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The Hidden Life of Guns

October 24, 2010 by 3 Comments

It is indeed ironic that the quote “follow the money” traces its lineage back to then-Washington Post reporters Bob Woodard and Carl Bernstein. “Deep Throat” told the reporters that the key to understanding Watergate was the money. And so it is with a collection of feature stories in today’s Washington Post entitled The Hidden Life of Guns.

The stories feature a multi-media piece (at least online), a hit piece on a gun store in Prince George’s County, MD, and a tut-tutting piece on the “gun lobby” and the Tiahrt Amendment. It is this last story entitled Industry pressure hides gun traces, protects dealers from public scrutiny where the role of money in supporting so-called gun policy research becomes apparent. To support the authors’ contention that the Tiahrt Amendment protects “rogue” dealers from scrutiny by groups such as the Brady Campaign and Mayors Against Illegal Guns as well as making it harder for the police, they call on Professor Glenn Pierce of Northeastern University and Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum.

First, Wexler:

“It was extraordinary, and the most offensive thing you can think of,” said Chuck Wexler, director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit group for police chiefs. “The tracing data, which is now secret, helped us see the big picture of where guns are coming from.”

And now, the work of Prof. Glenn Pierce:

But in 1995, Professor Glenn L. Pierce of Northeastern University analyzed ATF tracing data and discovered that a tiny fraction of gun dealers – 1 percent – were the original sellers of a majority of the guns seized at crime scenes – 57 percent. Pierce’s analysis “blew everybody away” at the ATF, recalled Joseph R. Vince Jr., then deputy chief of the firearms division. Law enforcement might be able to reduce crime by focusing on a relative handful of gun dealers.

Many in academia and the non-profit world have become grant-whores. In a publish or perish world, securing a grant is the road to salvation for a professor. It supports grad students to do the grunt work, it brings you recognition, it legitimizes your work as being “significant”, and, most importantly, it makes your university very happy as they get a cut of the grant for so-called overhead. And as for non-profits, it keeps their doors open as they exist on soft money.

So, if we follow the money, where does it lead? To the surprise of almost no one in the gun community, both the Police Executive Research Forum and Dr. Glenn Pierce are recipients of grants from the Joyce Foundation either directly or indirectly. The Joyce Foundation is THE leading funder of gun violence (sic) groups along with anti-gun oriented research in academia. If the National Rifle Association were to set up a grants program for pro-gun research, the academic world as well as journalists would be in an uproar. However, when it comes to the Joyce Foundation, silence.

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Alan Gura on Strategic Civil Rights Litigation

October 24, 2010 by 1 Comment

This is a speech that Alan Gura gave at the Grass Roots North Carolina Gala for Gun Rights. The event was held in Charlotte, NC on Friday, May 14th. It was held concurrently with the NRA Annual Meeting.

I was in attendance at this dinner. I learned more about the entire process of carefully selecting litigants and cases in those 15 minutes than I had ever before.

To put this into perspective, I took two semesters of Constitutional Law as an undergraduate from a professor who lived and breathed the constitution. I also spent 3 1/2 years in a PhD program in Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill before leaving with a wife but no degree. It is one thing to learn about the courts and the Constitution in a classroom. It is an entirely different thing to hear the inside story of the process from a lawyer who has argued – and won – two major precedent setting cases before the Supreme Court.

If you want to learn how pro-gun civil rights litigation should be done, take a few minutes and listen to this YouTube video.

H/T Gene Hoffman

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Cry Me A River

October 23, 2010 by

Colbert King, in an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, laments that the expected increase in the number of conservatives and Republicans in Congress after mid-term elections doesn’t bode well for the District of Columbia’s autonomy. Pardon me if I am not sympathetic especially when he writes:

What’s more, a new Congress, under Republican influence, is likely to give the District more of what it doesn’t want.

Expect, for example, a renewed effort to weaken D.C. gun laws and restrict the D.C. Council’s regulation of firearms. Gun-rights forces tried to do that this year when they attached pro-gun language that ultimately derailed voting rights legislation. The Nov. 2 elections, if all goes as predicted, will only strengthen their hands.

I guess we should be happy that the District has been run by foolish politicians or we never would have gotten the Heller decision. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s intransigence led to DC’s appeal of the Court of Appeals win for Dick Heller. This, in turn, led to the Supreme Court acknowledging, finally and concretely, that the Second Amendment is an individual right.

So to assuage Mr. King’s sorrow, I send him this nice rendition of “Cry Me A River” sung by Susan Boyle.

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Annie Oakley Does Not Exist

October 23, 2010 by

The New York Times ran an article this week contrasting real life police work with TV police work. After police-involved shootings, cops are often asked why they didn’t just shoot the weapon-wielding perpetrator in the hand or leg. Indeed, New York State Assembly Members Annette Robinson (D-Brooklyn) and Darryl Towns (D-Brooklyn) actually sponsored a bill earlier this year requiring police to shoot to wound if possible.
Two recent police shootings in New York City actually did result in shots to the legs which stopped a deranged man with a knife and a guy shooting at police respectively. However, as the article notes, this was more by accident than by design.

In fact, in the Thursday case at Pennsylvania Station, a second bullet fired by the officer missed the knife-wielding man and went flying into the pavement near the shooting scene.

Police officers, the article notes, are trained to shoot to stop the criminal by going for center of mass.

John C. Cerar, a retired deputy inspector who was the commander of the Police Department’s firearms training section, said officers are taught to shoot at center mass — which means the “head and torso” of a suspect like a man armed with a gun.

“You can’t just shoot to aim for a leg or an arm; it just doesn’t work,” Mr. Cerar said. “You are trying to hit the biggest part to the target, to stop the actions of the person using, or attempting, deadly physical force.”

He paused and added, “Annie Oakley does not exist.”

It is interesting to see the difference in reporting in the Times. The guy who covers the police beat recognizes the reality of the confusion, fear, and excitement inherent in violent encounters. Those who usually pen the editorials which involve firearms don’t have a clue. At least somebody at the Times gets it.

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Carolyn McCarthy – Scared?

October 22, 2010 by

As a general rule of thumb political candidates don’t run negative ads against their opponents unless they are feeling pressed. Negative ads, while often effective, turn off a lot of voters. Studies have shown that it tends to lower voter turnout especially among independents. Actually, some candidates want this as it will improve the chances of them being elected. Only their loyalists will turn out as everyone else is repulsed by the negativity.

Incumbents don’t usually want to resort to running negative ads against their opponent for another reason. It gives the challenger more name recognition and transforms a “nobody” into somebody.

The timing of negative ads gives a clue as to how the incumbent is feeling about his or her chances. The earlier the mud starts to fly, the more trouble the incumbent is in.

Carolyn McCarthy who is finishing up her 7th term of office must be feeling the heat. She has started to go negative against her opponent Fran Becker. With luck, instead of turning off the independent voter, it will piss them off and they will vote for Becker. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

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Plaintiff Drops Out in NRA’s Suit Against Chicago

October 22, 2010 by 1 Comment

On Tuesday, attorneys for the plaintiffs in the NRA’s lawsuit against the new Chicago gun law, Benson et al v. Chicago et al, filed a motion to dismiss Raymond Sledge as one of the plaintiffs in the case. From the motion:

RULE 21 MOTION TO WITHDRAW AS PARTY PLAINTIFF

NOW COMES Plaintiff Raymond Sledge, by and through his attorneys, and respectfully moves the Court pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 21 to dismiss him as a party plaintiff to this civil action, with the case to continue as to all other Plaintiffs. By email dated October 15, 2010, Plaintiffs’ counsel sought from Defendants’ consent to this motion, but Defendants’ counsel has not responded to that request

Mr. Sledge was a plaintiff in both the original complaint and the amended complaint. According to paragraph 35 of the amended complaint:

Plaintiff Raymond Sledge is a 53-year-old, African-American male, and a resident of Chicago. He has been employed for the last sixteen years as a teaching assistant at a public elementary school in Chicago.

I don’t know why Mr. Sledge requested to be dismissed as a plaintiff in the case. He was, however, the target of a mocking editorial in the New York Times back in July. The Chicago Gun Rights Examiner made note of that editorial here.

Given the workings of Mayor Daley and his machine one wonders if a none too subtle message was sent through an intermediary that if Mr. Sledge wanted to keep his job in the Chicago Public Schools he better drop out of the lawsuit. The unvarnished truth probably will never come out but one has to wonder.

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Needs More Trigger Discipline!

October 21, 2010 by

Jim Piccillo is a Democrat running for Congress in the Tampa Bay area. Until two years ago he was a Republican whose main claim to fame was introducing then-Senator Joe Biden at an Obama rally as “John McCain.” He was a member of Republicans for Obama and volunteered in the Obama campaign.

Piccillo, who served in the 101st Airborne but did not see any combat, is emphasizing his military service. His latest ad shows him holding a M-4 and says he will “kick butt”.

Screen capture from Piccillo ad

Florida’s 5th Congressional District is home to many veterans. I hope for Piccillo’s sake that one of those vets isn’t his old drill sergeant. If not, Piccillo will probably be reamed a new one for his poor trigger finger discipline.

The website FiveThirtyEight rates this seat as having a 99% chance of the Republican winning.

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Maryland Handgun Carry Permit Review Board

October 20, 2010 by 2 Comments

Michael Smigiel is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates representing District 36. This district lies on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and consists of Caroline, Cecil, Kent, and Queen Anne’s counties. He is also a practicing attorney.

One of his constituents who is also a client had applied for a handgun carry permit. Smigiel wondered how his constituents were treated by the Handgun Carry Permit Review Board so he applied for a permit. The video below is from his hearing before that Board. Mind you, he is a Delegate so his treatment is probably going to be much more cordial than for someone like Raymond Woollard. According to this thread on Maryland Shooters Smigiel’s experience is not typical.