Archive | Guns

An interesting item on Stratfor. The bottom line: “It has now become quite common to hear U.S. officials confidently assert that 90 percent of the weapons used by the Mexican drug cartels come from the United States. However, a close examination of the dynamics of the cartel wars in Mexico — and of how the […]

I blogged about the decision last week here; the opinion is now available here. An excerpt: [T]he text of the “handgun ammunition” definition provides no objective way … for a person … to determine if a particular ammunition caliber or cartridge is used more often, or used more than fifty percent of the time, or […]

So reports the Daily Caller; I got a copy of the complaint, and I see that the student is suing both based under the Second Amendment and under the Idaho Constitution. The Idaho Constitution has long been interpreting as securing an individual right to keep and bear arms in self-defense, including to carry guns in […]

So holds yesterday’s U.S. v. Potter (9th Cir.): Defendant Ronald Craig Potter challenges his conviction for possession of a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). He argues that the statute is unconstitutional on its face or as applied, because it violates the Second Amendment…. Both implicitly and explicitly, […]

The order, issued Monday, came in Parker v. State; the opinion explaining the reasoning behind the order has apparently not been released. The enjoined provisions (here and here) banned mail-order ammunition sales of “handgun ammunition,” and required purchases of such ammunition to be registered and purchasers to be thumb-printed. “Handgun ammunition” was defined as “ammunition […]

DiGiacinto v. Rector, decided today, holds: The Virginia Constitution’s right to bear arms provision provides the same protection as is protected by the Second Amendment. The Virginia provision therfore does protect an individual right to keep and bear arms in self-defense (something the Virginia courts had not yet held to that point). Public universities are […]

The Chris Moody (Daily Caller) reports: New York Republican Rep. Peter King said Tuesday that he will introduce legislation to ban the carrying of any firearm within 1,000 feet of what he described as “high-profile government officials.” … I would assume that any such bill would require that the carrier know, or at least have […]

Here’s a picture of Eleanor in 1934 practicing with the revolver she had obtained the previous year. What type is it? Note: the Secret Service gave her the gun in 1933, when she insisted on traveling on her own without the agents. So the gun would be whatever the Secret Service was carrying in 1933. […]

Magnus v. U.S., decided today by the D.C. Court of Appeals — essentially the D.C. equivalent of a state supreme court — concludes that a defendant who pled guilty in 1996 to violating D.C. handgun ban can now have that plea set aside given D.C. v. Heller, assuming his conduct was indeed protected by the […]

Here’s the opinion, handed down today, in Williams v. State. The court interprets Heller and McDonald as focused on home possession of guns, arguing that “it is clear that prohibition of firearms in the home was the gravamen of the certiorari questions in both Heller and McDonald and their answers. If the Supreme Court, in […]

Aaron Zelman, founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, passed away on December 21. Zelman did excellent work in advancing the firearms policy discussion during the last two decades. His most notable contribution was research pointing out the frequency with which genocide has been preceded by prohibiting arms possession by the targeted victims. For example, his […]

Nassau County, on Long Island, New York, enacted an ordinance which bans handguns in non-traditional colors, such as pink. The ordinance declares such firearms to be “deceptively colored.” On December 28, the Appellate Division, Second Department (the intermediate court of appeals) ruled 4-0 that the Nassau ban is preempted by New York State’s handgun licensing […]