Happy New Year, Everyone.

• The bald eagle just became the US’ national bird. Really.

President Trump II and SCOTUS

• Trump may tally the most Supreme Court appointments of any president in recent history

Litigation

• President-elect Donald Trump will have at least 45 federal judicial vacancies to fill when he assumes office on Inauguration Day. Mr. Trump will be able to nominate four circuit court nominees to fill vacancies on the First, Sixth and Third US Circuit Courts of Appeals, and has 41 federal district court vacancies to fill. Two District Court judges and one on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit have rescinded their plans to retire in apparent efforts to prevent Trump from appointing their replacements. The political leanings of a president are not necessarily a reliable indication of the type of judges they appoint.

• By a 13-2 margin, a full panel of the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals has once again ruled that a Pennsylvania man can own firearms despite his felony-level conviction. The Circuit reaffirmed its basic holding from last June that a 30-year-old conviction for lying on a food stamp application cannot result in lifetime disarmament. The court’s opinion, made necessary after the Supreme Court vacated and remanded its prior decision in light of US v. Rahimi, remained essentially unchanged in finding no historical tradition supporting the federal gun ban for nonviolent felons as applied to Pennsylvania man Bryan Range. The opinion officially reinstates the first appeals court decision to strike down the nation’s most commonly enforced federal gun-control law.
• Joe Biden expands felons’ legal access to guns. You’ve heard that President Biden issued some 40 unconditional pardons to individuals who had been convicted of offenses that trigger federal firearm prohibitions. Federal law imposes categorical prohibitions on the possession and acquisition of firearms by those convicted of certain criminal offenses. These include anyone who has been “convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.” The ATF considers triggering offenses to include “[a]ny Federal, State or foreign offense for which the maximum penalty, whether or not imposed, is capital punishment or imprisonment in excess of 1 year.” But they exclude (among other things) “[a]ny conviction … for which a person has been pardoned … unless such pardon … expressly provides that the person may not ship, transport, possess, or receive firearms.” Under federal law, those individuals are entitled to have their identifying information removed from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which must be queried any time an unlicensed person buys a firearm at retail.
• Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) has filed a new federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana’s ban on firearm carry by non-residents. Stephen Wenger advises that Louisiana has waived the permit requirement for concealed carry by those 18 years and older who possess firearms lawfully. Previously, it honored [and continues to honor] carry licenses from 36 other states, without requiring that the holder be a resident of the issuing state. This legal action seems to affect those nonresidents who want a Louisiana carry permit for protection against possible prosecution for carrying a loaded firearm within 1,000 feet of a school as the exemption in the unconstitutional federal GFSZA requires that the license be issued by the state in which the school is located.
• In a similar case, FPC has filed an amended complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction or summary judgment in Young v. Ott, a federal lawsuit that challenges Pennsylvania’s laws banning 18- to 20-year-old adults from carrying firearms for lawful purposes outside the home, including a prohibition on issuance of CCW permits for young adults, which in turn bans them from federal school zones.
• A shot across Hawaii’s bow.
• The widow of Little Rock airport director Bryan Malinowski – who was murdered in his own home by the ATF – is fighting an effort by the federal government to confiscate 35 guns and more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition seized during the predawn raid that led to his death. Malinowski was never charged with a crime. So the ATF are both murderers and thieves.
• US District Judge David Briones of the Western District of Texas dismissed a criminal indictment against an El Paso man arrested with multiple bags of marijuana and firearms in his home, because the government couldn’t prove the man was high at the time of his arrest, and therefore, his prosecution represented an unconstitutional application of the federal law that bans drug users from owning firearms. Technically I suppose they caught him possessing drugs but not using them. The case is US v. Gil.

Enemies

• Shon Barnes, currently chief of police in Madison, Wisconsin and a reported top candidate for the same job in Seattle, Washington, says that the Second Amendment may no longer be “appropriate.” Anti-gun Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell picked him.
• ATF assault, probably with a bogus warrant.
• The FBI NICS system denies legal gun sales to Hispanic and black males at a disproportionate rate. But we always knew gun control is racist.
• The FBI lied about the New Orleans massacre. Why?
• You’reAnIdiotTube.
• CNN. Just for that, I think I’ll buy my grandson some extra guns. Probably evil black ones.

The Only Ones

• “Police returned fire and reportedly shot 87 times before striking Henderson.”
• London, Kentucky Police Killed Man in His Home in Late Night Search Warrant Raid Apparently at Wrong Address – Reportedly Over a Stolen Weed Eater.
• Driver runs red light. Cop pulls him over. Cop asks if he has any weapons. Driver says he’s carrying a gun and has a permit for it and continues to comply with all officer commands. Cop commands him out of the car. Driver complies. Female cop runs over to the driver and yanks his pistol out of his holster and shoots him in the leg.
• Police are watching, but not doing.
• Former Charlotte County [FL] Sheriff’s Road Patrol Deputy John J. Greer has been identified as the suspect in a 1979 cold case fatal shooting of a store clerk.
• We previously posted a report that said – according to “officials” – no safety protocols were violated in the June incident involving Scottsdale [AZ] police detective Ryan So, who died following an accidental shooting at a city facility when he picked up a backpack containing a rifle from the back of a vehicle and the rifle fell out of the bag and discharged when the butt hit the pavement, killing Det. So. At the time, I disagreed with the assessment that “no safety protocols were violated.” A new report says that not only was the rifle loaded with a round in the chamber (duh!), but the safety was in the off position. We also learned that the dropped rifle was an Accuracy International AX bolt-action, precision rifle chambered in .308. Although the new report closed the investigation because there was no evidence of criminal negligence, it did find that the rifle was not properly secured (duh, again). I maintain my position that multiple obvious safety protocols were violated.

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Unregulated Gun Shows Save Lives (Old Peer Reviewed Study)

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DGUs

• A Summerville [SC] homeowner stopped a burglary in progress Friday morning, protecting his neighbor and her child after they fled to his home for safety during the incident.
• Three Houston [TX] boys, aged 12 to 14, were shot by a local resident. Because they and a fourth boy had guns and were trying to rob him. This is probably a case where the parents and the perps should go to jail.
• Another one.
• “This is the state of Florida. If you want to break into someone’s home, you should expect to be shot.” – Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells
• The Armed Citizen:
  • American Rifleman – December 30, 2024
  • American Rifleman – December 27, 2024
  • American Rifleman – December 23, 2024
  • American Rifleman – December 20, 2024
  • America’s 1st Freedom – December 27, 2024

Tactics & Stuff

• Word Monkeys. Dabbs.
• Miracles. Dabbs.
• “She knew she better figure out how to shoot the gun before she has to shoot the robbers tonight. That’s why she was there by herself at the shooting range.”
• In the wake of the New Orleans massacre, here are some reminders on vehicle and terrorist attacks:
  • Vehicle Run Down Attacks
  • Strategies for Preventing Terrorist Vehicle Attacks
  • Terrorist Vehicle Attack Information Compendium
• “I would suggest that from this point forward, you shouldn’t leave the house without a medium to full-sized auto pistol and at least one spare magazine. Practice your long range pistol shooting as well.” – Greg Ellifritz
• Who ankle carries while wearing 8-10″ tall lace-up boots? Holster recommendations?
• 46 Things a Young Man Should Know.
• Tragic hunting accidents:
  • Former NCAA quarterback Tommy Lazzaro dies in ‘tragic’ accident at US Air Force base
  • Louisiana wildlife agents investigating after hunter shot in Zachary
• Shortwave radio FYI.

Arizona

• Maricopa County and the City of Buckeye [AZ] announced a new partnership to reopen the Joe Foss Shooting Complex at Buckeye Hills Regional Park. An Intergovernmental Agreement between the two gives Buckeye exclusive rights to manage the popular shooting range, which has been closed for public use since early July when a Special Use Agreement with the previous operator expired.

Products

• Ruger has a new lightweight 10/22 rifle featuring a rigid 16.1″ cold hammer-forged tensioned barrel with a carbon fiber sleeve and threaded muzzle. This results in a weight of just 3.5 lbs., making it the lightest 10/22 in the Ruger line. $650.
• New CrossBreed slings.