B.L.U.F.A look at FRAP as it applies to civil cases, most Second Amendment challenges are civil cases. Tied to games being played by Everytown in Antonyuk v. Hochul, 22-2972, (2d Cir.)

(1400 words)

There are rules for everything that the courts do. There are standard forms that are to be used. There is a general set of rules, written by congress, and each “court” can have additional, published rules.

When a party does something in a case, they must abide by the rules of that court.

FRAP starts with Rule 1, giving us the scope of the rules.

1. Scope of Rules.
   1. These rules govern procedure in the United States courts of appeals.
   2. When these rules provide for filing a motion or other document in the district court, the procedure must comply with the practice of the district court.

Of course, since this is the government writing rules for the government, what they give with one hand, they remove with the other:

Rule 2. Suspension of Rules

Some of this makes perfect sense, and we see it in use all the time.

For example, we have this docket entry:

When looking at the actual motion, it starts with a standard form following FRAP Rule 27.
Read More

We end the week with good news out of California. Judge Benitez has ruled that assault weapon bans are unconstitutional.

The case is Miller v. Becerra, 3:19-cv-01537, (S.D. Cal.)

I’ll be doing some writing about F.R.A.P. and this case over the weekend. Maybe I can keep it down to just a few thousand words.

Anybody want to place bets on how many words pour out of my fingers over the weekend?

Regardless, the comments are open, please let us know what you are thinking about, what you want us to write about.

Side story, back in 2016, a bunch of hooligans were defacing my friend’s home. She is a former IDF. At that time, she was a pacifist. I don’t know where she stands on that front at this moment.

The important part was that these monsters were painting NAZI symbols on her door and driveway.

I offered to drive over in the redneck truck and sleep in her driveway for a few days. She didn’t take up the offer.

That offer is extended to J.Kb. if he wants to take us up on it.

My lady offered a great idea to our friend. Our friend rigged an air horn with a trip wire. When the savages showed up that night, they tripped the wire and the air horn went off in their ears. I’m told there were only brown stains on the walk way that night, and no more graffiti.

B.L.U.F.
How things fit together. It isn’t just Second Amendment items that the Supreme Court is fixing, it is a wealth of other issues. This is just one.
(1700 words)

As Second Amendment activists, we know how the government plays their game of infringement. They claim that The People aren’t implicated in this infringement, they claim that the conduct proposed isn’t really protected, they argue that the arm they are banning isn’t an arm, or they claim that it isn’t their burden to prove that an arm is not in common use.

These infringements come from the executive using a “Pen and a phone”, from regulatory agencies making regulations outside their delegated powers. From legislatures passing bills that are simply infringements.

All of them twist the words of the Constitution and Heller to take our protections away.

While I have not looked at the legal foundation for the establishment of the EPA, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess “The Commerce Clause”. In other words, it isn’t part of the enumerated powers granted to the Federal Government.

While we have been in our little niche over here, fighting to hold on to our rights, other groups have been fighting on other fronts. One of the biggest of those scams is the “Climate Emergency!!!!”.
Read More

As we know, Massachusetts has some of the worst Second Amendment infringements in the country. They are attempting to worsen it.

To own a firearm in Massachusetts, you have to have the state’s permission. This is a firearm owner’s identification. I don’t know what its official name is. I have been reliably informed that they are called a FID in Massachusetts

I learned about this bit of nasty when I was working for Sun Microsystems down in the Boston area. My boss, who was a gun owner, was telling me the story of how he lost access to his guns for a while.

He, like many other surfs in Massachusetts, got one of these FOID like cards when they were first issued. He was fairly young at the time. The card was good for life.

He had to move somewhere and transferred his firearms to his father for safe keeping. When he came back into the state, he asked his father for his firearms back. His father asked if he had his FOID.

“Of course I have,” he said and pulled out his card.

His father explained to him that the card that was good for life had been cancelled. FOID cards now expired. My boss had to apply and do all the processes to get a new FOID to get his firearms back from his father.

But did you know that you need that same ID to possess ammunition or ammunition components in the kingdom of Massachusetts?

That’s right, you have to show your card to purchase ammo. Or parts to make ammo. Like primers, shell cases, bullets, and powder. All require the king’s permission to purchase or possess.

How bad is this? A few years ago, a history professor went down to Virginia to visit some Civil War battlefields. While there, he found or was given a musket ball from the battle. When he returned to his university, he placed it in a little display on his desk.

Somebody noticed. That somebody then reported it to the police. The police came, identified it as a bullet and asked to see his FOID. This professor was an anti-gun infringer, of course he didn’t have a FOID. He was arrested for having “ammunition components without a FOID”.

This went to court. In court, the judge agreed with the state, and it was later upheld: A 100+ year old musket ball was an ammunition component. The professor got jail time.

Why do I hate them so much? Because I have to enter Mordor from time to time.

A few years back, I was driving down to Mordor to pick up my kids from an event they were attending. I was driving my wife’s car. I happened to notice some 30-06 blank cases sitting in the dash. My kids had picked them up from the Honor Guard rifle solute on Veterans Day.

I didn’t think anything about it until I got home. Then I got the cold sweats. Those empty shell casings were go-to-jail on a felon count for each one if I had been pulled over by a cop. If my wife had been pulled over, it was likely she would have talked herself into extra charges.

Every time I go to Mordor, I check my coat pockets to make sure I haven’t picked up a shell casing, either on purpose or accidentally. I’ve had cases bounce into my pockets when shooting at the range.

Know the regulations for where you are, for where you are going, for the places in between. Then check, double check, and then check again.

There are people out there that would like nothing less than to stitch you up for an extended stay on felony charges because you are a firearms owner.

B.L.U.F.
As we’ve talked about, cases change numbers and names as they travel through the system.

This is a history of the VanDerStok v. Garland cases as they have moved through the courts. If you make it too the end, it discusses where we are and what the tea leaves have been.
(1400 words)

History

Aug 11, 2022

Complaint filed by Jennifer VanDerStok et al. challenging the ATF’s frame and receiver rule

Aug 17, 2022

Motion for injunction filed by Plaintiffs (Good Guys)

Aug 18, 2022

ATF moves to have the case transferred to a different court.

Aug 29, 2022

The court asks the parties to argue for or against shortening the case by combining the preliminary injunction phase with the merits phase.

Sep 2, 2022

The court grants a preliminary injunction in part. (good news)

Sep 10, 2022

The court declines to transfer the case

Sep 16, 2022

The court orders everybody to hurry up. They want expedited briefings

Oct 1, 2022

The court expands the scope of who is covered by the injunction. (good news)

Oct 25, 2022

The ATF filed the administrative record the day before, the Court now tells everybody that this is going to move fast and be prepared to argue the merits (no preliminary injunction hearings) 14 days after the Court says go.

Nov 1, 2022

The ATF lets the court know they are asking the Fifth Circuit to stop the preliminary injunction

Nov 3, 2022

The Court adds BlackHawk Manufacturing Group to the list of protected parties under the Preliminary Injunction

Dec 23, 2022

The plaintiffs (good guys) file a motion for Summary Judgement

Feb 13, 2023

The ATF files a cross motion for Summary Judgement

Mar 6, 2023

The Court grants Defense Distributed and Second Amendment Foundation coverage under the original preliminary injunction.

Jun 27, 2023

Fifth Circuit court has all briefings in hand and scheduled oral arguments for Sep, 2023

Jul 5, 2023

The court issues its final judgement. In that judgement, they find that the final rule violates ATF’s statutory jurisdiction and vacates the final rule.

Jul 14, 2023

The ATF asks for an Emergency Stay pending appeal

The Fifth Circuit Court dockets a new case.

July 18, 2023

The Court grants a 7-day administrative stay

Jul 25, 2023

The Fifth Circuit calendars the case for Sep 7, 2023.

The District court issues a stay pending appeal

Jul 24, 2023

The Fifth Circuit court stays the vacatur pending appeal

Jul 27, 2023

The ATF requests a stay from the Supreme court regarding the Preliminary Injunction and Final Judgement

Aug 8, 2023

The Supreme Court stays the vacatur of the Northern District Court of Texas. (bad news)

Sep 6, 2023

The Fifth Circuit Court dismisses the appeal because the ATF asked them in one case.

Sep 7, 2023

Oral argument heard before Judges Willett, Engelhardt, Oldham

Sep 14, 2023

The district court enjoins the ATF from enforcing their final rule

Sep 25, 2023

Oral arguments are scheduled for Sep 28, 2023

Sep 28, 2023

Oral arguments are heard

Oct 2, 2023

The Fifth Circuit Court vacates the injunction as to non-parties. (so-so news)

Oct 5, 2023

ATF applies to the Supreme Court to vacate the injunction pending appeal on the Emergency Docket

Oct 6, 2023

Justice Alito stays the injunction administratively for 10 days.

Justice Alito orders all responses to be in place by Oct 11, 2023

Oct 16, 2023

The application is referred to the court

The September 14, 2023, order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, case No 4:22-cv-691, is vacated

Injunctions, Vacaturs, Stays and Judgements, Oh My!

Read More

I think we all have one of these friends:

Here’s a higher resolution video by Curb.

J.Kb. took the plunge yesterday and printed mailing labels from WooCommerce. I expect people to start seeing their goods shortly.

Because we are new to this, the hook and loop stuff didn’t get processed correctly. I’m still going to send them, I’ll figure out how to make it work.

Thank you for your patience.

You have got to read the fine print…

This is the firearm charge brought by the DoJ against Hunter Biden.

The grand jury brought these three counts. Note that the grand jury charges, U.S.C. 18 §922(g)(3). This is the same charge as the United States DoJ brought originally.

Because it is a duplicate and not from a ground jury, the DoJ dropped that “firearm charge”.

This changes nothing. All it does is remove any Fifth Amendment claims from Hunter’s team.

If you hear from other sources that the Feds dropped a firearm charge against Hunter, know that this is the rest of the story.

B.L.U.F.
An explanation of emergency dockets of the circuit courts and the Supreme Court with simple tie in to Duncan v. Bonta, the magazine ban out of California.
(1300 words)

There is a process… There is always a process. How do cases get from here to there?

Once a case has been filed, the case moves forward. At different stages of the case, parties can appeal to the next higher court to seek relief.

There are two paths to the Supreme Court, from the state court system or through the federal court system.

Each state can have its own internal courts, but in general, there is a low-level court, an optional state appeals court, and then a state supreme court. For small states, they might not have a state level court of appeals.

From the state supreme court, the parties can appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

On the federal side, a case is filed in a district court. At different stages, the parties can appeal to the circuit court of appeals to seek relief. If they do not receive relief at the circuit level, they can appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Circuit Court of Appeals has two different docketing systems. There is the merits based docket and then there is the emergency docket.

While the parties might think that their particular case is time-critical, the courts do not see it that way. A party can place something on the emergency docket if the matter meets at least some of the Winter factors. These would be irreparable injury, balance of equity, and public interest.
Read More

It looks like a great weekend starting this evening. I hope it is a wonderful evening for you as well.

Add your comments down below.