Sebastian – Page 178 – Shall Not Be Questioned

CSGV & VPC Standing Against Due Process Protections

Mens ReaÂ is a basic component of common law. It suggests that for serious offenses, the state must prove that you had a “guilty mind.” In other words, you consciously chose to commit the illegal act. There are exceptions to this, usually for crimes which are not very serious. For instance, speeding is a strict liability offense. It doesn’t matter if you tell the officer you didn’t know you were speeding. But in serious cases, like felonies and high misdemeanors, prosecutors generally have to prove mens rea in addition to actus reus. So along comes our fascist friends at CSGV and VPC, what’s their advice on this important legal matter?

However, gun control advocates told the Star that it is difficult to prove a buyer’s intent to purchase a gun for a felon. “You don’t want to make a prosecutor prove someone’s state of mind,” said Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. “That’s almost impossible.”

“It’s extremely hard to prove [the straw buyer] lied about their intent when they bought the gun,” said Kristen Rand, a lobbyist for the Violence Policy Center, which seeks stricter regulation on firearm sales.

It may be a tall burden, but having to prove state of mind is a barrier prosecutors should have to climb in order to earn convictions for serious crimes. That’s part of our legal tradition when it comes to the rights of the accused. Perhaps the folks at CSGV and VPC should consider moving to a country where protections for the accused are considerably weaker, and gun laws are very strict. I’d suggest Russia, because if you believe things like this, you don’t belong in America.

Breaking into a Gun Safe

Barron Barnett recently had the electronic lock on his Liberty Safe go TU, and had to have it drilled. He offers some advice on safes and what you can do if you ever find yourself in this situation. I’m glad to hear that it’s not an easy feat to get into the safe, especially since I also have a Liberty, though my lock is mechanical. One thing I’d point out though, is getting in can be an easier operation if you’re unconcerned about saving the safe and just want in.

Monday News Links

Well, we were hoping maybe we’d get an early decision on cert for the Drake case, but it was not to be this morning when the Supreme Court made announcements. We shall soon see whether we’re going to head back to the Supreme Court. Needless to say I’m going to be very nervous if the Court denies cert, since I don’t think we have much in the way of meaningful protections with just the current two cases, and the Heller Five aren’t getting any younger. Let’s see what we have in the way of links today:

NBC laments money in politics one week, and then another week cheers a rich billionaire putting $50 million in to politics. They aren’t against money in politics. They are against our money in politics.

Everytown for Gun Safety (God I hate that name) seems to be launching in cities around the country. Here’s one in Las Vegas. Here’s one in Denver. Note the close in shots so you can’t see how sparsely attended the events are.

Mayor Squidward, Michael Nutter, is joining up with Everytown. Because Philadelphia is just Everytown, USA for sure. Philadelphia is certainly unique in many ways, most of them bad.

John Lott: “What the press is missing in Bloomberg’s anti-gun push.”

Hot Air takes on EGS’s first ad.

Why Bloomberg’s Nanny Campaign Will Backfire.

EGS is misleading people about the guns used at Columbine. They were textbook straw purchases, where a legal buyer stands in for the actual buyer, who is prohibited. In this case the Columbine killers were juveniles.

Jacob is skeptical that Dems are really happy about Bloomberg’s $50 million dollar pledge. Well, if he runs ads against Pryor, Landrieu, or any of the other Dems up in red states, it could help them. No better way to advertise your bone fides than getting attacked by Bloomberg.

Jacob also notes that Cuomo could be in trouble. I’m skeptical that he’s vulnerable enough to lose re-election, but if we could pull that off it would be epic.

And finally from Jacob, Five ways gun control advocates fail.

Well, trolling EGS on Facebook was fun while it lasted. Of course, they have their work cut out for them to get rid of all the state and local pages.

Chicago reducing crime by cooking the books? They are just making concealed carry look better.

Civil Rights victory in Massachusetts. Massachusetts? Yes. Massachusetts.

Victor Davis Hanson: “Cliven Bundy and The Rural Way“, and Breitbart: “Cliven Bundy and the Origins of the American Abundance Revolution.” This is still something to keep and eye on, especially given that Reid would seem to be looking for paybacks. Hey, solar farms don’t build themselves, you know.

Off topic:

The United States of SWAT.

Hillary Clinton’s legacy: “She has no legacy. Everything sheâ€™s done, except getting preferential treatment from the Democrat establishment, was a failure.” That must be why they are grooming Chelsea.

Everytown for Gun Safety: Starting with FAIL!

The funny thing is, they know they have to convince a fair number of gun owners to go along with their schemes, which is why a poster like this is just so damned full of fail:

Everytown Has Morons

Something must be really wrong with that rifle if it’s shooting out the whole cartridge like that. To enlighten our gun safety experts at Everytown, the bullet is the shiny thing at the end (they also aren’t usually silver, unless you’re hunting werewolves), and that’s the only part that goes down the barrel. I kind of thing if you’re going to lecture fellow Americans about “gun safety,” you ought to at least get the basics correct. And notice that’s a rifle bullet. I thought you guys were giving up on the whole “assault weapons” thing? And outrunning bullets is exactly what these folks expect us to try to do because they are strong believers in a duty to retreat.

UPDATE: Miguel has more background.

Weird Gun Laws in India

I have to admit, I did a double take when I saw this headline come across my Google Alerts: “Rifle association hit by polls, forced to cancel national event.” I was concernedÂ that something horrible had happened overnight or during the morning, ahead of the NRA Annual Meeting, forcing them to cancel everything (as happened in Denver the year Columbine happened). But no, it turns out this article is about the National Rifle Association of India. The problem? A national “all India” match came too close to election day, and apparently election day has special consequences for gun owners in India:

It has had to cancel an all-India shooting event because its members received notices from the police asking them to surrender their weapons during the election period.

This, despite the Commission (EC) exempting the sports body from impounding its weapons during the poll season.

Indians have to surrender their firearms during elections? We’re somewhat fortunate in this county that such a thing would be impractical (where would they put them all?) because I could totally see the antis trying to do something like that here.

Security Problems at NAGR?

Paul Lathrop, of the The Polite Society Podcast, and John Richardson of No Lawyers, Only Guns and Money, take a look at what appears to be a pretty serious privacy breach going on with NAGR. To make a long story short, it appears that there’s some kind of misconfiguration or mistake in forwarding web forms:

When asked if the rest of the emails looked like the email he provided to us he stated, â€œYes. Itâ€™s random questions from people who visited their â€œContact Usâ€ page, then forwarded by someone within their organization for follow-up or review. Some of them contain some very specific personal information, like the USPS worker who details which facility he works at in pursuit of an answer to a legal question.â€

I’d say that’s a pretty serious issue, and one that ought to be addressed rather thanÂ shrugged off. What’s even more disturbing is that in the comments, other people report getting similar e-mails, which means it’s not just going out to one person by mistake.

I am not a fan of NAGR, as anyone who’s been following this blog for some time would know, so I should get that bias out of the way first. I don’t encourage people to join and suggest gun owners have no dealings with them or any of Dudley Brown’s other organizations. This would seem to be yet another example of amateur hour.

Happy Easter

To all who celebrate: Happy Easter. Bitter and I got a really good deal on a Smithfield ham the other day, and so we intend to bake that along with some sides. Given that I am a ham fiend, and don’t get to eat it very often, I’m starving myself now in anticipation.

How the Other Side Lives

John Richardson has put together and excellent article of how our opponents in the gun control movement live. I do have to hand it to Bloomberg for taste. His North Salem farmhouse’s quaint, understated quality is quite nice I think. For those of us who can barely afford one home, and certainly can’t afford hired armed security, and who struggle to be able to donate $50 dollars to the cause every now and then, let alone $50 million, no, we certainly won’t take this personally.

Petition Being Considered in Drake v. Jerijian

Today the Supreme Court will be deciding whether or not to grant certiorari in the case of Frake v. Jerijian, challenging New Jersey’s restrictive handgun carry licensing regime:

Issue:Â (1) Whether the Second Amendment secures a right to carry handguns outside the home for self-defense; and (2) whether state officials violate the Second Amendment by requiring that individuals wishing to exercise their right to carry a handgun for self-defense first prove a â€œjustifiable needâ€ for doing so.

The Court could announce as early as Monday what they decided. Obviously this is one to watch, because the Court is running out of cases they could use to decide this issue. It’s not certain yet what the fate of the 9th Circuit cases are going to be yet, and so it is also uncertain whether the Supreme Court will get a stab at those as well.

A Useful Alternative to Firearm Freedom Acts?

With a lot of states passing what are essentially meaningless laws “nullifying” federal gun laws, or new federal gun laws, that are essentially symbolic acts with little meaning, why not look at passing something that actually might have meaning? I had an idea that perhaps we should encourage states to pass laws refusing extradition or warrant service on gun charges that would not also constitute a violation of federal law? In other words, if someone has a SAFE act warrant out on them, or they get pinched in New Jersey for, say, having a paperwork problem with an FOID card, no authority in the other state can act on the warrant, and no extradition is to be permitted?

Can anyone think of any reason why this wouldn’t work? You essentially cover the felon-in-possession issue with the federal law clause, so if someone has a gun charge in another state because he’s a prohibited person, the extradition could proceed in that case, but not in the case where the person was otherwise law abiding. I can think of several conditions that would satisfy people worrying about criminals getting away.

No extradition is to be granted, and no arrest or search warrant is to be executed for any person under jurisdiction of this state, by any authority of this state, for any criminal charge or civil proceeding relating to possession, carrying, transporting, transfer, Â sale, or manufacture of firearms, ammunition, firearms accessories or ammunition components, provided that suchÂ possession, carrying, transporting, transfer, Â sale, or manufacture of firearms, ammunition, firearms accessories or ammunition components:

Does not violate of federal law.
Would be lawful under the laws of this state.
Were not used in the commission of a separate felony or misdemeanor, unrelated to possession, carrying, transporting, transfer, Â sale, or manufacture of firearms, ammunition, firearms accessories or ammunition components, under the laws of this state or the foreign state.

Any state agent found to have facilitated an extradition, arrest or search in violation of this law shall be fined not more than $10,000

Am I missing anything?