act. Can’t be done. The ban is too big.

Rust

Alec Baldwin’s lawyers are claiming that the manslaughter charge including a 5-year enhanced prison sentence for using a gun in the “Rust” homicide case is erroneous, because the law with the sentence enhancement was passed after Baldwin’s fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. An ex post facto law. If the defense is correct, the prosecutors really blew that one. Meanwhile, production of the movie is scheduled to resume in the spring, with a new cinematographer signing on, with Baldwin still in the original role, and with no live ammo allowed. Again. No word on the new girl’s IQ.

Enemies

• ATF’s illegal war on gun ownership
• Weaponized FBI
• More (pdf link). FBI vs. Catholics. What First Amendment?
• Secret Service cover-up of Hunter Biden’s gun felony

“There is no rationale for assault weapons (sic) and magazines that hold 50 to 70 bullets.” – Joe Biden.

So, Joe, since you’re commander-in-chief and there’s no rationale, you’re going to take machine guns away from the Secret Service and the Army, right? Or are you lying again? Has to be one or the other.

• State Rifle Association: “Let’s teach gun safety.”
  Gun “safety” groups: “No.”
• Col. Craig Tucker, USMC (Ret.), a former Commander of the Corps’ Regimental Combat Team 7 that fought in the 2004 Battle of Fallujah, filed “expert testimony” in the California case Rupp v. Bonta, for which he being compensated at $200 an hour. Perjury.
• Virulently anti-gun U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced Tuesday that she will not seek reelection in 2024, after 30 years of treachery in Congress. She then apparently immediately forgot that she said that. Feinstein turns 90 in June and is the oldest member of Congress. Good riddance.

Why is it that when the cops shoot someone, nobody ever blames their guns?

NRA

• Court deposition of NRA President Charles Cotton

Black Rifle Stats

“AR-15 murders are somewhere between ‘Death By Bucket’ and ‘Death By Lawnmower’ in the United States. They’re a little bit more common than getting struck by lightning, a little over half as common as ‘Death By Bees,’ and less than a tenth as likely as ‘Death By Falling Out Of Bed.'”

So why does the Left want to ban black rifles and not beds? Because it’s not about rifles; it’s about controlling you.

UK Stats

You know that England and Wales have essentially banned private possession of guns over there. The good news is that annual homicides by shooting in those countries are down by 12, from 40 to 28, in the last 10 years. 12 homicides. The bad news is that the number of deaths with a bladed instrument—mostly knives—in England and Wales was the highest since records began in 1946, with 282 people fatally stabbed or cut between April 2021 and March 2022.

DGUs

• The Armed Citizen – February 10, 2023
• The Armed Citizen – February 13, 2023

Safety

• Guns and MRI machines do not mix. Period. It’s not about rights, it’s about physics. I don’t think law schools require physics.
• We also have reports in other cases of pistols’ striker mechanisms being magnetized to the surrounding steel of the slide, and couldn’t move forward, and this was not discovered until the involved officers’ next live fire qualifications.

Tactics & gear

• Permitless carry vs. school zones. Don’t. You probably enter a school zone every day. Get the (enhanced) license.
• If you insist on toting a .25 ACP.
• Or a .22 rimfire.
• Guide to Concealed Carry Holsters and Accessories
• DIY Beretta M9 thin grips

Products

• A Walk In The Bullet Garden. If you haven’t read Stephen Hunter, stop what you’re doing and go get some of his books. Now.
• The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of .30 carbine, .22 pistol, M2 ball, and .22 Long Rifle surplus ammunition supply that will soon become available to CMP customers. Currently, the items are in the cataloging and assessment stage by staff members.
• Coming soon: The 400 Legend? I probably would have made it .41 or .416 caliber instead of .40.
• Fiocchi has a new Range Dynamics subsonic load in the 5.7×28 cartridge, featuring a 62 grain FMJ bullet at 1050 fps. Kind of weird for a cartridge invented for high velocity.
• Champion shooter David Tubb’s company, Superior Shooting Systems, offers their unique Absolute 2-Hole Dual-Projectile .308 rifle round which loads two specially-configured bullets in a single .308 cartridge case available in both subsonic and supersonic versions. In the subsonic versions both bullets add up to around 350 grains. The supersonic versions combine for 335 grains. Both loads are optimized for use in 1:12″ or faster twists and are designed to function reliably in direct gas impingement rifles. More accurate than you would think.
• Does anyone else have a weakness for old or cool classic shotguns? How about having one built to your specifications? The Upland Gun Company offers several SxS and O/U guns optioned however you want. The prices are very reasonable.
• Hunt Brothers Pizza. Box doubles as a target.

Mississippi Legislative Update

2023 MS Gun Bills

Summary of gun related bills filed this legislative session. NOT guaranteed complete.

Next deadline: February 28 for committees to report bills originating in other house.

http://www.legislature.ms.gov/legislation/

2/16/2023

HB 281
By: Rep. Currie
To: Jud. B
PASSED HOUSE. SENT TO SENATE JUD. B.

Provides that the beneficiary of a law enforcement officer who is killed in the line of duty may be allowed to purchase as his or her personal property one (1) sidearm which was issued to the law enforcement officer by the law enforcement agency by whom he or she was employed at the time of death.

HB 529
By: Rep. Bain
To: Jud. B
PASSED HOUSE. SENT TO SENATE JUD. B; APPROPRIATIONS.

Unrelated Highway Patrol legislation which also “brings forward” Section 45-9-101 of the Mississippi Code, without making any changes. This is a common “place holder” move so that the legislature can make changes to the referenced code at a later date in the legislative process. This code section is the one containing the CCW license provisions. Keep an eye on it.

HB 532
By: Reps. Bain, Barnett
To: Jud. B
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE PASSED COMMITTEE. DIED ON HOUSE CALENDAR.

The Mississippi School Safety Guardian Act, which allows school systems to designate certain faculty or staff as armed, and pays them extra. Requires enhanced CCW license and LEO firearms training. Comes with some liability protection for the person and creates a layer of program bureaucracy. It is perhaps worth pointing out that school staff with the enhanced CCW license are already legal to carry in schools.

HB 912
By: Reps. Anderson (122nd), Arnold, Bain, Brown (20th), Byrd, Calvert, Carpenter, Creekmore IV, Eure, Gibbs, Goodin, Hale, Hopkins, Ladner, Lancaster, Mangold, Massengill, McKnight, Miles, Newman, Rushing, Sanders, Scoggin, Shanks, Smith, Tullos, Turner, Wallace, Williamson, Zuber
To: Jud. B
PASSED HOUSE. SENT TO SENATE JUD. B.

Authorizes manufacture and possession of suppressors in Mississippi and prohibits enforcement of federal laws governing them if they are made and remain in the state.

HB 1105
By: Rep. Barnett
To: Jud. B
PASSED HOUSE. SENT TO SENATE JUD. B.

Authorizes investigators and regulatory enforcement personnel employed by the Secretary of State’s office to carry weapons.

HB 1110
By: Reps. Owen, Barnett, Bennett, Boyd (19th), Carpenter, Currie, Darnell, Felsher, Ford (73rd), Hobgood-Wilkes, Hopkins, Hulum, Lancaster, McCarty, McLean, Morgan, Newman, Pigott, Read, Scoggin, Shanks, Wallace, Williamson
To: Jud. B
PASSED HOUSE. SENT TO SENATE BUSINESS and FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

Prohibits the misuse of payment card processing systems to surveil, report, or otherwise discourage constitutionally protected firearm and ammunition purchases within the State of Mississippi. Also prohibits Mississippi governments and agencies and employees or any other person, public or private, from knowingly and willfully keep or cause to be kept any list, record, or registry of privately owned firearms or any list, record, or registry of the owners of those firearms, with an exception for criminal investigations. Punishment is limited to allowing civil suits brought by victims for damages against any financial institution or government entity that causes the person’s protected financial information to be disclosed in violation.

HC 6
By: Reps. Scoggin, Hopkins
To: Rules
STILL ALIVE

Declares Mississippi a “Second Amendment Sanctuary” state.

SB 2079
By: Sen. Hill
To: Education; Judiciary A
PASSED SENATE. SENT TO HOUSE EDUCATION.

Mississippi School Protection Act. Allows school systems to designate certain faculty or staff as armed, and pays them extra. Requires enhanced CCW license and LEO firearms training. Comes with some liability protection for the person and creates a layer of program bureaucracy. School staff with the enhanced CCW license are already legal to carry in schools.

SB 2245
By: Sen. England
To: Jud. B
PASSED FULL SENATE. SENT TO HOUSE JUD. B.

Authorizes law enforcement agencies to sell seized/forfeited weapons and use the proceeds to purchase equipment for that agency. Probably a bad idea, since it gives LEOs incentive to seize weapons, perhaps without just legal cause. Money should instead go to the STATE’s general fund.

SB 2347
By: Sens. England, Wiggins, Thompson
To: Jud. B
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE PASSED SENATE. SENT TO HOUSE JUD. B.

Allows certain kinds of private hospitals to establish their own police force, with guns, arrest powers, etc. Really bad idea.