Apparently two armed men robbed a 13 year old boy of his sandwich. Yeadon police say they recovered both the gun and the sandwich. They missed a key piece of information though, which is where in Yeadon to buy a sandwich that’s worth committing armed robbery for? I’m about an hour away from there, but I’ll make the drive to try that sandwich.
Author: Sebastian
Different Organizations
John Richardson notes there’s at least one thing the ATF seems to do competently, which is handle C&R licenses. I also possess a C&R, and agree it’s a good way to enhance your collection with relatively minimal BS. You can also get pistols without going through any of the Pennsylvania paperwork (which means it ends up in the state police registry database). But there’s a reason for that. If you look at the top of your C&R, you will notice it says “Department of the Treasury” rather than “Department of Justice.” The same bill that established the Department of Homeland Security also split ATF in two, sending the enforcement side to Justice, and leaving the bean counting and licensing functions in Treasury. This effectively makes them two agencies, in fact if not in name. The people responsible for Fast and Furious were in DOJ.
A Guide to the Pennsylvania Texting Ban
Our state legislature has recently passed a texting ban, while driving. John Micek, author of the Capitol Ideas blog, has an article in the Morning Call outlining the conditions of the ban. Looks like the car has to actually be in motion, so you can still bang out a text at a stoplight, or sitting in halted traffic. This seems like a fair compromise to me. I’m against this ban, but more because it’s been shown that it does nothing to increase public safety (people just hide the phone they are texting on, taking their eyes further off the road), rather than because I think you can text while driving safely.
Greatest Threat to the Second Amendment
It’s not the anti-gun people, it’s guys like this:
The attorney for a Kingsburg[, CA] man charged with allegedly possessing 33 assault rifles, a grenade launcher and a silencer said Thursday that the Second Amendment gives him the right to collect guns.
Apparently some of those assault rifles were actual assault rifles. This is not going to end well folks, if this argument moves forward. I was always pretty pessimistic about saving the right to machine guns in court. I am now getting pessimistic we’ll ever get rid of bans on assault weapons. We really need a few more Supreme Court cases, and some changes on the federal courts, before we’re ready to start litigating on bans on narrow classes of firearms rather than bans on broad categories of firearms.
Had Obama not won, we could have gotten there much faster. But he won, and by historical precedent, he’s likely to win a second term. I think we might have to write off “assault weapons” as protected by the Second Amendment, at least by the courts. Certainly we’ll fight bans politically, and probably win, but that won’t help the half-dozen or so states who restrict narrow categories of firearms. Even Eugene Volokh doesn’t seem too optimistic about slipping that by the federal courts.
There are going to be too many guys like this out there taking cases too soon. If you think about the kind of logic allowing selective banning of classes of weapons requires, it blows a hole in the Second Amendment the size of a barn.
Tips for Influencing Canadians on Gun Rights
A timely topic, given the debate happening in Canada over the long gun registry, is how to influence Canadians when it comes to gun rights. Exurban Kevin, who is an expat from the Great White North offers some good advice on that, even when it comes to speaking about concealed carry. My understanding of Canadian gun laws suggests that guns that are most concealable are generally prohibited firearms. But there’s still plenty of concealable firearms that have barrels over 105mm. Plus, I can’t think of any better way to create a constituency for changing the law.
Myths About Shotguns
Brady Campaign to Prevent Shooting Ranges?
Looks like Miguel had a run in with a Brady supporter on Facebook, where the supporter claimed to be facing continuous 50 caliber fire for ten hours straight. Miguel was skeptical of such a claim, since a 10 hour firefight on the streets of Orlando would surely make the papers. Turns out she bought a house near a gun range and doesn’t like the noise. Miguel notes, “It’s called the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, not the Brady Campaign to Prevent Loud Noises.”
ACORN Behind Occupy?
I’m shocked. Shocked I tell you. Apparently they are going into extreme cover-up mode. Have these people been weaned from the public teat yet? I hope so.
More on Searches
A commenter brought up an interesting point in regards to the search of Cemetery’s vehicle, from a lawyer who says the 4th Amendment is alive and well, and it’s still possible to win 4th Amendment cases:
Your real concern is that all other things being equal, police are going to be believed in court over citizens. Well, yea, and that’s always been true, and likely always will be. The advice to have your own camera rolling is well taken.
I think that is partly my concern. If I think about the issue a bit more, what I really think I have an issue with are the dogs. Don’t get me wrong, I have no issue with the use of dogs in police work, or even the use of dogs for their noses in police work. I do have an issue with dogs amounting to probable cause for a search. Let me explain.
It is conceivable that sometime soon, technology will allow us to replace the dog’s nose. In this instance, police will be able to circle your vehicle with a device that takes in air samples, and looks for signatures of contraband. The interesting thing about this technology is, I think it actually would enhance civil liberties. I can’t cross examine a dog to find out what was going through its mind when it “alerted.” I can demand the logs from the device, demand to see its service records, and examine the science behind its function.
Even if it ends up a matter of judicial notice that the devices are reliable, and a reading can amount to probable cause, the officer at least would have to induce a reading somehow if he wanted to act merely on his suspicion, rather than just read the tea leaves of a dog’s behavior.
What’s interesting about such a sniffing device is how it would be affected under Kyllo v. United States. Unless such a device was generally available, it’s hard for me to see how it would be distinguished from the Kyllo case, except that involved a residence, and this would only presumably involve a vehicle or personal effects such as luggage. Perhaps the court would rule you have a lesser expectation of privacy. But as it is, a dog sniff doesn’t even constitute a search for 4th Amendment purposes, but if I were to use a device the mimics a dog’s nose, it presumably would. This goes to show the court’s logic in this matter is not entirely consistent.
Kriss Vector SDP Review
Over at Shooting Illustrated, Caleb gives the civilianized Kriss Vector pistol a review. I was going to point out the Kriss review I did after the Lucky Gunner shoot, but it turns out it only ever existed in my head. Guess I need to remember to write the down. The Kriss SMG is also quite a lot of fun, and the recoil reduction of the system does work as advertised. It has more kick than I expected, but for as high as the cyclic rate is, it’s quite controllable. I think they have an interesting system, but with tactical teams moving toward rifle-caliber carbines and PDWs, I’m not sure how much luck they’ll have selling a pistol caliber SMG.
But if you have the cash to pony up, it is a lot of fun. Obviously the Kriss SMG is not available to civilians, but the carbine version is the same system in semi-auto. If I were going to pony up the money for one, I’d go for the extra $200 for the tax stamp to get the short barreled version. As a shooter, I’ve never been too enthusiastic about semi-auto versions of submachine guns, and I don’t own any, but if I were going to spend the money on one, I’d get a Kriss.