Guns – Page 218 – Shall Not Be Questioned

News Links for “Ugh! I hate the news cycle!”

All the news media is talking about the Zimmerman case, and all the old narratives are coming back. The ignorance burns. Everyone knows what happened in the Zimmerman case. Everyone’s an expert, and everyone has an opinion, even when they have no idea what they are talking about. Here’s the news:

The psychology of gun laws. She should have stopped at “I’m no legal expert”

USA Today has their viewpoint, and they think none of us are responsible enough to bear arms.

The Chicago Police Chief also thinks you’re stupid.

Mississippi gun laws are too confusing, apparently. OK… I’ll bite. Let’s get rid of them then, if they are too confusing.

It’s like Deja Vu in Florida.

Glenn Reynolds: A black man defends himself against a white attacker and is acquitted. Yeah, I didn’t hear about this either. Also, American own nearly half of the privately owned guns on earth. I think we can do better too.

The ignorance, it burns.

The rush to gun controlÂ causes Connecticut to pass a bill so we could find out what’s in it.

Not gun related, but this makes perfect political sense to me. Those welfare recipients vote Republican.

Remember, they hate us. The best revenge is working through the system to ensure they remain very angry, very disappointed people.

Black lawmakers are readying a flurry of bills in response to the Zimmerman acquittal, none of which would have anything to do with the actual case. I’m sympathetic to racial profiling by police, but the best way to stop that is to end the drug war.

A gun buyback you can believe in.

Is grey the new black?

PLCAA Success Story? Colt Remerges

Colt Defense and Colt Manufacturing are becoming one again. They split in 2003 to shield their defense business from potential lawsuits. With the passage of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms ActÂ in 2005,Â lawsuits aren’t the threat they used to be, and thus ends a chapter in the firearms industry that never would have happened, if not for religious fanatics who set on a mission to do to the firearms industry what they did to the tobacco industry. PLCAA is far from perfect protection, and said fanatics are still busy looking for weaknesses, but it was an understated victory of the last decade that I think helped put the anti-gun organizations on the ropes. They spent a lot of money and resources on those suits which got nowhere.

Hey, Gun Industry, Better Ignore New Business Models

SayUncle has a few things to say about an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispach, decrying Lucky Gunner, LLC for essentially being what’s called a “virtual company,” acting like it’s some kind of stealth and shady operation rather than just a smart business. It’s quick becoming a trend in Biotech as well, and, in fact, I had considered trying to help start such a company if we could practically do it (and we couldn’t, but not because the virtual model couldn’t work).

Why run your own warehousing and logistics services if you can hire someone who specializes in that to do it for you more efficiently than you could yourself? I guess if you’re in the gun industry, new business models are out of the question, lest you attract the attention of reporters who think they’ve got something on you. It’s amazing how much of the firearms industry our opponents want to leave stuck in the 1950s.

CSGV Failing to Give the Full Context

I haven’t blogged about the CSGV for quite some time, mostly because they are irrelevant in the current debate. But their claim on the jury instructions, as you may imagine, fail to give the whole picture. The full jury instructions are posted online. You can find them here and here. There’s a lot more to the jury’s instructions than that. They, of course, fail to mention this would also be part of the instruction:

In deciding whether defendant was justified in the use of deadly force, you must judge [him] [her] by the circumstances by which [he] [she] was surrounded at the time the force was used.Â The danger facing the defendant need not have been actual; however, to justify the use of deadly force, the appearance of danger must have been so real that a reasonably cautious and prudent person under the same circumstances would have believed that the danger could be avoided only through the use of that force.Â Based upon appearances, the defendant must have actually believed that the danger was real.

You can find exactly how the instructions changed in the Florida Supreme Court case showing here. What is also mentioned is that previously, retreat was only required when one could do so in complete safety. Zimmerman’s claim was that her was pinned to the ground. Either you believe it or you don’t. If you believe it, duty to retreat doesn’t come into play regardless, under current law or the old law.

UPDATE: You can find the exact and lengthy jury instructions here.

Update on Illinois Ordinance Fights

We’re winning more than we’re losing, which is good. When we show up, we win. And even where we lost, we didn’t lose as badly as one might fear. Perhaps we’ll get to see how the convictions of the town councils that defied us stand up under a federal lawsuit.

CT State Police Aren’t Engineers

This is the reason that State Police Det. Ken Damato gives for the Connecticut State Police refusing to give manufacturers any guidance on what features of a firearm would be within the bounds of the state’s new gun control laws. He says, “Weâ€™re not arbiters of weapons construction.”

Such excuses are interesting considering that he then admits the same non-engineers who know so little about firearms are telling retailers what they can and cannot sell, and I have little doubt that these non-engineer/non-firearms experts will gladly arrest a citizen with a gun they claim they don’t really understand.

Of course, don’t expect any consistency out of the State Police on this issue. They will defend their absolute knowledge when it comes to arresting people, but not when it comes to assisting the firearms business in attempting to follow the law.

This reeks of Massachusetts-style attitudes. There are two sets of requirements that have to be met before handguns can be sold in Massachusetts, and Attorney General requirements are essentially handled the same way that the Connecticut State Police are behaving now. They tell manufacturers that they will not assist in judging compliance–unless, that is, you break the law. Then they will gladly go after you for the crime.

I remember a period of a few weeks when Glock decided to try legally selling in Massachusetts back in 2004 or so. The AG’s office, which would not provide guidance up until that point, just suddenly decided that they didn’t actually meet requirements and made them illegal to sell. If you want an idea of the kind of mess that Connecticut may be on the path toward by adopting Massachusetts-style attitudes on gun regulations, then check out this crazy page by a Massachusetts gun dealer that tries to explain what he can and cannot sell.

Even the Connecticut press seems to think this attitude that the State Police are refusing to help people abide by the law is too much. Granted, their solution is to make government bigger to answer more questions, but at least they acknowledge that there’s a problem when bureaucrats try to keep things vague for people trying to follow the law.

Could Impact Gun Rights

Reid is considering the “nuclear option” to ending the filibuster.Â At this point, it may only end up applying to nominees, but that’s not clear. It’s worth noting that the filibuster is the only thing keeping gun control from passing the Senate. Of course, it’s also the only thing keeping national reciprocity from passing as well. We could end up with a Manchin-Toomey like deal with national reciprocity tacked on to it. How bad do the likes of Bloomberg want Manchin-Toomey? Probably not at the cost of letting us tote firearms in Manhattan.

Who Will Try to Ban Your Rifle this Week?

Communities have until Friday to get in under Illinois’ grandfathering, because all firearms ordinances get preempted. Several are going to try for bans this week. This is like the lottery, you have to play to win, except the odds of winning are much much higher when we play.

Zimmerman Roundup

One thing I have to say is that I’m glad the Zimmerman case is over, because I’ve grown tired of this whole case. Of course, it’s over, or is it? The feds are deciding whether they want a stab at him too. Jonathan Adler has an excellent write up of that possibility over at Volokh. He seems to think the feds will take this Very Seriously, and then pass.

Meanwhile, Eugene Volokh suggests if the Zimmerman case suggests there should be anything changed in regards to Florida’s law, perhaps they should look at the six person jury law. In all but one other states, for serious crimes, juries are composed of 12 people.

Massas Ayoob has his say on the case, and will have more to say. He’s been silent because he’s been involved in the case.

Apparently people on the streets have more measured opinions than many in the media. That’s probably why there hasn’t been much in the way of rioting that a lot of people feared. Though, I’ve seen my share of people on Facebook who still think this was about 13 year kid who was hunted down for buying skittles, and who obviously didn’t follow the case or the trial one iota since they heard the initial narrative. But that jury, who actually heard all the evidence, how could they get it so wrong??

Mike Bloomberg thinks we need to stop with these “shoot first” laws, even though this was a pretty run-of-the-mill self-defense case where stand-your-ground never entered into the equation.

Michael Bane thinks it’s a huge victory for self-defense, and offers some useful advice.Â Tam has some similar thoughtsÂ about getting involved. I’m not your sheepdog. If it’s not my ass on the line, I’m not getting involved. The powers that be don’t want to see anymore of this. They’re from the government, and there to help, OR ELSE!

The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence has a predictable reaction to the Zimmerman verdict. They don’t believe in self-defense. To them, Hitler was a victim of tragic gun violence.

Shooting-Related Craftiness

I recently found a vintage Friends of NRA committee member pin on Etsy for a steal, and I’d like to clean it up and do something cute with it. For this year, I’ll stick to just wearing it as-is. I’d like to do something crafty with it, but I don’t actually know how to make jewelry, nor am I particularly creative.

In the meantime, I went surfing on Etsy again for a little gun jewelry inspiration and found some pretty stuff worth sharing.

Right now, I’m thinking charm bracelet for my new (old) pin. I suspect that’s something I could manage to make on my own without too much effort.

In other antique gun news, the city of Harrisburg is having an auction to rid itself of all the crap that a former MAIG mayor bought on the city’s dime while claiming it was for a museum. (Last year, the Department of Justice opened up an investigation into his questionable spending, so he’s another misbehaving Bloomberg ally.) Part of the collection is a series of antique firearm advertisements, plus several historic guns.