Judiciary

• About those Kavanaugh hearings. You won’t see this in the lamestream media.
• Oregon judge unhinged, saying concern over out Second Amendment rights is “an antisemitic and racist conspiracy theory.” Take action here.

Litigation

The Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and the District of the Virgin Islands) has agreed to hear en banc the case Range v (ATF Director) Lombardo. The case deals with non-violent felons being deemed non-citizens and being stripped of their Constitutional rights.

And a judge in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Kentucky, Central Division, (at Lexington) has held that the ban on the exercise of Second Amendment rights for a mere domestic restraining order, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Keller’s ruling in Bevis v. City of Naperville (IL) says “assault weapons” (sic) and “high capacity” (sic) magazines are not protected by the Second Amendment. She’s wrong.

Rhode Island’s unconstitutional need-based CCW permit requirement is being challenged in federal court. Under state law, municipalities and the attorney general’s office can issue concealed-carry permits, and the law dictates that a city or town “shall” issue a cncealed carry permit to a qualified applicant who is at least 21 years old, the attorney general’s office “may” issue a license or permit “upon a proper showing of need.”

In Charleroi, PA, a man and woman are facing a combined 50 felony charges after police say they were allegedly handing out guns to known gang members illegally. Still no word on felony charges for those complicit in the ATF’s illegal schemes intentionally running guns across the border to Mexican drug cartels.

Meanwhile, the ATF is also bragging about the sentencing of Isaac Hernandez for running guns into Mexico, but he was not a government agent committing felonies under the direction of the ATF. “Hundreds of firearms likely ended up in the hands of Mexican cartel members thanks to Hernandez’s firearms trafficking, only worsening the ongoing gun violence terrorizing the citizens of Mexico and the United States,” U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani said in an ATF press release. Well at least he wasn’t using our tax dollars to buy the guns like y’all did, Mr. U.S. Attorney.

The charges filed against Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in connection to the fatal “Rust” movie set shooting are now limited to involuntary manslaughter without a firearm enhancement charge. The 5-year firearm enhancement was dropped because New Mexico prosecutors erroneously applied an ex post facto law. The remaining charge in the case requires proof of negligence, which is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine under New Mexico law.

Legislation

Congressional Democrats have introduced a bill to ban online or mail order ammo sales nationwide. Vendors would also have to report to the feds any ammo sale totaling 1,000 rounds or more. Should such a bill pass (which I doubt), I would predict an immediate manufacturer repackaging of bulk ammo into 900 or 999 packs, and then the very public gnashing of teeth from the Left about the “999 loophole.” And of course, direct mail-order or online gun sales have been outlawed for 55 years, but gun sales are recently at record highs. Ammo would do the same.

ATF nonsense

• Dealers, pay attention.

Stats & Studies

• Harvard Study: “Where firearms are most dense violent crime rates are lowest, and where guns are least dense violent crime rates are highest.”
• A blind pig: Newsweek fact-checks mass shooting claim.
• Contagious massacres
• From NRA’s “America’s First Freedom” and the Crime Prevention Research Center:
  • Over 92% of violent crimes in America do not involve firearms.
  • From 1998 to 2017, the U.S. had less than 1.13% of the world’s share of mass public shooters and 1.77% of its mass public murders.

Enemies

• Sixteen state attorneys general, including Mississippi, have called out Shotgun Joe Biden for his gun ban blathering (pdf link).
• The Brady Bunch is teaching lawyers how to sue gun companies.
• But they’re not that good at it. The parents of an Aurora, Colorado, theater shooting victim said they felt revictimized after being misled about the consequences of a 2014 lawsuit they filed with the help of the Brady Bunch. The couple said they were forced to file bankruptcy after being left on the hook for the legal fees associated with the meritless case backed by Brady United Against Gun Violence. They claimed the group did not fully communicate the risk that they would be forced to pay for the defendants’ lawyers if they lost the longshot case, which they did.

Watching

Discover Financial Services says it will allow its network to track purchases at gun retailers beginning in April. My understanding is that this would not identify gun or ammo purchases, but simply that purchases of some sort were made at merchants assigned a code identifying them, presumably primarily, as gun or ammo dealers. Merchant codes are in common use across the credit card industry for all types of sellers. The new code is “5723 – Gun and ammunition shops.” So probably if you buy a gun or ammo at Walmart, it’s coded as a department store or some such, and if you buy a candy bar at Joe’s Sporting Goods, it’s coded as a gun dealer. We can find something else to worry about.

If you take legally owned guns away from a person who is accurately “red flagged” as being mentally suspect or potentially threatening or violent, does that mean that person – who likely doesn’t tend to obey laws anyway – is not able to get another gun or weapon and hurt or kill people? If the answer is yes, well, you’re wrong. If the answer is no, then what’s the point of confiscating guns from everyone who is flagged?

Another Clinton/Epstein “suicide.”

NRA

• NRA sinking
• NRA-ILA Head Jason Oimet has resigned
• Wayne LaPierre has reportedly been transferring millions of dollars from ILA to NRA to support his lavish lifestyle and legal bills. It’s rumored that LaPierre ordered ILA finances merged with those of NRA, but ILA had kept its accounts separate from NRA from its creation in 1977, because the bylaws say it must be supported only by donations, not by member dues and other NRA revenue. Wayne’s attempted raid on ILA funds is also the reason that Oimet’s predecessor Chris Cox left or was fired in 2019 by Wayne, because Cox wouldn’t break the rules.

Department of Idiocy

• No comment needed.
• It’s illegal to ship pepper spray to New York, but it’s not illegal to own it or use it in certain cases of self-defense there. I’m also guessing that the ban runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution’s Interstate Commerce clause.

DGUs

• Police in El Paso, Texas say that a “licensed-to-carry” bystander shot the alleged gunman who is accused of killing one person and injuring another three last week at Cielo Vista Mall. The mall is next to the Walmart where a gunman killed 23 people and injured 22 in 2019. We note that the mall has a “no weapons” policy.
• Homeowner shoots, kills 19-year-old burglar who broke into house, coroner says.
• The Armed Citizen – February 17, 2023
• The Armed Citizen – February 20, 2023

Rockin’ the River in South Mississippi

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2023/02/22/potd-full-auto-on-pearl-river/

Tactics & gear

• Finding the dot.
• Cheap thermal sights.
• Modernizing your tactical AK:
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
• CCW insurance.
• About all those .38s.
• Lessons from Shotgun Instructor School. Note the item about the Federal X2 buckshot, which I have repeatedly warned against.

Obit

• World’s oldest LEO. 76 years of service.

Products

• .17 HMR. Still the one.
• FN America has four new limited-time promotional pistol bundles for the FN 509 and FNX-45 Tactical that include upgrades like the FN 509 flat-faced trigger and fiber optic front sight. Each pistol includes five magazines packaged inside a premium FN zippered range bag at no added cost. Those magazines go for around $50 each.
• Volquartsen Firearms has announced their VT2 Takedown rifle is now available in 22 LR. Utilizing a unique button and lever combination, the VT2 requires no tools, no twisting, and no tightening.
• The new Burris SpeedBead™ Vent Rib Mount is designed for use with any red dot optic that uses a Docter mounting pattern and is a simple DIY installation that requires no drilling or tapping. $60.
• Do you have a bunch of Ruger 10/22 magazines? MTM has you covered (rotary mag case & extended mag can).
• Check out the CZ 600 Trail tactical bolt action. Also be aware of the CZ 600 recall.
• Got a Dirty Harry complex? Try the Korth Callahan revolver. Only $9k.

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