The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State …
Both Baucus and Tester have spoken out against the requirement, arguing that such a regulation being proposed as the prerogative of Congress, not of ATF.
UPDATE: Denny Rehberg, Montana’s Congressman, has joined with a letter to ATF, co-signed by 33 other house members. You can find that letter here.
Worth noting that Montana’s Senators are both Democrats, and probably have the most to lose if the Democrats are visibly seen as pushing a gun control agenda.
The Sovereign Citizens are always the most entertaining:
Fast forward to December 15. The pre-trial hearing got off to a bad start when Cox refused to remove his trademark hat. Then a member of Cox’s militia entourage, Ken Thesing, announced that he was representing Cox, calling himself the militia leader’s “counsel before God.†Next, Cox attempted to serve the judge with a bundle of paperwork. “You’re now being treated as a criminal engaged in criminal activity, and you’re being served in that manner,†Cox told District Court Judge Patrick Hammers.
He’s the youngest, most clean cut guy I’ve noticed pulling this kind of stuff. Usually this kind of orneriness doesn’t set in until middle age. No word yet on whether the courtroom in question has a fringed flag, but they have already declared it an admiralty court.
Apparently it’s made Josh Sugarmann wet his pants. Good job guys!
I’m glad to see NRA seeing the need here. I think the establishment of these classroom programs was a mistake, and has created a barrier to entry for hunting it can ill afford in the 21st century. Much better would be an apprenticeship program, with certification available for hunters who want to mentor new hunters. I strongly believe there need to be a variety of ways potential hunters can get educated. The one-size-fits-all approach isn’t working. NRA is pushing online courses, which apparently only Indiana is investigating, with other states threatening to cease recognizing Hoosier hunters as having completed the requirement in retaliation.
I suspect the greatest resistance to this will come from hunters themselves, who I’ve consistently believed are the greatest enemies of their own sport. It’s is very important for the shooting community to save hunting, but I’m not that optimistic. I think hunting will continue to decline, as previous generations of hunters reflexively resist change, and actively help hunting’s enemies to eliminate forms of the sport they don’t approve of. Sorry to be grim, but if there’s a survival instinct in the hunting community, I haven’t seen it.
It would seem that spending can get rather lavish when candidates who run in uncompetitive districts have to spend their campaign money. Not something I think the government should regulate, but good on the Tribune-Review for pointing this out. It would make me think twice if I had been a campaign donor.
John Micek reports all the committee chairmanships for the next session of the Pennsylvania House. Looks like State Government is going to be chaired by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe as majority chair and Rep. Babette Josephs as minority chair. Those of you who in your youth may have derived entertainment by throwing elemental sodium into water, or mixing up baking soda and vinegar, should appreciate this mix of characters.
NRA announced today they are shooting for the moon in Wisconsin, and going for constitutional carry:
Past legislative efforts to secure the Right to Carry always assumed that a veto override would be necessary. Â Attempting to secure two-thirds majorities required the NRA and other proponents to accept amendments during the legislative process that sought to place additional restrictions on the good citizens of Wisconsin and would have impeded their ability to protect themselves. Â With the makeup of the incoming legislature, these unnecessary concessions should no longer be necessary.
The NRA will strive to make Wisconsin’s 2011 Right to Carry law one of the strongest in the country.  The experience of 40 other Right to Carry states has eliminated any question as to whether citizens can be trusted to act safely and responsibly.  The laws of Vermont, Alaska and Arizona will be used as the model.  The latter two, in particular, will set the standard with systems that recognize the citizens’ constitutional right to carry firearms for self-defense along with a provision that will provide for the streamlined issuance of a state permit that can be used for reciprocity purposes in other states while traveling.
This is good news. The Courts appeared to be ready to toss the carry law anyway, and it would be a shame not to help that process along. Also, I think this puts to rest any of the accusations that NRA was never committed to constitutional carry.
From ANJRPC, the motion can be found here. Reading through it with my layman’s eyes, it looks very well done and thorough. They go to great length to distinguish New Jersey’s law from California’s (which was upheld by a District Court earlier) and I think deal quite effectively with existing precedent in the Circuit on obliterated serial numbers, which applied intermediate scrutiny. Obviously the plaintiffs in this case are calling for strict scrutiny to be applied. It also hits to the heart of the issue here, if I may quote from the motion:
The additional articulated components of the “need†requirement are similarly overbroad and impermissible. The requirement that citizens “corroborate the existence of any specific threats or previous attacks by reference to reports of such incidents to the appropriate law enforcement agencies†is entirely irrational. Individuals victimized once may never be victimized again, and an individual’s first encounter with a violent criminal may well lead to death or seriously bodily harm – before he or she can even articulate the “need.†The right to self-defense at the core of the Second Amendment does not depend for its existence on a history of previous victimization. The Second Amendment provides that individuals – not the State – retain the ability to decide whether their own “necessity for self-protection†necessitates being armed.
We’ll see how this goes. We should know soon how the judge will rule on this motion. Obviously, the State of New Jersey will be filing a motion for summary judgement from the other point of view.
Apparently Colin Goddard and his father are going to start blogging. I look forward to thoughtful and engaging debate in the comments section.
UPDATE: His Twitter page here:
CAC ’03 & VT ’08 Alum, born in Nairobi, Kenya, currently working at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in D.C. as an advocate for sensible gun laws.
Born in Kenya. That’s going to be a hoot for the tin foil hat crowd. Just like Obama! We haven’t seen Colin’s birth certificate either!
We’re more familiar with the fight in Mexico, but the same fight is also happening in Brazil. The Firearms Blog has pictures of some of the captured weapons, which no doubt came from US gun shows. It couldn’t be all this was obtained on the international black market. No way. They are drug cartels! What do they know about trafficking in contraband?