January 4, 2019 Newsletter by Jeff Pittman

Mississippi Lt. Governor Tate Reeves has officially announced his candidacy for governor in this year’s election, saying he’s committed to making Mississippi the safest place for unborn children and protecting Mississippians’ Second Amendment Rights.

The primary is Aug. 6, 2019, the primary runoff is Aug. 27, and the general election is Nov. 5.

Business as usual in Illinois

It has been nearly five years since Illinois allowed gun owners to carry concealed weapons. Rockford Police Investigator Chris Aldrich says the first five years under the law have gone pretty smoothly. “We have not had issues with those individuals…”

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Faith in Sutherland Springs, TX

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Comprehensive summary of the Florida school massacre

You decide on whom to place the blame (beyond the killer), and what could have prevented most of the carnage.

We note that since the studies and recommendations regarding the Parkland massacre have been made public, feckless Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, has changed written department policy to, among other things, mandate that deputies must try to confront active shooters; the previous wording only said deputies “may” intervene in such situations.

• 5 Things We’ve Learned About The Parkland Shooting You Won’t Hear From Most Media
• The failed leadership of Broward Sheriff Scott Israel

Statistics

You may have seen news of the new study in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, which found that in public mass shootings in the USA, victims shot with a handgun were more likely to die than those shot with a rifle. While the numbers may be factual, I wouldn’t infer a causal relationship — in other words, this doesn’t mean that rifles don’t do more damage or are less likely to inflict fatal wounds.

Litigation

California Says Residents With Vacated Out-of-State Convictions May Not Own Guns. Lawsuit ensuing.

Also in California, attorneys Alan Gura and Donald Kilmer, representing the Calguns Foundation, the Second Amendment Foundation and four individuals, filed a petition for Supreme Court review in a federal Second and Fourteenth Amendment lawsuit challenging the State of California’s “approved-to-sell” handgun roster and “microstamping” laws. “This case presents an ideal vehicle for the Supreme Court to correct recalcitrant lower courts and reaffirm that the Second Amendment is not a second-class right,” said CGF Chairman Gene Hoffman. “California insists that it could ban every handgun make and model but one, but that cannot be constitutional. Bans on handguns in common use for lawful purposes are categorically unconstitutional under the Court’s Heller and McDonald decisions.”

US Supreme Court weighs in on “violent felonies.”

Pennsylvania Doctor Denied Handgun over Legal Medical Marijuana Use Sues FBI, ATF

About the bump stock ban

Attorneys in the Guedes v. BATFE federal bump-stock lawsuit have filed an amended complaint, adding Florida Carry, Inc. and Missouri State Rep. Shane Roden, as plaintiffs. They both own bump-stock devices. Also, The Firearms Policy Coalition removed themselves from Guedes v. BATFE by voluntarily dismissing all claims in that case and filed a new case, FPC v. Whitaker, which challenges the authority of Acting US Attorney General Mattew Whitaker to authorize the issuance of the Final Rule banning bump stocks, thus arguing procedure rather than merit of the case.

David Codrea, Owen Monroe and Scott Heuman have also filed a complaint.

There are other items which can assist a shooter to more rapidly manipulate a semiauto trigger to fire a weapon: rubber bands, belt loops, etc. So if bump firing an AR-15 turns it into a machine gun, then according to the new ATF regs, the next anti-gun administration will have to also ban rubber bands, etc. But they won’t do that. They will ban semiautos. You can keep your rubber bands.

Petition — Reverse the Bump Stock Ban against firearm parts

FYI, the federal government shutdown may affect dates of publication and effectiveness of the new ban.

About the NJ magazine ban

New Jersey’s ban on gun magazines that hold more than 10 rounds took effect on December 10, the date by which all owners of heretofore legal “large capacity magazines” were required to surrender them to police, render them inoperable, modify them so they cannot hold more than 10 rounds, or sell them to authorized owners or to out-of-state residents. Failure to do so is a fourth-degree felony, punishable by a maximum fine of $10,000 and up to 18 months in prison.

Of New Jersey’s approximately 1 million gun owners, reports indicate that NONE surrendered any mags to the cops.

About Bill Barr

President Trump’s latest choice for Attorney General

Hawaii

Hawaii’s Attorney General says that even though the federal Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act allows currently sworn or retired law enforcement officers to carry nationwide, even if the state or territory they are carrying in doesn’t allow it for citizens, the state of Hawaii says that the federal law doesn’t apply there, unless the LEO in question is actually “on duty.”

Enemies

Puma, the shoe maker, is donating to anti-gun groups.

Anti-gun Chicago Alderman Ed Burke, 75, one of the most powerful and longest-serving City Council members in Chicago history, appeared in federal court Thursday on one count of attempted extortion after he allegedly tried to shake down a major fast-food restaurant chain seeking city remodeling permits. Prosecutors told the judge that Burke, who has publicly opposed the NRA and proposed multiple gun-control ordinances over the years, had 23 guns at his offices. The judge ruled that one condition of his continued release (until trial, I assume) is that he gets rid of all his guns, including any at his home.

The Only Ones

Chase Bishop, the dancing FBI agent who last June accidentally shot a man in the leg after picking up his gun that he dropped during a backflip at a Denver bar, has pleaded guilty to the Class 1 misdemeanor of 3rd-degree assault as part of a deal with prosecutors to avoid jail time. He was sentenced to two years of probation and must pay more than $1,600 in fines and court costs. He had originally been charged with and pleaded not guilty to the Class 4 felony of 2nd-degree assault with a weapon, which carries a penalty of up to 16 years in prison. The 3rd-degree charge apparently could have resulted in up to 24 months in jail had it not been for the plea deal. But I believe that now makes him a prohibited person under the US Gun Control Act (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)), which lists as prohibited possessors “any person… …convicted in any court of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year…” No word on whether he’s still a fibbie.

Off-duty and drunk, San Antonio Police Officer Dezi Rios apparently got into a road-rage shootout with a barber with a clean record. The barber, who was paralyzed in the shooting, was cleared of any criminal charges. Officer Rios was disciplined, removed from his police academy position, and suspended without pay for 15 days. No word on any criminal charges for Rios.

A US Marine was shot and killed Tuesday morning inside the Marine Barracks on Capitol Hill in Southeast Washington. Two officials with knowledge of the D.C. Police investigation said the Marine appeared to have been struck by an accidental discharge from another Marine’s weapon, but did not elaborate. Our report indicates that detectives are looking into two possible scenarios – that either a weapon discharged as it was being passed from one Marine to another during shift change, or that a Marine accidentally fired a sidearm as it was being removed from a holster. This is at least the third time in six years that a Marine was shot at the compound.

Be safe

Former LSU offensive lineman Matt Branch is in stable condition after injuries from a hunting accident in Mississippi resulted in the amputation of his leg. (Don’t plop your loaded gun down anywhere that it’s not secure.)

Hotel security & crowd safety tips

• 100 Deadly Skills Author Shares 5 Hotel Security Tips
• How to Be Safe in Crowds: Adopting a Bias Towards Action

Department of Idiocy

Mark J. Perry, an economics professor, AEI scholar and blogger, reports that “The University of Michigan Has At Least 82 Full-Time Diversity Officers at a Total Annual Payroll Cost of $10.6M. That Would Support Full In-State Tuition for 708 Students.”

Products

The new Mossberg MC1sc pistol (review)

Midway USA and Midsouth Shooters Supply have bulk barrels of 5.56 and 7.62 ammo.

Midway also still has NRA Life memberships for just $600. (Regularly $1500.)

Quotes

“If you’re an instructor, the next time somebody asks you what you do, try telling them you’re a social equality calibration advocate and trainer. Try not to giggle when you do it — that’s the trick.” — from www.buildingshooters.com

“The limitation of tyrants is the endurance of those they oppose.” — Frederick Douglass

“Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins … Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” — Thomas Paine

“The blue-steel Colt, The new steel Colt,
She runs to stunts erratic;
For she’s a darn tough arm to learn
This Army automatic.

Yet when you get [to] know this arm
and how to coax and pet her,
She’ll do her duty like a charm;
No gun will serve you better.
She’ll stick right closely by your side
And as the fight grows hotter
And you are caught in battle’s tide —
You’ll thank your stars you’ve got her.

The lusty Colt, The trusty Colt,
The weapon democratic,
Whose vicious might
makes men one height –
The Army automatic.”

— Songs of the Training Camps