The City of Philadelphia has begun to enforce one of the gun laws that were not thrown out. It should be noted that the laws that remain were not upheld, it was ruled that the National Rifle Association did not have standing to challenge the remaining three laws. The city will begin enforcement of the Lost & Stolen Reporting Requirement only, at this point. Anyone arrested under this ordinance will have standing to challenge the law under Pennsylvania’s preemption statute. Any police officer or prosecutor enforcing this law is opening him or herself up to the possibility of lawsuits.
Year: 2008
Bipod Grips
Uncle asks about whether ATF would argue a bipod grip attached to a handgun would make it an AOW. I have to admit… the the bipod grip almost looks useless enough to be designed specifically to piss off the ATF.
Like You and Me, Only Better
A Pennsylvania State Senator retaliates against the Game Commission after his kid has a run in with a game officer. Game wardens are law enforcement officers under Pennsylvania law. They wear uniforms and carry guns. It is unlawful to have a loaded long gun in a vehicle in Pennsylvania (loaded pistols are fine with a license). What I definitely would have appreciated from the Senator, is some help repealing this stupid law. But no, we’ll crap on the game wardens because they messed with my kid who was breaking the law. Will he jerk the game commission around if I get caught with a loaded rifle in a car? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Mouse Gun
When we hear the word mouse gun, we generally don’t think of a .44 revolver. Apparently there are people out there stupid enough to think that. Clayton Cramer argues that this woman falls into the category of “people that shouldn’t have guns”:
A point that I often make to reporters–and they are usually surprised to hear me say this–is that not everyone should have a gun. There are people who the law prohibits from having guns–and I agree, such as violent felons. There are also people who the law does not prohibit, but whom I discourage from owning guns.
Well, it looks like this woman made great Brady fodder too. I think I’ll stick to using my .44 on the hiking trail, and to shoot little metal animal shapes. As for mice? Well, I love cats, but Bitter is allergic.
NRA Popularity Rises Post Heller
The Supreme Court isn’t the only institution that’s gotten a boost in the polling data from Heller. I wonder how the Brady Campaign and VPC are polling post Heller? That pesky constitution’s a bitch isn’t it?
Britain Relaxes Gun Rules for Olympics
At least Olympics shooters will be able to practice in their own country in the run up to the games. At least one of the people in this video will get some measure of relief:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkS2BRoCd2I[/youtube]
Never here.
Post Heller Challenges
Eugene Volokh relays a case where a felon tried to raise a second amendment claim and was shot down. The Court did us a huge favor by taking this off the table immediately. This makes it far more likely that the people who raise Second Amendment in courts will generally be more sympathetic individuals, rather than career criminals.
Also, there are already have people raising the machine gun issue, which all the legal experts I’ve talked to agree is a dead end. As one notable legal expert pointed out to me “We got 5-4 on a .38 revolver.”
Then you have a postal employee challenging the ban on firearms in post offices. The magistrate dismissed the challenge in this case, arguing that:
Indeed, federal law (OSHA) requires employers to abate workplace hazards and encourages employers to take measures to prevent gun-related injuries. Surely, the United States Postal Service would be remiss if it failed to practice what federal law requires. Without question, § 232.1(1) bolsters the United States Postal Service’s zero tolerance for workplace violence and is a regulation designed to maintain safety and order on postal property.
I don’t agree with this one, but there’s always a political solution to this problem. Professor Volokh has a lot of worthwhile commentary on this one.
This case just seems like a disaster waiting to happen [Edit 7/17/08 – Linked to the wrong item. A few weeks later, I don’t remember what I intended to link to here, but will try to find again] Thankfully, we have some very talented people pursuing other incorporation cases.
But hey, at least we don’t have courts still pretending like Heller doesn’t exist, right? This should be a wake up call to gun owners that Heller hasn’t really settled much. We have the fight of our lives ahead of us, and I think we seriously need to face the fact that we can either have McCain picks on the federal courts, who has a chance of being good, or perhaps Deval Patrick. If the thought of that isn’t enough to get you to hold your nose this fall, I don’t know what is.
New Jersey Justice
Bryan Miller’s idea of justice: getting three years for having a BB gun in your car. Instapundit thinks tar and feathers are in order. Maybe it is time to start pushing for airgun rights.
Lautenberg Challenge
Looks like a guy in New York is using Heller to challenge being prohibited to possess a firearm because of a restraining order. I’m going to agree that this guy probably isn’t the best plantiff, but using Heller like this was probably inevitable. It’s worthwhile to consider that the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Emerson ruled that there was sufficient due process in the restraining order hearing, but probably barely so. This is an area the courts are going to be very reluctant to overrule the legislature on, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the door gets left open for misdemeanors and restraining orders to be disabling offenses if the legislature chooses to do it.
Michael Bane on Gun Blogs Podcast
Caleb and Squeaky will be interviewing Michael Bane on the Gun Nuts: The Next Generation Podcast. Listen at 11:00PM EDT.
UPDATE: The stream is available for those who missed. I highly encourage everyone to listen to the Bane interview. I make an appearance on the show toward the end.