Election

The NRA has endorsed Donald Trump for President. Mr. Trump is actually no friend of gun owners, but previously did an outstanding job with appointments to the federal judiciary, which is my only consideration when voting for President.

Legislation

• The GOP-led US House passed a bill last week to allow more law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms across state lines. The LEOSA Reform Act, if it became law, would broaden the “authority for certain law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms across state lines.” The legislation would also allow “qualified active and retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms and ammunition (including magazines) in school zones; in national parks; on state, local, or private property that is open to the public; and in certain federal facilities that are open to the public.” We note that the Second Amendment does not protect government officials’ right to bear arms, so what about the rest of us, who ARE protected by the 2A???

Litigation

• The US Supreme Court issued significant orders this week in two key Second Amendment cases: Bianchi v. Brown and Srour v. NYC.
• The US District Court for the District of Oregon is thumbing its nose at the US Supreme Court’s Bruen decision.
• Federal Judge Grants Partial Injunction Against New ATF Rule on Gun Sales
• Security guard at a high-crime Des Moines, Iowa apartment complex calls police after he sees a vehicle moving about very late at night to various places where it’s illegal to park, with a passenger swinging a gun around. Police arrive, vehicle tries to leave, police conduct a Terry stop, and they discover the gun. The man with the gun is a felon, so it’s a federal crime for him to have it. District court: Permitless carry is legal in Iowa so those circumstances didn’t provide reasonable suspicion for the stop and search; gun suppressed. Eighth Circuit: Seems plenty suspicious to us, gun unsuppressed.
• The Ninth Circuit, in U.S. v. Duarte, has joined the Third Circuit’s Range decision in holding the Gun Control Act’s ban on firearm possession by felons (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)) in violation of the Second Amendment as applied to convictions for non-violent offenses that have no Founding-era analogues. The court’s opinion is extraordinarily thorough and deserves a deeper dive. Read up.
• Baldwin prosecution update.

We’re from the government…

• From the BAT cave: Q&A on the “engaged in the business” Rule Change (also see news item above).
• More Big Brother: The Department of Homeland Security is monitoring Americans buying 3D printers and 3D printing materials that could be used for legally making firearms.
• The NSSF, together with the BATFE and the Department of Justice, announced a month-long public education campaign reminding the Jackson, Mississippi, area public about stiff penalties facing individuals convicted of unlawful firearm purchases.

• GOP lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government scrutinized how ATF agents on March 19 approached airport executive Bryan Malinowski’s home in Chenal Valley, Arkansas, and broke down his door to serve a warrant, resulting in the fatal shooting of Malinowski.

NRA

• Bob Barr Elected NRA President, Doug Hamlin Elected to Serve as NRA Executive Vice President & CEO
• Jim Wallace Elected 76th Director
• Reformers Prevail at NRA Meeting, Elect New Leadership (I don’t share the same level of optimism as expressed in this Reload article. – JP)
• Inside the Fight to Reform the NRA
• NRA: Financial Disaster Looms
• NRA Members Meeting, 2024
• Change Has Come Quickly In Fairfax

The Only Ones

• Atlanta Police Officer Koby Minor, 34, who shot and killed a Lyft driver who was driving him home was arrested and charged with murder. Minor was on unpaid leave at the time after an arrest on drug charges on Christmas Day last year.
• Auburn, WA, Police Officer Jeff Nelson is on trial for murder by use of unreasonable force in a case involving Nelson’s third killing in eight years. According to the report, Nelson allegedly essentially administered a coup de grâce to a suspect already shot and down.
• Hinds County, MS, District 2 Supervisor Anthony Smith was expelled from Monday’s meeting after the sheriff noticed Smith had a handgun concealed under his jacket. He had no CCW license but was not arrested.
• Also in Hinds County, FBI agents executed federal search warrants Wednesday at the Hinds County District Attorney’s office in the courthouse and a business owned by Hinds County DA Jody Owens, along with other locations. The affidavit in support of the search warrants has been sealed by the court and that is all we know. Owens was elected in 2019 and assumed office in 2020. He was re-elected in 2023 and began his second term in January. Before becoming DA, he served as chief policy counsel and managing attorney for the Mississippi Office of the Southern Poverty Law Center hate group.

DGUs

• Crook violates protection order, gets himself violated permanently: 38-year-old Chase Kinchen violated a protection order by forcing his way into a Vermillion, SD, home armed with a handgun and threatening the two people inside. He was shot and killed by a guest in the home, in an apparent act of self-defense.
• Crook violates restraining order, gets himself violated permanently. That’s not a repeat. It’s another event, this time in Los Angeles.
• Gulfport, MS homeowners killed two men in attempted robbery. A third robber, Lawrence Corley IV, 17, of Gautier, is charged with two counts of capital murder for the deaths of his cohorts.
• Woman hiding in bedroom with family shoots accused home invader.
• The Armed Citizen:
  • American Rifleman – May 20, 2024
  • American Rifleman – May 17, 2024

Tactics & Stuff

• Attorney selection. Ayoob. Read it.

“A guilty man’s lawyer who gives an innocent client a guilty man’s defense will likely end up with a guilty man’s verdict.”

• Warning shots. Don’t.
• AR-15 Barrel Twist Rate Explained
• Just for fun: .375 H&H Magnum vs. .416 Rigby

Industry News

• Alliant Powders Suspended Shipments Of Smokeless Powders For Reloading

Products

• The 20 Gauge Mossberg 590 – A Low Recoil Fighting Shotgun (I love 20 gauge guns, but don’t really see the point of one that weighs 7 lbs.)
• Hornady’s new Drag Variability Reduction Technology (DVRT™), is a patented bullet tip design that increases the uniformity of bullet drag from shot to shot. DVRT optimizes the bullet tip shape to provide excellent overall drag and unrivaled bullet to bullet consistency. Specifically, the meplat must be flat – not pointed – and the diameter of the flat meplat is a specific ratio to the bullet diameter. This new technology decreases the drag variation from shot to shot, resulting in less dispersion at long range. Interesting.
• Streamlight has a raft of new stuff.
• Shotgun suppressor
• DIY XS shotgun sights
• Colt Kodiak .44 Mag. Revolver
• Colt Viper .357 Mag. Revolver
• Colt Grizzly .357 Mag. Revolver
• Taylor’s & Co. has a new old-timey lever action rifle called the TC73 and it is chambered in 9mmP.
• Kahr is reportedly marketing a .50 BMG rifle.
• Springfield Armory has announced a limited edition semi-auto recreation of the legendary M14 rifle in .308 Win., with accessories. $2500.
• A company named Nitecore has some impressive looking flashlights with which I am unfamiliar. Check ’em out.
• Optic Gard for your holographic red dot sights.
• High End Defense has a new magnetic mount red dot sight for some pistols.
• The Olight flashlight company has entered the optics field with a mini red or green dot called the Osight. Uniquely, it has a cover unit that attaches to the sight magnetically and has a USB-C port. Placing the cover on the sight recharges the sight. That’s the same way they do their rechargeable lights, and those are very convenient and work very well. In this case, the hood has its own battery and has enough juice to charge the Osight three times, and the Osight has a battery charge meter built in. $200-230.