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Finally! Another 2A Case Is Accepted By The SCOTUS.

January 22, 2019 by 2 Comments

The Supreme Court has finally accepted another Second Amendment case. The case is NY State Rifle & Pistol Club v. City of New York. The case involves the effective ban by NY City on transporting a licensed firearm registered in the city out of the city. Therefore, if you wanted to transport your pistol to a range outside the city or to a vacation house upstate you are forbidden from doing so.

The city argues that it is a matter of public safety and this spurious argument was bought by 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in 2018. The NY State Rifle & Pistol Club is challenging this as an abridgement of the Commerce Clause, the Privileges and Immunities Clause, the Second Amendment, and the 14th Amendment as it applies the preceding to the States.

Attorney for NYSR&PC is Paul Clement who is one of the premier appellate attorneys in the nation having served as Solictor General for President George W. Bush. There are also amicus briefs from a number of 2A organizations as well as a number of states led by Louisiana.

The docket is found here.

More on this as it progresses.

UPDATE: I had a long chat with Todd Vandermyde who was formerly the NRA lobbyist for Illinois. His feeling is that this case is a lot more important than it would seem on the face of it. While the question before the Court deals with the New York City ban on transporting firearms out of the city, his feeling is that it will be used by the Court – provided we win – to set the standard for review of future Second Amendment cases. Given the way lower courts have been fudging scrutiny, this would be a great win if he is correct.

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Neat Little Product For Campers, Etc.

January 20, 2019 by 2 Comments

Knowing we had some time to kill on Sunday, I wrangled us tickets to the ANME Winter Expo being held in Las Vegas. It is for those in the military surplus business and featured everything from knives to all sorts of surplus gear to camping supplies.

One of the coolest and least expensive things I found was the Simple Shower. It converts a 1 to 2 liter bottle into a handheld shower. Unlike the black shower bags, the temperature of the water never gets too hot. Setting a clear 2 litter bottle of water out in the sun for a couple of hours will raise the temperature to about 102-104 deg. which is plenty warm for a shower.

The kit includes the shower head and two tubes. You attach it to any water bottle, let it sit in the sun for a while, and now you have a warm shower.

The patented Simple Shower weighs less than an ounce and costs about $10. I think designer James Peet has a winner on his hands. You can order it directly from the company at this link.

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Key Provisions Of Feinstein’s New AWB (Updated)

January 19, 2019 by 5 Comments

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) reintroduced her assault weapon ban yesterday. It is S. 66 and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill has 28 co-sponsors – 27 Democrats and one Independent (Bernie Sanders).

The full text is not yet available. However, from Feinstein’s press release we can see she aiming wide and deep.

Key provisions:

  • Bans the sale, manufacture, transfer and importation of 205 military-style assault weapons by name. Owners may keep existing weapons.


  • Bans any assault weapon that accepts a detachable ammunition magazine and has one or more military characteristics including a pistol grip, a forward grip, a barrel shroud, a threaded barrel or a folding or telescoping stock. Owners may keep existing weapons.

  • Bans magazines and other ammunition feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, which allow shooters to quickly fire many rounds without needing to reload. Owners may keep existing magazines.

Exemptions to bill:

  • The bill exempts by name more than 2,200 guns for hunting, household defense or recreational purposes.


  • The bill includes a grandfather clause that exempts all weapons lawfully possessed at the date of enactment.

Other provisions:

  • Requires a background check on any future sale, trade or gifting of an assault weapon covered by the bill.


  • Requires that grandfathered assault weapons are stored using a secure gun storage or safety device like a trigger lock.

  • Prohibits the transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines.

  • Bans bump-fire stocks and other devices that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at fully automatic rates.

Updates to Assault Weapons Ban of 2017:

  • Bans stocks that are “otherwise foldable or adjustable in a manner that operates to reduce the length, size, or any other dimension, or otherwise enhances the concealability of a firearm.”


  • Bans assault pistols that weigh 50 or more ounces when unloaded, a policy included in the original 1994 ban.

  • Bans assault pistol stabilizing braces that transform assault pistols into assault rifles by allowing the shooter to shoulder the weapon and fire more accurately.

  • Bans Thordsen-type grips and stocks that are designed to evade a ban on assault weapons.

I had to look up Thordsen-type grips. She is referring to stocks and grips from Thordsen Customs which are meant to allow firearms to be California and New York compliant.

You can tell by the updates to her AWB of 2017 that she is after any adjustable stock and AR-pistols with or without a stabilizing brace.

Looking at the Key Provisions, firearms like the Ruger PCC pistol caliber carbine would be banned as it has a threaded barrel. I think she learned her lesson from the original AWB which allowed no more than two features. Not that I think this bill will pass the Senate but I could foresee the development of pump carbines that feed from a detachable magazine. Remington used to have such a rifle called the Model 7615. You can see an example here.

It will be interesting to read the full text of this bill when it is published. To get an idea you might want to look at her 2017 version.

UPDATE: Ryan Cleckner, attorney and former Director of Governmental Affairs for NSSF, has this analysis of the Feinstein’s new AWB. Given his background in the industry and his shooting background, it is well worth a read.

UPDATE II: Ryan informs me that he has now read the actual text of the bill and has more comments on it. He thinks it is even more dangerous than before.

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A Replica Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle?

January 18, 2019 by

I have been getting multiple releases announcing new products on a daily basis for the last month in anticipation of the SHOT Show. Some are line extensions and some are entirely new products. Not that they aren’t all of interest but this one really caught my eye.

Umarex will now be producing an officially licensed air rifle replica of the Ruger 10/22. I think it caught my eye because the Ruger 10/22 was the first gun I ever bought. I was 18 and it costs a whole $55 at Best Products in Greensboro. There is no word on the price of the Umarex replica.

From the release:

The level of detail in the Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle transcends its looks. “Umarex did a great job in developing the 10/22 Air Rifle,” said Ruger Vice President of Marketing, Rob Werkmeister. “We are truly impressed by the level of authentic detail and craftsmanship incorporated into this airgun, and we are proud to be affiliated with a company that shares our passion of providing quality products and exceptional service for shooters around the world.”

The 10/22 Air Rifle from UMAREX was designed to shoot .177 caliber pellets, the most readily available and most popular selling airgun caliber for recreational shooting. The magazine is authentic in shape and the magazine release pushes forward in authentic fashion giving you the ability to pull the magazine from the receiver. The magazine holds a red, removable rotary clip that accepts 10 flat or round-nosed pellets instead of the traditional .22 LR cartridge and is cleverly held in the magazine by a sliding lever, which allows for the easy exchange of a pre-loaded clip available as an accessory.

The bolt, while seemingly there for aesthetics, since it does not load a pellet into the chamber, serves to cock the rifle when actuated, giving the 10/22 Air Rifle a delightful three-pound trigger pull. The weight of the trigger and its identical overall size makes it an ideal rifle for first-time shooters whose natural next step up is the Ruger 10/22 chambered for .22 LR.

Loading quality UMAREX CO2 into the rifle is easy. With the twist of a button at the rear of the butt stock the buttpad slides out to reveal an incorporated Allen wrench. That wrench is used to remove a long cylinder inside the stock that punctures two, 12-gram CO2 cartridges when installed back-to-back within the stock of the rifle.

Beyond its function, the 10/22 Air Rifle is slightly lighter than the firearm, but looks the part. The sights are authentic in style, including the folding rear sight, and the rifle has authentic looking sling attachments incorporated. The receiver is ready to accept after-market rails that fit the Ruger 10/22 so that you can customize your Ruger 10/22 Air Rifle with the optic of your choosing.

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I Missed This Story About Taurus From Earlier This Year

January 17, 2019 by 2 Comments

I’m not sure how I missed this as I like to keep up with the relocation of manufacturing within the firearms industry but I did. What clued me in was a posting on The Shooting Wire that this move won an award from the Georgia Economic Developers Association.

Taurus USA announced in April that they were building a manufacturing facility in Bainbridge, Georgia.

Taurus Holdings, Inc. (“Taurus USA”) announces plans to establish a manufacturing facility in Bainbridge, Georgia, part of Decatur County, creating over 300 new jobs with a combined investment of over $22.5MM in infrastructure and operations. Taurus USA, through its subsidiaries, manufactures or distributes the popular Taurus®, Rossi®, and Heritage™ Manufacturing product lines….



David Blenker, President & CEO of Taurus USA comments, “The decision to relocate stems from our desire to expand our facility, keeping all operations in one location. All involved have welcomed Taurus, from the Governor’s office to the Bainbridge Chamber of Commerce. We look forward to establishing a solid workforce and giving back to a great community,” continued Blenker. Ground breaking ceremonies will take place mid-summer 2018.

Not being too terribly conversant with Georgia geography, I had to look up Bainbridge. It is in southwest Georgia near the Florida state line west of Thomasville. Perhaps more importantly, it is less than an hour’s drive to Tallahassee, Florida. It has is the home to Bainbridge State College which has partnered with industry on many occasions.

The award announcement on the facility:

In December 2019, Taurus will complete its move to a new 200,000 square foot facility in Bainbridge. This new state-of-the-art facility will help expand the company’s U.S. engineering and production capabilities, host the new corporate headquarters, and further strengthen core manufacturing efforts to better meet consumer expectations in firearm innovation and quality performance. For the Bainbridge and Decatur County area, this move will add 300 jobs and insert more than $22.5 million into the economy.

I’m not sure what was the impetus to this move from their Miami Lakes location in Florida. It could be cost of living, cost of labor, politics, or merely the desire to be a big fish in a small pond. I’ll be sure to visit the Taurus booth this coming week at the SHOT Show and ask.

By the way, I know it is convenient to hate on Taurus. I have a couple of their firearms – a Tracker 627 revolver and a PT1911 – which have worked fine for me. I got them used at a good price and I’m OK with them. They aren’t Smith or Colt respectively but I didn’t intend them to be.

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Prisoners Say Where They Got Guns — And It Isn’t At Gun Shows

January 17, 2019 by

The Bureau of Justice Statistics recently released a special report entitled Source and Use of Firearms Involved inCrimes: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016. It reported that 20% of prisoners or 1 in 5 possessed or used a firearm while committing the crime for which they were imprisoned. The numbers go up when a violent crime was involved.

The report goes into great deal on the demographics of the criminal, the crimes involved, and so on. However, what really caught my eye was how they obtained the firearm(s) used in the commission of crime.

From the report:

Among prisoners who possessed a firearm when they
committed the offense for which they were imprisoned
and who reported the source from which they obtained
it, the most common source (43%) was off-the-street or
the underground market (table 5). 

The next most frequent source was “from a friend” at 25.3% followed by “other source” at 17.4% which could include found at the scene of the crime or brought by an accomplice.

Another approximately 10% obtained their firearms at a retail location which includes gun stores, pawn shops, flea markets, and gun shows. Breaking it down, the great majority of these were bought either under the prisoners’s own name or an assumed name with a background check at gun stores and pawn shops. Both of these entities must hold Federal firearms licences.

But what about gun shows?

I hate to break to everyone railing on and on about the gun show loophole but gun shows accounted for only 0.8% of the firearms possessed by these criminals serving time.

Theft rounds out the list at 6.4%.

Tom Gresham made the suggestion on Twitter that you bookmark, copy, and print this report as ammo proving the “gun show loophole” is a fallacy. I agree.

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A Little Shopping Humor

January 16, 2019 by

Sorry I haven’t posted before today this week. You know how every one speaks of coming home with the SHOT Show (or NRA Annual Meeting) crud? Well, it seems in my case it was the pre-SHOT crud. With luck, this means I will have immunity to anything and everything for the coming week of SHOT Show and afterwards.

In the meantime, here is a little something from A Southern Thing. I think we all have been asked most of these questions when shopping in a store. Well, most of them anyway.

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The Text Of HR 8 – The “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019” (Updated)

January 10, 2019 by

The text of the Democrat’s universal background check bill has been released. The bill will be HR 8 which has been reserved for the Speaker and which number was chosen to represent the day that then-Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) was shot. I think Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) will be the official sponsor of the bill and I presume most Democrats will be on board as co-sponsors. Gotta get that Bloomberg money, ya know.

As to the “Bipartisan” part of the title, I presume that is because Rep. Peter King (R-NY) and maybe a few others will be co-sponsors of the bill. One Republican or 20 really doesn’t make it “bipartisan” any more than a Republican bill that has one or two Democrats as sponsors.

Here is the text of the bill:

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES


Mr. THOMPSON of California introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on January 8, 2019.


A BILL


To require a background check for every firearm sale.


Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,


SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.


This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019’’.


SEC. 2. PURPOSE.


The purpose of this Act is to utilize the current background checks process in the United States to ensure individuals prohibited from gun possession are not able to obtain firearms.


SEC. 3. FIREARMS TRANSFERS.


Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is
amended—


(1) by striking subsection (s);
(2) by redesignating subsection (t) as subsection (s); and
(3) by inserting after subsection (s), as redesignated, the following:


‘‘(t)(1)(A) It shall be unlawful for any person who
is not a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to transfer a firearm to any other person
who is not so licensed, unless a licensed importer, licensed
manufacturer, or licensed dealer has first taken possession
of the firearm for the purpose of complying with subsection (s).


‘‘(B) Upon taking possession of a firearm under subparagraph (A), a licensee shall comply with all requirements of this chapter as if the licensee were transferring
the firearm from the inventory of the licensee to the unlicensed transferee.


‘‘(C) If a transfer of a firearm described in subparagraph (A) will not be completed for any reason after a
licensee takes possession of the firearm (including because
the transfer of the firearm to, or receipt of the firearm
by, the transferee would violate this chapter), the return
of the firearm to the transferor by the licensee shall not
constitute the transfer of a firearm for purposes of this chapter.


‘‘(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to—


‘‘(A) a law enforcement agency or any law enforcement officer, armed private security professional, or member of the armed forces, to the extent
the officer, professional, or member is acting within
the course and scope of employment and official duties;
‘‘(B) a transfer that is a loan or bona fide gift
between spouses, between domestic partners, between parents and their children, between siblings,
between aunts or uncles and their nieces or nephews,
1or between grandparents and their grandchildren;
‘‘(C) a transfer to an executor, administrator,
trustee, or personal representative of an estate or a
trust that occurs by operation of law upon the death
of another person;
‘‘(D) a temporary transfer that is necessary to
prevent imminent death or great bodily harm, if the
possession by the transferee lasts only as long as immediately necessary to prevent the imminent death
or great bodily harm;
‘‘(E) a transfer that is approved by the Attorney General under section 5812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or
‘‘(F) a temporary transfer if the transferor has
no reason to believe that the transferee will use or
intends to use the firearm in a crime or is prohibited
from possessing firearms under State or Federal
law, and the transfer takes place and the transferee’s possession of the firearm is exclusively— 

‘‘(i) at a shooting range or in a shooting
gallery or other area designated for the purpose
of target shooting;
‘‘(ii) while reasonably necessary for the
purposes of hunting, trapping, or fishing, if the
transferor—
‘‘(I) has no reason to believe that the
transferee intends to use the firearm in a
place where it is illegal; and
‘‘(II) has reason to believe that the
transferee will comply with all licensing
and permit requirements for such hunting,
trapping, or fishing; or
‘‘(iii) while in the presence of the transferor.


‘‘(3)(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
chapter, the Attorney General may implement this subsection with regulations.
‘‘(B) Regulations promulgated under this paragraph
may not include any provision requiring licensees to facilitate transfers in accordance with paragraph (1).
‘‘(C) Regulations promulgated under this paragraph
may not include any provision requiring persons not licensed under this chapter to keep records of background
checks or firearms transfers.
‘‘(D) Regulations promulgated under this paragraph
may not include any provision placing a cap on the fee
licensees may charge to facilitate transfers in accordance
with paragraph (1).
‘‘(4) It shall be unlawful for a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, or licensed dealer to transfer possession of, or title to, a firearm to another person who is
not so licensed unless the importer, manufacturer, or dealer has provided such other person with a notice of the
prohibition under paragraph (1), and such other person
has certified that such other person has been provided
with this notice on a form prescribed by the Attorney General.’’.


SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.


(a) SECTION 922.—Section 922(y)(2) of title 18,
United States Code, is amended in the matter preceding
subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘, (g)(5)(B), and
(s)(3)(B)(v)(II)’’ and inserting ‘‘and (g)(5)(B)’’.
(b) CONSOLIDATED AND FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2012.—Section 511 of title V of division B of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (18 U.S.C. 922 note) is amended by
striking ‘‘subsection 922(t)’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘subsection (s) or (t) of section 922’’.


SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act, or any amendment made by this
Act, shall be construed to—
(1) authorize the establishment, directly or indirectly, of a national firearms registry; or
(2) interfere with the authority of a State,
under section 927 of title 18, United States Code,
to enact a law on the same subject matter as this
Act.


SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.


The amendments made by this Act shall take effect
180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

 
UPDATE: Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned notes that those of us who have Curios & Relics licenses would have to go through a licensed dealer for our transfers. Notice that the wording in the bill makes no mention of “licensed collectors” but only importers, manufacturers, and dealers.

UPDATE II: Attorney and scholar David Kopel has a textual analysis of the bill on the Volokh Conspiracy. Dave notes that it would also ban the transfer of a handgun to those 18-20 years old which is now legal in many states in private sales. You can’t have a FFL transfer a handgun to you unless you are 21 years of age or older.

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SHOT Show Is Coming

January 10, 2019 by

I will be heading to the 2019 SHOT Show in little more than a week. There have already been some new product introductions such as Mossberg’s first pistol in about a 100 years and a .357 Magnum revolver from Colt.

What do you want me to check out? If you will tell me in the comments section, I’ll do my best to check it out.

Remember, if you tell me everything, I’ll only have 22 seconds to check it out.