People with concealed carry licenses will be permitted to carry in vehicles on school and college campuses. Not quite campus carry, but some progress.
Year: 2009
No Sporting Use
Joe Huffman takes on a notion, promoted by the former Attorney General of Maryland, that handguns have no sporting use. This Sunday is our monthly IHMSA match, which I suppose doesn’t qualify as a sport in the mind of Joseph Curran.
Vandalism
Via Caleb, who compares and contrasts pro-and anti-gun forces, looks like a local shooting range in Georgia was vandalized by anti-gun folks. I should not that this is the first I’ve heard of this kind of thing. If I were the Brady Campaign, my first thought would be that this kind of thing is the last thing we need, but I would also have to admit that at least someone out there has some passion for the cause. In order to have the problem of having your grass roots do things that embarrass you, first you need to have grass roots!
Gun Chicks
A mother and daughter team in Ohio offer basic safety classes to women who want their concealed carry licenses. While they do teach men, they do something a little different and offer all women’s classes to help some get over the intimidation factor.
One of my proudest moments was after teaching a woman to shoot a handgun, taking a break to watch her learn how to shoot rifles ranging from high-end competition .22s to a beat up AK-47 and then hearing her brag about how many clays she busted on the shotgun range. But that wasn’t particularly noteworthy at this all female event. What was noteworthy was when she came up to ask me how to join the club, if there were more women involved other than just me and that this was a first step she was taking after losing two family members to tragedies involving firearms. (IIRC, one was suicide and the other an act of violence.) That was pretty amazing.
Back to the article, one of the women specifically cites getting involved, taking the class, and getting her carry permit as a direct response to Obama’s gun positions. Again, so much for the Brady argument that it’s all seasoned shooters buying up the guns.
AK-15 For Sale
At a gun shop somewhere in Pennsylvania. Maybe they are trying to create a better investment.
More Gun Sales Means More Excise Taxes
I’ve always loved having the argument in my pocket that gun sales are good for Bambi. This California outlet points out that rising gun sales have been VERY good for Bambi in the last few months.
According to a federal report, in the last three months of 2008, the amount of money paid into the fund spiked 31 percent, as compared to the year before. Nearly all of the increase was due to increased handgun production.
Of course, I keep that argument on hand mostly for the folks who sit on the fence or aren’t typically on our side but could be swayed by it. I also realize that the excise tax money can go for public ranges, which some states are quite good about. (Florida and Arizona come to mind.) Hopefully that means in the next couple of years, we’ll see vast improvements in range quality. (It’s going to take a while since the feds only disperse the money once a year and most states don’t have much money to kick in the 25% they are required to pay for projects. It’s not “free” money for them and they can’t print more if they feel like it.)
For the FY2008, money distributed to the states & territories totaled nearly $310 million. It will be interesting to see how much is available by the end of FY2009.
Appeal Filed in Chicago Case
Looks like the appeal to the Supreme Court has been filed.
Veto Override on Restaurant Bill in TN
I’m hearing word that the veto override of the restaurant carry bill passed the TN house 69-27. It now goes on to the Senate.
UPDATE: Yep
UPDATE: Looks like they are setting up Bredesen on the whole “alcohol and guns do not mix” by sending him the same bill, only exempting police officers while off duty. Presumably the officers also would not be permitted to consume alcohol, while off duty and armed, right?  Let’s see if the powers that be think some people are more equal than others.
Microstamping in New York
Jacob reports that it’s making progress. NRA would appear to be robocalling New York members to get them to oppose the bill. Meanwhile, Reasoned Discourse continues.
UPDATE: Tom King talks about Reasoned Discourse too.
No Love for .50 Cals in California State Courts
Eugene Volokh takes a look at a decision in California State Court of Appeals that rules .50 calibers are not constitutionally protected. I think the state court’s analysis of the commonality of these types of arms is deeply flawed, as they are indeed “common” and not any more “dangerous” than other firearms that the State of California has not seen fit to ban.
I also don’t think one can take a self-defense approach to the Second Amendment that only considers self-defense under average circumstances. A Barret M82, or an AR-15 may, under a state of civil order, not be ideal firearms for self-defense under most circumstances. But what about a state of civil disorder? I don’t think self-defense under extreme circumstances can be so easily dismissed.
As I’ve argued, like Professor Nelson Lund has also, that any analysis done under Heller’s common use test has to also consider police use. Does a .50BMG pass this test? I think it would be hard to argue they are common in police arsenals, though some exist. But I would also argue that it is not especially dangerous, compared to other small arms.