Ignoring Your Constituents Has Consequences

From the September 11, 2013 New York Times:

COLORADO SPRINGS — Two Colorado Democrats who provided crucial support for a slate of tough new gun-control laws were voted out of office on Tuesday in a recall vote widely seen as a test of popular support for gun restrictions after mass shootings in a Colorado movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school.

Empty Shell Casing: $1,000 Fine, One Year In Jail

No, not in North Korea or Jamaica, but Washington, DC:

Washington police are operating under orders to arrest tourists and other non-residents traveling with spent bullet or shotgun casings, a crime that carries a $1,000 fine, a year in jail and a criminal record, according to a new book about the city's confusing gun laws.

"Empty shell casings are considered ammunition in Washington, D.C., so they are illegal to possess unless you are a resident and have a gun registration certificate," pens Emily Miller in her investigative book, "Emily Gets Her Gun: ... But Obama Wants to Take Yours."

Under the law, live or empty brass and plastic casings must be carried in a special container and unavailable to drivers. Having one, for example, in a cup holder or ash tray is illegal.

Yes, an empty shell casing is so dangerous!  Why, you might be driving down the street, pull out your reloading equipment, prime it, load the powder, squeeze the bullet in, and be ready...to do what?  Throw it at someone?

Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned recounts the story of what happened when the maintenance guy somewhere he used to work found an empty 9mm casing, and caused an astonishing overreaction.  I keep waiting for evidence that someone in Washington DC has a working brain.

I'm Going To Have To Get a Copy

My friend Nicholas Johnson has a new book out: Negroes and the Gun: The Black Tradition of Arms.

Assault Flashlights To Blame...Not The Killers Wielding Them

From the August 23, 2013 CBS Seattle:

Police in Spokane, Wash., say they have arrested one of two teens suspected of fatally beating an 88-year-old veteran of World War II who had survived the Battle of Okinawa.

Authorities say the two young African American men, between 16 and 19 years old, approached Delbert Belton in his car Wednesday night outside an Eagles Lodge as he was waiting for a friend.

Belton was found by police with serious head injuries and died in the hospital Thursday.

Belton’s daughter-in-law tells KREM-TV that the suspects beat him with flashlights.

The article indicates it was the big heavy flashlights -- you know, the ones made of metal with high capacity battery holders.

I am not happy with the ferocious racism showing up in the comments on that article, but with the enormous energy that the left has spent on promoting racial hatred the last few years, I guess that I am not surprised.

I fear for my country.

UPDATE: One of the suspects has been arrested.  From the August 23, 2013 Los Angeles Times:

The teenager has a lengthy criminal history, including a 2012 conviction for fourth-degree assault, obstructing a police officer and misdemeanor rioting, according to juvenile court officials. 

Misdemeanor rioting?  What's that?  Is it like misdemeanor murder or felony overtime parking?

Working on a Law Review Article...

I am trying to find the earliest laws that create a firearms disability based on mental illness or retardation -- especially any laws in effect before 1968, when the Gun Control Act of 1968 passed.

I started with California, because I know the statutes pretty well. Cal. Welfare & Institutions Code 8100 and 8103 are the applicable statutes -- but I am having a hard time finding when these first appear. The current text is derived from Stats. 1967, Ch. 1667 (the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act that helped to make big cities in California into open wards). My search of the publicly visible Nexis database of California court decisions, as well as published books, finds no references to earlier statutes. Part of me finds this hard to believe -- and part of me doesn't. I can easily believe that until deinstitutionalization, California didn't worry much about mentally ill people with guns, because they hospitalized them.

Any statutes that you are aware, please let me know.

Stand Your Ground Laws & Murder Rates

McClatchy Newspapers published an article on the subject, including a cute graphic that lets you click on states with SYG laws to see what happened to murder rates after passage.  With the exception of Florida: a whole heap of nothing.  In some cases, murder rates fell, in some, it remained unchanged.

Florida's Stand Your Ground Law: Who Benefits From It?

July 16, 2013 Daily Caller analyzed the data from cases where Stand Your Ground law was invoked in Florida:

African Americans benefit from Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” self-defense law at a rate far out of proportion to their presence in the state’s population, despite an assertion by Attorney General Eric Holder that repealing “Stand Your Ground” would help African Americans.
Black Floridians have made about a third of the state’s total “Stand Your Ground” claims in homicide cases, a rate nearly double the black percentage of Florida’s population. The majority of those claims have been successful, a success rate that exceeds that for Florida whites.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/07/16/blacks-benefit-from-florida-stand-your-ground-law-at-disproportionate-rate/#ixzz2ZPt2ZoHi

I am not particularly surprised.  Blacks are very disproportionately victims of violent crimes (almost always by black criminals), so disproportionate use of SYG makes perfect sense.

What Did Arkansas Pass?

According to June 24, 2013 KNUE 101.5 FM:

Next month Arkansas will join Vermont, Alaska, Wyoming and Arizona as a “Constitutional Carry” state. That means that you don’t need a permit or license to carry weapons, either openly or concealed for lawful purposes.


Arkansas law will now consider people carrying guns the same way many state laws handle possession of any kind of hand tools, so-called “tools of burglary.” Normally, you can get away with carrying common hand tools anywhere you otherwise have a right to be. But if you are caught trying to use them in an attempt of breaking and entering or even trespassing, you can be charged with a crime based on obvious intent to use that tool in a crime. As long as you are not harming, or attempting to harm others with a weapon, then possession alone should not be a crime.

However, this article from the July 9, 2013 Arkansas Business indicates that the Arkansas Attorney-General says that open carry is not legal:

LITTLE ROCK - A state law that takes effect next month doesn't legalize the open carry of handguns despite the insistence of some gun rights advocates, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said in an advisory opinion to legislators Monday.

McDaniel said the measure signed into law that makes technical corrections regarding the possession of a handgun didn't remove the restrictions on carrying weapons openly. Arkansas law currently states that being on a journey is a defense to prosecution for illegally carrying a weapon, but doesn't define what constitutes a journey.

The new law defines a journey as traveling "beyond the county in which the person lives."
"A person does not fall within Act 746's 'journey' exception to the statutes relating to the possession and carrying of a handgun simply because the person has left the county in which he or she lives," the opinion said. "Stated differently, I do not interpret Act 746 as authorizing so-called 'open carry.'"

Arkansas law seems modeled on the old Texas statute in this respect, with the same vagueness.  The A-G's opinion would suggest that this new law is far less broad than Constitutional carry.

I don't have time right now to read the statute, and see what it actually does.

All Gun Deaths Are Equally Tragic?

Shall Not Be Questioned points to this posting at Gun Free Zone that checks the list of "gun violence victims" that Bloomberg's bunch is using as an argument for restrictive gun control laws:

Out of An NC Blog, I finally found the Slate list that the riders of the Yankee Vulture Bus use to read the names of people who dies of “gun violence.” Since it is a searchable database, I did a quick look for Miami and found some interesting things:

Eric Fussell: Shot in a car with companion Joshua Whack (also in the list) and according to the local NBC station “Whack had a lengthy criminal record, mostly for cocaine charges, dating back to 2004, according to court records. Fussell had been arrested previously on fraud, marijuana and cocaine charges, court records said.”

Remember, Bloomberg & Slate. are trying to sell you that they are doing this to save innocent victims, but they have no problem adding the name of veteran criminals to the list to pad it.
Dell Peter DiGiovanni: Suspect in a shootout with police as they were investigating drug trafficking and opened fire on the officers. Here is the rub: Dell Peter DiGiovanni hung himself. Must have used bullet rope or something like that.

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A man believed to have been one of three people who got into a shoot out with police in front of a burning home in southwest Miami-Dade Tuesday night was found hanging from a tree.Wednesday afternoon, police confirmed that the body of 50-year old Dell Peter DiGiovanni hung himself on a tree in front of a home at SW 147 Avenue and SW 48 Terrace.'

Yes, the gun control crowd is remarkably careless about this sort of thing.   This paper over at SSRN by yours truly (and with the assistance of my research minions) examined the claims of the Violence Policy Center about "Concealed Carry Killers" and found that in some cases, licensees who were not even charged with a crime made their list.  Others included licensees who were killed by non-licensees, people who committed suicide in their own homes (where a license to carry is irrelevant), and in a few cases, people who were found innocent of criminal charges.

The gun control crowd has several enormous advantages on putting out this sort of careless propaganda:

1. The media are generally sympathetic to them -- although less so than twenty years ago.

2. The gun control crowd has people producing this stuff on a full-time, paid basis.  Our side relies almost entirely on volunteers.  Not surprisingly, the volume of the stuff they can produce is enormous.

New PJMedia Article

"Florida's Mental Illness and Guns Bill"

Not my subtitle, by the way.

Witness Testimony In Zimmerman Trial

This should be the nail in the prosecution's case, because it conforms to Zimmerman's claims about the circumstances under which he shot Trayvon Martin, and Zimmerman's injuries.  From the June 28, 2013 Miami Herald:

SANFORD -- State prosecutors Friday resumed their case in the second-degree murder trial of George Zimmerman, calling another key witness: John Good, a Sanford resident who said he saw a “tussle” between Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin outside his home.

Although he testified he was not certain of their positioning, Good described seeing someone in light or red-colored clothing being straddled on the ground by someone in dark clothing. Evidence shows Zimmerman was wearing a red jacket while Trayvon, from Miami Gardens, was in a charcoal-colored hoodie when the shooting occurred on Feb. 26, 2012.

Good also said under direct examination by state prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda that he believed he heard the person on the bottom ask for help as the person on top made downward arm motions. Good said the straddle-punching was similar to mixed-martial arts fights he'd seen on television. Good said he then called police. The 911 recording was played in court Friday. Trayvon's parents remained in the courtroom as the tape was played.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/28/3475059/state-presses-on-in-george-zimmerman.html#storylink=cpy

What I don't understand is why the prosecution called John Good as a witness.  Good's testimony doesn't help the prosecution at all.  It helps the defense.

The June 28, 2013 Fox News coverage of Good's testimony is even more destructive to the prosecution's case:

Under questioning by Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda, Good said one of the combatants was straddling a man lying face up on the pavement, and throwing punches. The testimony appeared to corroborate Zimmerman's claims that he shot the 17-year-old African-American with a legally registered gun in self defense, as he was being pummeled.

"I could tell that the person on the bottom had a lighter skin color," testified Good, who also said the person on the bottom appeared to be wearing "white or red," while the one on top wore dark clothing. Zimmerman identified that day as Hispanic and was wearing a red jacket. That also would corroborate Zimmerman's claims he was on the losing end of a violent confrontation when he fired the fatal shot.

But Good said he did not see the person on top slam the other one's head into the pavement. Zimmerman had wounds to his scalp following the confrontation. 

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/28/zimmerman-defense-grills-witness-for-second-day/#ixzz2XWY15saw

I know that for a lot of people, Zimmerman's following of Martin puts him in the wrong -- but even if Martin was upset about being followed, and things became verbally confrontational -- even physically confrontational -- once you have someone down on the ground and you are punching them -- it is abundantly clear that Zimmerman had no choice but to use deadly force.

ABC News, however, is saying exactly the opposite is what took place.

UPDATE: I guess ABC News is watching some other trial involving a guy named George Zimmerman in Florida.  June 28, 2013 CBS News seems to be watching the same testimony as the Miami Herald and Fox News:

CBS) A former neighbor of George Zimmerman testified he saw two men in a "tussle" outside his home the night of Feb. 26, 2012, and said he now believes the person on top in the altercation - which would moments later turn fatal - was Trayvon Martin.

In key testimony, he also said he believes George Zimmerman was the person yelling for help.

Interesting Quote From Theodore Roosevelt

More than occasionally, quotes appear in email that are pro-gun, but false.  As I observed a couple of years ago:

“The problem with Internet quotations is that many are not genuine.”  -- Abraham Lincoln

When this quote from Theodore Roosevelt showed up in my email, I was immediately suspicious:

A vote is like a rifle; it's usefulness depends on the character of the user.

But sure enough, it is in Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography (New York: Charles Scribner & Sons, 1922):

Suffrage for women should be looked on from this standpoint. Personally I feel that it is exactly as much a''right'' of women as of men to vote. But the important point with both men and women is to treat the exercise of the suffrage as a duty, which, in the long run, must be well performed to be of the slightest value. I always favored woman's suffrage, but only tepidly, until my association with women like Jane Addams and Frances Kellor, who desired it as one means of enabling them to render better and more efficient service, changed me into a zealous instead of a lukewarm adherent of the cause — in spite of the fact that a few of the best women of the same type, women like Mary Antin, did not favor the movement. A vote is like a rifle: its usefulness depends upon the character of the user. The mere possession of the vote will no more benefit men and women not sufficiently developed to use it than the possession of rifles will turn untrained Egyptian fellaheen into soldiers. This is as true of woman as of man — and no more true. Universal suffrage in Hayti has not made the Haytians able to govern themselves in any true sense; and woman suffrage in Utah in no shape or way affected the problem of polygamy. I believe in suffrage for women in America, because I think they are fit for it. I believe for women, as for men, more in the duty of fitting one's self to do well and wisely with the ballot than in the naked right to cast the ballot.

Florida HB-1355

Shall Not Be Questioned is blogging about HB-1355, a bill sitting on Florida Governor Scott's desk at the moment concerning firearms disability and mental illness.  I have not given an extended explanation of my support for the bill, partly because PJMedia will be publishing something by me shortly about it, and I have written a much more extensive article for Shotgun News on the subject.  Shortest version: won't do enormous good (but perhaps some); some potential for misuse (although not much, because of how carefully it is worded); not an adequate substitute for solving the mental health problem.

Florida's Mental Health & Guns Bill

My first reaction was negative, but reading the text of it, I see why NRA is backing it.  It is narrowly written, but has the potential to disarm some severely mentally ill persons who are hard to commit right now, but pretty obviously are a danger to self or others.  It is no substitute for correcting the mistake of deinstitutionalization, but it isn't a serious problem, and might occasionally do some good.

Colorado State Senate President Recall Vote Is A Go

Shall Not Be Questioned reports that the Colorado state senator president who voted for the magazine ban will now have to face a recall election.  This is a good thing; even if he survives the recall election, the cost of doing so is substantial, and to keep him in office will require the billionaires who fund gun control efforts to divert funds to protecting these fools.

Projection

Yet another person who wants to see the government executing people for disagreeing with him.  From the May 30, 2013 Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette:

The NRA advocates armed rebellion against the duly elected government of the United States of America. That's treason, and it's worthy of the firing squad. The B.S. needs a serious gut check. We are not a tin pot banana republic where machine gun toting rebel groups storm the palace and depose the dictator.

We put the president in the White House. To support the new NRA president's agenda of arming the populace for confrontation with the government is bloody treason. And many invite it gladly as if the African-American president we voted for is somehow infringing on their Constitutional rights.

Normally, I am a peaceable man, but in this case, I am willing to answer the call to defend the country. From them.

To turn the song lyric they so love to quote back on them, "We'll put a boot in your ---, it's the American way."

Except it won't be a boot. It'll be an M1A Abrams tank, supported by an F22 Raptor squadron with Hellfire missiles. Try treason on for size.

He wants to see people who disagree with him killed by the U.S. military...but thinks that concern about this country turning into a "tin pot banana republic" is absurd.  I think I see why Americans are arming.

Oh yes: he's not terribly well-educated.

This foaming at the mouth, Obamar is coming for the guns, Nanny Bloomberg is a bad billionaire, and most despicable of all, those survivors and victims are pawns in the liberal agenda is knuckle-dragging Cretan talk.

He doesn't know the difference between a cretin (and isn't that insulting to the mentally retarded?) and a resident of Crete.  But he is a professor of journalism.

Ways Not To Make Friends For Gun Rights

Mailing terrorist threats with ricin in the letters while complaining about gun control.  Yeah, this could be a gun control advocate trying to make our side look bad.  But there are tens of millions of people who passionately oppose gun control; it isn't much of a stretch to imagine that one of those tens of millions have the strategic planning capacity of a bagel.

I am actually pretty pleased with how seldom anyone on our side gets arrested for doing something this stupid.  Here's a hint: making threats to overthrow the government if you actually plan to do that isn't exactly keeping the advantage of surprise, is it?

Remember Trayvon Martin?

The case is getting more and more crooked.  From the May 29, 2013 Miami Herald:

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A court employee who retrieved photos and deleted text messages from Trayvon Martin's cellphone has been placed on administrative leave after an attorney testified that prosecutors didn't properly turn over the evidence to the defense, an attorney said Wednesday.

Former prosecutor Wesley White said he was ethically obligated to reveal that Fourth Judicial Circuit Information Technology Director Ben Kruidbos retrieved the data that weren't turned over.

And what were some of the pictures that came off the cell phone of the angelic Trayvon Martin?

The defense released photos of a gun, marijuana plant and Martin's text messages publicly, saying that if prosecutors planned to paint Zimmerman as the aggressor and Martin as the innocent bystander, they wanted the information to defend him. Attorneys won't be able to mention the teen's drug use, suspension from school and past fighting during opening statements at the trial, Nelson ruled Tuesday.

I think I see why the defense wants that information -- and having that information hidden?  Wow.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/29/3422519/lawyer-zimmerman-prosecutor-withheld.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/29/3422519/lawyer-zimmerman-prosecutor-withheld.html#storylink=cpy

New PJMedia Article

Universal Background Checks: Shouldn’t We Review the Statistics?

So Busy Being Sick...

I didn't notice this new PJMedia article by me:

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT): Credentialed, Not Educated