Housekeeping
- No newsletter next week due to Christmas holidays. Remember the reason.
Litigation
- Firearms Policy Coalition has filed a new federal lawsuit challenging Washington D.C.’s ban on firearm magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds, because Washington D.C. is not exempt from the Constitution. The case is Wehr-Darroca v. D.C.
- A panel of the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the case of a West Virginia resident who argues a law permanently preventing those who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution from owning a gun facially violates the Second Amendment.
- Another Fourth Circuit panel decided in US v. Saleem last week that a silencer is not an arm and does not fall within the scope of the Second Amendment’s protection.
- A three-judge panel for the Sixth Circuit unanimously rejected a Kentucky defendant’s as-applied challenge to his recent conviction for possessing a firearm as a felon. The panel ruled that even if a person is convicted only of non-violent felonies, the totality of their criminal record, including violent misdemeanors, can indicate dangerousness that permits disarmament under the Second Amendment.
- A Second Circuit panel is considering whether federal regulations on interstate gun transportation violate the constitutional right to bear arms.
- The federal government has asked a Fifth Circuit panel to rule it may legally disarm citizens under domestic violence protective orders without any explicit finding that the person poses a credible threat of violence.
- Attorneys general in Minnesota and New Jersey are suing, but not prosecuting, Glock for allegedly making handguns that are easily modified to fire as illegal machine guns through a cheap add-on known as a Glock switch. The lawsuits said that the $20 switches transform Glock handguns into easily concealable weapons that can fire 1,200 rounds per minute, recklessly endangering the public. They claim that Glock has known for decades that its weapons are uniquely receptive to the switches and has not taken steps to change its design. The accusations may well be true and accurate, but it seems to me that the elephant in the room is that it is illegal under federal law for a company to purvey to the civilian market a gun that is easily or readily convertible to a machine gun. The Glock pistols have been approved by ATF, right or wrong, as not being illegally easy to convert. Of course, we are ignoring for the moment the fact that both the conversion regulation and the machine gun ban are clearly unconstitutional. These state-court lawsuits are part of a continuing coordinated attempt to circumvent legal protections Congress specifically enacted to prevent the gun industry from being subjected to such frivolous litigation. While the lawsuit was only brought by New Jersey and Minnesota, the larger coalition that will be working together includes 16 states in total, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office said to Newsweek. These states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont, as well as Washington, D.C.
- After a year and a half of stalled litigation seeking to force the US Fish and Wildlife Service to ban lead ammunition in the Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia, the plaintiffs, the National Wildlife Refuge Association and the Sierra Club, stipulated a dismissal of their baseless lawsuit.
- Deep Dive: Case details from Ahern v. Sig Sauer, Inc. Ahern was a police officer in Cambridge, MA, whose Sig P320 was unintentionally discharged while he was handling it inside a SWAT van.
Project 2025
NRA
Enemies & Liars
- Doddering Joe – who just pardoned his son for federal gun crimes – proves once again that he’s senile.
- NBC Falsely Claims Magazine Disconnects Increase Safety.
- Another illicit media hit piece by USA Today on homemade guns. (In his 1980 autobiography, Gordon Liddy, who had served as a prosecutor in Dutchess County, NY, stated that he’d been unable to find single case that had been solved through that state’s handgun registry, created by the 1911 Sullivan Act. Registration is nothing but a precursor to confiscation. h/t S.P. Wenger)
- CNN claims there have been 83 school shootings this year. Right.
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The Only Ones
- Former Sheriff’s Captain Receives Jail Time for Role in California Carry Scandal.
- Scott Jenkins, the former rural Virginia sheriff accused of deputizing wealthy untrained civilians who authorities said paid him tens of thousands of dollars for badges, was convicted of 12 counts of federal bribery and fraud charges Wednesday after a week-long trial. Jenkins is scheduled to be sentenced March 31.
- A DeKalb County [TN] grand jury indicted 31st Judicial District Attorney General Christopher Robert Stanford on Monday on one count of reckless endangerment after he allegedly fired shots at a wanted fugitive homicide suspect on Nov. 21 and ended up striking a home with a woman and three children inside.
- A Blanchard [OK] elementary school student fired a school resource officer’s gun while it was still in the officer’s holster as they were on the playground last week.
- Related: The Nine Worst Holsters.
- Guardsman charged in fatal shooting of soldier at Georgia base.
- An active-duty Marine assigned to Naval Air Station Pensacola was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree premeditated murder and possession of child pornography and is being considered a primary suspect in the alleged murder of an escort.
DGUs
- Man shoots at armed suspects who broke into Laveen home; 1 hospitalized. (Laveen is an unincorporated community, part of which lies inside Phoenix city limits.)
- Homeowner’s Daughter Shoots Alleged Intruder Dead
- The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office has decided not to pursue assault and weapon possession charges against Ian Bascombe, a 58-year-old MTA bus driver who stabbed a rider in the head and leg during the altercation after the rider assaulted him and it was all caught on video.
- The Armed Citizen:
Tactics & Stuff
- “I find it curious that those who are opposed to personal freedom, while carefully teaching their children about hot stoves and moving cars, vehemently refuse to teach them about, nor even acknowledge the existence of, guns!” – Farnam
- Don’t stand under the bear.
CMP Targets
After years of testing, the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) announces the full use of eTargets at the 2025 National Rifle Matches. The CMP’s use of eTargets will include all highpower rifle matches, National Trophy rifle competitions, and rifle Games events. The target system will also be used for the National Rimfire Sporter Match on July 20 and the National Mid/Long Range Matches, August 4-9. Featuring Kongsberg Target System technology, the system includes monitors at each firing point, also viewable live online, and eliminates the need for pit duty, drastically cutting down the duration of each match.
Visit the Electronic Targets page on the CMP website to view a video on how the eTarget system works. I suppose competitors will have to somehow print out their eTarget results to take their targets home.
Products
- GunBroker.com Eases the Headaches of Sending FFL Items with New Shipping Solution. Hopefully this will be outstanding.
- “My opinion of Christensen is that they look at whatever’s cool in the moment, then try to replicate it as cheaply as possible.”
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“Anything with the ability to fly should never walk across the road.” – Ben Smith
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