Guns – Page 699 – Shall Not Be Questioned

Depends on What One Means by Possession

Interesting case out of Missouri, via SayUncle. A man drunk at home is charged with having a firearms while intoxicated. It seems to me that the public has an interest in a person not carrying a firearm in public while intoxicated, but the state’s power to reach into the home ought to be considerably diminished. Should someone be charged because they are intoxicated at home, but have a loaded pistol in the bed stand upstairs, or have a rifle in the closet?

Looking at the Missouri Statue, it would indeed seem the law reaches this far.

571.030. 1. A person commits the crime of unlawful use of weapons if he or she knowingly:

(5) Possesses or discharges a firearm or projectile weapon while intoxicated; or

In fact, it would seem to even make possession of an air gun or a bow and arrow a crime. The law isn’t entirely clear about what possession means, and doesn’t stipulate loaded or unloaded. Here’s the major exception, other than self-defense:

Subdivisions (1), (5), (8), and (10) of subsection 1 of this section do not apply when the actor is transporting such weapons in a nonfunctioning state or in an unloaded state when ammunition is not readily accessible or when such weapons are not readily accessible.

So you can transport firearms unloaded, in your car, and be as tanked up as you want! Well, DUI laws still apply, but they can’t get your for transporting an unloaded gun in your trunk. But it would appear this is a blanket prohibition on having a gun in the home while intoxicated.

I think the lower court got it right. This statute is pretty clearly over broad and unconstitutional. How can there be an exception for self-defense if you can’t have the gun around in a state ready to use for self-defense? I don’t suddenly lose my Second Amendment rights because I have a couple of beers in the home. The discharge portion of this is probably constitutional, but mere possession? I don’t see how that is, since it effectively destroys the right to keep a gun in the home.

RWN Reports on the Rise of MAIG

I appreciate Doubleplusundead for helping spread the word about MAIG to a wider audience. A few of these new mayors are in my area, and I’m currently thinking about how to approach them in an attempt to get them out. We’ve tried one approach previously, but I wasn’t all that pleased with the result, so we’ll try something new. The important thing is grass roots pressure. That’s the only thing that’s going to get a lot of these mayors to quit.

Latest Cutting Edge Google Research from VPC

Josh Sugarmann shows that people with concealed carry permits have murdered 85 people from 2007 to 2009. Source? News accounts, no doubt found through intensive research using Google. But if you look carefully at the actual reports, for the report which shows law enforcement officers killed, only one has actually been convicted, though the circumstances in the other cases, I will agree make a guilty verdict likely. It’s less clear when you look at private citizen incidents, since only 10 of the 42 incidents involved people who were convicted, with a further 10 committing suicide in likely murder suicides. Of the incidents not yet resulting in a conviction, one doesn’t even involve the use of a gun, eight could arguably be self-defense, depending on circumstances (something for a jury to decide).

I’d also point out that by dividing the incidents up like this, it makes it look like we’re dealing with more incidents overall, rather than just 46. So out of the estimated 5 million concealed carry permit holders in the country, Josh Sugarmann managed to dig up 46 people, many of which onlyÂ might be murderers because of a lack of convictions. Even giving Josh the benefit of doubt, that means that concealed carry permit holders murder at a rate 1/4 1/8 that of the general population. Not surprising for a group of people that have gone through a background check.

UPDATE: I should note that of the 46 incidents listed, there are a number of them which the concealed carry permit was not really material to the crime, because they either happened in or near the home.

UPDATE: Joe informs me I forgot to correct for the fact that Sugarmann’s study is over two years, so the real number is 1/8 not 1/4, and is noted above.

Sharp Rise in Morris County Gun Permits

Cemetery reports, with some charts, on a fairly significant rise in people being issued Firearms Owners ID cards, and permits to purchase handguns in Morris County, New Jersey. One thing to consider is that FID cards are good for life, so these issuances represent new gun owners, which increased 57% from 2006 to 2008, and are on track to increase a further 78% from 2008 to 2009 if the trend holds.

I think a lot more of the Great Obama Gun Rush may have been first time buyers than we realized. I hate New Jersey’s permitting and licensing system, but it is useful to be able to track trends, and the trends seems to be a lot of new gun owners, even in the Garden State, albeit in traditionally a Republican county. Given how hard Bryan Miller had to work to pass gun rationing, these numbers can’t make him feel good about future prospects.

First Victims of Irish Gun Ban

Via Jeff Soyer, we have one of the early victims. A competitive pistol shooter who police refuse to renew a gun license for. I’m trying to think of a jurisdiction that enacted licensing, that didn’t then tighten the wrench on the requirement until they got to the point where bans or de facto bans were feasible. We saw it happen in New York City, we saw it happen in the United Kingdom, in New Zealand, in Finland, Canada, Massachusetts, and several others.

But you know, we’re just unreasonable and paranoid for not agreeing to the eminently reasonable step of licensing gun owners.

Electronic Doodad Tracks Shots & Location

Normally I am against electronic doodads on guns if the doodad is necessary for the firearm’s operation, since electronics can fail, and batteries can die. But since this device only enhances the functioning of the firearm, it seems like a good idea to me, and fits in the previously wasted space of the pistol grip.

Mandates for Gun Ownership

This is tongue and cheek, and I think meant to make people think about health insurance mandates, but I would be against compulsory gun ownership just as much as I am against compulsory health insurance.

But I would point out that at least with compulsory gun ownership, Congress could claim it’s a legitimate exercise of its military powers. Under what enumerated power can they claim I must buy health insurance or face jail time?

Schumer Demands More Gun Regulations

He’s currently calling for less than outright denial, but he’s still calling on using the terrorist watch list, which is secret, and which is only a database of names, to keep tabs on guns people buy. Actually, the interesting part of this is that apparently the FBI is already keeping track of gun purchases by suspected terrorists:

It is my understanding that when an individual is buying a handgun, National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) staff checks with the Terrorist Screening Center for hits in the Terrorist Screening Database.Â In the case of valid hits â€“ where the purchaser in question is the subject of a preliminary or full terrorism investigation â€“ NICS staff can delay the gun transaction for up to three business days and contact the FBI Counterterrorism Division to determine whether those agents have prohibiting information about the individual that is not yet contained in the automated databases.

That’s interesting. I wonder how many people are sent into manual review because their name happens to be identical to someone on the terror watch list. And certainly the FBI is destroying those records if they end up clearing the transaction right, as is required by the Brady Act? Of course they are. They’ve always been so scrupulous about that, you know.

Self-Defense in Canada

It still exists, much to the dismay of a lot of hysterical elites:

Galloway is a licensed gun owner. He keeps a registered and permitted 9 mm handgun in his store vault. He went in and loaded it with a 10-round clip. By that time the robber had begun smashing jewellery cases with the butt of his pistol.

“I stepped out and started shooting,” Galloway said. “Both robbers turned and started running for the door. The first guy made it out. The second guy collapsed in the entrance. I guess I was aiming because I hit him, but I don’t really remember.”

Galloway emptied his clip. Police told him he hit the robber twice. They recommended charges of unsafe storage of a firearm and careless use of a firearm.

Fortunately, Crown prosecutors have so far declined to bring charges. But it’s started a debate; a debate that needs to happen in Canada. It is not vigilanteism to defend oneself from a criminal threatening you with deadly force.

There are plenty of people who agree. Among them is Norman Lapierre, President of the Quebec-based Canadian Association for Self Defence, the organization behind Galloway’s award for bravery.

Lapierre said he believes Galloway did the right thing.

Makes you wonder if there’s any relation to Wayne LaPierre, but it’s good that they are having this debate in Canada. It needs to start happening other places too.

Trying to Stop an Airgun Ban in Scotland

Looks like the Scottish Government is trying to get power to regulate airguns from Westminster, but shooting enthusiasts are trying to stop it, fearing that the Scottish Government will ban them.

Yes, even airgun sports are not safe if our numbers and political power are dropped to a sufficient degree.