Now For Some Good News Out Of California

It seems like all the news coming out of California today was uniformly bad. However, there is one bright spot. As I reported two weeks ago, two firearms groups plus a number of individual plaintiffs sued for a restraining order against the California law that bans the use of the video feed from the California legislature for political purposes. UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh is one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs and he wrote about the case at this morning on the Washington Post's Volokh Conspiracy blog.

As Firearms Policy Coalition reported a few hours ago on Facebook, US District Court Judge Morrison England has granted the request for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Cal. Gov. Code § 9026.5. Professor Volokh also has confirmed that in a short post as well.

This is a win for the First Amendment and the Second Amendment. The Firearms Policy Coalition Second Amendment Defense Committee and others can now use video from the legislature in ads opposing Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom's gun control initiative.

UPDATE: Gene Hoffman of CalGuns Foundation just pointed out something that I missed. The same Judge Morrison England who ruled for the FPCSADC on First Amendment grounds was the same Judge England whose decision against concealed carry in the Richards case was upheld in today's ruling from the 9th Circuit. How ironic.

More Bad News Out Of California

Gunpocalypse Round II will come for California gun owners on Tuesday, June 14th, as another round of anti-gun legislation will come up for a vote before the relevant committees. The release from the Firearms Policy Coalition with more details is below.

GUNPOCALYPSE, ROUND 2

California Legislature to vote on 11 anti-gun bills in one day.

SACRAMENTO – On Tuesday, June 14^th  at 9A.M., the California Legislature will hear the most anti-gun bills it’s heard in one day; spread out over both houses and three different committees The only description that seems appropriate is “Gunpocalypse”. This is the second round of the same push to turn the law-abiding into overnight criminals— aka Gunpocalypse: Round 2.

“Anti-gun legislators are playing a dangerous game of chicken with our civil rights”, says Craig DeLuz, the Director of Public and Legislative Affairs for the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC). “They are ignoring their own rules, while playing fast and loose with the facts; all to see who can beat Gavin Newsom in being the first to take away our Second Amendment Rights.”

DeLuz is referring to a three-way race between Senate Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) and Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, who’s trying to qualify an initiative for the November ballot; to see who can get their package of anti-gun-owner bills passed into law first.

Sen. de Leon’s package of bills, most of which will be heard in the Assembly Committee on Public Safety on Tuesday June 14^th, includes:

•  SB 880 (Hall): Bans common and constitutionally protected firearms that have magazine locking devices.
• SB 894 (Jackson): Re-victimizes victims by criminalizing the failure to report lost and stolen firearms.
• SB 1235 (de Leon): Restrictions on ammunition purchases, creates a DOJ database of ammunition owners.
• SB 1407 (de Leon): Retroactively requires serial numbers to be placed on firearms dating back at least 50 years.
•   SB 1446 (Hancock): Confiscation of lawfully acquired, standard capacity ammunition feeding devices.
• SB 1006 (Wolk):  University of California taxpayer funding for gun control research. (This bill will be heard the same day in the Assembly Committee on Higher Education.)

Meanwhile, at the same exact time Asm. Rendon’s collection of bills will be heard in Senate Public Safety. That package consists of:

• AB 1664 (Levine): Bans common and constitutionally protected firearms that have magazine locking devices.
• AB 1673 (Gipson): Redefines “firearms” to include items that are not firearms.
•  AB 1674 (Santiago): Bans buying more than one firearm within a 30-day period.
• AB 1695 (Bonta): Makes it a crime to fail to report a gun lost or stolen.
•   AB 2607 (Ting): Dramatically expands who can request a Gun Violence Restraining order.

9th Circuit Peruta Decision Boiled Down To The Essentials

Today the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals released their opinion in Peruta v. County of San Diego as well as Richards v. Prieto. The court sitting en banc said to California residents that unless you were rich and famous and could afford a substantial bribe campaign contribution to your local sheriff or were a Federal judge protected by the US Marshals Service, then you had no Second Amendment right to carry concealed. In essence, the court said you were on your own and if you wanted to carry a firearm concealed for self-defense, then you were just shit out of luck.

In the summary they said:

The en banc court held that the history relevant to both the Second Amendment and its incorporation by the Fourteenth Amendment lead to the same conclusion: The right of a member of the general public to carry a concealed firearm in public is not, and never has been, protected by the Second Amendment. Therefore, because the Second Amendment does not protect in any degree the right to carry concealed firearms in public, any prohibition or restriction a state may choose to impose on concealed carry — including a requirement of “good cause,” however defined — is necessarily allowed by the Amendment. The en banc court stated that there may or may not be a Second Amendment right for a member of the general public to carry a firearm openly in public, but the Supreme Court has not answered that question.

You may remember that a regular three-judge 9th Circuit panel had found that the Second Amendment does indeed convey a right to carry. Chief Judge Sidney Thomas, a Clinton appointee, had been in the minority in that decision and worked to get it reheard en banc.

Today he was in the 7-4 majority with the opinion written by Judge William Fletcher, a Clinton appointee. Chief Judge Thomas was also joined in the majority by Judge Harry Pregerson, a 93-year old Carter appointee; Judge Susan Graber, a Clinton appointee; Judge Margaret McKeown, a Clinton appointee; Judge Richard Paez, a Clinton appointee; and Judge John Owens, a Obama appointee.

Voting for the Second Amendment right to carry were Judge Consuelo Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee; Judge Barry Silverman, a Clinton appointee; Judge Carlos Bea, a George W. Bush appointee; and Judge N. Randy Smith, a George W. Bush appointee.

I applaud Judge Silverman for bucking the trend of Democratic appointees who voted against the Second Amendment. Perhaps the judge was familiar with the works of the English philosopher John Locke who had greatly influenced our founding fathers. In Locke's Second Treatise Concerning Civil Government, Locke said, in so many words, that the first law of nature is a right to self-defense. In that view, it could be argued that today's 9th Circuit decision was a crime against the laws of nature.

I am in agreement with Sebastian that it would be very dangerous for the plaintiffs to appeal this ruling to the US Supreme Court as the Court stands now. I have an interview for the Polite Society Podcast scheduled for Friday with Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation. I'm sure that will come up during the interview. I will post more on that tomorrow afternoon.

Coincidental?

Two days after Hillary Clinton clinched the Democratic nomination for President, I got an ad in my email from Sportsman's Guide advertising ammo boxes and gun vaults.

Now most of these are simple ammo cans or fabric gun cases. However, there is the Military Surplus 58-Gallon Waterproof Molded Barrel, the 47" Mono Vault, and the Mono Vault 107S. These can be used for burying or caching firearms and ammunition.

The ad copy for the Mono Vault above says, in part:

Give your gun a proper burial! Hard-line protective Mono Vault!

Of course we're not suggesting "laying your gun to rest"! Too much good shooting left to do. But these Mono Vaults are rugged, completely sealed capsules that could be literally buried.

The smaller MonoVault 107S pictured above is explicitly being sold as a container to bury firearms and other valuables. Sportsman's Guide even makes a point of assuring you that it is non-metallic so that metal detectors can't sniff it out.

MonoVaultTM 107S: think of it as a safety deposit box for your backyard.

Determined thieves can crack a wall safe in no time flat. That's why the best safeguard is the one he never knows is there. That's where the MonoVault comes into play. The MonoVault is an air and water-tight chamber designed to be buried on your property.

It's large enough to hold important papers, photos and even many semi-auto handguns (including 5" barrel 1911-style pistols). A gamma-sealed, threaded lid closes it up tight, and a secondary lift-off burial shield adds a second layer of protection. "Buried treasures" stay safe and completely undetectable until you go to retrieve them.

Now it may just be coincidental that the Sportsman's Guide sent out an advertisement with containers for burying firearms two days after Hillary clinched the nomination. However, given her rabid anti-gun platform and recent statements, I'm not so sure. I'll let you make the call.

Not that I'm advocating armed revolt but there is a lot of truth in the saying "if it is time to bury your firearms, then it is time to use them." However, if you insist on burying them, might I suggest a good local business like my friend Tim's The Old Grouch Military Surplus  instead of a large mail-order company owned by the French.

Election Day In North Carolina

Thanks to the courts and redistricting voters in North Carolina have to go to the polls again today. In most cases, voters will only have one or two races upon which to vote - the special primary for Congress and one seat on the NC Supreme Court. Unless you live in the 2nd or 13th Congressional District, the incumbent is almost guaranteed to win. Thus, it is the NC Supreme Court primary that is the key. While nominally non-partisan, Justice Robert Edmunds is a conservative Republican and the pivotal vote on the direction of the court.

Grass Roots North Carolina Political Victory Fund is urging gun owners to get to the polls to vote for Edmunds so as keep the court conservative. Their alert is below:

VOTE TOMORROW

POLLS OPEN FROM 6:30AM TO 7:30PM TOMORROW USE GRNC RECOMMENDATIONS TO ELECT PRO-GUN CANDIDATES!  (See the list below) Whether or not your district has a special primary race for the U.S. House, it is critical that you get to the polls and vote for the GRNC-PVF recommended candidate, BOB EDMUNDS, for NC Supreme Court in this court-ordered special election. ROBERT H. (BOB) EDMUNDS IS THE JURIST ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO RETAIN CONSERVATIVE CONTROL OF THE NC SUPREME COURT! Because voter turnout will likely be low, your vote counts more than ever.  NC Supreme Court Special Primary: Even if you don’t have a congressional primary or don’t intend to vote the congressional primary in your district, you must still vote in a court-ordered “special primary” in order to keep conservative control of the NC Supreme Court. In this race, GRNC-PVF strongly recommends you vote for Bob Edmunds. CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE TO GRNC-PVF , and help us continue the important work of electing strong, pro-gun legislators and conservative judges.Or go to: http://www.grnc.org/grnc-pvf/donate-to-grnc-pvf

Punching Back Twice As Hard

Lt. Gov Gavin Newsom (D-CA) hopes to ride his Orwellian-named "Safety for All" initiative to the Governor's Mansion in Sacramento.  In addition to banning standard capacity magazines, it would mandate background checks akin to a NICS check just to buy ammunition. Moreover, it would ban the private sale or transfer of ammunition. The LA Times reports that much of the initiative wording came from the Legal Center to Prevent Gun Violence (sic).

It appears that Newsom's professional signature gatherers have accumulated enough names to get it on the ballot in November. Once certified, the battle begins in earnest.

The Coalition for Civil Liberties is made up of a number of diverse groups with one objective in mind - defeat Newsom's initiative. You have the NRA-affiliated California Rifle & Pistol Association on one end and the Gun Owners of California on the other with the Pink Pistols in the middle. You can't get more diverse than that!

Women and the LGBTQ communities are traditional Democratic constituencies in California. The Coalition is taking aim directly at those groups to drive a wedge between them and the ammo prohibitionists. They gained a lot of attention with a web ad featuring Nicki Stallard, a trans-gendered woman, and a gun rights activist. (As an aside, I've met Nicki at more than one Gun Rights Policy Conference)

Now they are taking it to TV with a very powerful black and white ad featuring a woman being attacked in a parking garage. HotAir reports that Republican strategist Richard Grennell is behind the ad.




Frankly, I don't care who is behind the ad. I'm just happy that it is so powerful.

D-Day Plus 72 Years

A child born on D-Day would turn 72 years old today. He or she would have reached their full Social Security retirement age six years ago.

If it was a boy, he would have missed the Korean War and the Vietnam War hadn't begun in earnest when he turned 18. If he did serve in Vietnam, he would have either been the young lieutenant or the "old man" in his early 20s serving as the squad leader or platoon sergeant.

If it was a girl, she would have been in college learning how to be a nurse or teacher when the Beatles invaded the US in 1964. Alternatively, she was a young mother with one or two children as she got married out of high school. She could have been Miss Shaw who was my third grade teacher at Park Street School and who was the first teacher I had under the age of 50.

As I noted last year, my father and many of my classmates fathers had served in WWII. The war wasn't a so distant memory. TV shows like Combat, 12 O'Clock High, and McHale's Navy were in their heyday. There wasn't a National WWII Memorial and there weren't Honor Flights taking the veterans of D-Day to see the Memorial before they passed away.

So on this day, let us remember the young men from the US, Canada, and the UK who landed on a 60 mile swath of Normandy beaches. They went into the great unknown to save the world from Hitler and the Nazis. If you know of someone who landed on D-Day, sit down and talk with them as they won't be around much longer to tell first-hand what they went through. And, it should go without saying, thank them for the sacrifices they and their comrades made.

For North Carolina Voters

Early voting in the Congressional primary and the election of a State Supreme Court Associate Justice has started. The election itself will be this coming Tuesday, June 7th.

I voted this morning at the Buncombe County Board of Elections. There were only two people ahead of me to vote. I think the turnout for this election and primary will be very sparse.

Recognizing the low turnout and that it is important to elect pro-gun justices to the NC Supreme Court, Grass Roots North Carolina - Political Victory Fund issued a strong recommendation for Associate Justice Robert H. (Bob) Edmunds. There are cases working their way up through the North Carolina judicial system that will impact gun owners. From what I can tell, permits and zoning for new shooting ranges are at the forefront of these cases.

I do know that Haywood County passed a range ordinance that makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to establish a new range in the county. They imposed rules that their own sheriff's department could not meet for their shooting range. I don't know if a suit is in the works but I wouldn't be surprised. Thus, keeping Justice Edmunds on the court is essential.

VOTE FOR BOB EDMUNDS

EARLY VOTING IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! Whether or not your district has a special primary race for the U.S. House, it is critical that you get to the polls and vote for the GRNC-PVF recommended candidate, BOB EDMUNDS, for NC Supreme Court in this court-ordered special election. ROBERT H. (BOB) EDMUNDS IS THE JURIST ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO RETAIN CONSERVATIVE CONTROL OF THE NC SUPREME COURT! Because voter turnout will likely be low, your vote counts more than ever. NC Supreme Court Special Primary: Even if you don’t have a congressional primary or don’t intend to vote the congressional primary in your district, you must still vote in a court-ordered “special primary” in order to keep conservative control of the NC Supreme Court. In this race, GRNC-PVF strongly recommends you vote for Bob Edmunds. CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE TO GRNC-PVF, and help us continue the important work of electing strong, pro-gun legislators and conservative judges. Or go to: http://www.grnc.org/grnc-pvf/donate-to-grnc-pvf Voting instructions: Primary election One Stop Early Voting begins on May 26 and ends on June 4 at 1:00 PM. Absentee ballots must be received by your county board of elections by 5:00 PM on June 7. Primary voting day is June 7 between 6:30 AM and 7:30 PM. Click here to find your polling place on election day, or click here to find your One Stop Early Voting place. Important changes to voting laws: Due to ongoing litigation, same-day registration will still be permitted during One Stop Early Voting. As in previous years, unaffiliated voters may vote in either Republican or Democrat primaries. Unlike previous years, straight party voting will not be permitted, so GRNC strongly suggests you investigate individual candidates. For the first time, identification is required to vote, so click here to find identification requirements. NC SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE: GRNC-PVF strongly recommends incumbent conservative ROBERT H. (BOB) EDMUNDS. This ad supporting Robert H. (Bob) Edmunds for NC Supreme Court was authorized and paid for solely by the Grass Roots North Carolina Political Victory Fund. Ad not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.