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Changes In NRA Lawsuits In Texas

February 16, 2011 by 5 Comments

In the lawsuit the NRA brought against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, D’Cruz et al v. BATFE et al, James D’Cruz is being replaced as the lead plaintiff. According to the court filing, his parents have moved from Lubbock, TX to Titusville, FL and Mr. D’Cruz has chosen to move with them. He was given permission by the court to withdraw from the case as the lead plaintiff.

Plaintiff’s attorneys were given permission to file a Second Amended Complaint. The amended complaint was filed on February 11th. Rebekah Jennings and Brennan Harmon will be joining Andrew Payne as the individual plaintiffs in the case.

Rebekah Jennings is a resident of Boerne, TX. She has been a member of the U.S. Olympic Development Team for pistol shooting and is a member of the Texas State Rifle Association’s Junior National Team. Ms. Jennings not only shot for the TSRA Junior National Team, she was the high junior at Camp Perry this year in pistol shooting. Her score of 285×15 was not only good enough to win the Junior National Trophy Match but to shatter the old record. Ms. Jennings also made the President’s 100 for pistol shooting. The picture below is of her accepting her trophy at Camp Perry.

Ms. Jennings paired with another Texas junior shooter, Zach Hedrick, to win the Junior National Trophy Team match. You can see the picture of them below accepting that trophy.

The other new plaintiff is Brennan Harmon of San Antonio, TX. While Ms. Harmon currently owns both a rifle and a shotgun, she would like to purchase a pistol for self-defense according to the amended complaint. Of course, she and Ms. Jennings are both precluded from purchasing pistols due to current Federal law and regulations.

In a move that will greatly disappoint Paul Helmke and Josh Horwitz, Facebook pages for both Ms. Jennings and Ms. Harmon feature no pictures except for a profile picture. I am guessing that the NRA attorneys “sanitized” their Facebook pages to prevent having them dragged through the mud like Helmke and Horwitz attempted to do to James D’Cruz. Still I would put nothing past either Helmke or Horwitz in pursuit of their goal of gun prohibition.

James D’Cruz is still listed as the lead plaintiff in D’Cruz et al v. McCraw et al. This case is the challenge to the age 21 requirement to obtain a Texas CHL. I would not be surprised to see this change as well with Mr. D’Cruz’s move to Titusville, FL to live with his parents. If this does change, I will have an update.

H/T Sebastian

UPDATE: Ian asked a queston on whether the State of Texas issues non-resident concealed handgun licenses. They do but require the education component to be taught in Texas. As James D’Cruz has taken the education component while still residing in Texas, I don’t think this will be an issue.

Is Texas the proper venue for a non-resident to sue? I don’t know for sure but would guess it would be.

Below is the Texas requirements for a non-resident license as taken from their CHL Handbook.

GC §411.173. NONRESIDENT LICENSE. (a) The department by
rule shall establish a procedure for a person who meets the eligibility
requirements of this subchapter other than the residency requirement
established by Section 411.172(a)(1) to obtain a license under this
subchapter if the person is a legal resident of a state another state
or if the person relocates to this state with the intent to establish residency
in this state. The procedure must include payment of a fee in an
amount sufficient to recover the average cost to the department of
obtaining a criminal history record check and investigation on a
nonresident applicant. A license issued in accordance with the procedure
established under this subsection:
(1) remains in effect until the license expires under Section
411.183; and
(2) may be renewed under Section 411.185.
(a-1)*[repealed by Act effective September 1, 2005, 79th Leg., R.S., H.B. 225, §4.]
(b) The governor shall negotiate an agreement with any other state
that provides for the issuance of a license to carry a concealed
handgun under which a license issued by the other state is recognized
in this state or shall issue a proclamation that a license issued by the
other state is recognized in this state if the attorney general of the
State of Texas determines that a background check of each applicant
for a license issued by that state is initiated by state or local authorities
or an agent of the state or local authorities before the license is issued.
For purposes of this subsection, “background check” means a search
of the National Crime Information Center database and the Interstate
Identification Index maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
(c) The attorney general of the State of Texas shall annually:
(1) submit a report to the governor, lieutenant governor, and
speaker of the house of representatives listing the states the attorney
general has determined qualify for recognition under Subsection (b);
and
(2) review the statutes of states that the attorney general has
determined do not qualify for recognition under Subsection (b) to
determine the changes to their statutes that are necessary to qualify
for recognition under that subsection.
(d) The attorney general of the State of Texas shall submit the report
required by Subsection (c)(1) not later than January 1 of each calendar
year.

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Brady Campaign On Multi-Rifle Sales Reporting

February 16, 2011 by

Not to be outdone by the thousands of negative comments opposing the ATF’s proposal to require the reporting of multiple sales of certain rifles, the Brady Campaign filed one of the few positive comments in support of the proposal.

Brady Center files comments supporting Obama Administration plan to curb gun trafficking

Feb 15, 2011

Washington, DC – The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence filed comments late today in support of an Obama Administration proposal to require gun dealers in Southwest border states to provide notice of bulk sales of semi-automatic long guns to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The proposal would assist law enforcement with investigating and curbing the rampant trafficking of AK-47s and other guns from U.S. gun stores to Mexican drug cartels. Current law requires that ATF be notified of multiple sales of handguns only.

The Brady Center’s President, Paul Helmke stated:

“Our weak gun laws have enabled ruthless Mexican drug cartels to arm themselves with vast military arsenals from American gun dealers, who sell traffickers countless AK-47s and AR-15s in bulk. As a result, our gun violence epidemic has become not just a public safety and public health crisis in the U.S., but a national security and foreign policy crisis as well. While our friends in Mexico have fought bravely against these U.S.-armed drug criminals, the Mexican government has asked Washington to bring some sanity to our gun laws, making it harder for dangerous people to get weapons of war. We strongly support the Obama Administration’s proposal to provide law enforcement with notice of bulk sales of semi-automatic long guns. This important anti-gun trafficking tool is a first step of what should be a comprehensive approach to prevent gun violence in Mexico, and in America.”

The letter they sent can be found here. Unlike the comments from the NRA and the NSSF (and thousands of individuals, nowhere in the Brady Campaign’s letter do you see any legal justification for this action. You read anecdotal stories about how this guy or that guy bought X number of evil black rifles or the Commie equivalent. You also get this nonsensical claim:

Assault weapons, as opposed to hunting rifles, are commonly equipped with features that have no sporting value, such as high-capacity ammunition magazines, flash suppressors and pistol grips, which facilitate shooting from the hip.

One statement that I found quite ironic in light of the revelations about Operation Gunrunner was this:

Under current law, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) and other law enforcement, have neither the tools nor the resources to adequately stem the flow of trafficked guns.

ATF has the tools and resources as shown by the documents released by Senator Chuck Grassley. It is just that some in ATF have decided to facilitate guns going to Mexico so that they can be traced back to the U.S. Unfortunately, two of those same rifles are implicated in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. I wonder how the Bradys would chose to spin that.

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HR 615 – Collectible Firearms Protection Act

February 15, 2011 by

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has introduced HR 615 – the Collectible Firearms Protection Act. It is a mirror of the bill that Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) will be introducing into the Senate.

The bill has been referred to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee for hearings.

Currently, this bill has eight co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle.

Rep Bishop, Rob [UT-1] – 2/10/2011
Rep Broun, Paul C. [GA-10] – 2/10/2011
Rep Carter, John R. [TX-31] – 2/10/2011
Rep Donnelly, Joe [IN-2] – 2/10/2011
Rep King, Steve [IA-5] – 2/10/2011
Rep Miller, Jeff [FL-1] – 2/10/2011
Rep Rehberg, Denny [MT] – 2/10/2011
Rep Ross, Mike [AR-4] – 2/10/2011

If your own Congressman is gun-friendly, you should ask him (or her) to sign on as a co-sponsor of this bill. As a “cruffler”, if this bill passes it could mean more firearms imported or re-imported to the U.S. for collectors. I still remember the 3-fers that Century International used to offer. I got three Finnish Moisin-Nagant M-39s for $88 plus shipping.

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NSSF Releases Letter Opposing Multi-Rifle Sale Reporting

February 15, 2011 by 2 Comments

From the NSSF:

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) sent a letter yesterday to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Office of Management and Budget commenting on ATF’s proposal to require as part of a year-long “pilot program” that federally licensed firearms retailers in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California report to ATF the multiple sales of certain rifles (Federal Register, December 17, 2010).

In its letter, NSSF explains that it respectfully disagrees with ATF’s proposal because Congress has not provided ATF the legal authority under the Gun Control Act to impose this reporting requirement and, perhaps more importantly, because NSSF believes that this reporting requirement will actually make it more difficult for firearms retailers to help law enforcement since illegal firearms traffickers will easily modify their illegal schemes to circumvent the new reporting requirement.

While NSSF opposes ATF’s proposal, it remains committed to strongly encouraging all firearms retailers to contact ATF whenever they suspect an illegal straw purchase or other efforts to acquire firearms for illegal purposes.

The NSSF’s letter can be found here.

I found this part of their letter particularly interesting.

The information collection request published by ATF in the Federal Register (75 Fed. Reg. 79021, Dec. 17, 2010) is inconsistent with public statements by ATF (See remarks by Acting ATF Director Ken Melson, December 20, 2010 at http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2010/12/122010-hdqrts-melson-webcast.html, “ATF Remarks”) and subsequent news reports. First, the information collection request itself applies to all federal firearms licensees everywhere in the United States. It is not geographically limited to licensed firearms dealers located in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California (See ATF Remarks, supra). The notice does not say the collection of information will be for one year, as stated by Acting Director Melson.

The notice also underestimates the burden on licensees. ATF appears assume that only one form per dealer will be filled out per year. Not basis is set forth for this conclusion and we are left to speculate. The time estimate of 12 minutes we believe underestimates the burden on small dealers especially those that have not sold handguns and are not familiar will completing the multiple sales form for handguns. The burden and cost to dealers is also not limited to filling out the form itself. ATF underestimates the burden and cost to dealers – particularly small dealers – to implement processes to ensure compliance wit this new reporting requirement, e.g. that one employee doesn’t accidentally sell and fail to report a perfectly legal rifle to a customer to whom another employee sold a rifle within the five day window.

Buyers will no longer be protected by FOPA. Never before, not even in situations where demand-letters have been permitted, has the required information included the identity of the transferors. Blaustein & Reich, Inc. v. Buckles, 365 F.3d 281 (4th Cir. 2004).

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Mayor Daley Not Fading Away

February 15, 2011 by

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is not fading away as his latest term in office runs out. At least not with regard to gun control, that is.

Gathering a group of clergy, activists, elected officials, and victim’s families for his annual gun control law press conference, Daley pushed the Illinois General Assembly to pass “common-sense gun laws.”

Felons convicted of illegal gun possession or charged with other gun crimes would no longer be eligible for probation, under one of four new wrinkles in Daley’s annual package of gun control legislation.

The lame-duck mayor is also proposing: a mandatory, ten-year prison sentence for pointing a gun at a first responder; a separate felony charge for parents or guardians who bring a child along when they commit or attempt a felony and automatic transfer from juvenile to criminal court for 15- to 17-year-olds charged with possession or use of a firearm.

According to CBS Chicago, he also reiterated his call for an “assault weapons ban” and background checks on private sales. As heard in the audio report by WBBM, he was dismissive towards the Supreme Court for ruling against Chicago in the McDonald case. I guess when you have been the Mayor of Chicago for as long as Daley, you become a law unto yourself – at least in your own mind.

Asked by another reporter whether this was his last effort on gun control, Daley responded that “I will keep this up as a private citizen as well.” I wonder how much traction Daley will have once he doesn’t have his army of police, elected officials, and the Chicago Machine to back him up anymore.

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FY 2012 BATFE Proposed Budget

February 15, 2011 by 3 Comments

Below is the Obama Administration’s proposed budget for ATF for fiscal year 2012. Key points are that they will be increasing personnel by 186 and their overall budget by $52 million.

BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS,AND EXPLOSIVES

Federal Funds

SALARIES AND EXPENSES

For necessary expenses of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, not to exceed $40,000 for official reception and representation expenses; for training of State and local law enforcement agencies with or without reimbursement, including training in connection with the training and acquisition of canines for explosives and fire accelerants detection; and for provision of laboratory assistance to State and local law enforcement agencies, with or without reimbursement, $1,147,295,000, of which not to exceed $1,000,000 shall be available for the payment of attorneys’ fees as provided by section 924(d)(2) of title 18, United States Code; and of which not to exceed $20,000,000 shall remain available until expended: Provided, That no funds appropriated herein shall be available
for salaries or administrative expenses in connection with consolidating or centralizing, within the Department of Justice, the records, or any portion thereof, of acquisition and disposition of firearms maintained by Federal firearms licensees: Provided further, That no funds appropriated herein shall be used to pay administrative expenses or the compensation of any officer or employee of the United States to implement an amendment or amendments to 27 CFR 478.118 or to change the definition of “Curios or relics” in 27 CFR 478.11 or remove any item from ATF Publication 5300.11 as it existed on January 1, 1994: Provided further, That none of the funds appropriated herein shall be available to investigate or act upon applications for relief from Federal firearms disabilities under 18 U.S.C. 925(c): Provided further, That such funds shall be available to investigate and act upon applications filed by corporations for relief from Federal firearms disabilities under section 925(c) of title 18, United States Code: Provided further, That no funds made available by this or any other Act may be used to transfer the functions, missions, or activities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to other agencies or Departments in fiscal year 2012: rovided further, That, beginning in fiscal year 2012 and thereafter, no funds appropriated under this or any other Act may be used to disclose part or all of the contents of the Firearms Trace System database maintained by the National Trace Center of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives or any information required to be kept by licensees pursuant to section 923(g) of title 18, United States Code, or required to be reported pursuant to paragraphs (3) and (7) of such section 923(g), except to: (1) a Federal, State, local, or tribal law enforcement agency, or a Federal, State, or local prosecutor; or (2) a foreign law enforcement agency solely in connection with or for use in a criminal investigation or prosecution; or (3) a Federal agency for a national security or intelligence purpose; unless such disclosure of such data to any of the entities described in (1), (2) or (3) of this proviso would compromise the identity of any undercover law enforcement officer or confidential informant, or interfere with any case under investigation; and no person or entity described in (1), (2) or (3) shall knowingly and publicly disclose such data; and all such data shall be immune from legal process, shall not be subject to subpoena or other discovery, shall be inadmissible in evidence, and shall not be used, relied on, or disclosed in any manner, nor shall testimony or other evidence be permitted based on the data, in a civil action in any State (including the District of Columbia) or Federal court or in an administrative proceeding other than a proceeding commenced by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to enforce the provisions of chapter 44 of such title, or a review of such an action or proceeding; except that this proviso shall not be construed to prevent: (A) the disclosure of statistical information concerning total production, importation, and exportation by each licensed importer (as defined in section 921(a)(9) of such title) and licensed manufacturer (as defined in section 921(a)(10) of such title); (B) the sharing or exchange of such information among and between Federal, State, local, or foreign law enforcement agencies, Federal, State, or local prosecutors, and Federal national security, intelligence, or counterterrorism officials; or (C) the publication of annual statistical reports on products regulated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, including total production, importation, and exportation by each licensed importer (as so defined) and licensed manufacturer (as so defined), or statistical aggregate data regarding firearms traffickers and trafficking channels, or firearms misuse, felons, and trafficking investigations: Provided further, That no funds made available by this or any other Act shall be expended to promulgate or implement any rule requiring a physical inventory of any business licensed under section 923 of title 18, United States Code: Provided further, That no funds under this Act may be used to electronically retrieve information gathered pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 923(g)(4) by name or any personal identification code: Provided further, That no funds authorized or made available under this or any other Act may be used to deny any application for a license under section 923 of title 18, United States Code, or renewal of such a license due to a lack of business activity, provided that the applicant is otherwise eligible to receive such a license, and is eligible to report business income or to claim an income tax deduction for business expenses under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Note.—A full-year 2011 appropriation for this account was not enacted at the time the budget was prepared; therefore, this account is operating under a continuing resolution (P.L. 111–242, as amended). The amounts included for 2011 reflect the annualized level provided by the continuing resolution.

I couldn’t get the tables to import correctly. To read the detailed budget data, go here. Start on page 729 (or 27 of the PDF). Budget line 4000 gives the gross budget for ATF. Also pay attention to the Employment Summary.

Unfortunately, this budget information doesn’t drill down to actual field divisions or offices.

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New HR 308 Co-Sponsors

February 14, 2011 by 2 Comments

HR 308, Carolyn McCarthy’s bill to ban standard capacity magazines and other loading devices, has 15 new co-sponsors which brings the total to 80. I still don’t see any Republicans as co-sponsors of this bill or of Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s companion bill, S. 32.

Last week, this bill was sent by the House Judiciary Committee to their Subcomittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security which is chaired by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) who is A-rated by the NRA on gun issues. Two-thirds of the Democrat minority of this subcommittee are listed as co-sponsors of HR 308.

The new co-sponsors are:

Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] – 2/10/2011
Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] – 2/10/2011
Rep Crowley, Joseph [NY-7] – 2/10/2011
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34] – 2/10/2011
Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] – 2/10/2011
Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] – 2/10/2011
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] – 2/10/2011
Rep Scott, Robert C. “Bobby” [VA-3] – 2/10/2011
Rep Tonko, Paul [NY-21] – 2/10/2011
Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] – 2/10/2011
Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1] – 2/10/2011
Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] – 2/10/2011
Rep Sutton, Betty [OH-13] – 2/10/2011
Rep Tsongas, Niki [MA-5] – 2/10/2011
Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] – 2/10/2011

UPDATE: Four more fellow travelers have been added to McCarthy’s list of co-sponsors.

Rep Price, David E. [NC-4] – 2/15/2011
Rep Fudge, Marcia L. [OH-11] – 2/15/2011
Rep Stark, Fortney Pete [CA-13] – 2/15/2011
Rep Garamendi, John [CA-10] – 2/15/2011

Lisa Price, the wife of Rep. David Price, is the co-founder and long-time head of North Carolinians Against Gun Violence. Rep. Price is also a co-sponsor of McCarthy’s “gun show loophole” bill.

One name missing from this list is Rep. Nancy Pelosi. I doubt she has changed her stripes but it is interesting nonetheless.

UPDATE II:  Another four Democrats have signed on to HR 308 as of yesterday.

Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice [TX-30] – 2/17/2011
Rep Capps, Lois [CA-23] – 2/17/2011
Rep Richardson, Laura [CA-37] – 2/17/2011
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] – 2/17/2011

UPDATE III: You can add two more Democrats to the list of co-sponsors of HR 308.

Rep Schwartz, Allyson Y. [PA-13] – 2/18/2011
Rep Schiff, Adam B. [CA-29] – 2/18/2011

Schiff lists himself as a Blue Dog Democrat but this doesn’t look like what I’d expect a Blue Dog to do. Maybe he is really a Purple Dog just like Rep. Jane Harman who is also listed as Blue Dog. Harman was on the original list of co-sponsors of this bill.