Good News and Bad News From Supreme Court on Monday

While there are a lot of good things gun rights advocates can celebrate, including at least four years of knowing that gun control won’t pass at the federal level unless something very strange happens, but that doesn’t mean everything is good news.

There are way too many anti-gun states still for that to be the case.

So, as a result of that, we need to use the courts to overturn some of these insane laws. Eventually, at least some of them need to go to the Supreme Court where, hopefully, the justices will slap the laws down and down hard.

And on that front, there’s some good news and some not-so-good news.

Let’s start with the good news.

The United States Supreme Court has set an official conference date of December 13 to decide if the High Court will hear Snope v. Brown, a case directly challenging Maryland’s assault weapon ban, addressing whether states can legally ban semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15, commonly owned and used by law-abiding citizens. While some say this case has the potential to redefine the future of firearm legislation across the nation, the fact that arguments are so deeply rooted in precedent set by earlier landmark Second Amendment decisions such as District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022) makes one wonder, haven’t we been here before?

It has been over a decade and a half since Heller affirmed that firearms “in common use” for lawful purposes cannot be banned, a principle further solidified just over two years ago when Bruen held that firearm laws must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation, rejecting the use of “means-end” tests by future courts when evaluating firearm restrictions. These precedents are central, and one could say redundant, to the arguments outlined in Snope v. Brown, however, that has not stopped states like Maryland from enacting laws that fly in the face of previous SCOTUS rulings.

The truth is that Maryland and every other state with an assault weapon ban on the books needs to get over it. The mean-end testing that used to be applicable to gun control laws no longer applies, which is good because I don’t see how that wasn’t subjective as Hades.

Of course, this is really just the next step in a process that was already in motion and doesn’t necessarily mean all that much except that we’ll get a feel for where the justices will come down on this one. I’d like to say Bruen tells us exactly what happened, but then Rahimi suggested otherwise. In a few days, we’ll have some more to go on.

Hopefully, it’ll be clear that assault weapon bans’ days are numbered.

That’s the goodish news.

Now, the not-so-good.

The Supreme Court declined to intervene or overturn a Hawaii State Supreme Court decision that allowed the state to prosecute a man carrying a loaded pistol without a license.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito criticized the Hawaii court’s ruling, but supported the U.S. Supreme Court’s move on technical grounds. Thomas wrote that the court should hear an “appropriate” case to “make clear that Americans are always free to invoke the Second Amendment as a defense against unconstitutional firearms-licensing schemes.”…

Thomas, writing Monday, said: “Had the Hawaii Supreme Court followed its duty to consider the merits of Wilson’s defense, the licensing scheme’s unconstitutionality should have been apparent.”

He noted that Wilson could ask the Supreme Court to review the case again — a view echoed by Justice Neil Gorsuch.

This is, of course, the “Aloha Spirit” case that stirred up so much hate and discontent.

The truth is that Hawaii’s licensing scheme is incredibly problematic, and rather than make the case that no, it really wasn’t, the judges there simply pretended that it doesn’t matter because their state’s history is somehow completely different from the rest of the nation’s. Granted, Hawaii wasn’t exactly one of the original 13 colonies or anything, but neither were most other states. Our nation’s founding predated and supersedes state history on matters of constitutional law and, frankly, I wish the justices had opted to hear it.

Cam should have more on this case later today.

In the meantime, though, the good news here–the reason I didn’t call it “bad news”–is that Wilson can kick off the process again, and at least two justices seem to want him to do just that. I hope he does and I hope gun rights groups through the nation help with that, because if Hawaii can get away with what’s on the books there, someone else is going to do it and argue it’s justified.

Her Karma ran over her Dogma

Karma: San Francisco Liberal Who Wants to Defund the Police Begs Police for Help

I don’t typically like to laugh at someone’s misfortune, but sometimes you just can’t help but chuckle at the irony of certain situations. In this case, a liberal woman in San Francisco, who has some big ideas about “defunding the police,” got a little dose of reality. Now, all she needs is a bite of humble pie. Darcie Bell, who goes by the name “Jerque Cousteau” on X, took to the social media platform over the weekend to announce that thieves had stolen a U-Haul truck that was full of her belongings.

After making the post, she continued the thread with a plea to several San Francisco area officials, asking them to help her by making sure “companies like U-Haul put GPS on their vehicles.” I guess she largely blames U-Haul for the incident and feels so entitled that she thinks there should be a law forced on private businesses just for her.

She added a few more posts, rambling on about how she didn’t care about anything but the “sentimental stuff” and hoped the thieves took what they needed. She also indicated that she didn’t care what happened to the people who stole the truck. And then there was a random post about how she was moving because she couldn’t afford to live in San Francisco anymore and about how her kid broke his leg at school and there was no nurse to help, so she had to roll him to the car in an office chair because the schools are underfunded.

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Former Secret Service Agent Issues Dire Warning of Possible Attack

The Secret Service has taken a lot of heat lately, most particularly since the July 13th attempt on the life of Donald Trump, who is now the president-elect and, in many ways, acting president. A lot of that heat is justified; on July 13th, they only narrowly missed the disgrace of having lost a principal protectee.

Former Secret Service agent Richard Staropoli is worried that there will be another attempt on the president-elect — and that it may be one that the Secret Service isn’t prepared to counter.

“I’m not highly confident at all. The Secret Service that you see out there today is not the Secret Service of yesteryear. Somewhere along the line they’ve completely dropped the ball.

That testimony that you saw today was purely a smokescreen to cover up the shortcomings of a politically compromised agency. It should never have gotten to that point,” Starapoli said. “This whole talk about all these drones and these UAVs, hey, that’s all great, but you need to get back to the basics.

What made the Secret Service great was its ability to put human intelligence, manpower on the streets and effectively secure the environment to make it safe for the president of the United States. I don’t see that here.”

“As a matter of fact, I don’t think I’d be alone in saying that I certainly can see something happening between now and inauguration day,” he continued. “And it’s not going to be some 20-year-old kid on the roof of a building that’s allowed to get within 100 yards. It’s going to be something of a much bigger magnitude and I don’t think the Secret Service is anywhere equipped to handle that situation.”

Mr. Staropoli may well have a good point.

Forget home-grown crackpots with rifles for a moment. Imagine if a group backed by the resources of a nation-state, like, say, the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism, were to decide to take out an American president. They would have manpower and resources far beyond the reach of said home-gown crackpots. Imagine if someone on that July 13th roof had been aiming at Donald Trump, not with a rifle, but with an RPG. No fortuitous turn of the head would have made any difference in that scenario.

 

I can think of any number of other possible scenarios, but I won’t describe them here. No point in possibly giving any ideas to any goblins who might stumble across this.

The Secret Service seriously needs to step up its game here, assuming they haven’t already started wargaming just such a scenario. They need to start considering the possibility of a military-scaled assault on the president or other senior officials. If anyone thinks I’m being paranoid about that possibility, bear in mind that millions of unknown, unscreened, young, unattached, military-age men have flooded into the country across our wide-open borders, and if they can smuggle in fentanyl and cocaine, they can smuggle in other things.

And they should be considering the likely targets. Joe Biden is probably in little danger. As we used to say about short-timers in the Army, he is so short he can limbo dance under a door and is non compos mentis in any case.

But Donald Trump? That’s a different story.

Well, they have a guy in custody in Pennsylvania for schwacking the insurance company CEO. Reports are he was found with several fake IDs, as well as a suppressed pistol, and his social media posts put him the category of leftist, Ivy League educated, lunatic.

As my first Squad Leader once told us:
“Experience is the best teacher, and the best experience is someone else’s as it’s usually less expensive and less painful.”

Just may be me, but I think the jury, after receiving an instruction from the judge to consider that lesser charge, that completely contradicted his first instructions, may have decided to flip the court the finger.

Not guilty verdict in Daniel Penny trial

NEW YORK CITY – Daniel Penny, a Marine veteran who used a deadly chokehold on homeless man Jordan Neely on the New York City subway last year, was found not guilty in a verdict delivered after days of jury deliberations and courtroom back-and-forth.

Penny was cleared of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count.

Daniel Penny trial: Timeline of events in NYC chokehold case

The natural right of self-defense is what the Second Amendment is about. Not hunting. Anyone who interjects hunting into discussions of the Second Amendment is either trying to deceive or doesn’t know the amendment and its true purpose.
–Bryan Preston

Armed robber killed when victim fights for control of his gun

CHICAGO — An armed robber is dead, apparently shot by his own firearm as the would-be victim tried to gain control of the weapon on Saturday afternoon, Chicago police said.

Police initially responded to calls of three men beating a man on the ground in the 1500 block of West Garfield around 2:51 p.m. First responders soon learned that the subject of the beating was also the robber, who had been mortally wounded by a gunshot, too.

CPD said a 43-year-old man was working outside when the still-unidentified robber walked up, displayed a gun, and demanded property.

A struggle for control of the firearm began, resulting in the robber suffering a single gunshot wound to his chest, according to police. He died a short time later at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

An officer at the scene said they found a gun and a ski mask at the scene.

Something Something Ancient Chinese Curse Something Something

Jubilation and gunfire as Syrians celebrate the end of the Assad family’s half-century rule

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrians poured into streets echoing with celebratory gunfire on Sunday after a stunning rebel advance reached the capital, ending the Assad family’s 50 years of iron rule but raising questions about the future of the country and the wider region.

Joyful crowds gathered in central squares in Damascus, waving the Syrian revolutionary flag in scenes that recalled the early days of the Arab Spring uprising, before a brutal crackdown and the rise of an insurgency plunged the country into a nearly 14-year civil war.

Others gleefully ransacked the presidential palace and residence after President Bashar Assad and other top officials vanished, their whereabouts unknown. Russia, a close ally, said Assad left the country after negotiations with rebel groups and had given instructions to transfer power peacefully.

Abu Mohammed al-Golani, a former al-Qaida commander who cut ties with the group years ago and says he embraces pluralism and religious tolerance, leads the biggest rebel faction and is poised to chart the country’s future.

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