August 10, 2018 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman
Litigation
NRA v. Cuomo, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, alleges that NY Gov. Cuomo and NY Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) violated the First Amendment rights of the NRA by sending “guidance” letters to and even entering into consent orders with banks and insurance companies that compel them to terminate longstanding, beneficial business relationships with the NRA, both in New York and elsewhere. NRA also says this has significantly impacted its finances to the point that its future is in jeopardy, due to losses of “tens of millions of dollars.” That part may be embellished. Specifically, the NRA warns that it has lost insurance coverage – endangering day-to-day operations. Cuomo has apparently admitted on TV that he’s guilty as charged.
A panel of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that California’s microstamping law is constitutional, even though such guns/technology don’t exist. The finding was based on the premise that even though some (most) guns are banned by the law, since SOME guns remain on the approved list, folks’ 2A rights have not been infringed. Try that with the First Amendment sometime.
A different panel of the same court upheld a 2015 amendment to California’s Gun-Free School Zone Act that forbade concealed carry permit holders from possessing firearms on school grounds, while letting retired police and other “peace” officers (also known as private citizens) do so.
An Illinois high school student has sued Hononegah Community High School District 207 in federal court for discrimination after teachers and fellow students harassed her when she tried to bring pro-gun signs to a politically correct gun control walkout.
Rosanne Solis and Joaquin Ramirez, two survivors of the Sutherland Springs church shooting, have sued Academy Sports + Outdoors for selling the attacker, a Colorado resident, 30-round magazines in Texas, because they would have been illegal in Colorado.
Legal question
Regarding those “80%” receivers. I can’t find any mention of 80% (or any other proportion) arms in the Constitution. Can you?
Local crime
US Attorney Mike Hurst says that Jackson, MS is the seventh most deadly city per capita in the nation.
Chicago crime
Chicago experienced another bloodbath last weekend. Yet it has some of the toughest gun laws in the country. Meanwhile, other parts of the country with much looser gun laws don’t have that problem. CPD solves about 5% of its shooting crimes.
Wisconsin crime
The Pierce County, WI, Sheriff’s Office arrested a 24-year-old roofer from Missouri on suspicion of intentional homicide after he allegedly fatally cut up a coworkers’ face and neck with a circular saw. No word yet from the Giffords/Brady clan about bans or waiting periods on power tools.
School crime
An unidentified Palm Beach Atlantic University (FL) Lacrosse coach told a player in June that he had to choose between the team or posting his hunting and firearm pictures online. The player chose freedom and informed university officials.
A Lodi, CA, school kicked a teen out of class for wearing NRA shirt with no guns on it. Lodi Unified School District says it plans to refresh all staff about dress code policies, so this type of incident does not happen again.
DGUs
A good guy with a gun. At a back-to-school event. An event called “Peace in the City.” Deputy Police Chief Todd Hutchinson said, “This suspect opened fire at a crowded public park, this could have been so much worse.”
More on guns in schools
Texas Tech police say the 2-year-old campus carry law makes the university a safer place by providing a viable defense and by deterring potential active shooters from attempting a mass shooting situation.
This from a school safety administrator. Long read.
About those protection orders
YOYO.
Victimization study
“There was a clear consensus among the criminals about whom they would have picked as victims—and their choices were not based on gender, race, or age.”
The Catholic church vs. the death penalty
Interesting. But I suggest that we not much concern ourselves with what a church or church leader says, but with what the word of God says.
Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officers were injured when an unidentified Cranston, RI, police sergeant’s gun was accidentally discharged after a slain Massachusetts officer’s funeral. The culpable sergeant was changing out of his uniform on a bus parked in a staging area for police after a fellow officer’s funeral when the sergeant’s gun fell out of the holster and went off as he tried to catch it. The round exited the bus and struck the ground near the MIT officers and sent debris up, striking the officers and causing minor injuries.
Off-duty NYPD Sergeant Ritchard Blake, 40, shot a 21-year-old love-rival in the face during an argument and then tried to plant a knife on him, but was caught on security cameras. Blake, who also had a sealed arrest in 2016 related to an assault on the woman over whom the men were arguing, has been stripped of his gun and badge and is currently being investigated.
Bratwit David Hogg was spotted protesting guns outside NRA headquarters while he was protected by guards armed with guns. You can’t make this stuff up.
In Ohio, the Union Township trustees and Chesapeake Village council and Mayor Tom Templeton have decided that the Chesapeake-Union Township Volunteer Fire Department’s firefighters’ lives collectively are not worth $2500. Literally.
Muslim extremists were caught allegedly training children at a New Mexico compound near the Colorado border to commit school shootings.
“We have to regulate every aspect of people’s lives.”
— Santa Barbara, CA, city councilman Jesse Dominguez (D)
New York City, under the guidance of Mayor Bill de Blasio is implementing a new voter registration drive in the city’s correctional facilities. “Eligible” jail inmates (criminals) will be able to vote from jail via absentee ballot. We understand that this drive is just tweaking a process that is already in place.
The Malvern (PA) Fire Company canceled its popular annual fundraising pig roast event after numerous calls, complaints, and threats of protests over the animal being cooked and served, according to company officials. It was unclear who made the complaints.
Ever done anything like this?
Don’t.
NRA
The NRA reports that its membership has jumped to nearly 6 million, an increase of more than a million members since just before the Parkland shooting. Cool. Keep signing your friends and family up.
Free Range Days in Alabama
Free Range Days Coming to Five ADCNR Shooting Ranges in August.
Personal note
As usual, I am on the lookout for cheap/free dove hunting spots in central MS this year. Please let me know if you know of any.
Sig Sauer integrally suppressed pistol patented.
Perfect induction annealing of your brass. Easy. Precise. Not cheap.
Brownells now has grenade launchers. Cool.
Quote
“Sic quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit; occidentis telum est,” or “Just as a sword by itself does not slay; it is merely the weapon used by the slayer.”
—Â Lucius Annaeus Seneca in Epistle LXXXVII
