This has been an interesting week for me. I’m working on a project where I’m being required to do much more frontend work than I normally do. This required me to actually learn Bootstrap’s grid system. It is astonishing how much I learn when I read the code instead of just reading the documentation.

Another part of this was learning about citations and what they mean. This became critical when reading Judge Lindsay Jenkins’ Memorandum Opinion and Order regarding the Illinois AWB + LCM ban.

Consider the following: “561 U.S. 742, 767 (2010)”. This is an official reference to McDonald. “561” is volume 561 of U.S. which is “United States Reports”. The same case can be referenced via the “S.Ct.” reporter, which is “Supreme Court Reporter”. And finally, there is “L.Ed.” and “L.Ed.2d) which is the “United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers’ Edition”.

The next number, in our example “742”, is the page number in the printed reference. The “767” after that is the page from which this particular quotation was taken.

Here is the quote of interest to me:

Id. is Latin for “idem” meaning “the same”. In citations, it means the same citation just used. This means I have to find the correct citation. This particular Judge is good with his citations. Whereas most people put the citation immediately after the quotation, this Judge puts them close. He mentions McDonald v. City of Chicago and a line later he gives the citation.

This reference is to pages 899 through 900. Somewhere on those two pages of the printed reporter will be the quote he is citing.

Now I don’t remember anything in Heller, McDonald, or Bruen that said that there was a history or tradition of banning the possession of especially dangerous weapons. The judge quoted them; therefore it must be there. Maybe he pulled it out of context?

The text of the McDonald opinion is available from multiple sources. What isn’t available from most of those sources is a version with the page numbers as used in the cited reporter.

After a bit of looking, I found it at the Library of Congress. I verified it was the correct version because it starts at page 742. Time to find his quote.

Oh shit, there it is:

That is pretty damning language. Why didn’t I know about this?

Oh, here it is, “Stevens, J., dissenting”. Yes, that is Associate Justice Stevens in his dissent to McDonald making this statement. When he quotes back to Heller you have to be cautious because he will often cite back to his own dissent.

In conclusion, this judge decided to justify his acceptance of “historical record” of firearms regulations because the loosing side in McDonald thought, incorrectly, that there were such historical regulations.

On the fun front, a Henry Golden Boy in .22 followed me home. She is very sweet. I need to do a bit more hole punching to get it fully zeroed, that’s just fun.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Did any of you listen to the Mean Mary music from Tuesday? Should I be looking for different types of music for you’ll?

Matt Driscoll, over at The News Tribune out of Tacoma, Washington, has an opinion.

The reason you are angry about an emergency bill that bans most/all semi-automatic rifles in the state of Washington is because you are selfish.

There you have it, reason and decency prevailed when the legislature passed and the Governor signed into law a bill that strips you of your Second Amendment protected rights. Of course, he has to mislead by saying more than 50 assault-style weapons were banned.

First, the ban lists not just firearms by name, but entire classes of weapons. It doesn’t ban the Colt AR-15, instead it bans AR15, M16, or M4 in all forms — Washington State, 1240-S. In addition, it also bans by feature, some of those features are:

• semi-automatic rifle with an overall length of less than 30 inches
• “Assault weapon” conversion kits, part, or combination of parts
• A semi-automatic center fire rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has one or more of the following:
  • Pistol grip
  • Thumbhole stock
  • Folding or telescoping stock
  • Forward grip
  • Any sort of muzzle device
  • thread barrel
  • Grenade or flare launcher
  • A barrel shroud unless it on a fudd gun
• A semi-automatic rifle that has a fixed magazine that accepts more than 10 rounds
• And more!!! Including pistols

This bans almost all modern semi-automatic rifles. It seems to be even worse when it comes to pistols. Their definition of a “shroud” would include most slides. If your semi-auto, center fire pistol, takes a detachable magazine, it is an assault weapon under Washington State law.

Matt says this is reason and decency in action.

You are giving up so little for what this law will actually do. Let’s see what Matt thinks this law will do.

Umm, nothing. He doesn’t actually say what he thinks this law will do.

Don’t miss this little gem, that one that every gun infringer puts out there, the “it is just a start”. There’s also little question that reducing gun deaths in America will take more than new regulations… — Matt

You have a politicized cultural gun fetish. I promise you that it is not a gun fetish, at least mine isn’t.

And he closes with standards, he gets to define what “the right to keep and bear arms.” means. Besides, it is just a small price to pay for you to give up some of your rights.

Washington assault weapon ban about more than gun rights

B.L.U.F. Why the Sixth Circuit Court found that the bump stock ban is not constitutional.

This was not a Second Amendment challenge to the rule. Instead, it was an Article I, Section 1 challenge.

The ATF is not a part of the Congress, but is instead a part of the Executive branch. The Executive branch is charged with enforcing laws, not in creating laws.

Given this challenge, Bruen plays no part in the decision except that it indicates that the Supreme Court is serious about Second Amendment protected rights.

The Question

Is the ATF’s interpretation of 18 U.S.C § 922(o)(1) which incorporates 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) Constitutional?

§ 922 is the Gun Control Act. This is where it says it shall be unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun. — §922(o)(1). That definition of a machinegun is what is at issue:

Is it a machinegun?

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I ran across Mean Mary when looking for Dueling Banjo’s. I wasn’t certain whether I liked her voice or not. Google added her to my rotation, and every once in a while I’d hear a song that I really liked. And then I would look, and it was Mean Mary.

She is a multi instrumentalist. She plays fiddle, banjo, and guitar. That’ve seen so far. She likely plays more.

As I looked through YouTube for more Mean Mary videos, I found a number of “Reacts to” videos. The opera singer was impressed with her voice. The pair of hard rockers were impressed with her playing. The others had similar statements.

And they almost all then went to, “Oh shit, she plays like that! That’s amazing.” when they got to the end.

This one is for all of you that have ever had to give a product pitch

She has a religious bend. This is a devil of song.

She is self-named. When she was younger, she wrote a song titled “Mean Mary from Alabama”. By younger, I mean 6. There is a video of her on some sort of local show at a very young age, being introduced as “Mean Mary St. James”.

B.L.U.F. — Examining the 1939 case of United States v. Miller 307 U.S. 174 where we first lost our Second Amendment Rights. Touching on how Heller, McDonald, and Bruen all reference back to Miller but how it got twisted to allow the courts to allow infringements to continue

Background

There is a different version of the arrest of Miller in Unintended Consequences, this appears to be more factual.

This is how the District Judge Heartsill Ragon described it:

There are some significant aspects to this case and how it was charged. The state would have to prove that the firearm in question required a NFA tax stamp, that it did not have that tax stamp, that it had been transported across state lines. And that the police had reason to make the stop.

This was before Miranda but the law still required some reason to arrest and search people.

The Miller case was a case of tax evasion. Failure to pay a $200 tax on a $15 shotgun. In addition, the NFA made transporting a registered firearm across state lines a crime unless the state first gave permission.
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I am not an expert in this. These are my own personal opinions.

Here is how I go about it:

First is the safety talk. This is where we go over the four rules until they have it. I do not go any further if they aren’t comfortable with the rules.

The next step is to let them handle different firearms. At this stage, they learn that they really, really should treat every firearm as loaded. They learn how to handle those firearms safely. They learn how to verify, for themselves, that the firearm is unloaded. They learn to keep the firearm pointed in a safe directly. They learn a bit about how it feels.

During this time, there is never more than one firearm out at a time.

We go through the different types of ammunition. This is partially to disprove the “AR-15 assault weapons fire the most deadly killing bullets!!!!”

At that point, I show them the .22LR we will be using for our first shots. The idea here is that I want them to see this as small and less scary.

We now move to the range. At the range, we will have four different firearms.

• .22LR semi-automatic pistol
• .22LR Bolt Action rifle
• 9 mm semi-automatic pistol
• .45cal semi-automatic pistol

There are many choices for .22LR semi-automatics. I choose to use a semi-automatic because that is what the rest of my primary pistols are. Yes, I have a few SAA style and one .357 Magnum revolver, but those are not my primary. Those are just for fun.

The next question is with regard to the manual of arms. When you look at .22LR pistols, you’ll find many different styles. For me, I needed a .22LR that had the same manual of arms as my other primary pistols.

What does this mean?

What this means is that everything that you have to do right with my primary firearms you need to do right with the training firearm.

For me, my primary firearm is a 1911. Because my primary is a 1911, my other firearms that I regularly use have 1911 style controls. I prefer a push button for a magazine release, just like the 1911. I want it to have a manual safety, just like my 1911. Likewise, I want it to have a slide release in nearly the same place as the 1911. And I want it to have good sights.

My choice was the M&P 22 Compact. Everything I needed for the manual of arms applies. In addition, it is just fun to shoot.

There are a number of .22LR rifles out there. Pick one that is of a comfortable size for you and the people you are training. I thought about getting a youth sized rifle, but by the time I was ready to do it, my kids didn’t need a youth sized rifle.

Start Slow

When starting, most of the time they want to start with a pistol. Starting with a pistol is a little easier in some ways.

Here is the big starting point, only put one round in the magazine the first time.

This person is going to pull the trigger. There will be a loud bang. You do not know what they are going to do next. Sometimes they will turn towards you, sweeping with the pistol, sometimes they will want to drop the pistol. Regardless of what happens, you want it to be as safe as possible.

I always stand where I can put a hand on their hand if they start to swing towards me, but that is not always the best choice.

Start with one round.

Once they have done one round a few times, then you can move to two rounds in the magazine. The idea, again, is to be safe.

During initial training, I normally do not put more than 5 rounds in the magazine. For you, it might not feel like anything to put 18 rounds of spicy 9 mm down range. For a new person, holding that pistol out for 15+ rounds can be tiring.

At this point, I will demonstrate the 9 mm and the .45. I only send one round down range. The idea is to let them hear that sound up close.

If it works for them, I will let them put a round down range from each of them.

From there we move to the rifle. This gives them a chance to better understand the loading process. We normally shoot offhanded because most of the time people don’t like to get prone. Depending on the range, we might be able to let them sit at a bench to shoot the rifle.

This is how I do it. Lots of talk beforehand. Lots of familiarization beforehand. It is about making them comfortable and to not do stupids or allowing them to do stupids.

B.L.U.F. — Judge Rudolph Contreras believes that banning magazines with more than some magic number is constitutional. This leads to another WTF post analysis of a Judge’s opinion.

The Question

Is D.C.’s LCM ban Constitutional?

The ban basically says that it is illegal to possess, sell, or transfer — D.C. Code § 7-2506.01(b) a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds. The exception is for tube feed .22 caliber magazines.

Background

This duffus had to go out and find another judge who is just as ignorant as he is in order to make a statement as stupid as saying that attaching a “large capacity magazine” to a handgun makes it into a semiautomatic.

He is quoting the memorandum and opinion out of the District Court of Rhode Island. He had this to say about an “LCM” challenge.

Judge John J. McConnell, Jr, chief judge of the District Court of Rhode Island

The Supreme Court has not said anything about magazines being arms, which is what allows this level of disingenuous reasoning. Regardless, reading the Ocean State Tactical opinion was an exercise in self-control. Breaking monitors does not do any good. As Mark Smith said in a video the other day, when the Judge is a Firearms person, it shows. In the same way, when a Judge is ignorant of even the most basic aspects of a firearm, we get hurt.

It is easy to tell when the state is lying when you have personal knowledge of the subject, it is harder when you are trying to figure out whose experts to trust.

Standing

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This is it! Really.

This is that post where you give us some feedback.

Please add some down below.

You might have noticed that more and more I am linking to https://courtlistener.com. There is a very good reason for this. They are doing a great job.

I’ve talked about how hard it is to find case documents and how expensive it is to get them from the government. CourtListener is a sort of crowdsourced legal document repository. If you want to help out CourtListener all you need to do is to download their “RECAP” browser extension and signup for a PACER account. They have instructions on the site.

When you are looking at a case, on CourtListener, it will either tell you that they already have the document, and you can just read it on their site. If they don’t, they will have a link to buy the document on PACER. When you buy the document on PACER, the RECAP add-on automatically uploads that document to the RECAP archive.

While it is expensive to download PACER documents, the big cost is doing searches on PACER. By using the links supplied by CourtListener, you don’t do any searches on PACER. It takes you directly to the page to purchase the documents you are looking for.

In addition, if you buy less than $30 worth of searches and downloads per quarter, PACER doesn’t charge you. This means that if you only download a couple of documents for RECAP from PACER, no charges.

Anyway, go give them a look if you are interested in looking at or for court documents.

CourtListener is a project run by the Free Law Project. To quote them:

We’ve heard the press statements, and some of it is pretty obviously slanted. Andrew Branca has done a couple of videos on it so far.

Yesterday, he brought up that you can use deadly force under other circumstances than in protection of self or others. In this case, he brought up Missouri laws on defense of highly defensible property.

The currently known facts show that Ralph Yarl was on Lester’s property. He was found shot on Lester’s property. We know that Yarl was 16 years old, large, black, and six foot tall or a bit more.

This can be seen as intimidating.

The words in red are the ones to note. The question before the court is likely to become “Was Yarl attempting to unlawful enter as perceived by a reasonable person?” If this happens it is likely that the shooter will be found not guilty.

On the other hand, black person shot by white man, chances of white man getting convicted is damn high, even with no other evidence but for the skin color.