Litigation
In addition to the blockbuster Bruen decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court also granted writs of certiorari to four pending Second Amendment cases, vacating lower court rulings and remanding those cases back to them for “further consideration in light of New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen.”
Four men with permits to carry concealed handguns in Washington, D.C., sued the city in federal court last week, arguing that the ban on carrying firearms in the Metro transit system is unconstitutional under the June 23 U.S. Supreme Court’s Bruen ruling.
The Firearms Policy Coalition has filed a new Second Amendment lawsuit challenging New Jersey’s ban on so-called “assault weapons.” The complaint in Cheeseman v. Platkin, along with other case information, can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.
Gun Owners of America, Bridge City Ordinance, and North Dakota resident Eliezer Jimenez have filed a 150-page lawsuit against the BATFE over its new rule on unfinished frames and receivers.
New York throws tantrum after the Bruen decision, creates a list of government-approved Mass Shooting Zones (MSZs). California is also not playing nice. Hi-ho, hi-ho, back to court we go…
Rock-star attorneys Paul Clement and Erin Murphy recently formed their own law firm after their prior firm, Kirkland & Ellis, abruptly kicked them out after Clement and Murphy won the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in which the court held the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding Americans to carry a firearm in public for self-protection. Now the National Shooting Sports Foundation has retained them to represent NSSF in its appeal to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in its lawsuit, NSSF et al v. James. That lawsuit challenges New York State’s unlawful public nuisance statute, which is designed to impose New York-style gun control on the lawful sale of firearms and ammunition products by permitting lawsuits against members of the industry for the criminal misuse of firearms that find their way into New York even when the sale occurred wholly outside the State of New York and in compliance with all applicable federal and the state laws where it took place.
I can’t wait for Clement & Murphy to kick butt in a future head-to-head gun case against Kirkland & Ellis.
Heller III
Dick Heller (of the Heller case) is suing Washington, D.C. again, this time over its strict limit on how much ammunition may accompany a person’s concealed handgun in public. This new lawsuit argues that a D.C. regulation preventing holders of concealed pistol carry licenses from carrying more than 20 rounds of ammunition at a time is unconstitutional. Such a limit violates the U.S. Constitution, the lawsuit claims, because there is no historical precedent for it, and it interferes with the right of the citizen to properly use a firearm for self-defense. The plaintiffs in the new lawsuit are Heller, Charles W. Nesby, and the Heller Foundation, Heller’s Second Amendment education nonprofit. They are suing the District of Columbia and the Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Contee III. The lawsuit was filed on June 30 in the federal district court in Washington. George L. Lyon Jr. of Arsenal Attorneys represents the plaintiffs in the new lawsuit. Lyon who was also one of the original plaintiffs in District of Columbia v. Heller, is attorney of record in another new lawsuit filed by gun owners in D.C. who want to be allowed to carry firearms on the area’s crime-ridden Metro public transit system.
Legislation
U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) and 53 cosponsors have introduced the RETURN (Repealing Excise Tax on Unalienable Rights Now) our Constitutional Rights Act, which would eliminate the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition. It’s far past time to do this. In fact, those unconstitutional taxes should never have been were passed or allowed to stand.
A temporary reprieve. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said this week that there would not be another gun control bill in the aftermath of the July 4 attack in Highland Park, IL.
Friends
We are making legal progress. Now is a really good time to donate to protect your civil rights.
Enemies
United Parcel Service goes full Brandon, terminating the accounts of legitimate gun dealers across the country. Any packages currently in the UPS system may be “seized and destroyed.” I suggest such illegal “seizing and destroying” of firearms is a federal felony and the complicit company officials should then be prosecuted to the full extent of federal law.
We note that five Democrat U.S. Senators recently sent ominous letters to UPS and 27 other carriers, blaming them for escalating violent crime rates, which may have scared the milquetoast UPS minions. The letters were signed by Senators Edward Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory A. Booker (D-N.J.), Christopher S. Murphy (D-CT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason has informed troopers fired for failing to get COVID shots that their permits to carry firearms will be “expired” on July 6.
John Hinckley: New gun control spokesman
A staffer working for New York City’s gun-banning Mayor Eric Adams was the victim of an armed robbery in the Big Apple this week. I could have predicted that.
Country singer Lee Greenwood, who obviously would NOT “gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.”
Democratic Iowa House District 28 candidate Sonya Heitshusen, 55, of West Des Moines, has been charged with reckless use of a firearm after police say she negligently fired a pistol through a sliding glass door in her home last week. Heitshusen is listed as a “Gun Sense Candidate” (sic) by Bloomberg’s Everytown gun ban group.
Liars
An NBC “news” report on the Highland Park attack called a semiautomatic Kel-Tec SUB2000 carbine a “submachine gun.” The lie was later surreptitiously removed from the report, with no correction posted.
Uvalde update
A 26-page report on police response to the Uvalde school massacre confirms the feckless actions of many of the cops – basically waiting and doing nothing instead of approaching, moving and shooting, while kids died. You and your kids remain on your own.
Local Loco
City of Jackson and Hinds County, MS, leaders are asking the state legislature to infringe on civil rights by: changing the state’s open carry law to permit-only carry in Jackson; raising the age to qualify for a carry permit to 21; giving law enforcement the right to question without suspicion or cause those in possession of guns in Jackson; and a curfew.
The Only Ones
Knox County, TN, Sheriff’s Deputy Jordan Hurst fired his service weapon in an attempt to defeat an aggressive dog attacking his partner on Tuesday, but instead shot his partner in the leg.
Refugio County, TX, Sheriff Raul “Pinky” Gonzales required hospital treatment Wednesday after he accidentally shot himself in the butt and leg.
A passenger seen on video pulling out his gun inside a New York subway station was found by police to be a retired NYPD sergeant and was defending himself, so he was not charged. I assume his name is not Bernie Goetz.
Department of Idiocy
Learn the laws. Don’t be stupid. Seems simple.
Ditto. Remember the 5 elements.
A man acquitted last month on grounds of self-defense in the shooting death of a University of Toledo football player after a fight at a Toledo pizza restaurant nearly two years ago has been sentenced to nine to 12 years for three extra shots he fired.
A novel idea
Issue only combined firearms owner/voter ID cards. Holders have to be 18, U.S. citizen, not otherwise disqualified (most state prohibit ex-felons from voting). If you are not sane and responsible enough to own a gun, why would we trust you to vote? (h/t Clayton Cramer)
YOYO
New 2021 Chicago data shows 400,000 high-priority incidents where dispatchers had no police available to send. We have a report that 92 people were shot in Chicago last weekend alone.
The city council in West Hollywood, California, has voted to reduce the number of armed sheriff’s deputies by four, and to replace them with 30 unarmed (and likely to soon be deceased) “ambassadors,” despite a crime epidemic.
“Silencer” seizures
- Homeland Security, not ATF
Highland Park
In the Chicago suburb and gun control utopia of Highland Park, seven people were killed and 37 injured in a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade Monday morning. We have a report that the suspect was issued an Illinois Firearms Owner ID card by the Illinois State Police, in spite of having been the subject of police attention for violent threats in the recent past. So much for Illinois’ plethora of gun control and red flag laws, which might have worked had the police or family followed up after the threats.
Tarani Tactics
Newsletters
The ACLDN and Rangemaster (pdf link) July newsletters are out.
……….
How to shoot high overhead birds
……….
Obit
Bradford Freeman, last surviving member of the “Band of Brothers,” age 97.
Products
FREE FREE FREE – Attorney Andrew F. Branca’s excellent book, “The Law of Self Defense.” Get it, read it, memorize it. A $24.95 value, free for a limited time. Just pay the $8.95 shipping.
Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) has published the cartridge and chamber drawings of the 30 Super Carry (30 S Carry).
Customers who purchase any striker-fired pistol from the Springfield Armory line-up will qualify to receive three additional magazines and a Springfield Armory dual pistol bag with the Crossed Cannon™ logo.
CZ-USA is offering a $50 Visa gift card as a rebate on the purchase of any P-07, P-09 or P-10 series pistol purchased from July to September.
Trijicon is offering a $100 RMR®cc rebate between July 1st and September 30th, 2022.
Northern Precision now has three weights of .375 caliber jacketed bullets from 200-350 grains in various style bullets for both single shots and bolt action guns, and .400 bullets in any weight between 150-275 grains. Imagine a 10mm with a 250-grain pill. FWIW, they also have .348 bullets from 160-300 grains, bonded and non-bonded.
I found some furniture to fit the decor…
Quotes
“It is not the odds we are concerned with; it is the stakes.” – unknown
“If you are the one person in 1,000, or the one person in 10,000 it makes little difference. It is still you.” – Tom Givens
“…to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government…” – Declaration of Independence
The Bill of Rights exists to protect the minority from the will of the majority. – me