This Week in Gun Rights is TTAG’s weekly roundup of legal, legislative and other news affecting guns, the gun business and gun owners’ rights.
Is it possible Shannon Watts isn’t telling the truth?
On Monday, a team of professors from four universities published a study on whether mothers are more likely than their childless peers to support gun restrictions. Using Pew Research data from 2017, the team examined factors including gender, parenthood, and race.
The short answer to their question is: no. Being a mother does not make you more likely than someone who doesn’t have children to support gun control laws. The gap in support for gun control actually appears to be along the gender line.
Women are more likely to support gun control than men. In other words, despite what “Moms” like Shannon Watts would have you believe, their parenting peers are actually no more likely to support anti-Second Amendment laws than any other women.
What’s actually the case is that Moms Demand Action is simply exploiting the misperception that all mothers support their gun control positions, a misrepresentation intended to advance their anti-liberty agenda.
Canuck Feds partner with IBM to design Canadian “gun buyback” program
According to CTV News, Canada’s anti-gun Trudeau administration has awarded a contract to IBM Canada worth approximately CA$ 1.2 million “to support the development, design, and implementation of a buyback program for recently prohibited firearms.” Of course, the firearms in question are those that were banned by executive fiat last spring following a single spree shooting incident which lasted twelve hours and could likely have been stopped by the RCMP.
Considerations for the buyback plan will include types and amounts of compensation, a risk-benefit assessment, and the identification of “other considerations” affecting the feasibility of the plan. This all comes on the back of support from Canadian anti-gun groups and an announcement from Canada’s Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, who said that the government intends to introduce legislation that would help to entrench the weapons ban and ensure that “only those weapons which are safe for use in this country will be available to Canadians.”
Confusion on appropriations bill regarding firearm imports
The Covid stimulus bill signed by President Trump is a whopper, coming in at 5,593 pages, but there’s been some confusion by the gun crowd about 10 lines of the bill. Section 538 says:
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no department, agency, or instrumentality of the United States receiving appropriated funds under this Act or any other Act shall obligate or expend in any way such funds to pay administrative expenses or the compensation of any officer or employee of the United States to deny any application submitted pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 2778(b)(1)(B) and qualified pursuant to 27 CFR section 478.112 or .113, for a permit to import United States origin ‘‘curios or relics’’ firearms, parts, or ammunition.
To simplify, that means that whenever an authorized importer submits an application to import a U.S.-origin curio or relic firearm, part, or ammunition, the government (read: the ATF) can’t deny the application.
Some have thought this might finally make Korean M1 carbines available, which were banned under the Obama Administration. Unfortunately, though, this same language has been in appropriations bills for approximately fifteen years, and doesn’t cut the red tape hung up by Obama.
Man arrested for being a felon in possession of a firearm says he’s been shot 15 times
On December 26, Youngstown, Ohio police arrested and charged a man for unlawful possession of a firearm as a result of a felony drug conviction from 2007. The officers who arrested him were “working a gun reduction detail” and pulled the man over for having excessive window tinting.
When the man’s vehicle was searched, the police “detected the odor of marijuana” (however there is no indication as to whether there were actually any drugs in the vehicle). Using this as justification for searching the vehicle, they discovered a handgun. When asked why the man had a handgun, he told the police that he needed it for protection because he had been shot fifteen times in the past.
There are multiple issues here. The first is, of course, the fact that these “gun reduction details” are being conducted almost exclusively in the the city’s South Side neighborhood, which is predominantly black. The second is why police tasked with “gun reduction” would be conducting a vehicle stop for a non-moving violation. Some might call that a pretext for a stop.
Then, of course, comes the issue of searching the vehicle because officers allegedly “detected the odor of marijuana,” something which is often used as pretext for conducting vehicle searches. Note that in Ohio, medical marijuana is legal, while recreational marijuana is not. Given the aforementioned, I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusion as to whether the police were engaging in racial profiling and conducting unconstitutional searches and seizures.
As for the Second Amendment, the fact that non-violent felonies almost universally result in a loss of gun rights is something that Congress and the courts need to reconsider.
The Founders’ ethical position on prohibiting individuals from bearing arms due to prior violent acts or known violent mental state is permissible. But the barring of individuals based on their prior felony status, even if they’ve committed a nonviolent crime, harkens back to the unethical practice of the Founders – the prohibition of possession based on race. Besides, if the man who was arrested in this incident really had been shot fifteen times, it doesn’t seem like laws such as the Gun Control Act of 1968, laws that have been on the books for over fifty years, are particularly effective in the first place.
Philadelphia DA upset he can’t get enough gun possession convictions
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is mad. Big mad. Why? Because he can’t get the kinds of conviction numbers that he supposedly wants for illegal gun possession. According to an assessment run by Krasner’s staffers, of the 400 gun possession cases studied, nearly half were thrown out because witnesses failed to show up to testify, while about a quarter were dropped for allegedly “weak evidence.”
While I’m sure that some might say that people are refusing to testify due to fear, maybe they don’t want to testify because they don’t believe in the moral legitimacy of prosecuting people for possessing a tool, or alternatively, that they don’t want to testify because they’re afraid that they might get hemmed up by the same government that’s trying to prosecute people for these crimes as a means to circumvent the fact that they can’t convict them on actual crimes like assault and murder.
If the Philadelphia Police Department and the city’s district attorney can’t get convictions without testimony, maybe they shouldn’t be bringing these cases in the first place.
The Truth About Gun Control is…Gun Control in any shape or form is rooted in racism and genocide. So the question for so called “Moms” is….How do you justify your racist and nazi based agenda? The floor is all yours…
I saw the IBM tabulators at the Holocaust Museum in DC
I did some googling. Wow, the boys from Armonk did some really evil things in search of profits. Just like Google and Facebook are today, though less genocidal so far.
I love you.
Well, IBM did help Hitler with his final solution. No surprise they’re sticking to their roots.
“Well, IBM did help Hitler with his final solution.”
But, but…
They were just following orders!
(Sarc if it wasn’t obvious…)
It was a business opportunity. Plus consulting fees.
“Unfortunately, though, this same language has been in appropriations bills for approximately fifteen years, and doesn’t cut the red tape hung up by Obama.”
Ok, so what is this red tape and why hasn’t our pro-gun rights president and Congress removed it?
Taking care of this might have been a good thing to mention at his NRA speech and been a nice gesture to overturn something Obama did instead saving us from Obama’s dastardly bump stocks!
Though we may not be able to get Korean M1 carbines, anyone sending in for the second round of CMP M1911 pistols? I think the window opened today for 60 days. First round had some nice guns.
“… anyone sending in for the second round of CMP M1911 pistols?”
I looked at the prices being asked for the quality being offered…
And decided to pass…
Ditto. Unless you’re a collector who wants something authentic, a modern 1911 will function better and have better features for a lot less. I’m not aware of anyone that makes a modern Garand.
Just another example of a handful of radical malcontents with nothing else to do pretends to speaks for people other than themselves!
I would think that gun possession charges are incident to an arrest, and as such the “witness” would be a police officer, not a regular Joe. So if the witnesses are not showing up, that is the fault of the DA’s office. If the evidence is “weak”, a suggestion of a questionable stop/search arises, which is a problem with overeager police officers unconstitutionally profiling “miscreants.”
“Is it possible Shannon Watts isn’t telling the truth?”
As a Marxist who has willingly sold her soul,she has many fitting names,liar is just but one that comes to mind.
Tha pic of Shannon Watts is priceless. My German shorthair has exactly the same expression, right down to the eyes when I play a trick on her. God- Please don’t let them be related…
Didn’t Canada try this before with a gun registry that cost a boatload of money and never worked.
Yup, a billion dollars (Can.) down the drain as the system was an abject failure. However, although the RCMP was supposed to destroy the registration records, there is some evidence that it failed to do so. There was an incident in which, after a flood, RCMP went around in an evacuated small town in western Canada breaking down doors and confiscating firearms. It is pretty obvious that they had a list. I do not know what the outcome of that fiasco was. But to make the confiscation order work, the government MUST have a list of owners (that it isn’t supposed to have), or it will have to rely upon volunteers turning in their firearms.
I have 2 comments here:
1. Ok, can we all agree that Shannon Watts’ mug automatically generates feelings of nausea, and come up with a reasonable representation to use instead whenever she has to be mentioned? I’m thinking of something like a pic of the south end of a northbound donkey, or the like. You guys are creative, so come up with something appropriate.
2. “To simplify, that means that whenever an authorized importer submits an application to import a U.S.-origin curio or relic firearm, part, or ammunition, the government (read: the ATF) can’t deny the application.”
I think the correct reading of that portion of the text means that the government can’t deny a qualified application, not just any application.
Some Moms demand more action then others.
Moms need to mind their own business and focus on their own families. And butt out of other peoples lives.
I don’t have an issue with the targeted enforcement of Youngstown’s South Side if that’s where illegal use of guns is concentrated. It doesn’t matter the ethnic makeup of the citizens there. That’s like saying we’ve arrested too many residents of a ghetto for theft and drug dealing, so we need to spend an equal effort in the suburbs and gated communities. Nobody says it’s unfair to have more traffic enforcement where speeding or traffic fatalities are more common.
Trump should have NEVER signed that bill. Of course, the leftists start putting out articles saying “If you don’t need your Stimulus money, you should donate it”. Why? I’m going to pay for it in taxes for the next 30 years so I might as well invest it accordingly to pay for itself. What should have been done was a bill for 1/8th that only focused on people who needed it. Impossible task though, because too many assholes would slip through the cracks that way too.
Shannon, the Queen of the Karens.
This is garbage.
“There are multiple issues here. The first is, of course, the fact that these “gun reduction details” are being conducted almost exclusively in the the city’s South Side neighborhood, which is predominantly black.”
Okay, I haven’t checked yet. Wanna bet which neighborhood has the most violent crime? Maybe let’s check publicly available crime data maps instead of throwing the race card on the table right away.
Oh look. There’s a big cluster of shootings… very localized. They all seem to be on the south end of the city. And, will wonders never cease, the intersection this guy was pulled over on (East Indianola Avenue near Southern) is right at the center of these shootings! I can’t help but notice that the author of this TTAG article didn’t bother to do that 2 minutes of research- or maybe even read to the bottom where it remarks about the spike in shootings and homicides, the majority of which are happening in that neighborhood. But no, I’m sure it’s cops just picking on black folks. Just a huge coincidence that it happens to be the same place people keep shooting each other.
“The second is why police tasked with “gun reduction” would be conducting a vehicle stop for a non-moving violation. Some might call that a pretext for a stop.”
Yeah, it is a pretext for a stop- which is entirely legal. It’s how police catch stupid criminals. If you want policing to be done by automatic cameras that mail infractions instead of investigators who can recognize when someone’s dirty, maybe you should run for mayor in Seattle.
“Then, of course, comes the issue of searching the vehicle because officers allegedly “detected the odor of marijuana,” something which is often used as pretext for conducting vehicle searches.”
Nope, although it takes a little subject matter knowledge to parse it out. From the parent article:
“According to reports, the car smelled heavily of marijuana, but Gilmore told officers he had nothing illegal in the car. When police found a records check, they found Gilmore has a suspended license and searched the car *before it was towed*. Inside the center console, they found a loaded 9mm semiautomatic pistol in the center console.” (emphasis mine)
They pulled the guy over for an infraction, smelled weed (indication of possible DUI along with drugs), and checked if he had a license. They found out that- surprise, surprise- he’s driving with a suspended license (another amazing coincidence, right? Those keep racking up!). That means the car gets towed unless he happened to be parked on private property at the time (he wasn’t). And while the article doesn’t directly state this, such a tow activates an entirely different type of ‘search’ called an inventory. Per longstanding national caselaw and the most basic of police procedure everywhere, towing the car onto police property means they do an inventory of the contents of the car for dead hookers, explosives, expensive items, etc. It’s not a probable cause search based on weed (although I bet this drug dealer’s car smelled like marijuana). It’s an administrative search done on any vehicle that gets towed. Feel free to call it a pretext if you’d like, but there’s a reason why smart criminals only commit one crime at a time instead of 3-5 like this guy was.
There’s an argument to be made for addressing non-violent felony prohibition on guns. This ain’t it. Let’s lay down a little reality here. This guy is carrying a gun because he’s in the game and that’s the same reason he’s been shot 15 times (allegedly). Tomorrow he might have been the one doing a drive-by. If you wanna stop the police from going after these fellas, go right ahead, and see what you get. It’ll probably look a lot like what’s going on in NYC right now. Maybe Youngstown doesn’t wanna continue the current trend of spiking shootings..
(maybe double post because TTAG seems to be dropping some of these comments down a black hole)
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