2A News makes the cut.
We have learned that our humble little 2A Newsletter blog has made FeedSpot’s list of the 60 Best Tactical Blogs and Websites in 2024, from thousands of blogs on the web and ranked by relevancy, authority, social media followers & freshness.
We are at #22. While I do not consider this a competition and I am not a competitive person, I want to thank every 2A News visitor and email recipient and especially webmaster Mike Allen for making this possible. I also congratulate and appreciate all of the other folks on the FeedSpot list and in the trenches for effectively keeping up the good fight.
Election
“It’s not Trump on the ballot, it’s the Second Amendment on the ballot. So if you just can’t vote for Trump, vote for your rights.” – Alan Gottlieb & Tom Gresham
In a desperate attempt to fool more voters, not-to-be-believed unnamed officials with the Kamala Harris campaign told the New York Times on Monday that the Vice President – who never met a gun she didn’t hate – no longer supports many of the oppressive policy stances she took during her first presidential run in 2019, including her repeated calls for a mandatory buyback of civilian-owned “assault weapons.” Instead, her campaign said that she merely supports banning the sale of those guns moving forward. OK, so let’s not kick Harris out of office for the rest of her current term, but let’s ban her from public office going forward.
Litigation
The Supreme Court will re-convene in October and hear a case over personally-made firearms with no serial numbers. The Biden administration appealed a case in which a federal appeals court struck down a regulation governing the sale of unfinished gun parts kits, saying it illicitly stretched the definition of “firearm” found in the Gun Control Act of 1968. The administration says you shouldn’t be allowed to build your own working guns from nonfunctional components at home without government permission. Civil rights advocates say if the government wants to regulate the sale of unserialized home built guns, it must pass a new law to that effect and that the ATF can’t make up such a law. Of course, that law would also be unconstitutional.
US District Judge Claude M. Hilton, of the Eastern District of Virginia has dismissed a federal lawsuit filed by two victims of a 2022 school shooting against more than a dozen defendants, saying their allegations essentially did not pass legal muster under the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), because the “defendants qualify for the PLCAA’s protections, and plaintiffs fail to invoke the Act’s exceptions.” The defendants are Daniel Defense, Bravo Company USA, Inc., Vista Outdoor, Inc., Federal Cartridge, Loyal 9 Manufacturing, Hearing Protection and Torkmag, Inc., Fiocchi of America, Magpul Industries and Surefire, Fostech, Inc., Centurion Arms, and FAP Defense Inc.
US District Judge Christopher C. Conner of the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued an order granting summary judgment to SAF and its partners, finding that state’s law banning the carry of a firearm in a vehicle without a license unconstitutional. He further declared that a ban on firearms possession without a license during a state of emergency is facially unconstitutional and enjoined Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Col. Christopher Paris from enforcing those provisions. The judge let stand the license requirement for discreet carry along with license denial for convictions that did or could have resulted in imprisonment for more than one year. In Pennsylvania, there are some misdemeanor offenses punishable with two-year sentences.
US District Judge Charles Kocoras of the Northern District of Illinois has ruled that laser sights don’t warrant Second Amendment protections, because “In sum, the undisputed facts show that ‘a firearm remains an effective weapon without a [laser sight] attached’ and thus a laser sight ‘is not a weapon protected by the Second Amendment. Rather, ‘it is merely an accessory which is unnecessary to the essential operation of a firearm.'”
US District Court Judge James Browning of the District of New Mexico has ruled that New Mexico can continue to enforce a new, seven-day waiting period on gun sales to purchasers who do not hold a CCW permit, while the NRA-backed Ortega v. Grisham case moves forward. Judge Browning denied the NRA’s request for a restraining order or injunction that would block the extended waiting period, saying “The defendants adduce significant evidence that waiting period laws may help reduce this tidal wave of gun violence.” But we see no test of reducing crime nor any mention of waiting periods in the Bill of Rights.
US District Court Judge Peter Sheridan of the District of New Jersey has ruled the state’s ban on AR-15 rifles is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court’s Bruen and Heller precedents, but he found the opposite was true of the state’s ban on possession of “Large Capacity Magazines” capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
United States v. Allam, a “Gun Free School Zone” case has been appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The appeal attacks the Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) as being an unconstitutional infringement of rights protected by the Second Amendment. A grand jury charged Mr. Allam with a single count of violating the Gun Free School Zone Act after he was found to have had a rifle and ammo in his car across the street from a parochial school. Mr. Allam challenged the law on an “as applied” basis, claiming the GFSZA violated the Second Amendment. The district court judge, Marcia A. Crone, found the Gun Free School Zone Act was Constitutional. Mr. Allam pleaded guilty without a plea deal and was sentenced to 5 years in prison on January 30, 2024. Mr. Allam submitted a timely appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on February 1, 2024.
Minnesota follow-up: We previously reported that a three-judge panel of the Eighth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Minnesota’s ban on concealed carry by young adults is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. As speculated, now Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has petitioned the court for an en banc rehearing to consider restoring the unconstitutional state law.
Also from Minnesota, the state Supreme Court ruled that people confronted with danger must try to find a reasonable way to safety before even brandishing a weapon (in this case a machete) in preparation for self-defense. In Minnesota, a felony second-degree assault offense can apply when a weapon is used with the intent to cause “fear” in instances when it’s possible to avoid a violent confrontation.
And from Florida, the NRA is renewing its appeal of an 11th US Circuit panel’s decision upholding a Florida ban of adults ages 18-20 buying long guns.
There are allegedly two sides to the “woke” financial industry and anti-“woke” banking laws. I’m in favor of the Florida-style laws, and suggest that the government shouldn’t be trying to commandeer private companies to do their bidding.
Butler, PA notes
Details about the multiple and massive failures of the Secret Service and its “partners” continue to bloom like stink from a stink bomb. You can do your own research.
Newsletters
The Rangemaster and ACLDN August newsletters are out.
Be sure to read the Massad Ayoob interview.
NRA nastiness
New York Judge Joel Cohen on Monday banned former NRA EVP Wayne LaPierre from serving in a paid position for the gun rights group for the next ten years (good and hopefully academic), but declined to appoint an independent monitor to oversee the organization (probably bad – see the links below).
- NY: Judge’s Ruling
- PDF – In The Matter Of: People of the State of New York v. The National Rifle Association of America, et al.Judicial Verdict in NRA Trial: Accountability, Governance, & Future Implications
- Judicial Verdict in NRA Trial: Accountability, Governance, & Future Implications
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The Gun Control Argument. By George, I think he’s got it.
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Enemies
- White House collusion with gun ban groups.
- Big Tech
- Actor Liam Neeson. Still.
Study
A new study from Duke University School of Medicine found (again) that gun control laws have no impact on homicide rates.
DGUs
- The Armed Citizen:
- Baltimore pastor shoots burglar in vacant church. Shooting ruled justified.
- Not a DGU. UK.
Tactics & Stuff
Mississippi Permit Renewal
I recently renewed my Mississippi Enhanced CCW permit by mail. Mail commonly will take two mail days to get from my house to Canton, MS where the MS Department of Public Safety receives the renewals. In other words, mail it today and it will be there the day after tomorrow, but sometimes tomorrow. I mailed my renewal on Monday, and received my new permit back by mail on Saturday of the same week – 5 days.
However, they are still stealing time from the permits by having the new permit expire on the anniversary of the new-issue date, instead of the anniversary of the original permit date. So if you renew at any time prior to your actual permit expiration date, you lose that many days from your permit. You will note that they do not do that on your driver’s license, which is handled by the same agency in the same system in the same format with the same license number and sometimes the same photo. They renew those with the same unchanging date at each renewal.
More Mississippi
The Mississippi Ag & Outdoor Expo and the Mississippi Wildlife Extravaganza were both held last weekend. I didn’t go. We already have plenty of agriculture, outdoor, and wildlife here on the homestead and just don’t need any more. I’m not going to the lawn mowing expo either.
Industry News
August is National Shooting Sports Month.
Vista Outdoor Shareholders were scheduled to vote this week on the $2.15 billion sale of their ammunition division to Czechoslovak Group (CSG), but Vista officials cancelled the vote, saying the company will seek “strategic alternatives,” namely negotiating with MNC Capital, the investment group that had offered more than $3 billion for the entire company in what appears to be a bidding war with CSG.
Products
With the ATF pistol brace rule being vacated, Sig Sauer is back in the braced pistol game. They just launched two new M400 pistols, the M-400 Tread and M-400 SDI X pistols. Both are AR pistols based upon SIG’s proven M-400 DI platform.
Stealth Cam has 360-degree trail cameras. You know, for your 360-degree trails.
Davidson’s announced the introduction of Pietta’s King Trio, a single-action revolver with three cylinders that can chamber four different calibers. This new exclusive cowboy gun is capable of firing .38 Super, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and 9mm cartridges. The gun has a color case hardened frame and hammer, with a brass backstrap and trigger guard complemented by two-piece walnut grips, and a beautifully blued barrel. It is offered in barrel lengths of both 4.75″ and 5.5″. $800.
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My rights don’t end where your feelings begin.
People with ARs don’t get in cattle cars.
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