Thirdpower wants to know where Ray Schoenke is regarding the various challenges facing hunters under the coming administration, which AHSA supported. I wouldn’t expect to hear much from Schoenke or AHSA over the next four years in regards to hunting issues. They have served their purpose — they gave Democrats cover to get elected. They’ll be mostly quiet until the next election, except for the occasional sniping at NRA.
Category: Guns
New Shooters
Arizona Rifleman gets a few more newbs out to the range. Must be nice living in the desert. These days it’s either too cold or too wet to get people out to shoot.
NFA Challenges
I’ve seen a few suggestions around both Volokh and some other places that the first order of business is to challenge the NFA LEO sign off as arbitrary and capricious. Something to think about: first you really need to get the courts to recognize that an NFA item is an “arm” protected by the Second Amendment. If you don’t have a right to own something, than the government can get away with a lot more shennanigans than it can if you do. There might be grounds you could challenge LEO sign off on, but I’m not sure the Second Amendment is one of them, unless you can make a case that the arm in question is within its scope.
I agree with folks that the “common use” language presents a logical problem, but I don’t think it’s an insurmountable one. There are ways out of the trap, which I’ve talked about before, where if a law is interfering with determining whether an arm is “common” or “unusual and dangerous” one has to look at police use. I would also add that looking at commonality in countries which don’t have such restrictions on the item in question also needs to be considered.
A Win on Possession of Firearms Outside of Home
A District Court rules that it may be a constitutionally protected right. Go read the circumstances. It’s truly appalling.
Another Loss on Machine Guns
There is no Second Amendment to possess a machine gun in the 8th Circuit now. The case cited U.S. vs. Fincher as supporting case law within the circuit when crafting the decision:
In United States v. Fincher, 538 F.3d 868, 873-74 (8th Cir. 2008), the Eighth Circuit held that the defendant’s possession of a machine gun was not protected by the Second Amendment under Heller: “Machine guns are not in common use by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes and therefore fall within the category of dangerous and unusual weapons that the government can prohibit for individual use.â€
This is why I don’t jump on board in support when people do stupid things that end screwing the rest of us. This is a prime example of that in action.
Civil Disobedience in California
They are doing a lot of following the letter of the law, rather than its spirit in California. This is the kind of resistance that I approve of, and I think over the long run it will be effective.
UPDATE: More in SayUncle’s comments here.
Blue Ridge Arsenal Owner Voted Obama & Celebrates with Increased Sales
Gun sales are up, and most gun dealers consider it bittersweet because they know that the risk of new gun control is very high. They might enjoy brisk sales, but not with the knowledge that more gun control will likely be coming down the pike. But one major gun shop/range owner in Virginia is swimming in the dough from increased sales and then giggles like a school girl when he admits that he supported Obama in the election.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_jAyM2DD-4[/youtube]
Blue Ridge Arsenal is a pretty big range and gun store in Northern Virginia. I wonder how many of their customers know that the owner helped lay the foundation for possible future gun bans.
For those of you looking for a place to shoot in the DC area, I would suggest the NRA Range in Fairfax.
Your Favorite Caliber Sucks
Marko goes for round two.
“I believe in common-sense gun safety laws”
Says Barack Obama, so you cousin humpers can stop buying up so many guns. Jim Geraghty points out:
Of course, a lot of these new Democrats in the House and Senate are A-rated by the NRA, and plenty more are B-rated. But there is now at least some chance of gun control legislation getting through Congress, a reason for gun owners to be wary of the new Congress. A few who insisted that Democrats would never make a move on this issue are beginning to sweat a little bit.
They ought to sweat. A lot of prominent Democrats are going to have egg on their faces if Obama follows through on his platform in regards to guns. We know he only supports common-sense gun safety laws, and that’s exactly what we’re afraid of.
FDA Status of Palm Pistol
This Brady Campaign press release indicates that the FDA has delisted the Palm Pistol (they quote me). More here form the AP. In the Palm Pistol Specifications, they have a statement listed:
On December 2, 2008, we were registered as a Medical Device Establishment and the Palm Pistol was listed in the FDA Unified Registration Listing System (FURLS). Based upon agency information, correspondence and verbal instructions, we were led to believe the Palm Pistol was classified as a “device,†were given specific listing instructions, assigned Product Code ILT corresponding with “Recreational Adapter†and identification of the device as a “Daily Activity Assist Device†in accordance with 21 CFR 890.5050, and accordingly informed we had authority to begin marketing it as such a “device.†At no time did we claim the device was “approved†by the FDA, as erroneously reported in the press. We did make every effort to correct this when extended the courtesy of an inquiry.
Constitution Arms claims they still plan on producing the Palm Pistol, and are considering challenging the cancellation of the registration.
UPDATE: More here