Arms and the Law

In the Wall Street Journal.

The firm didn't mind representing and getting a fishy plea deal for Jeffrey Epstein, but found NY State Rifle and Pistol Association beneath their standards.

The permit regimes of the repressive states (6-8 of them) keyed on two ambiguous requirements for a permit (1) "good cause" or a variant of that, and (2) "good moral character," or a variant of that. NYSRPA knocked out (1). They will likely fall back on (2), arguing that "good moral character" means more than just passes a background check. Create as many new requirements as possible (furnish references, police interviews of references, reject for any possible reason, and certain delay, delay, delay).

It'd be wise to have good folks apply promptly for permits, and start setting up a challenge, ASAP, to the (2) requirement.

FPC is announcing that California's Attorney General has advised that carry permits should be issued without the "good cause" requirement.

UPDATE: New Jersey does the same.

He and Erin Murphy are founding their own firm. They had been with Kirkland & Ellis, a very big national firm, but K&E voted that it will "no longer represent clients with respect to matters involving the interpretation of the Second Amendment." Some big clients, we may guess, sniffed at their 2A clientele.

I guess the firm has to keep up its standards.

Opinion here.

6-3, Thomas the author, text history and tradition the test. Looks like I called that one on the nose!

UPDATE: the world just changed. From the majority:

"Today, we decline to adopt that two-part approach. In keeping with Heller, we hold that when the Second Amendment's plain text covers an individual's conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct. To justify its regulation, the government may not simply posit that the regulation promotes an important interest. Rather, the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Only if a firearm regulation is consistent with this Nation's historical tradition may a court conclude that the individual's conduct falls outside the Second Amendment's "unqualified command."

Balancing tests, goodbye.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Eugene Volokh has thoughts regarding the effect of the NYSRPA opinion.

The Supreme Court always releases the most controversial opinions of each Term at its very end (usually the end of June, sometimes going a bit into July). The joke was that they want to release them then so they can get out of town before the mob forms. This year that's no joke.

The Court has 13 opinions left to give. It's been modifying its calendar (as usually happens) to add more argument release days. A few days ago, opinion releases were set for tomorrow, Thursday, and this coming Monday. As of this morning, the schedule is for opinion releases Thursday and Friday, and order releases (routine things that don't require the Court to formally appear) for Monday. Monday can also be switched to an opinion release day if necessary.

I'm betting on a 6-3, with Thomas or Barrett writing the opinion, meaning "text, tradition, and history" will be major. Since they read opinions in reverse order of seniority, odds are it will come at the very start or the end of the day.

More on Hunter's gun.

"It's hard to believe that anyone is so stupid ... so what's my fault here Hallie that you speak of. Owning a gun that's in a locked car hidden on another property," Hunter Biden scolded Hallie in another text at 6:47 p.m. Oct. 23 before asking: "Do you want me dead."

At that point, Hallie Biden attempted to defend her actions, telling Hunter that "I just want you safe. That was not safe" and adding that the car where she found the gun was "open unlocked and windows down and the kids search your car."
.......
"Then when the police the FBI the secret service [sic] came on the scene she said she took it from me because she was scared I would harm myself due to my drug and alcohol problem and our volatile relationship and that she was afraid for the kids," he said.

Saul Cornell's argument is here.

Robert Leider's reply is here.

I think Leider gets much the better of the exchange. Not that a law enacted in one state, or an ordinance in one city, in the 1860s gives much insight into what the American people understood by the words "the right of the people to keep and bear arms."

The Truth About Guns reports that the Biden Administration has ordered Lake City to stop producing 5.56 for the civilian market. LC made up as much as 30% of the civilian market.

This comes from a year ago, but the person involved deserves to be remembered. John Hurley, of Arvada, Colorado, was a CCW holder. A mental case (who had proclaimed his intent to kill as many police as possible) murdered an officer, Hurley rushed to the scene, and killed the murderer. Other police arrived, assumed Hurley was the murderer, and fatally shot him.

This is convincing.

They are up 500%.

From Babylon Bee, America's new newspaper of record.Texas rednecks impersonating Taliban in hopes Biden will give them billions in firearms.

Or should I say, even more ghoulish than usual?

The LA Times and MSN run a column entitled "The threat to Justice Kavanaugh reveals a path to a gun control deal."

McConnell has demanded legislation to protect Supreme Court Justices. So....

"That said, McConnell's demand and the House hearing together point to a solution to the GOP's blockade of gun laws: Combine the House package with the Supreme Court protection act the GOP is so insistent on passing into one bill.

Pass both, or neither. That's the deal.

As we've written before, the only way to move sensible gun safety legislation through Congress is to force the Republicans to vote."

This should be big news, but of course I won't read about it in my local paper. I'm doubtful it will be linked to the efforts to "dox" the Justices.

Good news! Chesa Boudin has been recalled, by an overwhelming vote of his constituents, who are, well, San Francisco residents.

Hunter Biden videotapes self doing drugs and possessing a gun. The Gun Control Act forbids possessing a firearm while a person is a user of, or addicted to, illegal drugs. Yes, people have been prosecuted and imprisoned for that.

Hunter managed to videotape himself doing coke and crack with a hooker, while waving a handgun around. He adds in a text that his girlfriend "said she took it from me because she was scared I would harm myself due to my drug and alcohol problem and our volatile relationship and that she was afraid for the kids."

But laws are for the little people. For the "elite," waving guns around and scaring people while doing enough coke to OD an elephant is just being an amusing eccentric.

From Babylon Bee, America's new newspaper of record.Texas rednecks impersonating Taliban in hopes Biden will give them billions in firearms.

Someone interviews protestors outside the NRA convention. No one understands anything. They think AR-15s are full auto, and that FFLs sell guns without seeing ID and without background checks. He gets them to sign up for the Firearms Policy Coalition, which is in fact "organized to achieve maximal human liberty including the inalienable, fundamental, and individual right to keep and bear arms."

And to think these people are not only allowed to walk the streets of Houston unsupervised, but also to drive a car.

""Guns should not be in the hands of the mentally unstable," says senile man with nukes."

""Listen, folks, this shouldn't be difficult," said the yammering old geriatric to a duck in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. "The mentally unstable shouldn't have guns! It's dangerous!""