Pinch Yourself… Firearm Carry in DC?
UPDATE (7/29/2014) Motion to stay decision pending appeal granted. While this is in place, you cannot legally carry in DC.
If you follow GunLink on social media like Twitter or Facebook, peruse the GunLink forums or listen to the “gun buzz,” you may have already heard the big news coming out of DC. Over this past weekend, a major decision and order was handed down from the US District Court in the District of Columbia in Palmer et al. vs DC.
In case you haven’t been paying, this is the case where plaintiffs Palmer, Lyon, Raymond, McVey and the Second Amendment Foundation claim that “[b]y requiring a permit to carry a handgun in public, yet refusing to issue such permits and refusing to allow the possession of any handgun that would be carried in public, Defendants [the District of Columbia] maintain a complete ban on the carrying of handguns in public by almost all individuals” and that “banning the carrying of handguns in public violate[s] the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, facially and as applied against the individual plaintiffs in this action, damaging plaintiffs in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983.”
In a landmark win for rights in our nation’s capital, after the District Court heard arguments from Alan Gura – whose name you probably remember from such notable cases as McDonald V Chicago, DC v Heller, Moore v Madigan and others – Senior US District Court Judge Frederick Scullin Jr handed down his opinion (full text of opinion): Continue reading
But It’s Just a Policy…
Why “Concealed Means Concealed” is a Bunch of Hooey
Since there have been firearms to carry there have been businesses, individuals and organizations that want to restrict firearms carry. This isn’t anything new. However, there has been a recent rash of well-publicized statements from companies like Target, IKEA, Starbucks, Chili’s, Chipotle and others who say that they would prefer to have a “criminal protection zone” than an environment in which their customers are able to #EatSafe and #ShopSafe.
These statements are often met with replies along the lines of “concealed means concealed” or “if you do it right, they will never know that you are carrying.”
It is most likely true that you could carry a concealed firearms into any of these places without anyone ever being wise to it. After all, have you ever seen metal detectors or pat-downs in any of the aforementioned businesses. In many of these cases, you would probably be within the law unless you were asked to leave and refused to do so.
The question is… why on earth would you want to? Continue reading
Tell Businesses Not to Disarm Customers
Project #EatSafe and Project #ShopSafe: Using Social Media to Urge Businesses to Exercise Real Common Sense
Despite being irrational, fear mongering, hoplophobic bigots, gun control zealots do get one thing right: PR campaigns. They simply do not have the facts on their side, so they try to use emotions to garner support for their misguided ideology and, often, they succeed. Between desperate hand-wringing, fabricated “facts,” and effective use of astroturf social media movements, the vocal minority of the anti-constitution crowd knows how to get what they want (or at least give the impression that they did).
Take, for instance, recent social media campaigns to bully, er… boycott, businesses that weren’t taking an anti-gun position. The #BurritosNotBullets hashtag campaign enlisted social media users to harass Chipotle until they asked customers not to bring firearms into their restaurants. Before that, anti-rights groups and their supporters organized #SkipStarbucks Saturday (it must have been oh-so-difficult for morning commuters and 9-to-5-ers to give up the coffee shop on the weekend) before Starbucks reversed their firearms policy. Whether the online campaigns had anything to do with the decisions or the companies simply made a business decision based on the action of a few demonstrators, the gun control groups immediately began crowing loudly and taking credit for each “victory.” Continue reading
To Keep and Bear Arms – An Official Report For the Armed Forces and the American People
These days, getting a positive message on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms from anyone at the federal government level is a difficult task. It wasn’t always that way, though.
The Big Picture video below, presented by the US Army and featuring a second video produced by the National Rifle Association, preaches the virtues of focusing efforts on promoting safety training and emphasizing adherence to basic firearms safety rules.
The idea that gun control laws do not have an impact on law abiding citizens – as they would obey the law and criminals, by their very nature, would not – is not a new one. The history of the fight to preserve our constitutionally protected individual right to keep and bear arms has not changed much over the years.
Nor is the idea that the concept of regulating an item because an individual misuses it is absurd. As the video’s narrator says: “To legislate firearms because they are occasionally misused is like outlawing automobiles for the same reason. It’s not this car, it’s this careless driver whose foot presses the pedal. That is the object of legislation which tells him not to speed.”
The narrator goes on to say that “a program that emphasizes safety procedures rather than firearms control makes it possible for a growing number of sportsmen and women to enjoy the recreation and healthful benefits of good sports and good shooting.” Developing rifle marksmanship skills through participation in shooting events such as the National Matches at Camp Perry is an endeavor that “helps develop healthy minds, self discipline, initiative and team spirit” – according to the government-endorsed video.
This is a far cry from the anti-gun banner carried by many at all levels of the anti-rights movement, including those involved in our government at the federal level. Have a look at the video below and see the message on firearms that our government used to send. Continue reading
Pennsylvania Lawyer Claims ATF Determination Allows for New Machine Guns
Pennsylvania attorney Joshua Prince, Esq. is making a bold claim in his blog entry Did ATF’s Determination on NICS Checks Open the Door for Manufacture of New Machineguns for Trusts? that may be music to NFA enthusiasts’ ears.
In his post, Prince points out that, although the NFA regulations include language to include trusts under their purview, the 1968 Gun Control Act (GCA), codified in Title 18 of the United States Code, includes no such language. A 2013 inquiry by Dakota Silencer received an ATF response reading: “Unlike individuals, corporations, partnerships, and associations; unincorporated trusts do not fall within the definition of ‘person’ in the GCA.” As many already know, transfer by a person of a machine gun that was not registered before May 19, 1986 is forbidden by the Hughes Amendment to the Firearms Owners Protection ACT FOPA, which added subsection 922(0) to the law.
Prince’s conclusion is that:
[P]ursuant to 26 U.S.C. 5812 and 5822, an unincorporated trust may lawfully transfer and make machineguns, as it is not a “person” for purposes of the GCA and Section 922 only applies to “persons” as defined by the GCA.
This conclusion is Continue reading
US Gun Owners Rally in Support of Gun Rights
Carolyn Presutti – VOA News
Some came to the Washington D.C. area Monday to take out their guns in a show of support for gun rights. Others came for a rally in the shadow of the Washington monument “to support the right to keep and bear arms” and to protect the Second Amendment. They chose Monday since it is the anniversary of the 1775 battles that started America’s Revolutionary War.
Concentration. Judgment. Accuracy.
For Rob Weaver, those words point to his passion.
“It’s a really zen thing to do,” said Rob Weaver. “When you’re standing there. You have your handgun out. It’s you and the target and your trigger finger and that’s all there is.”
Such is the love affair between many Americans and their guns. The U.S. Bill of Rights, specifically the Second Amendment, guarantees Americans the right to keep and bear arms. States determine the laws regarding the storage or carrying of guns.
Weaver says he would die to protect the Second Amendment if it is threatened.
“I think you very well may see a revolution in this country and it will not be a revolution to overthrow the government,” he said. “It would be a revolution to restore government to its constitutional basis.”
Gun owners worry that the Democratic administration will target the Second Amendment. As a legislator, President Obama did not favor unlimited gun rights. So this year, shooters decided to take their fight to the nation’s capital. Before any changes could be made to those rights.
Gun owners say it’s an issue that affects the entire nation.
“The Second Amendment is not a white [race] thing, a redneck [poor, rural] thing. It’s an American thing,” said Pennsylvania gun rights supporter Tim Mohn.
Verna Long flew three hours here to attend the rally. She says her message will get across at the ballot box.
“We’ll just keep re-electing, re-electing and re-electing until we get people in there who understand what the constitution means to all of us,” she said.
Other gun owners openly showed their weapons as they stood at the border of Washington on Virginia ground. Virginia’s laws allow guns to be carried in public.
“If the government ever comes after the people in America, know that the people will fight back.”
Others are angered by such talk.
“This is America. Love it, or leave it, and take your assault weapons with you.”
Gun law advocates say they support the Second Amendment. Chad Ramsey with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says his group simply wants to strengthen the laws.
“What we are trying to do is make sure the wrong people don’t get their hands on guns,” said Chad Ramsey. “We think that you ought to have a background check at gun shows. We think you ought to have a background check so that people who are dangerously mentally ill aren’t getting their hands on guns.”
Back at the range, Weaver shares his secret to hitting the target.
“The last shot has nothing to do with the one you’re taking right now,” he said. “It never does. And if you get focused on the last shot, you just blow the next one.”
That could explain why many gun advocates keep alert year-after-year, analyzing the next administration.
