Election

We note that VP Kamala Harris, boss of Joe Biden’s White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention and presumptively the Democrats’ pick for President since Joe Biden wandered off on National Ice Cream Day, is considerably worse on guns than Biden, and more importantly is not as ineffective as Biden. Of course that is true of pretty much any possible Democratic pick. This is a bad thing for us. In her first campaign address since Biden dropped out of the race, Harris emphasized her support for new unconstitutional gun restrictions against peaceable US citizens.

More on the assassination attempt

Many on the left are making much of the fast trace of the assassin’s rifle recovered at the scene.  In this case, the ATF already had the records from the closed gun store, which allowed them to identify the deceased shooter somewhat faster than if they’d gone through the same trace of the gun’s path to an extant dealer, then of the dealer’s 4473 files. But in either case, the trace solved no crime. The guy was dead. The family had called law enforcement and identified their son as a possible problem. Of what legitimate use is that trace information?

We have unconfirmed reports that the assassin never tried out for the rifle team, was not much bullied, and was remembered as a quiet, bright young man. And that he threatened to “shoot up” his high school when he was 15 years old in an incident that wasn’t taken seriously at the time. We will likely never know the whole story.

Litigation

The NRA has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama challenging the ATF’s “Engaged in the Business” Final Rule, which unlawfully redefines when a person is “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms and therefore required to be federally licensed.  Federal law defines engaged in the business and the administration has no authority to change that. The case is Butler v. Garland.

The National Association for Gun Rights won a lawsuit against the ATF over the Biden administration’s classification of forced reset triggers (FRTs) as “machineguns” in the US District Court, Northern District of Texas. Judge Reed O’Connor’s decision vacated the ATF’s classification of FRTs as machineguns, stating that the agency had exceeded its statutory authority, similar to the Supreme Court’s recent Cargill decision, which struck down the ATF’s bump stock ban.  The district court found that the ATF had acted beyond its statutory authority in redefining FRTs as machineguns and violated the Administrative Procedure Act by overstepping its regulatory boundaries.  O’Connor issued a broad injunction preventing the ATF from enforcing its classification of FRTs as machineguns, including halting criminal prosecutions and civil actions based on the now-vacated definition.  The case is National Association for Gun Rights, Inc., et al., v. Garland.  Expect an appeal to the Fifth Circuit, where the government will lose again, with your tax dollars.  (Forced reset triggers are devices that forcibly return the trigger of a firearm to its reset or ready-to-fire position after a round is fired, which allows a user to more quickly fire successive shots, but they do not meet the STATUTORY definition of a machine gun because they do not enable guns to fire multiple rounds with a “single function of the trigger.”)

Florida Carry, Inc. has won the case Pretzer v. FDLE in the state’s First District Court of Appeals.  The case challenged the state’s indefinite waiting period for decisions on the issuance of gun purchase approvals.  Never mind that states have no authority to give or withhold approval for citizens to lawfully practice their rights.

South Carolina AG opinion on gun possession in public parking structures.

Wisconsin follow-up: After being sued, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources immediately agreed in an order released this week to rescind its rule barring anglers from carrying firearms.  Apparently they were worried about people shooting fish. (It’s still illegal to do that.) I say, who cares, as long as it’s done safely and within creel limits.

Chicago follow-up: The city of Chicago filed paperwork to end their high-profile lawsuit against Glock this week.  The suit claimed Glock was making “easily convertible” machine guns, and had previously been removed to federal court where it was likely destined to fail, due to the federal statutory definitions of machine guns and the like, the ATF’s pre-approval of all guns on the market, and the fact that Glock isn’t responsible for criminals’ modification of their products.  So now Chicago has turned around and re-filed an expanded suit in Cook County Circuit Court, adding as respondents Glock Ges.m.b.H, the Austrian Glock entity and part owner of the U.S. Glock subsidiary, and two Illinois gun stores on Glock’s roster of preferred dealers, in order to get standing in the state.

NRA Trial #2 updates

• Updates On NY Trial
• What Do You Mean, You Don’t Know
• NY Trial: Testimony Of Pro-Reform Witness Ronald Andring
• The Brewer Law Firm Track Record

The Only Ones

Former Santa Clara County (CA) Sheriff’s Office Captain James Jensen was convicted of felony bribery and conspiracy charges last week.  Jensen used his power and authority to grant several rarely-issued concealed carry permits to several individuals in exchange for donations to a supposedly independent committee supporting former Sheriff Laurie Smith’s reelection campaign in her pay-to-play gun permit scheme.

DGUs

• Ga. man holds escaped inmate at gunpoint until deputies arrive to arrest him
• KSP: 1 dead after alleged Cadiz home intrusion leads to shooting
• The Armed Citizen:
  • America’s 1st Freedom – July 19, 2024
  • American Rifleman – July 19, 2024
  • American Rifleman – July 22, 2024
• I’m only going to give you the headline here: “Florida Homeowner Fatally Shoots Intruder, Who Turns Out to be the Husband of The Woman He Was With” — Good shoot or not, it appears that all parties clearly violated Farnam’s rules of “Don’t do stupid things, Don’t go to stupid places, and Don’t hang out with stupid people.”
• In Ogden, UT, two pit bulls got shot doing what they do.

Not a DGU

• Meanwhile, we have a report that a resident of North Jackson (MS), along with her dog, was attacked in her own fenced back yard by four pit bulldogs that escaped from next door.  And it’s not the first time.  The police do not respond and say call animal control, which does not respond.  Meanwhile, the victim and her dog have suffered serious injuries.  Nothing a shotgun won’t cure…

Tactics & Stuff

• “Can you slice the pie, and work your angles, and make smart use of cover and concealment?  Sure, you can do all of those things.  You can do all of those things, and do them perfectly, and still have a very good chance of getting dead.”
• Nobody’s always right, even the experts.  I’m with Mr. Codrea on this one.  Assume anyone evil, desperate, and deranged enough to threaten your life over a wallet is ready to kill you for no reason at all.  He’s not threatening your stuff – he’s threatening you and your family.
• Denouement of Secret Service gun handling at the Trump rally.
• “Nobody was drafted into the Gestapo.”  The Ascendance Of Sociopaths In US Governance.

Industry News

• I was either unaware or had forgotten that Steiner Optics is a Beretta-owned company, and in turn Steiner owns/produces Burris Optics.

Products

• Palmetto State Armory is offering a clearance price on the popular Crimson Trace CTS-1250 Compact Open Reflex Red Dot Sight, which is $69.99.  This is a $230 savings off the MSRP price.
• GForce Arms nickel-plated riot gun.  $150.
• Caldwell has a couple of cool new clay target throwers, the Claymore Solo and the Claymore Pullpup. I’m digging the Pullpup because the guy throwing the targets gets to shoot it like a gun.