Category: Legal

When Courts Collide

Based on the above four cases, the cert conflict could not be more dramatic. Range and Williams allow as-applied challenges to the felon ban. Jackson and Hunt categorically allow no challenge to the ban. Since felons are the overwhelming majority of persons prosecuted under § 922(g), resolution by the Supreme Court is direly needed. [More]

The fiction, of course, being that truly dangerous felons require any court’s sanction, and that a higher law they won’t acknowledge doesn’t nonetheless hold true…

[Via Michael G]

Moment in the Spotlight

Should you intervene in a mass attack? Is defending a third person legally different from defending yourself? Do you have a duty to retreat in these situations? And what practical considerations should you weigh, like your physical safety and the chaos of multiple 911 calls? Armed Attorneys Emily Taylor and Richard Hayes discuss whether you should stop a mass attack, the legal and practical risks of defending others, and how to protect yourself responsibly in high-threat situations. [More]

Having time to think about it, my inner Rick Blaine wins. Responsible people make their own preparations and irresponsible ones disparage armed citizens.

Without having time to reflect, I suppose the unique situation itself would steer my decision and repercussions would be the last thing on my mind. I know from past experience where I felt the end was near my instincts have been to focus and act, not freeze, and do my shaking afterward.

[Via Jess]

Supreme Court Watch

For conference:

Snope v Brown fka Bianchi v Frosh – MD AWB; Ocean State Tactical v Rhode Island – Magazine ban; Gray v Jennings – 2A irreparable injury; Maryland Shall Issue v Moore – Handgun Licenses

Per the SCOTUS website:

  • The Justices will meet in a private conference to discuss cases and vote on petitions for review.
  • The Court will release an order list at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, January 13. 

If more becomes known before then I’ll try to check in and update. And you feel free to inform the rest of us in comments.

The Felon in Chief?

Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan sentenced Trump to “unconditional discharge,” meaning no jail, no probation and no fine. But the sentence will still formally make Trump the first criminal convict ever to occupy the Oval Office. [More]

We’ll see what happens with an appeal.

In the meantime, is a “prohibited person” in charge of ATF?

An Innocent Man

Major 2A win in Ohio involving an individual indicted for possessing a firearm while under indictment for crime of which he was never convicted. [Watch]

If I’m reading this right, (Republican) prosecutor Melissa Powers evidently believes Ohioans elected a Republican majority so that she could deny the Second Amendment to a man whose robbery indictment was dismissed.

That’ll be useful to know if she ever seeks higher office.

[Via Jess]

Food Fight

A Pennsylvania man convicted of food stamp fraud cannot be barred under federal law from possessing a gun, a U.S. appeals court held for a second time, declining to change its conclusion in light of a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling that clarified the standard for when a firearms regulation can pass constitutional muster. [More]

I’m thinking over how I’d feel about a lifetime ban for those who imposed one on Bryan Range… or better, add “political power” to the law…

[Via Jess]

We’re the Only Ones Searching Enough

Can the Police Make Me Open My Car Safe [More]

As we see every damn day, police can “make” you do practically anything they want, and unless it’s a situation where their overt criminal aggression is immediately life-threatening to necessitate self-defensive force, my intent will be to not resist, comply with orders to get out, put my hands behind my back, get on the ground, etc., to say and consent to nothing (beyond “Am I free to go?” and “I want to speak to legal counsel”), and to let my lawyer guide my actions afterward.

[Via Jess]

$h!+ Hits the Fani

An appeals court in Georgia has tossed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis off of her own case, a series of wild organized crime claims against President Trump based largely on his own expressions of his dissatisfaction with the process and results of the 2020 presidential election [More]

I can’t wait to see her, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Liz Cheney, and more get what’s coming to them.

We’re the Only Ones Hazardous Enough

Dallas Campbell walked into the police department in Hazard, Kentucky a free man, doing his best to keep a notoriously untrustworthy police agency (at least that’s what I learned watching the “Dukes of Hazard”) honest. Unfortunately, he left in handcuffs, the victim of a false arrest. But he had a small YouTube channel, and 12 days after he posted the video of his arrest, the Hazard Police Chief was fired. [More]

My immediate thought is all the clerk and sheriff had to do is let him know they would expedite it to legal to make sure they were compliant with the law and someone from there would contact Campbell about an appoinmtment within the timeframe allowed by law to review and ensure they would provide everything he was entitled to. If that wasn’t good enough for him I’d have called the city attorney,and let him speak with the man.

Making up and enforcing a recording prohibition edict pretty much shows if the top cop doesn’t know what the law is, he has no business with a badge and power.

What this reminds me of more than anything was my attempts over the years (through to Mike DeWine) to get Ohio AGs to ensure that all LE agencies gave training on the legality of open carry and document each officer understood. Talk about pulling teeth.

[Via Matthew L]