The Senate has finally voted to kill the long gun registry in Canada. Needless to say, the Quebecois aren’t all that happy, and are talking about starting a provincial registry. I guess the French Canadians don’t mine flushing money down the toilet that would be better spent on traditional policing. Firearms enthusiasts in Canada can also enjoy the sweet, sweet tears of defeated anti-gun folks. I think they’ll find they are energizing.
Category: Guns
Breaking News in Illinois on “Assault Weapons”
The Illinois Supreme Court issued an opinion in the case challenging the Cook County ban on “assault weapons.” Word has it that the just released opinion remands on equal protection and due process grounds. No word whether the Second Amendment is involved yet. Looks like a punt. More to come as it comes. Check this post for updates.
UPDATE: Opinion here. The case remands on Second Amendment grounds, but upholds the dismissal for due process and equal protection. From the summary:
However, as to the second amendment issue, the supreme court took a different view. At this early stage of the litigation, in the procedural posture of this case, it cannot be said conclusively whether “assault weapons†as defined by the ordinance fall within or outside the scope of the rights protected by the second amendment. This question requires an empirical inquiry that goes beyond the scope of both the record in the current litigation and judicial notice. The supreme court said that, at this point in the lawsuit, it cannot be said that no set of facts can be proved that would entitle the plaintiffs to relief. Neither has the County had an opportunity to present evidence to justify a nexus between the ordinance and the governmental interest it seeks to protect. Therefore, the circuit court’s dismissal of the complaint count based on the second amendment was improper and was reversed, as was that part of the appellate court’s judgment which affirmed the dismissal.
Pretty much a punt on the Second Amendment issue. They essentially remand the case back to lower court to undergo a trial. This is a small win, given that the lower court originally approved Cook County’s motion to dismiss.
UPDATE: From the Chicago Tribune. I should note that I am not optimistic about success with assault weapons bans as things stand right now. The judiciary is quite hostile to gun rights just generally. I think the odds of finding judges to strike down bans on scary looking guns is long.
Castle Doctrine, SYG, Under Multi-Front Attack
The Democrats are already getting to work in Florida to repeal Stand Your Ground. The Republicans seem to be taking a wait and see approach, but don’t count on them. At least one columnist for the Palm Beach Post thinks repeal is unlikely. Meanwhile, a Democratic State Representative is assaulting our considerably more limited SYG law, and it’s abundantly clear he knows nothing about self-defense law either before or after castle doctrine passed here.
We must never allow another state-sanctioned tragedy like this. Pennsylvania must revisit its Castle Doctrine law and take steps to get guns off our streets.
Prior to Gov. Tom Corbett signing the legislation into law last year, Pennsylvania allowed citizens the right to use deadly force, if necessary, against introducers in their “castle†or home.
The new law allows the use of deadly force in other places, such as a car or public street, and does not require the person to retreat before shooting.
I find it terrifying that we have enacted legislation that condones untrained civilians shooting someone in our streets. It’s the wrong direction for Pennsylvania.
So according to Rep. Waters, Pennsylvanians should have no right to self-defense anywhere but in the home? Even the United Kingdom doesn’t go so far in its deviation from traditional common law on this matter. The Pennsylvania constitution, which is the title of our blog, protects the right to bear arms in defense of self, one wonders whether Rep. Waters believes that constitutional provision, which he took an oath to uphold, ought to have any meaning at all. He’s not the only one, however. The York Daily Record is also editorializing:
Florida law allows people to use deadly force – with no responsibility to try to retreat to safety if possible – if they feel threatened.
This is a blatant falsehood. One wonders whether this editorial was written by the Daily Record, or submitted to them by MAIG or CeaseFirePA. They go on to suggest that it couldn’t happen here, but fail to acknowledge that Zimmerman would still have a self-defense claim here, even under the pre-Castle Doctrine law. Philadelphia Weekly has an interview with Rep. Metcalfe on Castle Doctrine. I’m surprised by even how much of the case he gets wrong. Pennsylvania Castle Doctrine wouldn’t protect Zimmerman based on the facts that we know about the case, no matter who’s claim you believe. The thing is, Florida SYG/CD has nothing to do with this case either. It does is not relevant based on the facts.
PolitiFact Florida on Brady Campaign
Shocker, PolitiFact finds the Bradys are full of shit. If this was true, I would have renewed my Florida permit. As it is, my local PD fingerprints only a few days a week and not during convenient hours. My friend Jason also got his Florida CWL in the same class I got mine, and when he went to renew, his local PD refused to take the prints because it was for a Florida CWL. Some digging, and we find during the anti-gun Rendell Administration, the State Police put out an advisory to local PDs not to fingerprint people for Florida licenses.
This is also despite the fact that both Jason and I have PA LTCs, and aren’t exploiting what our opponents misleadingly label as a “loophole.” Since my dad moved out of Delaware, I don’t really get that much use from the reciprocity anyway, so I never took this issue back up.
What Your Carry Gun Says About You
From When the Balloon Goes Up. My favorite is his description of what the Walther PPK says about you:
Walther PPK – I don’t know anything about guns but the James Bond movies were awesome. I think Sean Connery was the best, Pierce was ok and Daniel Craig was a mistake.  I can’t believe that they went away from the Aston Martin… There is no way a British spy would drive a German car. Oh yeah, we were talking about guns. This one is a .32 just like he carried.
I don’t own a PPK, but both the guns I do own for carry are on there.
Gun Control Groups on CoBIS
Crickets is the sound after repeal. It strikes me that we have the gun control groups in the same position they had us in during the 80s and 90s, where we couldn’t count on Republicans to really help us out much. Actually, it’s probably worse, because I think many Democrats who were once staunch allies are abandoning the cause. It’s not surprising to me they don’t have much to say on this process. Spamming people on Twitter is probably more rewarding anyway.
Next In Line for the CNC Mill
You may recognize the platform. Jason informs me that there’s still a lot of work to be done, as everything is not fitting together all that nicely at the moment. The first attempt was sacrificed to the gods of gravity, and a loose fitting. I guess it’s a good thing aluminum is fairly recyclable, and 1911s aren’t made out of the bones of endangered species, or something. Quite a lot of aluminum has been gone through on these projects that’s been sacrificed to FAIL. But he’ll have a nice collection of homemade guns when all is said and done, for sure.
For something non-gun Jason was machining, he made a time lapse video to show the progress. I thought that would be neat to do with a gun too, so I asked him. Below you’ll find the results of that:
I believe this is a frame that bolts together, which makes it easier to do on the mill.
Who Are Chicago’s Gun Laws Disarming?
To the credit of the authorities, they didn’t pursue gun charges, but the 81-year old man who had his firearm seized after defending his home says he’ll just get another one. They note the 81-year old had a theft charge 22 years ago, but that doesn’t sound like a disabling offense. He had a weapons charge in 1994, but given that Chicago’s laws are unjust, that doesn’t mean anything to me.
Debunking the Myth
Dave Kopel publishes in the Washington Times, debunking the notion that the Zimmerman case has anything to do with Florida’s stand your ground law. He does not go easy on the media, nor should he. They’ve been carrying a false narrative for people who are deceptive if I’m in a charitable mood, or outright liars and charlatans if I’m not.
In a Defensive Shooting
Your first call should be to your lawyer. Reading over this post over at Tam’s, one thing strike me: if there’s one lesson to learn from the Zimmerman case, your next call should probably be to a PR firm. We’ve seen two cases recently, Gerald Ung and now George Zimmerman, where the parents of the shootee have hired PR firms and made life a living hell for the the shooter.
They used to say the first person to call 911 is generally the victim. Now it’s probably accurate to say the first person to hire a PR firm to start setting the narrative in the media is probably the victim.