New Jersey is at it Again

Hiz 'oner
dougernst.files.wordpress.com

 

Chris Christie’s New Jersey is at it again: bringing the full weight of the state against an innocent CCW carrier.  This case is far too similar to the travesty endured by Shaneen Allen.

The Fletcher Family
Range365.com

          Brian Fletcher mobilized his crew to repair storm related cell phone tower damage in Trenton, New Jersey. He left his North Carolina home less than an hour after an emergency plea from New Jersey. Once in Jersey, he was approached by a police officer. Fletcher handed over his ID and as any good North Carolina citizen would, he informed the officer that he had his CCW in his vehicle.

         Ignoring Fletcher’s critical disaster relief role, his NC CCW permit and his absolute lack of any criminal intent, the cop arrested and charged Fletcher with carrying a firearm - a Class 2 Felony in the Garbage State. It seems if a New Jersey cop approaches, you should only give him your name, rank and serial number, as you are deep in enemy territory.

         Fletcher is now home in North Carolina, free on a $25,000 dollar bond. A law-abiding man, he faces five years in prison and the ruin of his life for a "crime" without intent nor victim. His lawyer is trying for the pre-trial intervention program and hoping for a pardon. 

         We wish NJ governor Christie would shake off his usual food coma and do the right thing. We hope he immediately frees an innocent man, rather than waiting for the right time in his presidential campaign.  

phalsephillysports.files.wordpress.com

        And big guy, start to fix your damn state’s insane gun laws NOW, or you can choke on your overfed political ambitions.  

Quote of the Day — Lynne Russell (July 6, 2015)

Lynne Russell (right) and husband Chuck de Caro.
[source: Mediaite]

Former CNN anchor Lynne Russell, as quoted at Mediaite:

If you don't want to carry, please don't. Then, shut the f—k up about it. Make your own decisions.

Background at the link.

I have nothing else to add.

Stay safe.

[Hat tip: Ilana Mercer, writing at The Zelman Partisans, updating her original coverage of this story here.]

Quote of the Day — Frederick Douglass (April 1865)

Frederick Douglass
(source)

A lot of wisdom in this:

Everybody has asked the question, and they learned to ask it early of the abolitionists, “What shall we do with the Negro?” I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us!

I'd say this could apply equally to any group targeted by government legislation:

• What shall we do with the Jews?
• What shall we do with the Irish?
• What shall we do with the LGBTQQ crowd?
• What shall we do with the conservative Christians?
• What shall we do with the gun owners?

Sound familiar?

Stay safe.

[Hat tip: Thomas Sowell, writing at Townhall, who also notes that Frederick Douglas "saw the dangers from well-meaning whites" as far back as the 1860s. Little has changed since then.]

More Thoughts on National Reciprocity

This time, nothing at all to do with the SCOTUS decision in Obergefell v. Hodges.

We took the family on an interstate road trip over the weekend. There were long drives, some sightseeing, spending time with extended family we hadn't seen in several years, and — of course — fireworks. Good times.

And yes, there is some truth to this:

(source)

During the drive back, though, I noticed something, and had a bit of an epiphany.

What I noticed was that, while hurtling along an interstate highway in California, we were surrounded by other vehicles feet or yards away, traveling at similar velocities (~70 mph) negotiating curves in the road, changing lanes, passing, allowing others to pass, and so forth. Being a holiday weekend, there were a healthy number of license plates from states other than California. I saw other Oregon plates, Washington plates, Colorado plates, a couple from Georgia, Florida, and New Jersey (long drives, those), and a few from the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta.

Yeah, kinda like that.
(source)

Yet, we all took the curves and traffic in stride — with very nearly the precision of a school of fish or a flock of birds moving in sync, and with no communication amongst each other besides the occasional flashing lights known colloquially as "turn signals" — and managed to not hit each other.

The phrase "poetry in motion" came to mind. That might be an exaggeration, but it was still somewhat amazing to observe once I noticed it.

We take it for granted, but it happens every day with shockingly few mishaps given the number of drivers and vehicles on the road at any given time. We don't suddenly become unsafe drivers when we cross an arbitrary line on a map.

That was the observation. Here's the epiphany:

The driving laws among the 50 states (and D.C.) are mostly the same. There are some minor variances — the speed limits on highways, emission requirements on vehicles, the fines and penalties for specific violations, etc. — but for the most part, the act of driving doesn't change when you cross state lines.

Additionally, although we all come from different states, and each state has different training and testing requirements for those who wish to earn their license to operate a motor vehicle on public roads, that license is good in all 50 states (and D.C.) in the Union.

So why is national reciprocity for carrying a concealed firearm such an issue?

Same reciprocity map from last week.
(source: USA Carry)

We hear from the anti-rights crowd how national reciprocity can't work because the laws and training requirements for CCW licenses are different in all 50 states, so there's no consistency, and that lack of consistency could cause problems.

Horse$#!+, I say.

I mean, sure, the gun laws vary a bit — some are "shall issue" while others are "may issue", New Jersey bans hollow point ammunition, several states require magazines that carry 10 or fewer rounds (and New York demands you only put seven rounds in those magazines), and some states require that a concealed firearm remain concealed — but then again, the driving laws of each state/province vary, too. Some states require emissions checks and some set their highway speed limits differently (Oregon's 65 vs. California's 70 vs. Idaho's 75). Some prohibit drivers from using cell phones without hands-free devices, some only prohibit sending text messages while behind the wheel, and others have no rules on the use of cell phones. Yet most days we (as a nation) manage to travel from point A to point B without getting speeding tickets or causing 50-car pile-ups on interstate highways.

And statistically, we have just as many cars in the country as guns, but guns cause far fewer fatalities — accidental or not — than cars. Repeat after me: The tool is not the problem. Misuse of the tool is.

[UPDATED TO ADD:] U.S. Concealed Carry Association published this article addressing events world-wide wherein people used motor vehicles as weapons, with the specific intent to harm or kill as many people as possible. Yet, nobody is questioning whether we should be allowed to own or operate cars, and nobody is protesting Ford or General Motors for manufacturing such "dangerous weapons". [/UPDATE]

The bottom line is this: If we can be trusted to responsibly operate a two-ton, 300-horsepower, mechanically-complex (have you looked under the hood of a modern car lately!?), seven-passenger moving death machine across state lines, it's safe to assume that carrying an operable defensive concealed firearm across state lines will be no big deal.

Write your Congressional representatives. Tell them to support and/or co-sponsor the various concealed carry reciprocity bills currently introduced in Congress. Remind them that the "sky is falling", "road-rage-turned-deadly", "blood in the streets" predictions of the anti-rights crowd over expanding gun rights have never come true, and that if we can be trusted to responsibly drive a motor vehicle safely nationwide with all the varying driving laws, then surely we can be trusted to safely carry a concealed, holstered firearm in any state in the Union.

Stay safe.

Political Correctness Kills A Woman

Killed by Paroled Illegal Alien With Multiple Felonies, Multiple Deportations -- And a Free Pass 

Gun Crime - Or Government Crime?
  

Kathryn Steinle
ibtimes.co.uk

         Kathryn Steinle, 32, was shot to death at a popular San Francisco tourist spot, a victim of political correctness as surely as if the elites themselves pulled the trigger. 

         The man being charged with her murder is a thug, a drug addict, an illegal alien deported five times, a criminal with seven felony convictions, four involving narcotics, and on parole for yet another crime. Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 45, aka: Jose Inez Garcia-Zarate and Juan Jose Dominguez de la Parra, is a despicable man. Yet, he was allowed to travel the border and this country seemingly at will, avoid further deportation courtesy of the Obama administration, and go largely unpunished for his crimes. Then on the first day of July, a man who should have been behind bars or a thousand miles away, took a gun he wasn’t allowed to have as a felon, in a city that disarms its law-abiding, and went to a tourist attraction looking for someone to kill. Without a word, from behind, he shot a random stranger through the heart.  

         Sanchez’ latest outrage started back in March, when he was turned over to San Francisco police on an

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez
kcra.com

outstanding drug warrant by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE officials issued a detainer at that time, requesting notification prior to his release so arrangements could be made to take custody. Except, ICE knew that SF had declared itself a “sanctuary city” and that the request would not be honored. ICE effectively, cynically washed their hands of him. Sanchez was also in violation of his ongoing Texas parole. His legal status, his prior convictions, his parole violations didn’t matter: SF freed him to prey on an unsuspecting populace.  

          A few months later, Katy Steinle, a beautiful, vibrant young woman lay dying in a pool of her own blood, begging her distraught father to help her.  

        There can be no better - or worse - reason for why we fight for our Second Amendment Rights. No greater proof of why we must be our own first responders. We Are On Our Own. We must stay strong and capable of defending ourselves. We cannot afford to do otherwise. Not when our own government favors criminals over the law abiding. Not when feel-good sentiments trump reason and justice. Not when our government seeks to remove our most effective means of self-defense against the evil they nurture.  

        Fight!

Happy Birthday America!

Have a Safe and Insane Independence Day!

      Please take a moment to reflect on the meaning of today's holiday. And maybe teach some of the little ones of the hopes and dreams of a better, freer life embedded in the fabric of that bold declaration 239 years ago. 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

On the New National Reciprocity Arguments …

Current Supreme Court of the United States
(source: Wikipedia)

There's been some conjecture around the gunnie Interwebs about the SCOTUS decision in Obergefell v. Hodges paving the way to getting nationwide, 50-state-plus-DC recognition of concealed carry licenses. Bob Owens talks about it here, Miguel here, and Massad Ayoob himself polls his readers about it here.

The arguments make sense. You could take the verbiage in the majority opinion and replace any text referring to "marriage license" with equivalent text for "concealed carry license", and it would read the same. Case in point (from Bob Owens' article):

(b) The Fourteenth Amendment requires a State to license a marriage between two people of the same sex. […]
(1) The fundamental liberties protected by the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause extend to certain personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy, including intimate choices defining personal identity and beliefs.

It's no mental stretch to change that text to refer to carrying a defensive firearm in all States. In fact, it's trivially easy to make that edit.

However, you can virtually guarantee the usual suspects among the States won't see it that way, and very likely neither will the courts. Getting a national reciprocity via the Fourteenth Amendment ruling is still going to be an uphill battle, if it's ever allowed to happen. The Supreme Court receives hundreds or thousands of petitions every year, and has every authority to refuse to hear a particular case, and they're not required to give any reason for such a refusal.

Current reciprocity on an Oregon resident concealed
handgun license. Blue states are fine, red are not.
(source: USA Carry)

In short, all they have to do to maintain the patchwork of carry and reciprocity laws is … nothing.

And when it comes to carry and reciprocity, they've been doing just that for a very long time. It's patently ridiculous to assume — given the legal talents of attorney Alan Gura, the legal teams at the Second Amendment Foundation and the NRA, plus all the various state-level groups — that this avenue hasn't been considered or that petitions haven't been written or submitted to SCOTUS.

Of course they have! But the Court has not accepted any cases. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but I don't believe that will change any time soon.

I don't mean to be even more pessimistic, but if the Court does decide to hear a case pushing carry reciprocity under the Fourteenth Amendment, I believe they will decide the "public safety" concern over firearms carried by private citizens in public spaces is enough to merit upholding the patchwork. "Intermediate scrutiny" (which is also a relatively recent fabrication of the Court), and all that.

It won't be the right decision, but it will be "official". It will be "settled law". Justice Scalia's dissent will become the stuff of legend, but his voice will be in the minority and thus will have no bearing.

(source)

And the Supreme Court will have finally affirmed its complete irrelevance and illegitimacy by creating a "right" that isn't addressed anywhere in the Constitution — which under the Tenth Amendment means it must be "reserved to the States respectively, or to the people" — and then turning around and trampling an enumerated Right that is directly protected by that same Constitution when a violation of the enumerated Right is challenged using the same arguments.

Which is why I believe national carry reciprocity must be pushed legislatively. If the bill dies in Congress, we've lost nothing, but we've made the anti-rights crowd expend energy fighting it, and we've put Congress-critters on record supporting or opposing our fundamental rights. We can always try again next year.

If we take a chance before the Supreme Court and lose, we'll have lost for at least our lifetimes.

And that's my two cents on the matter. Please feel free to weigh in in the comments; I'd like to hear your opinions, too.

Have a happy Independence Day! And stay safe.

NY State Citizens Disobeying Cuomo's SAFE Act

"One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." From the Birmingham jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. penned the words that are being taken to heart by New York State residents. Only 24 thousand of New York State’s 20 million residents have registered so-called assault weapons since Cuomo's SAFE act took effect in 2013. Less than 45 thousand rifles have been registered. Law enforcement estimates there are at least 1 million assault weapons in the state. The citizens are engaging in civil disobedience even though failure to register is a felony, punishable by up to four years in prison.

In a raw display of power politics, Cuomo rammed his blood-of-innocents drenched SAFE Act though the legislature mere weeks after the Sandy Hook tragedy. The act was an anti-gunner’s dream scheme: a ban on high-capacity magazines, universal background checks, stolen gun reporting, safe storage, mental health provisions, warrantless firearm seizures, ammunition sale checks, as well as the act's pivotal registration requirement. Tellingly, NONE of the provisions, even if followed exactly by the madman, would have prevented the shooting at Sandy Hook.  

“Many people have been calling for a full repeal of the SAFE Act. It would appear the people have just bypassed the legislature and simply repealed it on their own,” said Tom King, of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association. Communities and LEOs outside of New York City seem to be ignoring or openly challenging Hiz Honner’s draconian law. 

           While we cannot tell New York’s residents to resist this unjust law - that would be illeeeeeeegal - we can certainly tip our hat to the state’s residents who are adhering to Thomas Jefferson's perscription; "If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so."

Yee-ouch!

Some wickedly sharp wit from the Mistress of Snark herself, Tam:

I swear, some people wouldn't know Occam's razor if you slit their throat with it...

— Tamara K. (@TamSlick) June 20, 2015

That cuts deep!

(And yes, the puns are intentional.)

Stay safe.

Quote of the Day — Gov. Nikki Haley [R-SC] (June 19, 2015)

As quoted in Newsbusters, after being pressed about whether it's time to "rethink" the Second Amendment in the wake of the Emanuel A.M.E. shooting in Charleston, South Carolina:

Any time there is a traumatic situation, people want something to blame. They always want something to go after. There is one person to blame here. A person filled with hate, a person that doesn't define South Carolina. And we are going to focus on that person.

Yes! Focus on the person using the firearm, not on the firearm itself!

I have nothing else to add.

Stay safe.

(Hat tip: Matt Vespa at Townhall.com)

Happy Father's Day

To all the Father's out there, including my Everyday Hero Dad,

Happy Father's Day!

Stand!

     Unsourced radio reports are saying the evil bastard reloaded his 45 caliber pistol five times. An armed citizen carrying concealed just might have made a difference in that desperate situation. Pastors have successfully defended their flock against homicidal maniacs. Every year millions of gun owners make a life-saving difference.

     Two hundred and fifty years ago Edmund Burke realized that in order for evil to flourish, all that is required is for good men to do nothing. Concealed under my shirt is my resolution to do something in face of madness and evil. We urge everyone to stand with our brothers and sisters of Charlston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church. - Stand in a considered, rational and effective way.

     Stand against the evil. Carry a firearm if you can, where you can, when you can. Stand as a free man or woman; not as a victim. Stand. 

     Otherwise, evil flourishes. 

     Stand!

Emanuel AME Church Murders

     Our hearts go out to the friends, family, congregation and community of the nine victims of this despicable crime. We can only condemn the evil that raised its head in that holy place.

     Condemn -- and fight.

 

Emanuel AME Church Charleston
(caintv.com & Flickr)

Free Ice Cream Machine on the Fritz

Sorry for the dead air, everyone. It's been an insane week and it shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

It's not that there's been no gun news, what with the State Department looking to update the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR) with new restrictions that could stifle free speech online (Sebastian has some excellent coverage here and here, with suggestions for submitting a comment here); or H.R.2710, which would gut the "sporting purpose" language from GCA'68 and NFA'34 and replace it with "lawful purpose" (which is, as Joe Biden puts it, a big friggin' deal); or the guy turning the Dallas, TX, police station into a shooting gallery (someone double-check the "automatic weapon" claim — we've all seen how the press can completely botch that distinction, right?); or a dozen other things. Heck, I even have a movie to review!

It's just life speaking in its Outdoor Voice™.

Thanks for your patience. We'll get the Free Ice Cream Machine back up and running as soon as possible.

Stay safe.

Gun Control Saves A Life

No, really, you read that right. Breitbart reports how how New Jersey's strict "gun control" laws have successfully (and documentedly) saved a life:

On April 21, Carol Bowne from Berlin Township, NJ, applied for a license to own a handgun, which she wanted to protect herself from a former boyfriend against whom she had a restraining order.

On June 3—while still waiting for the state to give her permission to own a gun—Bowne’s former boyfriend, Michael Eitel, allegedly stabbed her to death in her own driveway.

(See also: this article from the Courier-Post.)

There you have it! A man's life was protected as a direct result of New Jersey's strict "gun control" laws, up to and including discretionary "may issue" licensing to own — let alone carry — a handgun. It's common-sense, don't you know! For the Children!

What? You didn't seriously think New Jersey's "gun control" laws would save the innocent person's life, did you?

[UPDATE 6/8/2015 10:00 am PST:] Dave Workman (see hat tip below) has more on NJ's gun laws here and more on the mainstream media ignoring the story here. The image on the second article gives me an idea for a form of silent protest. [/UPDATE]

Stay safe.

(Hat tips: Ian Argent at Shall Not Be Questioned for the Breitbart link and Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman for the Courier-Post link.)