April 14, 2017 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
SCOTUS confirmation
By a 54-45 vote the US Senate has confirmed President Trump’s appointment of Neil Gorsuch to fill the US Supreme Court seat vacated by the passing of Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Gorsuch is widely believed to be a constitutional originalist and eminently qualified for the position. He was sworn in Monday. Gun case petitions await. Gorsuch could provide the necessary fifth vote to hear them.
We also have a rumor that there may soon be another vacancy on the high court, perhaps sometime this summer. In addition, President Trump has about 100 empty seats to fill in the lower federal courts (the source of most SCOTUS justices).
This is why we voted the way we did in November. Thank you.
Here’s the vote tally.
Arrest made in Fast & Furious killing
Still no arrests of federal agents complicit in the felonious debacle.
And a really stupid ATF Associate Deputy Director…
Second & Fourth Amendments
- “The Second Amendment vs. the Fourth Amendment” — Why liberals should be alarmed that courts are eroding the Second Amendment. Does exercising your right to carry a gun diminish your other constitutional protections?
Litigation
Attorneys for four civil rights advocacy organizations and 11 individuals filed an opening brief this week at the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a federal lawsuit challenging California’s numerous special statutory exemptions to gun control laws for retired government workers as a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
CalGuns Foundation is also petitioning SCOTUS to hear its appeal of the Ninth Circuit’s denial in Silvester v. Harris, a case challenging California’s 10-day waiting period for gun purchases, even for those who already own guns or who possess a state CCW license.
The government watchdog group, Judicial Watch, is suing the ATF to release all communication records about a proposal to reclassify certain ammunition for the AR-15 rifle as “armor piercing.”
Rangemaster in MS
Tom Givens has a Rangemaster Combative Pistol class scheduled for May 6-7 at Boondocks Firearms Training Academy in Raymond, MS. Recommended.
LtCol Jeff Cooper will save your life
Accidents
We have a report that an unidentified 46-year-old male NRA employee was rushed to a local hospital after shooting himself while trying to holster his weapon at the National Firearms Museum at NRA headquarters in Fairfax, VA, during a safety training course at the museum’s firing range. Police say that when the man attempted to holster his pistol “the weapon accidentally fired, injuring the man’s lower body.”
We also have a report that an unidentified man shot himself in the leg at Sig Sauer Academy during a training session at one of the academy’s shooting ranges. Police believe that the man had his finger still on the trigger as he attempted to put the pistol into its holster. The discharged bullet then grazed the man’s leg and went into the ground.
See a pattern?
The Only Ones
In living color…
The Florida State Attorney’s Office announced a felony count of attempted manslaughter and a misdemeanor charge of culpable negligence against North Miami Police Officer Jonathan Aledda for the July 18, 2016, shooting of behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey, who was unarmed and non-threatening. Aledda supposedly was shooting at an autistic man Kinsey was caring for.
San Francisco sheriff’s deputy April Myres has been indicted in US District Court in San Francisco in connection with an alleged scheme to falsely a claim that her department issued gun was stolen and passed to a former jail inmate with whom she was involved. Charges include mail fraud, wire fraud and failing to report a felony. No word on any gun-related charges, except for the boyfriend, who was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
A March 31 memo from Eric Harden, the ATF’s Los Angeles Field Division Special Agent in Charge, to Southern California police chiefs and sheriffs says the agency has found law enforcement officers buying and reselling guns in what could be violations of federal firearms laws. The memo expressed concern about “the growing trend of law enforcement officials engaging in the business of unlicensed firearms dealing,” and indicates that it is [only] a training and education problem. Harden went on to say “It is our goal to educate, not investigate, to ensure law enforcement officials comply with federal law in order to avoid unnecessary public embarrassment to themselves and your Department/Agency.”
In other words, he’s got your back — if you’re an Only One. If you’re a regular person, I’m guessing he’s not worried about your felony conviction being embarrassing.
Meanwhile, ATF’s secret off-the-books slush fund, filled with illegally-obtained funds from its bogus tobacco operations, is being used to pay for things like a $21,000 suite at a NASCAR race, a Las Vegas trip and donations to agents’ kids’ schools.
Home invasion
A recent home invasion by 3 or 4 armed men in DeSoto County, MS, resulted in the fatal shooting of one resident and one suspect. A second suspect was shot and taken to the Regional Medical Center at Memphis.
Hard Head
- “Iraqi Soldier Takes 7.62 Tracer to Face, Shrugs It Off” — includes video
Hayden trial update
Former reality TV star Will Hayden, 51, who starred in the “Sons of Guns” program on the Discovery Channel, was unanimously convicted by an East Baton Rouge Parish, Lousiana, jury on two counts of aggravated rape and one count of forcible rape involving two preteen girls more than two decades apart. Hayden will be sentenced on May 11, and aggravated rape carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Hayden also faces sex crimes charges in Livingston Parish, including an aggravated rape count involving a 15-year-old girl and a sex crime charge involving his oldest daughter, who also was on the TV program.
Guide to 7.62 x 39 ammo
Remington rifle trigger settlement in question as some gun owners appeal
Products
- Straight Talk on Armed Defense, by the experts
- Colt has announced a $50 reduction in pricing of all models in the Colt Competition Pistol line.
- Integrally-suppressed Ruger .22 pistols from Innovative Arms
- Integrally-suppressed Ruger Precision Rifles by Witt Machine & Tool
- Ruger is now offering the LCRx revolver in an 8-shot .22LR model with a 3″ barrel.
- Winchester® Ammunition is introducing a .22 Win. Mag. Rimfire Subsonic round to the Super X lineup, made expressly for use in suppressed firearms. The X22MSUB load features a 45 grain LHP bullet at 1060 fps.
Quote of the Week
“Iowa state lawmakers know it is hypocritical of them to allow carry elsewhere but to ban it in the Capitol building. In the halls where freedom is celebrated, freedoms should be exercised.” — NRA-ILA’s Catherine Mortensen, in “Iowa to become latest state to allow guns in its Capitol” [via sfgate.com]
