December 21, 2018 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
Housekeeping
There may not be a newsletter next week due to holiday activities and laziness. Y’all have a safe and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and remember the reason for the season.
The Charlie Daniels Band — Mississippi Christmas Eve
Zinke resignation
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke is resigning under a cloud of suspicion and allegations of ethical violations.
Bump stock update
We note that a weapon fired rapidly with the aid of a bump stock does not meet the NFA statutory definition of a “machinegun” since the trigger still functions separately for each shot. The statute is clear: Under 26 U.S.C. 5845(b), a “machinegun” is a weapon which shoots “automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single FUNCTION of a trigger.” Bump stocks allow more rapid multiple trigger pulls, not multiple shots with a single trigger pull. A legal challenge has been mounted to what is essentially the executive branch rewriting the statute – an illicit precedent that could allow a subsequent ban on most semi-automatic rifles, or anything else. In fact, the ATF has previously said that “[Bump stocks] convert an otherwise semiautomatic firearm into a machinegun…” There is already a ban on any firearms which are readily convertible to machineguns. So calling a bump stock-equipped semiautomatic a “machinegun” says that the gun itself is illegal due to its being convertible.
And that’s it in a nutshell. This is not about bump stocks.
The NRA jumped ship on this one, as expected. Gun Owners of America, joined by the Virginia Citizens Defense league, is preparing a lawsuit against the ATF and the DOJ to seek an injunction protecting gun owners from these unconstitutional regulations.
The Firearms Policy Coalition, Firearms Policy Foundation and Madison Society Foundation and others have also jointly filed a lawsuit (Guedes, at al, v BATFE, et al).
Florida update
Last week’s report noted that Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning rejected former deputy Scot Peterson’s claim that he had no duty to confront the gunman during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school massacre, and refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the parent of a victim against Peterson. Judge Henning said Peterson DID have a duty to protect those inside the school.
But this week we learned that US District Judge Beth Bloom dismissed a suit filed by 15 students who claimed they were traumatized by the massacre. The suit named six defendants, including the Broward school district and the Broward Sheriff’s Office, as well as school deputy Scot Peterson and campus monitor Andrew Medina. Judge Bloom ruled that the two agencies had NO constitutional duty to protect students who were not in custody.
FWIW, the US District Court’s action is consistent with the Warren v. DC SCOTUS case.
Dick’s caves on discrimination lawsuit
Other Litigation
US District Judge Pamela K. Chen struck down the New York State ban on possession of nunchakus based on nunchakus being protected by the Second Amendment, because they are arms in common use for lawful purposes. New York State will appeal.
A county judge in New York state has ruled that an out of state concealed carry permit does not establish sufficient cause to warrant a car search for firearms.
School Security Done Right
About those background checks
A GAO study of ATF research has revealed that the Brady background checks don’t stop criminals. The ATF received 12,710 cases of firearm background check denials for further investigation in fiscal year 2017, the GAO found, but the government prosecuted only 12 people. More than 99.9% of those who were investigated escaped with nothing more than a warning because ATF directs its resources to more serious violations, and 10 of 13 states which do their own background checks have a policy not to investigate denials.
Police shooting accuracy on the street
New study on shooting accuracy. How does your agency stack up?
Be prepared for 6 months without power or infrastructure
In a new report titled “Surviving a Catastrophic Power Outage” from the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council and published by the Department of Homeland Security, the government is urging the public to prepare for the up to six months without electricity, transportation, fuel, money, and healthcare, due to the vulnerability of the grid to a terrorist EMP attack.
https://offgridsurvival.com/dhspowergriddownwarning/
Enemies
“The bullets that took Bobby, JFK, and Dr. King are just like the bullets that took Trayvon, and those school children in Newtown, and those police officers in Dallas, and those concertgoers in Vegas, and those congregants (sic) in Thousand Oaks.” — former President Barack Obama, during a December 13 acceptance speech for the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award. So Mr. Obama actually defended a murderous felon, and calls dancing, drinking barhoppers “congregants,” as if a bar is a church.
The American Society on Aging is on the gun control bandwagon. I’m unaware of any old-guy organizations I can join.
The Episcopal Church, with an investment portfolio worth about $400 million, has a General Convention which passed a resolution in July that calls on Executive Council’s Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility to research investing in gun manufacturers to give the church a new voice in how those companies do business. In other words, a “non-profit” with $400 million in profit is looking to use it to damage other legal, for-profit companies because the church is anti-gun.
CNSNews.com reports that California ranks No. 1 among the 50 states for the percentage of its residents 25 and older who have never completed ninth grade and 50th for the percentage who have graduated from high school, according to new data from the Census Bureau. Well that certainly explains a lot.
CNN’s “Journalist of the Year” falsified his articles on a grand scale and even invented characters. That’s par for the CNN course. Remember the faked “assault weapon/machinegun” coverage?
The Only Ones
“The Bureau (FBI) is famous for hiring people who no aptitude for law enforcement who bumble round and screw up everything but are respected bureaucrats.” — long time Federal Law Enforcement officer John Hearne
A Florida Coast Guard serviceman stationed at Miami Beach shot his wife, 8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son before fatally shooting himself last Sunday. The wife and son also died and the daughter was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.
Webster County, MS Sheriff Timothy Seth Mitchell, 53, has been arrested and charged with 2 Counts of Embezzlement; 2 Counts of Trafficking in Stolen Firearms; 1 Count of Attempting Sex and/or Sexual Acts with an Inmate; 1 Count of Tampering with Physical Evidence; 3 Counts of Retaliation Against a Witness; 1 Count of Permitting Possession and/or Sale of Controlled Substance in Jail; and 2 Counts of Furnishing an Inmate with Weapons, Cell Phone, and Narcotics. If convicted, Mitchell faces a minimum of 9 years and a maximum of 152 years, along with fines up to $102,000 for the 12 felony counts.
Eleven Prince George’s County (MD) police officers have been suspended with pay after a gun was unintentionally fired at an off-duty holiday party over the weekend, injuring one officer in the hand and hitting a second by ricochet. The injured officers were taken to hospitals by helicopter, treated and released. Helicopter for a hand wound?
NRA financial report.
You may want to consider donating to the NRA proper or the ILA/PVF, instead of to the various charitable wings that can’t do political work or give their funds to the cause.
Correction and update
Apparently last week’s report (which came from WLBT), about the capital murder trial of a kidnapper whose accomplice was fatally shot by their victim, was erroneous. The kidnapper was tried and convicted on counts of attempted kidnapping, armed robbery, and house burglary. Although he was charged with capital murder and could have been tried for it, the kidnapper was not prosecuted for murder, because the District Attorney chose not to pursue those charges, for which the perp could have received the death penalty, which would be almost impossible to get in Hinds County. But he was sentenced to serve 45 years in prison for armed robbery with 5 years suspended and 25 years in prison for attempted kidnapping. Both crimes qualified for a “terror enhancement.”
Serving women’s firearms shopping needs
Products
We have a report that “Gun World” and “World of Firepower” magazines are no more.
Parker Bows of Staunton, Virginia, announces it will cease operations on December 31, 2018.
National Gun Trader dot com. Check it out.
Speer is now selling ammo and components direct, online.
Need a bunch of ammo for your 5.56 or 7.62 black rifle? Brownells can fix you up.
Brownells also has Challenger Super Shortshells in 12 ga.
Can Cooker’s Bucket Board looks pretty useful, and not just for fish
Ruger now has magnum models of the Ruger Precision® Rimfire rifle and a new BX-15® Magnum magazine for the .17 HMR and .22 WMR cartridges. The BX-15 Magnum magazine is also compatible with Ruger 77/17®, Ruger 77/22® and Ruger American® Rimfire rifles chambered in .17 HMR and .22 WMR.
Glock reportedly is introducing the Glock G43X, a 10-round version of the G43. The G43 is a single-stack 9mm with a six-round capacity and an overall height of 4.25″. The 43X will be 4mm wider and 15mm longer.
Aguila (“AHG-yew-lah”) Ammunition is producing another run of 5mm Remington Rimfire Magnum ammo.
About the .327 Federal Magnum cartridge —Â Summed up as a mild-recoiling 115-grain bullet at 1,335 fps from a 3-inch barrel.
Quote
“In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made School Boards.” — Mark Twain (Following the Equator; Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar)
