2A News: February 17, 2017 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
You DID vote in the NRA election, right?
Litigation
In 2011, the Florida state legislature passed a law called the Firearms Owners’ Privacy Act, which prohibited Florida doctors from asking routine questions about their patients’ gun ownership, unless that information was deemed relevant to patient care or the safety of others. It also barred physicians from noting in medical records whether patients owned guns.
On Thursday, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled en banc 10-1 in the case Wollschlager v. Florida (Docs vs Glocks) that the matter was not one of the Second Amendment, but of the First, saying that the law infringed upon doctors’ freedom of speech, at least partly because there was no evidence “that any doctors or medical professionals have taken away patients’ firearms or otherwise infringed on patients’ Second Amendment rights.”
Specifically, the court ruled that three provisions of the law — those involving record-keeping, inquiry and anti-harassment — violated the First Amendment. A fourth provision — allowing patients to decline to answer questions about guns and prohibiting health insurance companies from denying coverage or increasing premiums for people who lawfully own guns — was found to be constitutional.
This 10-1 full Circuit Court ruling overturned an earlier ruling by a 3-judge panel of the 11th Circuit that had ruled in favor of the act. The case will now return to US District Judge Marcia Cooke in Miami for a ruling that complies with the 11th Circuit’s direction. The case could, however, also be appealed to the US Supreme Court.
No word on any ruling concerning patients’ use of their First Amendment rights to talk about doctors who try to undermine their Second Amendment rights, or filing charges against such doctors for committing boundary violations.
Legislation
The US House and Senate have both approved a resolution overturning Obama’s Social Security gun ban rule. President Trump is expected to sign it.
- House And Senate Have Both Approved Overturning Social Security Rule
- Congress blocks rule barring mentally impaired from guns
About those ladies “self defense” classes
Sheriff has constituent’s back
Do you have a sheriff like this? What kind of gun shops do you patronize? Think about it.
Enemies
The vast majority of left-wing protesters arrested on suspicion of politically-fueled offenses in Berlin are young males who live with their parents, a new report found. 84% were male, and 72% were aged between 18 and 29. A third of them were unemployed, and 92% still live with their parents.
In 85% of cases studied, the perpetrators were left wing activists, and in 15%, they were right wingers. No word on the stats for the right-wingers, perhaps because their mommies weren’t speaking for them.
Microtech Knives is a “gun-free” zone.
California State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin De Léon (D-Los Angeles) said that “half his family” was in the country illegally, using false documents, and is now eligible for deportation. De Léon has introduced a bill to make California a “Sanctuary State.” We probably ought to check on his resident status as well.
University of Massachusetts Refuses State 4-H Gun Safety Program for Kids
PBS “Documentary.” The “P” stands for public, and the “BS,” well you decide.
Pickens County, Alabama (between Tuscaloosa and Columbus, MS) Sheriff David Abston told WCBI that he is against Constitutional (permitless) carry, because “This money generated from the pistol permit goes to buy our uniforms, equipment, our firearms, our training, our ammunition to train and send people to the police academy. Once you take away that funding where’s the money going to come from?” The Alabama legislature is currently considering a bill to allow permitless carry.
Liars
In a story about Constitutional or “permitless” carry moving through the New Hampshire legislative process, the Associated Press wrote that “The National Rifle Association says concealed carry is legal in 11 states, including Maine and Vermont.”
The NRA said no such thing. The truth? Concealed carry is allowed in all 50 states. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a fake news outlet.
Meanwhile NBC News ran a segment during their Nightly News program last week that incorrectly said criminals who could not pass a NICS check can legally manufacture guns for their own personal use.
“This is a real gun and anyone can buy it, no background check required,” Jeff Rossen, NBC News national investigative correspondent, said as the segment opened. “It’s perfectly legal.”
But it’s not legal. Prohibited persons cannot legally possess a firearm, regardless of how they got it.
Idiots
Last Saturday night, a charity hockey game took place in Spokane, WA. Spokane Law Enforcement played Tri-City Law Enforcement, with proceeds going to the Behind the Badge Foundation. Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich, on duty and in plain clothes, attended but was denied entry into the Spokane Arena because he had his service weapon on him. He had to leave his gun in the car.
Two questions:
1. Who disarms the sheriff?
2. What kind of sheriff is this to acquiesce to such a thing?
The arena is reportedly going to change its policy to allow armed cops, and the sheriff also says the arena is breaking state law by not letting people who hold concealed pistol licenses bring their guns inside the arena.
Prosecutors say rock guitarist Rick Derringer carried a loaded gun in his carry-on bag on a Delta Air Lines flight from Cancun, Mexico, but was stopped and arrested after landing in Atlanta, where a federal air marshal’s statement says Derringer told him that he flies as many as 50 times per year with the gun in his carry-on bag, and has never had a problem. Apparently Derringer has a Florida CCW permit and thought he could carry the gun on airplanes not only in Florida or Atlanta, but even in Mexico. No word on whether Derringer’s gun was a derringer.
The Only Ones
Veteran Chicago police officer Francisco “Frank” Perez was fired Thursday night for shooting 16 times at the wrong car during an off-duty incident back in 2011.
DGU
Last Sunday 27-year-old Eugene Ladell broke into the home of his ex-girlfriend on Castle Hill Drive in Jackson, MS. He was shot and hospitalized; she wasn’t. He is facing criminal charges; she isn’t.
Just Give Them What They Want?
A New Orleans woman was accosted this week on the street by an unknown man with a small, silver handgun who demanded money. The victim pulled money from her pocket and the subject fired one shot in the air and then shot her in the head.
Maybe she should have pulled out something else.
Defensive Appearances
“The research indicates that gait, the way in which an individual walks, tends to have the greatest impact on whether or not a criminal sees the individual as an easy victim or as capable of resisting.”
Wild pig expansion map
Nearly half the US already.
MS deer
According to the Quality Deer Management Association’s Deer Density Map, Mississippi has more deer per square mile than any other state in the nation, with the density in many areas exceeding 45 deer per square mile (about 1 deer per 14 acres).
Range work
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ouH8DypMZ4
Obit
US Army Lieutenant (3-star) General Harold “Hal” Moore, Jr. passed away last Friday at the age of 94 in Auburn, Alabama. Last Monday he would have turned 95. Then-LTC Moore was portrayed by actor Mel Gibson in the movie “We Were Soldiers,” and was a war hero and patriot with 32 years of active duty service. He earned many awards for valor in the face of the enemy, most notably the Distinguished Service Cross (the award just below the Medal of Honor) for his conduct during the Battle of Ia Drang, South Vietnam in 1965.
Gander Mountain Bankrupt?
- Gander Mountain said to be preparing to file for bankruptcy
- Fear & Loading: Don’t Jump to Conclusions on Gander Mountain News
Products
- The NRA-ILA app
- Looking for a serious hunting shotgun that always works and does about everything? Writer Layne Simpson recently field tested a Benelli Super Black Eagle 3 ($1800) on a Saskatchewan waterfowl hunt and had this to say: “Despite the best of my efforts, I could not find a single thing wrong with the new Super Black Eagle 3.”
- The Kalashnikov Concern is planning to make an AK-based pump-action rifle for IPSC competition shooters. The new rifle will be called KSZ-223 and will look like an AK-74 variant. It will feature a telescoping stock, Picatinny rail on the dust cover and a short under rail section in front of the handguard. No word on US availability or price.
- Tristar’s Turkish-made Hunter EX 16 Gauge over/under is reported to be a lot of gun for the money. A 16 built on a 20 gauge frame with extractors only, and five Beretta Mobile-style choke tubes. 6.5 lbs., $640.
- PMC Ammunition is reintroducing the Starfire line of ammunition in the following calibers:
- .380 ACP
- .38 Special +P
- .357 Magnum
- 9mm
- .40 S&W
- .44 Magnum
- .45 ACP
- The Mark 7® Revolution™ motorized reloading machine. 3500 rounds per hour. Only $9500.