Second Amendment Roundup: Textualism and ATF’s Redefinition of “Firearm”
The statutory history of the Gun Control Act cuts in favor of the VanDerStok respondents.

This is my second installment preceding the upcoming October 8 argument in Garland v. VanDerStok, a challenge to the regulatory redefinition of the term “firearm” in the Gun Control Act.  By expanding the statutory definition, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) in its 2022 Final Rule purports to criminalize numerous innocent acts that Congress never made illegal.

Until the new rule, a kit with partially-machined raw material that can be fabricated into a firearm was not considered to have reached a stage that it is a “firearm.”  To prevent Americans from making their own firearms from such material, which has always been and remains lawful, the bugbear term “ghost guns” was recently coined.  In its VanDerStok brief, the government argues that “anyone with basic tools and rudimentary skills” can “assemble a fully functional firearm” from such kits “in as little as twenty minutes.”

As explained in my last post, that is refuted by none other than the former Acting Chief of ATF’s Firearm Technology Branch, Rick Vasquez, who reviewed and approved hundreds of classifications about whether certain items are “firearms.”  As he explained in his amicus brief, fabrication of a firearm from these kits is a complex process requiring skill and special tools beyond the capacity of the average person.

In this post I’ll trace the statutory history of the term “firearm” to gain insight into its meaning.  The Gun Control Act defines “firearm” as “(A) any weapon (including a starter gun) which will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; (B) the frame or receiver of any such weapon….”  18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3).  An ATF regulation on the books from 1968 to 2022 defined a “frame or receiver” as “that part of a firearm which provides housing for the hammer, bolt or breechblock and firing mechanism,” i.e., the main part of a firearm to which the barrel and stock attach.

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Teen shot with real gun after botched robbery with replica gun, police say
The would-be victim of the robbery, a 21-year-old man, pulled out his own legally owned handgun and shot the teen, police said.

A 16-year-old was shot in the leg after police said he tried to rob a 21-year-old man with a replica gun in Kensington late Sunday.

Police responded to a report of a person with a gun just after 11 p.m. on the 2200 block of Emerald Avenue, said Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore. When officers arrived, they found the teen with a gunshot wound to his leg and he was taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children where he was listed in stable condition, Vanore said.

Shortly after, officers found the would-be victim of the robbery, a 21-year-old man police did not identify. He told police the teen and another person accosted him, and the teen pulled out what he believed was a real handgun to try to rob him, he said.

The 21-year-old then brandished his legally owned 9mm handgun and fired at the teen, said Vanore.

The 21-year-old man was cooperating with police and had turned over his gun, Vanore said. Officers also recovered the replica firearm they say the teen used to try to rob the man.

Police continued to investigate and were searching for surveillance footage of the shooting. No arrests had been made, nor charges filed.

Amy Swearer
Just had this brought to my attention: over Labor Day weekend, a legally armed Hawaii man stopped an active shooting situation, fatally striking a gunman who’d driven onto the property during a large family gathering and indiscriminately opened fire. civilbeat.org/2024/09/man-wh
A dispute over a party at a neighbor's property preceded the shooting Saturday night, which left four dead.
Man Who Killed Shooter In Waianae Acted In Self-Defense, Lawyer Says
The gunman managed to kill three woman and injure two others, and the legally armed man was on his own property, defending his own family. Guess who police arrested on “suspicion of murder?” That’s right. The legal gun owner who clearly acted in self-defense.
It took nearly two weeks for investigators to finally determine that, “oh, hey, maybe we shouldn’t prosecute this guy who saved a bunch of lives on his own property just because this is Hawaii and ‘Guns Bad.'” hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/09/20/man
Rishard Keamo-Carnate and his wife, Alison, tell Hawaii News Now their family lived in fear of Silva for three years, and armed themselves because of his threats.
Man who killed Waianae Valley shooter describes moments leading to deadly rampage
According to subsequent interviews, the gunman was a neighbor who’d spent years terrorizing the community. In fact, the legal gun owner had literally procured the firearm entirely because he and his family were afraid of the neighbor who ultimately tried to kill them all.
Oh, also, because Hawaii has magazine capacity laws, the homeowner quickly expended his ammo against the gunman and had to start looking for his second gun. hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/09/19/pro
Rishard Keamo-Carnate was never into guns, but he was protecting his family after Hiram Silva, 58, rammed a front loader into their house and began shooting.
‘I just fired’: Waianae couple recounts horrific attack that led to husband killing neighbor

18th century America was influenced by the “Glorious Revolution” 0f 1688 in ‘mother’ England. And no one had a bigger impact on American attitudes towards freedom of speech than Englishmen John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, who wrote about it in Cato’s Letter Number 15

…
Freedom of speech is the great bulwark of liberty; they prosper and die together: And it is the terror of traitors and oppressors, and a barrier against them. It produces excellent writers, and encourages men of fine genius.

Tacitus tells us, that the Roman commonwealth bred great and numerous authors, who writ with equal boldness and eloquence: But when it was enslaved, those great wits were no more.

Postquam bellatum apud Actium atque omnem potestatem ad unum conferri pacis interfuit, magna illa ingenia cessere.
[After the battle at Actium ( when Octavian Caesar defeated Marc Antony) and when all power was brought to one peace (when Octavian was made Emperor Augustus), those great characters ceased.]

Tyranny had usurped the place of equality, which is the soul of liberty, and destroyed publick courage.

The minds of men, terrified by unjust power, degenerated into all the vileness and methods of servitude: Abject sycophancy and blind submission grew the only means of preferment, and indeed of safety; men durst not open their mouths, but to flatter.

A socialist and a gun grabber, I never cared much for his musical ability either, but he was a passable actor.

Kris Kristofferson, singer-songwriter and actor, dies at 88

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and an A-list Hollywood actor, has died.

Kristofferson died at his home on Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday, family spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said in an email. He was 88.

McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family. No cause was given.

Why does the left hate free speech? Because they don’t know how to talk about the substantive merits when they are challenged. Having submerged themselves in disciplining each other by denouncing any heretics in their midst, they find themselves overwhelmed and outnumbered in America, where there is vibrant debate about all sorts of things they don’t know how to begin to talk about. They resort to stomping their feet and shouting “shut up”… when they aren’t prissily imploring everyone to be “civil.”
–Ann Althouse

Second Amendment Roundup: VanDerStok Tests Limits of Yet Another ATF Rule
The Supreme Court is set to decide whether the agency may expand criminal liability under the Gun Control Act.

On October 8, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Garland v. VanDerStok, a challenge to the Final Rule of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) from 2022 redefining and drastically expanding the meaning of the terms “firearm” and “firearm frame or receiver.”  This is the first of several posts in which I’d like to highlight some of the enlightening amici curiae briefs that have been filed in support of the respondents who challenged the rule.

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‘We never have anything ever happen in this neighborhood, ever.’

Normalcy Bias:
The normalcy bias describes our tendency to underestimate the possibility of disaster and believe that life will continue as normal, even in the face of significant threats or crises.

The Graham Combat Killhouse Rules:
1. NOBODY IS COMING TO SAVE YOU.
2. EVERYTHING IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
3. SAVE WHO NEEDS TO BE SAVED.
4. KILL WHO NEEDS TO BE KILLED.
5. ALWAYS BE WORKING.

Neighbors share concern after police say homeowner shoots intruder in southwest Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – Several neighbors shared their concern with 8 News Now Thursday after police said a person shot and killed a man trying to break into their home in the southwest Las Vegas valley.

“I was shocked,” Jennifer Sauberan said. “Because it’s a very quiet neighborhood.”

Sauberan, who told 8 News Now she has lived in her neighborhood near Torrey Pines Drive and Flamingo Drive for decades, was startled by a crime scene on her street.

“I was just thinking oh my God what if I hadn’t come back the night before?” Sauberan said. “It could have been my house.”

During a news conference, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Homicide Lieutenant Jason Johansson said the homeowner called 911 around 7:40 a.m. stating that a strange man was breaking windows, trying to get inside their house.

“The man was not listening to what they were telling him,” Lt. Johansson explained. “He was acting extremely irrational as they continued to tell him to leave the property.” Lt. Johansson said that’s when the man moved toward the front door and the homeowner pulled the trigger.

Officers found that man in the driveway with a gunshot wound. He later died at the hospital.

Several neighbors shared their concern with 8 News Now Thursday after police said a person shot and killed a man trying to break into their home in the southwest valley. (KLAS)
“We want to see in a situation like this,” Lt. Johansson explained of the investigation. “Where did he come from? How did he get here?”

As detectives work to piece together why this happened, Sauberan told 8 News now she will continue to do what she can to stay safe.

“I have cameras around my house now,” she explained. “I put them up more recently, but then I put in flood lights and stuff because it makes me a little bit nervous sometimes.”

Sauberan said she hopes things in the area go back to what she’s used to seeing. “It was so unexpected,” she concluded of the shooting. ‘We never have anything ever happen in this neighborhood, ever.”

Lt. Johansson said during Thursday’s news conference that there are ‘self-defense’ elements in this case.

He said he does not believe the homeowner will face charges, but the investigation is ongoing and the Clark County District Attorney will make that determination.