MA: South Hadley Smoke Shop Robbery Suspect Shot, Killed

Once at the scene, officers discovered two adult men, one of whom was suffering from a gunshot wound. Initial reports found Papalardo was believed to have attempted to rob the store when the gun shots were fired, according to the DA’s office. He was taken to the hospital.

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D.C. Man Drives off Violent Burglars with Gunfire

One of the two burglars choked him, prompting James to shoot at him with his personal gun out of self defense, James explained. No serious injuries were reported.

“I’ve always had tough jobs and I work really hard for what I have. It was never my intention to try to kill, but what they did was not ok,” James said. 

The bullet did not hit the robber, but it did hit some plumbing James shares with his neighbors. Residents in the area told DC News Now off camera they are distraught and are afraid that similar incidents may occur again. 

 

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FPC Files Lawsuit: Ban on Non-Resident Carry Challenged in Court

Mural in US Capitol shows traveling with arms was common

On April 11, 2024, a lawsuit was filed against Rob Bonta in his capacity at the Attorney General of California. The lawsuit contends California infringes on the rights protected by the Second Amendment of the Bill  of Rights by prohibiting United States citizens who are not residents of California, from exercising rights protected by the Second Amendment, in California. From the lawsuit:

2. California, however, prevents law-abiding citizens of the United States who do not reside in California from exercising their constitutionally protected right to carry loaded, operable firearms in public. State law generally prohibits individuals from carrying firearms either openly or concealed in public, and non-residents are not eligible for a license to carry a firearm in public. Indeed, California’s unconstitutionally restrictive scheme provides no path for non-residents to carry a firearm lawfully in public at all. As a result, individuals like Plaintiffs Hoffman, Orrin,and Sensiba, who have been issued carry licenses in their respective home states (and are allowed by other states that either do not require a license, or which offer reciprocity based upon the license(s) they hold), are barred from lawfully carrying a firearm in public for self-defense when they visit California.

The lawsuit contends the ban on carry by non-residents is unconstitutional. U.S. citizens do not lose the protection of the Bill of Rights when they cross state lines. They do not lose the right to free speech, the right to practice their religion, or the protection from unreasonable searches or seizures.

This is not the first case which challenges the power of states to block the exercise of rights protected by the Second Amendment by non-residents. In the early challenge to highly restrictive California law on carry permits, in the Peruta case, Peruta contended he had a right to be issued a California permit because he resided in the state part of the time.  Peruta did not prevail, in part, because the case occurred before the current Supreme Court ruling in Bruen clarified how inferior courts were to apply the Heller decision.

Another case, CRPA v LASD, is ongoing. Among other issues, it challenges the power of
California to infringe on the rights of non-residents, which are protected by the Second Amendment. In a Massachusetts case, decided in 2023, a local judge ruled laws which prevent non-residents from carrying are infringements on rights protected by the Second Amendment. The decision in Massachusetts is not a precedential decision. It only applied to the person involved in the case.

When the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, there were no prohibitions on carrying arms across state lines. Even the strictest colonial law, from 1686, made an exception for travelers. From the Bruen decision, in the amici curiae:

In 1686, East New Jersey enacted a law providing that no person “shall presume privately to wear any pocket pistol, skeines, stilettoes, daggers or dirks, or other unusual or unlawful weapons,”  and that “no planter shall ride or go armed with sword, pistol or dagger” except certain officials and “strangers, travelling upon their lawful occasions through this Province, behaving themselves peaceably.”3

There are many examples in statutes, in the history of the United States, which specifically exempt travelers from state weapons laws.  From the Bruen decision, p. 4: 

A short prologue is in order. Even before the Civil War commenced in 1861, this Court indirectly affirmed the importance of the right to keep and bear arms in public. Writing for the Court in Dred Scott v. Sandford, 19 How. 393 (1857), Chief Justice Taney offered what he thought was a parade of horribles that would result from recognizing that free blacks were citizens of the United States. If blacks were citizens, Taney fretted, they would be entitled to the privileges and immunities of citizens, including the right “to keep and carry arms wherever they went.” Id., at 417 (emphasis added)

Analysis: The state of California will counter these arguments. They will claim the Second Amendment only applies to residents of their home state, as residents are not allowed to vote in another state. They will claim it is particularly dangerous to allow residents of other states to carry in California. They will claim other states do not have the burdensome training and fee requirements which California requires to obtain a carry permit.  They will claim the usual Progressive arguments of "that was then, this is now", and "limitations on government power are bad". None of those arguments are valid.

The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has a reputation for being hostile to the free exercise of the Second Amendment. If the District Court rules for the plaintiffs, expect the state to appeal to a Ninth Circuit three judge panel. If the three judge panel rules for the plaintiffs, expect the ruling to be re-heard by an en banc panel. The only appeal after an en banc panel is to the Supreme Court.

 

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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PA: Beaver Falls Woman Shoots, Kills Intruder in Her Home

BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (KDKA) — A Beaver County woman shot and killed a man who broke into her home in the middle of the night, police said. 

"The door to her basement opened and there stands this guy who she had no idea who he was, and she ended up shooting him three times and killing him," Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible said. 

The district attorney described the terrifying moments inside the home on 10th Avenue in Beaver Falls on Wednesday. The homeowner showed KDKA-TV the basement window the man busted open to get inside the home.

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KY: Gunfight, Teen and Home Invader

Christian County Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Chris Miller says they were called by a teenager who says he woke up to an odd noise in the home and grabbed a gun to search the house and was shot at by someone leading him to returned fire causing the suspect to flee the area. 

At this time there is no description of a possible suspect but Miller says there were several shots fired in the exchange.

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Unlicensed Dealers Account for less than 1 of 10,000 Firearms Sold in USA

The Department of Justice has issued a press release showing, over five years, from January 1 of 2017 to December 31 of 2021, the number of firearms sold by unlicensed dealers in the USA was less than 1 of 10,000 sold in the National Instant background Check System (NICS).

During the five year period, the number of firearms sold through the NICS system was; 14 million in 2017, 13.5 million in 2018, 13.6 million in 2019, 21.1 million in 2020, and 18.5 million in 2021, for a total of 80.7 million over the five years.  (according to the National Shooting Sports adjusted calculations)

The number of firearms sold by unlicensed dealers during the five year period was 68,388 firearms. They were uncovered in 3,403 cases. 68,388 may sound like a great deal, but it is less than 1 firearm for every 10,000 legally sold through the NICS system, or .084%. The Justice Department prefers to use the term "trafficked". It may be more correct, because some of the firearms may be traded or gifted rather than sold. Of the 68,388 firearms "trafficked" by unlicensed dealers, there were 368 cases where the firearms were used in shootings. There were 265 cases where they were used in homicides. This is over the entire five year period. The press releases gives us cases, but a case might involve more than one or more firearms. It is not clear if a case would involve more than one homicide, but it is possible.

The vast majority of the cases of unlicensed firearms dealing, 58%,  involved a mean of 2.3 firearms, the the number of firearms ranging from one to five.

There is little to indicate the investigation of the unlicensed sales prevented any homicides, or any violent crime. The homicides mentioned may have been the initial event which brought the unlicensed dealer to the attention of the authorities. Tracing firearms is almost never used to prevent violent crimes such as murder, rape, or assault. Those prosecuted are involved in "process" crimes, selling firearms without the approval of the federal government.

According to statistica, there were  about 97,000 homicides in the USA from 2017 to 2021. The number of homicides associated with  (not caused) by firearms which were sold by unlicensed dealers, according to the ATF, during the five years, were 265.  265 is about .27 of one percent of the homicides committed over the five years. The clearance rate for homicides in many US cities is getting lower and lower. When you have fewer police, who are less willing to investigate crimes, fewer murders get solved. About 35 million dollars a year is wasted on a firearms tracing system which does essentially nothing to prevent violent crimes. It would be much better spend investigating actual murders. The ATF criminal division was funded in 2019 with about 1 billion dollars. Over the five year period of the study, the number would be about 5 billion dollars. Most of that money goes to investigating unlicensed dealers and straw purchasers. The misplaced focus is on firearms when it should be on people who commit violent crime.

The  National Firearms Commerce and Trafficking Assessment (NFCTA): Firearms Trafficking Investigations - Volume Three, has  eleven parts, plus a Director's Forward and Acknowledgement. In virtually every part, a critical reader can find evidence of a very small return for the national treasure expended. For example, in part X, National Illegal Firearm Recoveries, most of the "firearms" recovered are parts kits which could be used to convert an existing firearm into an illegal firearm. You will also see 75% of the cases over the five years happened in 2019. It is clear something anomalous happened in 2019.  It could be as simple as defining an object as illegal, which was previously considered legal. The eleven parts contain a large amount of information.  Much of what is revealed is the relative small number of cases. Read the statistics critically, and you will be amazed at the information available.

Analysis:

The number of people who commit most murders in a given city are a tiny percentage of the population. From David Kennedy, the renowned criminal justice professor and co-chair of the National Network for safe communities:

 “We now know that homicide and gun violence are overwhelmingly concentrated among serious offenders operating in groups: gangs, drug crews, and the like representing under half of one percent of a city's population who commit half to three-quarters of all murders.”

The money thrown away in absurd bureaucratic exercises such as keeping, maintaining, and attempting to expand gun traces and gun trace databases, could be used to keep track of hyper violent criminals. Those who are known to be the most at risk for murder, or being murdered, are a tiny percentage of the population, much smaller than the number of firearms in society. The basic misunderstanding by the left is their confusion about cause and effect. Guns do not cause crime. Criminals only need a tiny number of guns to commit enormous numbers of crimes. Those who are prone to commit crime must be removed from the general population. There are know ways to help people, especially young men, to refrain from the temptations of violent crime. They are:

1. A stable family structure, with a strong male providing for the family.

2. A strong moral structure in the community, particularly Christianity, where violence against others is discouraged. It is important for illegitimate violence to be stigmatized.

3. A criminal justice system which is viewed as legitimate and appropriate. In communities where the police are respected, crime is low.

Much of the focus of Marxists/Leftists/Progressives, is to remove responsibility from individuals and focus on inanimate objects. This is a recipe for disaster.

 

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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Il: Chicago Attempted Disarm, Victim Wounded

A 49-year-old male was standing near a tree in a park, when an unknown male approached, produced a handgun and announced a robbery. The victim grabbed the weapon, discharging the firearm and was struck.  The victim was dropped off at St. Joseph by a friend and transferred to Ill Masonic hospital where he is listed in fair condition with a gsw to the torso.  There is no one in custody and the circumstances surrounding the incident are being investigated by Area Three detectives.

 

Link Here

As Faith in Police Drops, so Do Arrest Rates

Graphic from CPRC report, 2024

A paper at the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), founded by researcher John Lott, shows how faith in the police, arrest rates, and crime reporting are all interrelated. The paper is titled " The Collapse in Law Enforcement: As Arrest Rates Plummet, People Have Been Less Willing to Report Crime", published on April 5, 2024.

As faith in the police collapses, reporting of crime drops, and so do arrest rates and clearance rates for both violent crimes and property crimes.  This has the classic look of a positive feedback loop. The consequences are far from positive.  It is not a clear case of simple cause and effect. Faith in the police, reporting of crimes, and arrest rates are all interconnected in complex ways. From the paper:

But, there is a big problem with using the FBI Uniform Crime Report data on crimes reported to police because victims don’t report most crimes. More importantly, the number of crimes reported to police falls as the arrest rate declines. If people don’t think the police will solve their cases, they are less likely to report them to the police. While the violent crime rate reported to police fell by 1.7% between 2021 and 2022, the National Crime Victimization Survey shows that total violent crime (reported and non-reported) rose from 16.5 to 23.5 per 100,000. Violent crime in 2022 was above the rate the last year before the pandemic in 2019 and above the average for the five years from 2015 to 2019.

Not only does the arrest rate fall when most crimes are not reported, a falling arrest rate makes faith in the system decline even more, which results in a lower reporting of crimes. This explains a phenomena mentioned in the paper. While the official statistics of crime may be lower, people's perception of the crime they experience tells them the crime rate is worse. 

Reality can overcome image as portrayed by the mass media, especially as trust in mass media has been eroded over decades. In the United States, the government-media complex does not have enough control over the narrative to convince people reality is what the media says, rather than what they experience. In George Orwell's classic dystopian novel, the government controls all media, all the time. In the book, the government confidently proclaims  the chocolate ration has been increased, when in fact, it has been reduced. From 1984: 

For the moment he had shut his ears to the remoter noises and was listening to the stuff  that streamed out of the telescreen. It appeared that there had even been demonstrations to thank Big Brother for raising the chocolate ration to twenty grammes a week. And only yesterday, he reflected, it had been announced that the ration was to be REDUCED to twenty grammes a week. Was it possible that they could swallow that, after only twenty-four hours? Yes, they swallowed it.

Even in Orwell's dystopian universe, where all information flow is controlled by government censors, not everyone was willing to believe the government over their own senses.  In present day America, there are alternate sources of information, which contest the government-media complex narrative. 

Analysis: 

In high trust societies, crime rates are low because crimes are not tolerated by the culture; because crimes are diligently reported; and because citizen and police co-operation is high.  Trust, once lost, is hard to rebuild, but it can be done. First, there has to be a general acceptance of crime as wrong by society. In the United States, a consensus exists. Theft is wrong. Murder is wrong. Self Defense is legitimate. Even in large cities where cultural Marxism has been relentlessly pushed in education and government, the vast majority of people believe in private property and the right to self defense. They do not want to tolerate rampant theft, assault, and high murder rates. Cultural Marxist theory states when conditions become bad enough, people will turn to Marxist solutions. As with much of Marxist theory, this is based on a false assumption about reality. Most people do not value "equity" more than stability and safety. Human nature is not infinitely malleable. In many places, people are rebelling against Marxist theory rather than rebelling against the Constitution and the rule of law.  The downward spiral of lower arrests and lower trust in the police can be reversed, but it takes leadership which is willing to identify the problem and which categorically rejects cultural Marxism.

 

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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NC: Raleigh Homeowner Shoots Home Invader

A man is in the hospital after being shot by a homeowner during a potential home invasion on Saturday evening, according to Raleigh police.

The incident took place shortly before 7 p.m. on the 1000 block of New Bern Ave.

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OR: Coos Bay Resident Shoots Intruder

COOS BAY, Ore. — A North Bend man was shot early Friday morning after he broke into a Coos Bay home armed with a golf club, according to Coos Bay Police.

Around 12:55 a.m., April 12, 2024, officials say the North Coos 9-1-1 Center received a call from a resident in the 700 block of Johnson Avenue in Coos Bay.

Officials say the caller reported that a man had been shot after breaking into their home and requested police and medical personnel for assistance.

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FL: Domestic Defense, Disarm Failure, Assailant Killed

"This is an ex-boyfriend (Rueda) that she’s had problems with in the past, restraining orders, stalking," Rodriguez said. "As he arrived at the home, he happens to see a male exiting the house."

Rueda confronted the man, identified as 23-year-old Omar Jamal Huggins, and they started arguing.

“During the fight, the ex-boyfriend continues to attack this male. The male advises him several times that he is armed and to stop the attack, and (Rueda) continues to attack this male that’s leaving the house," Rodriguez said. "The male takes out a firearm and the ex-boyfriend grabs the firearm, and now they’re wrestling for this firearm. They’re wrestling back and forth when the gun goes off."

Rueda was shot in the chest, killing him, police said.

 

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PA: Fairmount Gunfight, Security Guard Injured, Assailant Killed

It happened around 7 p.m. at the Phillips 66 gas station on the 900 block of College Avenue by Poplar.

In the video, you can see Harrison walk into the store. The 30-year-old private security guard is then seen telling him to leave and pushing him back.

Next, you see Harrison pull a gun from his waistband. There is an exchange of heated words before a barrage of gunfire.

 The security guard, who works at the gas station for the private company Pennsylvania S.I.T.E. State Agents and is licensed to carry, was shot in the leg. He was taken to Temple University Hospital in stable condition.

 "After shooting the guy, the guy then still shoots at him and he does what he has to do, and you have to take care of the business and neutralize the threat or he will still hurt other people in the store," said Andre Boyer, the owner of Pennsylvania S.I.T.E. State Agents.

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Update in Louisiana Silencer Case: Plea Agreement with Right to Appeal

 

President Teddy Roosevelt's unregulated silencer.

 

On February 15, 2024 a plea agreement was reached in the silencer case in the Western District of Louisiana. In the case, Brennan James Comeaux had been charged with possession of five homemade silencers, two silver colored and three black colored. A warrant had been issued to search Comeax's home to find the silencers, based on probable cause.  A motion to dismiss had been filed in the case, contending the portions of the National Firearms Act (NFA) and later statues violated the Second Amendment of the Constitution based on the guidance of the Bruen decision published by the Supreme Court on June 22, 2022.

The federal prosecution argued silencers were not "arms" but accessories, thus not covered under the Second Amendment, that requirements for serialization and registration were par to federal power as allowed by the commerce clause, and there is a history of regulationg "dangerous and unusual" weapons while contending silencers are "dangerously unusual". From the government brief in the previous article:

In short, under Heller, even assuming that silencers are “arms,” within the meaning of the Second Amendment, they remain unusually dangerous and thus fall permissibly within this nation’s historical tradition of regulation.

Astute readers will see Silencers cannot both not be "arms" and also be "dangerously unusual. It is not unusual to see lawyerly arguments covering all bases this way. Essentially, the prosecution is saying: Our first argument is correct, but if the court does not accept the first argument, then our backup argument is this. It is not quite contradictory. As in the Metcalf Gun Free School Zone case, the plea agreement preserves the right to appeal the judges denial of the motion to dismiss on the grounds the federal law is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. From the plea agreement:

3. The United States acknowledges that this is a conditional plea pursuant to Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure ll(a)(2), and that Brennan Comeaux reserved his right to appeal the Court s adverse ruling as to his Motion to Dismiss and, should such appeal be successful, Brennan Comeaux shall be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea.

In the plea agreement, Brennan Comeaux pleads guilty to the first count of the indictment.  Count one is for possession of unregistered firearm(s). In the definition of the NFA, silencers are defined as "firearms".

 

COUNT ONE

 

POSSESSION OF UNREGISTERED FIREARM(S)

 

[26 U.S.C. § 5861(d)]

 

On or about June 2, 2022, in the Western District of Louisiana, the defendant,BRENNAN JAMES COMEAUX, knowingly received and possessed a firearm, to wit: two silver and three black firearm silencers, not registered to him in the National FirearmsRegistration and Transfer Record.All in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Sections 5841, 5861(d), and 5871. [26U.S.C. §§ 5841, 5861(d) and 5871].

As part of the plea agreement, Brennan Comeaux agreed to pay $100, forfeit the silencers, and receive a term of supervised release of not more than three years. The maximum penalty would be ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. You can see why nearly all federal defendants accept plea agreements. In this case, the fact of Comeaux's possession of the items was not contested.

No appeal has yet been applied for. There are other silencer cases in the courts which could bear on this case. One is in the Fifth Circuit, the same Circuit as this case. It is the lawsuit by AG Paxton for the State of Texas. The case is Paxton v. Richardson. The appeal of the Paxton case has been filed for the Fifth Circuit. This correspondent has not found and documents filed at the appeals court level.

If the Paxton case is successful, then Brennan Comeaux's appeal would be greatly enhanced.

There is a challenge to the ban on silencers by the state of Illinois which is ongoing. It is not a challenge to the federal law, but a challenge to the state ban. One of the contentions is whether silencers are included as arms under the Second Amendment. It the court find they are arms, it could be helpful to a Comeaux appeal.

Silencers are one of the weakest points in the National Firearms Act and its successor statutes. It remains to be seen if legislative or judicial attempts to remove them from the NFA will be the first to succeed.

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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CA: Homeowner Drives off 4 Intruders with Gunfire

Los Angeles Police Department officers responded to a home in the 14000 block of Calvert Street, near Hazeltine Avenue, at approximately 9:45 p.m. regarding reports of a shooting, according to a report from NBC 4.

When they arrived, officers learned the man discovered four men inside his home and fired one shot at the suspects, who then fled the residence.

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GA: Vehicle Occupant Shoots man Attempting Entry at 3 a.m.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting that took place in the 200 block of Broadway on Tuesday at 3:01 a.m.

Deputies found an unresponsive male with a gunshot wound at the Riverview Hotel.

According to an incident report, a male was attempting to enter into a parked vehicle and was shot by the occupant who was asleep inside.

 

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NM: Domestic Defense at Construction Site

At around 12:45 PM, officers from the Albuquerque Police Department were dispatched to a shooting at a construction site for new, single floor apartments on the 120 block of La Plata Rd NW. When APD officers arrived, they reportedly discovered a male who had been shot at least once, he was critically injured, and allegedly died at the scene.

We observed neighbors standing out in their yards watching the incident unfold. A witness on scene told our reporter that the shooting purportedly stemmed from a domestic incident.

Homicide detectives and investigators are being called out to the scene.

UPDATE:

APD is telling us, after a preliminary investigation, homicide detectives are considering this shooting as a possible justifiable homicide. A woman appears to have acted in self-defense during an act of domestic violence by her boyfriend. Detectives will continue to investigate the shooting.

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MS: Defense Claimed in Shooting of Lloyd Ashley Jr.

Martin accused Ashley of breaking into the home on Cliffwood Drive and pointing a gun at her.

"In fear for her life, Valencia defensively fired a weapon, striking Mr. Ashley," Martin said. "The absolute privilege under Mississippi's Castle Law doctrine applies in this matter, and the charges filed against Ms. Valencia Jones should be dismissed immediately."

Martin said the home is owned by Alanda L. Jones, Valencia Jones' mother. Both women live at the home. Martin said Alanda L. Jones called 911 "at least three times" to report that Ashley was in her home without permission before her daughter came home.

 

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FL: Lauderdale Lakes Fight turns Deadly, two killed

Detectives with the Broward Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit are investigating the circumstances surrounding a deadly shooting in Lauderdale Lakes.  

 

At approximately 11 a.m. on Sunday, April 7, BSO deputies and Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue responded to a shooting call near the 3100 block of Northwest 41st Street. On scene, emergency crews located Justys Whittle and Shakeif Brown suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Paramedics pronounced Whittle deceased on scene and transported Brown to an area hospital, where he died. 

 

According to witnesses, Whittle attempted to fight Brown over an ongoing feud. During the altercation, another subject attempted to defuse the fight when Whittle pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots. The subject, who was also armed, then pulled out his weapon and returned fire.

 

The subject was taken into custody for questioning and later released. Detectives say, upon completion of their investigation, the case will be presented to the Broward County State Attorney's Office for review.

 

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MO: Domestic Defense, Woman Shoots Ex who Threatened Her

At around 8:30 a.m. Saturday, police said Montez chased her around on the 7000 block of Morgan Ford Road while holding his hand in his pocket "to make it look like he had a gun" while her son was in a car waiting for her, police said. 

"While she was trying to get away from him, and was screaming, 'No! No!' he continued to approach her on her porch. Terrified that he would kill her, as he threatened to do over and over again, (the victim) shot him in his leg," the probable cause statement said.

The shooting was captured on a home security camera. 

Police said Hopgood has a history of domestic violence arrests and has threatened the woman in the past, including an incident several months ago where he kidnapped her and her child for several hours until they escaped and ran for help.

 

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NRA Members Protected Against Pistol Brace Enforcement (video of judge)

Judge Sam A. Lindsay, Dallas, Texas

Link to Youtube video of Judge Sam A. Lindsay

On March 29, 2024, United States District Judge Sam A. Lindsay, for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas, ordered a preliminary injunction stopping the  Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing the final rule as it applies to pistol braces and NRA members. Once Joe Biden was elected President, the ATF had radically changed course, reversed fifteen years of previous administrative measures, and declared once legal pistol braces as re-defined "short barreled rifles.

The "final rule" claimed to be implementing measures approved by Congress in the 1934 National Firearms Act.  The court found the ATF had gone to far. In effect, the ATF created legislation, usurping the function of the Congress.  From the opinion by Judge Sam A. Linday United States District Judge of the Northern District of Texas in the Fifth Circuit:

The National Rifle Association of America (“NRA” or “Plaintiff”) brought this action on July 3, 2023, against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (“ATF”), Steven Dettelbach, in his official capacity as the Director of the ATF; the United States Department of Justice; and Merrick Garland, in his official capacity as the United States Attorney General (collectively, “Defendants”), for alleged violations of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”) and the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. In particular, the NRA challenges the ATF’s January 31, 2023 issuance of an administrative rule titled “Factoring Criteria for Firearms with Attached ‘Stabilizing Braces,’ ” 88 Fed. Reg. 6,478 (“Final Rule”), which created a framework for determining whether firearms equipped with a stabilizing brace qualify as a short-barreled rifle (“SBR”), a category of firearms regulated by the National Firearms Act of 1934 (“NFA”).

The controversial NFA had passed in 1934 after the primary purpose of the law, to require registration and licensing of all handguns, had been stripped from the measure because of lobbying by the NRA. What remained was mainly irrelevant and irrational at the time. Confiscatory taxes and registration of machineguns, of which only a few hundred were privately owned, registration of silencers on guns but not on automobiles,  registration of short barreled shotguns, seen as both crime weapons and homeowner's defensive tools, and registration of short barreled rifles, added to the bill at the insistence of an addled, drunk, or Machiavellian Minnestota Congressman, Harold Knutson. At the time, the bill and tax only applied to items which crossed state lines. By 2016, much of the NFA was already under attack. The law was full of contradictions and irrational requirements. The Hearing Protection Act would have removed silencers from the NFA. It would have passed in the First Trump administration except for the machinations of Paul Ryan, a peculiar opponent of a Republican president. 

In the conclusion and preliminary injunction, Judge Lindsay stops the ATF from enforcing the final rule, as it applies to pistol braces owned by NRA members, until the court case is adjudicated. This will likely come after the Supreme Court rules on the matter. From the opinion:  

III.Conclusion and Preliminary Injunction 

For the reasons explained, the court concludes that the NRA has associational standing to sue on behalf of its members and has met its burden of establishing each of the four requirements for a preliminary injunction. The court, therefore, grants the NRA’s Motion (Doc. 8) and request for a preliminary injunction, and it enjoins the ATF; Steven Dettelbach, in his official capacity as the Director of the ATF; the United States Department of Justice; and Merrick Garland, in his official capacity as the United States Attorney General from enforcing the Final Rule against the NRA’s members pending the final resolution of this action on the merits. In accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(d), this preliminary injunction order enjoins and applies with equal force to Defendants’ “officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys,” and “other persons who are in active concert or participation with anyone described in Rule 65(d)(2)(A) or (B),” and Defendants shall provide notice to all such persons of this preliminary injunction order.

The court ruling strikes at the heart of the ATF and other bureaucracies to create and define law as they so wish and a particular administration desires, even reversing policies of long standing. Such flagrant abuse of power is the exact opposite of the rule of law. The "Progressives" are exactly the opposite of what the claim. They wish to regress to the rule of the ruling class, where an ultimate ruler changes the rules at whim, favoring those in the ruling class. The Progressives oppose any limitation on government power. The Constitution was created, in large part, to limit government power. 

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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