Josh Blackman

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Christmas Book Suggestions

December 19, 2019 by 2 Comments

Getting books for Christmas was a tradition in my family. It is not surprising when your Mom was first an English teacher and then a school librarian.

I have compiled a list of books for your perusal. I have read most of the books myself. Those that I haven’t are either too new or are new books from authors I trust and respect.

First up is a new book on handgun hunting by my fellow Polite Society Podcast co-host Kat Ainsworth. I have it on order and am anxious to start reading it. Kat’s work can be found in USCCA Concealed Carry Magazine, Concealed Carry Handguns, Range 365, Pew Pew Tactical, SHOT Business, and Shooting Illustrated.

Another new books worthy of consideration is by Nikki Goeser. Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me details how Tennessee’s legislatively mandated gun free zones allowed a demented stalker to kill her husband. Because Nikki obeyed the law and locked her carry gun in her car, she was left defenseless when this evil person murdered her husband.

Jim Curtis aka Old NFO is a friend, blogger, and novelist. I just finished the finale of his The Grey Man series, The Grey Man – Sunset. It brings to a conclusion the exploits of John Cronin and his family and friends as they fight the drug cartels and other evil doers in west Texas. Cronin is a rancher, a (retired) captain with the Pecos County Sheriff’s Department, an ex-DEA agent, and a Vietnam vet who served on 5th Special Forces A-Teams. He is also known to be a stone-cold killer of those that deserved it. I suggest starting from the beginning of his series and working your way through all of them.

Moving on, my next suggestion is actually a text book by law professors Randy Barnett and Josh Blackman. That said, An Introduction to Constitutional Law: 100 Supreme Court Cases Everyone Should Know, is very readable. It starts with the early cases such as Marbury v Madison and works its way forward. Since our common law is built heavily on precedent, knowing how earlier decisions paved the way for later decisions is critical if you want to understand it. The book also comes with a code that allows access to the video series that goes along with the book. Fortunately, unlike most law books, the price of this book isn’t a killer.

Pages: 1 2 3

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Cody Wilson Out, Paloma Heindorff In At Defense Distributed

September 26, 2018 by

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Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed parted ways as of Friday, September 21st, according to the new Director of Defense Distributed, Paloma Heindorff. The news came in a press conference held in Austin, Texas yesterday (September 25th).

Good morning, thank you for attending. My name is Paloma Heindorff, I’m the new director of Defense Distributed and CEO of Ghost Gunner. I spent last three years at DD working as director of development and VP of Operations.


Cody Wilson tendered his resignation on Friday evening to focus on personal legal affairs. Defense Distributed Board of Directors accepted his resignation and thus his role at the company has been concluded.

Also on the stage at the news conference were Defense Distributed’s attorneys Josh Blackman of  the South Texas College of Law Houston and Chad Flores of Houston law firm Beck Redden.

During the news conference, Heindorff continually emphasized that Wilson has no further involvement with Defense Distributed and that she would not answer any questions regarding his personal legal issues. She did say, “it was Cody Wilson’s decision to resign and Defense Distributed supported him in that.”

When she was asked by a reporter if anything in her views had changed on the case, Heindorff made a strong statement of her beliefs.

The same as we stood before. We believe in the right of people to have these files; we believe in our right to publish them. I believe very strongly in both the First and Second Amendment causes in the case. That’s where I stand. The same as where I stood a week ago.

Asked if she had spoken with Cody Wilson, she said, “Cody and I have been speaking. It is important for the transition. We still have some paperwork to do.”

Heindorff’s background is in the arts. When asked why she left New York and moved to Austin to work for Defense Distributed, she had this to say.

It’s the most effective and elegant activism I’d seen performed and I wanted to be a part of that. It’s just so beautiful, isn’t it, to exercise one’s rights like that and to do so in a way that pushes authorities to allow you to. Too often people are perturbed by threats, and I found it incredible that this company persisted.

Heindorff spoke about this in more detail at last year’s Gun Rights Policy Conference held in Dallas. You can see her comments in this video starting at about the 24:30 mark.

When asked about the case brought the attorney general of Washington State to prevent Distributed Defense from posting the files online , Josh Blackman emphasized that there was no change in the case. Later in the news conference, both he and attorney Chad Flores re-emphasized that they are DD’s attorney and that Cody Wilson has his own attorney for his issues. With regard to legal issues, all three pointed out that the approximately $400,000 raised for legal fees was for Defense Distributed and no monies were being used by Cody Wilson for her personal defense on charges of sex with a minor.

The change of leadership at Defense Distributed and Ghost Gunner has received attention across the spectrum. You have stories by the NY Times, Fox News, NPR, and the Austin Statesman. You have stories by Recoil, Ammoland, and  TTAG. The story was also covered by tech industry publications like Ars Technica and Wired.

Heck, even the Brady Campaign released a statement concerning the change in leadership. The funny thing in their statement is their acknowledgement that the “Pandora’s box had been opened, and it won’t go away with Wilson.” Then they said they would continue to fight the threat. I find it funny that they realize the signal can’t be stopped and then in the next breath say they are going to fight it. There is nothing to compare to the posturing of the gun banners when they know the fight is futile.

The whole news conference is shown in the video below. The actual news conference begins at about the 2 minute mark.

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Interesting Tidbit: The Staten Island Connection To The Defense Distributed Case

August 3, 2018 by

I stumbled across an interesting connection to Staten Island, NY – the forgotten borough – in the case pitting the the anti-gun attorneys general of Washington and a few other states against SAF and Defense Distributed. Both Judge Robert Lasnik who approved the temporary restraining order and attorney Josh Blackman who is representing Defense Distributed grew up in Staten Island.

Blackman is a graduate of the Staten Island Technical High School which was established in 1988. Judge Lasnik graduated from Port Richmond High and is a member of their Hall of Fall.  This 2011 profile of Lasnik in the LA Times discusses his love of Bob Dylan and how it impacted “his soul” with regard to civil rights while growing up on Staten Island.

I find this Staten Island connection interesting because my mother grew up there, my grandfather was the Tax Assessor for the Borough and County of Richmond, and my cousin Tom still lives in my grandparents’ house. Moreover, a good part of summer and every Christmas from the time I was born in 1957 through about 1980 was spent on Staten Island.

I also find it intriguing that the person who had his soul impacted by the music of Bob Dylan with regard to civil rights is the one who curtails free speech. Conversely, the attorney who grew up there as it became a conservative enclave in a sea of blue is the one fighting for free speech.

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Wow! DOJ Settles With Cody Wilson And Defense Distributed

July 10, 2018 by 5 Comments

Less than 24 hours after President Trump nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, the Department of Justice comes to an agreement with the Second Amendment Foundation regarding their lawsuit on behalf of Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed. I know I say that actions have consequences but this one is a “Wow!”

From Josh Blackman’s blog with some more details:

BELLEVUE, WA – The Department of Justice and Second Amendment Foundation have reached a settlement in SAF’s lawsuit on behalf of Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed over free speech issues related to 3-D files and other information that may be used to manufacture lawful firearms.

SAF and Defense Distributed had filed suit against the State Department under the Obama administration, challenging a May 2013 attempt to control public speech as an export under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), a Cold War-era law intended to control exports of military articles.

Under terms of the settlement, the government has agreed to waive its prior restraint against the plaintiffs, allowing them to freely publish the 3-D files and other information at issue. The government has also agreed to pay a significant portion of the plaintiffs’ attorney’s fees, and to return $10,000 in State Department registration dues paid by Defense Distributed as a result of the prior restraint.

Significantly, the government expressly acknowledges that non-automatic firearms up to .50-caliber – including modern semi-auto sporting rifles such as the popular AR-15 and similar firearms – are not inherently military.

“Not only is this a First Amendment victory for free speech, it also is a devastating blow to the gun prohibition lobby,” noted SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “For years, anti-gunners have contended that modern semi-automatic sport-utility rifles are so-called ‘weapons of war,’ and with this settlement, the government has acknowledged they are nothing of the sort.

“Under this settlement,” he continued, “the government will draft and pursue regulatory amendments that eliminate ITAR control over the technical information at the center of this case. They will transfer export jurisdiction to the Commerce Department, which does not impose prior restraint on public speech. That will allow Defense Distributed and SAF to publish information about 3-D technology.”

Blackman’s blog has all the major pleadings in this case. SAF and Wilson had submitted a petition for a writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court after losing in the 5th Circuit. This writ had not been denied as it was still in the pleading and reply process. Cert was denied in January 2018.

This is a win for free speech, a win for gun rights, a loss for prior restraint, and a giant FU to the State of California and their paranoia over “ghost guns”.

WIRED Magazine goes into great detail about what Cody has been up to the last few years, the why of Defense Distributed, the gnashing of teeth by the antis, and the blurred line between the First and Second Amendment.

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Defense Distributed, SAF Sue John Kerry And The State Department

May 7, 2015 by 1 Comment

Cody Wilson of Defense Distributed and the Second Amendment Foundation have joined forces to sue the State Department on First, Second, and Fifth Amendment grounds. They contend the the State Department through its Directorate of Defense Trade Controls misused ITAR regulations to force Defense Distributed to take down its files for the Liberator pistol among other items. The State Department’s Office of Legal Counsel as far back as 1978 had said that the use of ITAR to impose prior restraint on “privately generated unclassified information in the public domain” violated the First Amendment.

The big guns are being brought to bear on this fight. Lead counsel is Alan Gura. The legal team also includes Prof. Josh Blackman of South Texas College of Law who has published on this topic in the Tennessee Law Review and attorneys from the global intellectual property firm of Fish & Richardson (no relation!). Fish & Richardson just happens to be the top intellectual property firm in the United States by all rankings.

The complaint can be  found here.

The Second Amendment Foundation has more on the lawsuit below:

SAF Sues Feds Over Censorship Of 3-D Firearms Printing Information

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today joined Defense Distributed of Austin, Texas, in filing a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State John Kerry, the Department of State and other federal officials, seeking to stop the Government’s unconstitutional censorship of information related to the three-dimensional printing of arms.

The Government’s restraint against the publication of this critical information, under the guise of controlling arms exports, violates the First Amendment right to free speech, the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and the Fifth Amendment right to due process, the lawsuit alleges.

SAF and Defense Distributed seek to publish 3-D printing information at no cost to the public. Constitutional attorney Alan Gura of Gura & Possessky leads the litigation team, which also includes William “Tommy” Jacks, Bill Mateja, and David Morris of Fish & Richardson; export control counsel Matthew Goldstein, and constitutional law Professor Josh Blackman.

“Americans have always been free to exchange information about firearms and manufacture their own arms,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We also have an expectation that any speech regulations be spelled out clearly, and that individuals be provided basic procedural protections if their government claims a power to silence them.”

The lawsuit asserts the defendants are unlawfully applying International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) to prevent the plaintiffs from exercising in free speech on the Internet and other forums. ITAR “requires advance government authorization to export technical data,” the complaint asserts. There are criminal and civil penalties for violations, ranging up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million per violation.

Defense Distributed generated technical information on various gun-related items, which it published on the Internet. But it removed all the files from its servers upon being warned that it “may have released ITAR-controlled technical data without the required prior authorization from the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), a violation of the ITAR.” In June 2013, Defense Distributed submitted various published files to DDTC for review of a machine called the “Ghost Gunner.” In April, DDTC said the machine does not fall under ITAR, but that software and files are subject to State Department jurisdiction.

“Defense Distributed appears to be caught in what seems to be a bureaucratic game of merry-go-round,” Gottlieb said. “The right to keep and bear arms includes the ability to acquire or create arms. The government is engaging in behavior that denies the company due process under the Fifth Amendment. We’re compelled to file this action because the bureaucracy is evidently playing games and it’s time for these agencies to behave.”

Just think, if Hillary Clinton had hung around a little longer at the State Department, the suit could have been titled Defense Distributed et al v. Hillary Clinton et al!

UPDATE: This case has caught the attention of the New York Times and Wired. I’m not surprised by Wired but the Times is a bit surprising. They note that Cody Wilson and Defense Distributed have a “high-powered legal team” and quote another First Amendment expert as saying this lawsuit is “not frivolous”. Hmm.

Sebastian also has some more on the case here.

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An Interesting Take On The Supreme Court Ordering The Release Of Prisoners

May 24, 2011 by

Josh Blackman in his blog by the same name has an interesting take on a Supreme Court case decided today. Brown v. Plata effectively orders the release of 46,000 prisoners in the State of California to comply with court-ordered limits on the number of prisoners held in the state’s prisons.

Josh tries to reconcile the votes of Justices Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor in Brown v. Plata with their votes on McDonald v. Chicago. He ends up with this:

Let’s walk through this. The Court today orders 46,000 dangerous prisoners be released into society. Let’s assume this results in an increase in violent crimes, as Justice Alito suggests (I think his causation/correlation analysis is flawed, but let’s put that aside for now). Society becomes more danger, with all these violent criminals running amok. Prisons, unable to house new prisoners, decrease the feasible number of prosecutions. Statistics are generated that show a steep increase in crime. Based on these findings, the state enacts new restrictive gun control laws to reduce violence.

You really must wonder if something this Machiavellian went through the liberal Justices’ minds when deciding this case. If it did, we are in big trouble as a republic and the presidential election of 2012 becomes even more critical.