April 2011 – Page 4 – Shall Not Be Questioned

LTCF Upheld by Center County Court

Ruling can be found here. A newspaper article from a few weeks ago was written about it here. Much the the analysis here strikes me as weak, particularly the question of whether the Second Amendment protects unlicensed carry outside the home. I believe the question should be whether the Second Amendment protects carrying outside the home, and then next question is, under a chosen standard of review, does the licensing requirement impermissibly burden the exercise of that right. The court gives short service to analysis even under intermediate scrutiny.

I agree with the court’s conclusions in regards to carrying in a courthouse, which I believe the government can legitimately proscribe. I believe Pennsylvania’s statute is set up in a constitutional manner. But I’d like to see courts taking the overall right more seriously.

Second Amendment Right to Stun Gun

I am very pleased to see a judge understanding that the Second Amendment is about more than just firearms:

â€œBecause the court finds that a stun gun is an arm under the Second Amendment, it likewise follows that states may regulate the ownership and possession in the same manner as any other arm,â€ the judge wrote. â€œHowever, this court holds that a total ban of stun guns … is unconstitutional.â€

This seems correct to me. Hopefully other courts will come to similar conclusions in regards to non-firearm self-defense items like sprays and knives.

Standing Up for Gun Rights

On April 10, I posted about several members of the Pennsylvania delegation who weren’t supporting a gun rights bill in Congress, contrary to the fact that it’s on NRA’s agenda. Four of those members had the NRA-PVF endorsement, and two more of them wanted it against pro-gun incumbents (and will presumably want it again).

Fantastic reader Adam Z. shot me an email about some things and noted that Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick was listed as a sponsor even though I had posted that he was not one. Huh? That’s something I totally would have noticed. How the hell did I miss that? So it’s off to Thomas for me to look into the problem.

RESULTS!

Following the post, Rep. Fitzpatrick, along with Reps. Lou Barletta & Tom Marino, signed on as sponsors.

No, I’m not trying to claim actual credit for these new sponsors. We know that NRA sent out alerts to their members asking them to get board with recruiting new sponsors. On our front, we blogged about the people who weren’t sponsoring it on here, and we covered it on PAGunRights. The tweet from @PAGunRights targeting those who had not yet sponsored was retweeted a half dozen times or so. We also know that the exact SIH post was viewed by House of Representative servers 18 times between the post date & when the last of those three became a sponsor. (For PAGunRights, which did not highlight those who had not signed on, it was a handful of hits as well.)

While NRA’s emails can create a much larger firestorm for any Congressional office, it is good to look at these numbers and know that Congressional staff know we’re watching closely, and we’re going to talk about those who let us down and praise those who help us.

Heyl’s Immaturity on Display

Someone went poking around the NRA archives and pointed out that not only is this not the first time that Eric Heyl has made disparaging remarks about people who might like to own firearms, but that his attacks on those who disagree with him are a longstanding behavior – one supported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Here’s his response to a reader who expressed a different view:

Yep. We all have our opinions. The difference between us is that I happen to get paid for mine.

Since that email was from 2007, I guess the Tribune-Review‘s business model of “we hate you, readers” really does work. That’s too bad.

For those of you reading this blog from Pittsburgh, might I suggest the paper that ran a piece about women and guns on Sunday that didn’t include a massive dose of misogyny?

Heyl is free to be anti-gun. And his employers are free to condone his insults toward their readers. But consumers don’t have to keep buying their paper.

Mexico to Sue US Gun Makers

Apparently they are retaining attorneys. They must not be very good attorneys, because PLCAA should pretty clearly stop any lawsuit they may be considering. All I can say is thank God we made passing this a priority in the 1990s. Imagine a lawsuit like this funded by the full weight of a sovereign government?

Sources say Mexico’s frustration with U.S. efforts to stop the flow of weapons has pushed them into this novel approach. The law firm is looking at charges that may include civil RICO. The contract was signed on November 2, 2010 by a representative of Mexico’s Attorney General, at their Washington embassy.

Any time you hear the word RICO, in regards to a civil suit, that’s usually cuckoo speak. My impression would be they’d have next to no chance to win this. I doubt it’ll even make it to trial. I’m sure, however, that Reid Collins & Tsai will be happy to take the Mexican government’s money.

Philly Doubles Down

Remember that guy who got harassed for OCing in Philadelphia (legally, with a permit)? It looks like the DA decided to go forward with charges against him, and the police showed up at his workplace with an arrest warrant. Charges are Disorderly Conduct, a third degree misdemeanor, and reckless endangerment, a second degree misdemeanor. One of the lawyers on PAFOA notes that this is probably a dirty trick to stave off the possibility of a civil suit.

Apparently in Philadelphia, laws and rights are optional if you’re City government.

Editorial Blasts Brady Ad

The Bowling Green Daily News doesn’t much like the Brady Campaign’s new ad:

Groups like the Brady Campaign and others simply have no shame as evidenced by their past actions and this recent ad.

I couldn’t agree more.

Picking the Wrong Target

Mr. Misogyny himself graced our presence with his response to my post about his attack on women who are able to consider weighty subjects beyond whether our shoes match our handbags. His explanation is the classic “you’re just too stupid to get ME” defense.

You folks obviously arenâ€™t adept at recognizing satire, but I do thank you sincerely for reading. Peace out, people.

Except that doesn’t work. As I said in the comments, satire is to mock. Who does his column mock? Itâ€™s not NRA or gun owners. It mocks women who express an opinion or interest outside of superficial topics. The problem isnâ€™t that we donâ€™t recognize satire, itâ€™s that we recognized his real target and find it appalling. Another comment worth noting was the response from Phelps:

Right. Satire would have been, â€œthese are the reasons the NRA has failed to attract women,â€ not, â€œthese are the reasons women are too vacuous to use guns.â€

The fact is that Eric Heyl has shown contempt for anyone who disagrees with his column. There is no room to say, “you know, you just went too far.” I think it speaks very poorly for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that they published this in the first place, but also continue to condone his responses to their readers. It’s unprofessional, disrespectful, and generally not the kind of thing you want to put on display for your customers. I know times are tight for most media businesses, but I’m not sure the “you’re all ignorant jerks” business model is generally the one that works.

Quigley Introduces Brady Backed Bill

Mike Quigley is proud of his new bill, it would seem. Here are some things it does:

A second, hidden serial number on every gun, “This provision would require gun manufacturers to install additional, tamper-resistant serial numbers either inside the gun barrel or visible only in infrared light.”

Inside the barrel? Are you guys nuts? Do you know anything about gun design? I don’t know if you realize, but that’s the part that’s supposed to contain a violent explosion, and kind of has to be structurally pretty strong. It also wears out. After 20,000 rounds am I guilty of obliterating the serial number? Visible only using IR light? Do we have a type of steel that accomplishes this? This is a stupid idea.

Maintaining background check records for 60 days.

Sorry, no. I know backdoor registration when I see it. Records are already maintained for people who are denied. That should be enough. If they are clear, you destroy the record immediately. This is not open for negotiation.

Requiring gun dealers to perform inventory checks to report lost and stolen guns: The ATF reported that in 2007 it found 30,000 guns missing from dealer inventories based on its inspection of just fewer than 10 percent of gun dealers.Â If law-abiding dealers reported their inventories, the ATF would be much more effective at identifying and combating corrupt gun dealers.

Law abiding dealers already have to report their inventory upon ATF inspection. This is utterly useless and is designed only to make it harder to be in the gun business. The dealer’s A/D record should reflect current inventory. ATF declares a gun missing when A&D records don’t match actual inventory. This is essentially requiring dealers to keep inventory twice. All FFL holders are required to report lost and stolen guns. There’s already a form for that. Again, the answer is no.

Issa Threatening Melson With Contempt

ATF missed the deadline to turn over subpoenaed materials about the gunwalker controversy, so Rep. Issa is threatening Acting Director Melson with contempt. You can find the letter here. He’s basically telling them to claim executive privilege, cooperate, or face contempt charges. Your guess is probably as good as mine as to what path will be taken, because I don’t have much faith in this Administration’s skill at navigating a controversy any more than I do at it’s ability to navigate anything else. If Obama were skilled, Executive Privilege would not be the smart path. It would automatically bring the White House into the scandal, likely only with hope of delaying, rather than stopping the Congressional action. An assertion of Executive Privilege would be dubious at best, considering Congress paid the bills for this scandal, and has the power to investigate how that money was spent. The claim is unlikely to survive in the Courts.