The Omnibus Appropriations Bill of 1997 (actually passed in 1996, back when Congress was in the business of passing budgets) contained the much-despised Lautenberg Amendment. This rider made it a felony for a person to possess firearms if they had ever been convicted of even a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence involving physical force. James Alvin Castleman of Tennessee was convicted of assaulting his girlfriend under Tennessee law and SCOTUS has recently granted certiorari in his appeal. The Nine have agreed to review the Lautenberg Amendment as it applies to certain domestic violence misdemeanors. It’s about f–ing time; let’s just pray they get it right . . .
The Lautenberg Amendment has been roundly criticized as violating the 2nd Amendment and for being an ex post facto law. Hundreds of thousands of people have been convicted of DV misdemeanors, and those convicted before 1996 were never warned that their guilty plea for pouring a beer over their girlfriend’s (or brother’s, uncle’s or college roommate’s) head would deprive them of their Constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
The United States Supreme Court has heard many challenges to the Lautenberg Amendment, and has thus far turned them all down. This time the court will decide whether misdemeanor-level DV assaults automatically qualify for the federal gun ban.
At issue is the Lautenberg Amendment’s language which triggers the ban only for misdemeanor DV convictions involving “the use or attempted use of physical force.” Many state laws, including my own here in Washington State, do not actually require the use of physical force in order to be convicted of an assault.
Tennessee law only requires ‘bodily injury’ which could be as minimal as a bruise, paper cut, or stubbed toe. My state has one of the broadest misdemeanor assault statutes anywhere: it doesn’t require injury or physical force, merely a “harmful or offensive unwanted physical contact.” Spitting in someone’s direction, pouring a drink on them, or even knocking a sandwich out of their hand can be the basis for a DV assault conviction in this state.
If the Supremes do the right thing and narrow the application of the federal gun ban, it won’t mean an automatic restoration of gun rights for those convicted of only the most minor DV ‘assaults’ and other crimes. It will require years of litigation at the state level, and most likely court action by each disenfranchised person, before they’ll be able to get their heaters back.
And it won’t necessarily impact state-level DV gun bans either, unless the Supremes base their decision on the 2nd Amendment. But it will be the right start.
I hate to drive traffic to Mayor Mikey Bloomberg’s News, but here it is.
About time, hopefully SCOTUS throws the DV out.
Don’t follow the photo’s link to the story- unless Bloomberg newspeak is your thing. I am soooo tired of being blamed for the acts of criminals.
A 5 second exposure shows Carla trying to rid herself of that darn fly once and for all!
With their husbands out of town on business, Lucy, Jennie and Francine had to find some other way to deal with those icky spiders.
Nice review. Will be interested in the followup by owners after a few weeks of use, if you can pull that together, Dan. $99 seems like a lot, but not compared to buying and trying on 4 or more for $30, that dont work for one reason or another.
PS: In re: the comments about having to practice to take extra care to reholster- if I were worried about “keeping up with the fast draw mcgraws on the firing line”, wouldnt I be carrying OWB in some cut-down IPSC rig?
This holster looks functional for my intended use – civilian self-defense, so I would be carrying IWB for CCW all the time, and
if I am training as I would fight in an actual use, I would NOT so worried about fast holstering – as my muscle memory is built on:
a controlled pair, checking the target is down/shooting again if not, then clearing the area, moving to cover,
all that in a low ready, and reloading, and holstering only AFTER my
threat re-assessment, and my exit route, are clear FIRST.
Anything I am missing?
The original AR platform designed by Armalite Rifle Co was the AR-10 calibrated in the 308/7.62. (The reason most are in 5.56/223 is because the US military decided better to carry more smaller rounds than less larger rounds. But have heard boots on the ground want bigger rounds with more take down power.) Why am I hearing AR platform cant handle 308/7.62 round.
A R comes from Armalite Rifle not assault or automatic.. too many people think that..but usually liberal media and others opposed to guns.
by the by kalashnikov was a tank commander who designed AK-47 while recovering from injury… for whatever thats worth.
Anyone noticing the Taurus trend here? I had a PT709 slim. jam, no bang, loose slide fit…sent back to Taurus (this is another issue, 74 days and came back the same) and it was just as bad. They don’t respect/service/stand behind their products. On other hand I do have one of their 7 shot stainless .357 revolver and that has been fine… Jennings .22 semi-auto..best single-shot P.O.S. I ever owned(still in the safe,not shot in 20 yrs.), and a S&W Sigma .380..Ooooo that thing would work the slide pins loose after 20 rounds, jam with many diff ammos, tried different mags ,etc..brought to my local gun guy and he laughed and said “never buy any gun if you see a whole row of them in the used gun case”…he was right, and , he had 7 different Taurus’s and 4 Sigma’s in the used gun case…’nuff said, lesson learned’. Been a Ruger fan long time now, only had 1 problem in 11 guns, and they paid to ship it there/back and fixed it right the first time, there/back in 15 days, and sent me a new sight for another gun my buddy dropped…all Free. It’s all about service after the sale, and Ruger does it best, In my opinion…
When seconds count, the SCotUS is only years away…
Aliens! They’re coming at us from all directions!
Apparently State Delegate Obvious there can’t see that the rush to buy guns *is* one of “the effects” of that bill.
Clearly, additional applications of the cluebat are required. Or perhaps a dose of tar and feathers.
It’s interesting when these people make comments like this and show their hand…
“*#&%!#@* mosquitos!!”
Where did I read this observation? NY Times reported “officers with semiautomatic rifles” not the evil assault weapons terminology used to promote gun control.
Between the Navy Yard and Westgate I no longer go to public spaces unarmed unless it’s a felony, i.e,, I have to go to the court house or government building. I will live with the embarrassment of being escorted from the mall if it means that I survive an attack by if some crazy shows up to shoot the gun free space.
I think the writer has a point….if you are trying to “crash” the barriers of the WH…or attempting to assassinate anyone…you should forfeit your life at the moment of discovery…or the attempt on the President’s life….
…however…no one has really defined the word “crashed” or “rammed” as they keep claiming this woman did with her car….on the other hand, when I saw a picture of her car online, the front end did not appear damaged or “crashed”…not a scratch on it…..so I think the idea that she may have “rammed” the barrier is a bit of a stretch…as well as the always popular “shots fired” ( which turned out to be another lie)…I think the fact that it just happened to coincide with another federal DHS Drill…how effing” convenient….and to further demolish the writer’s POV..once the woman drove away from the WH and they had her “boxed” in…what was the need to shoot and kill her? The had her under control..and if she had come out of the car with a weapon…they were fully prepared to bring her down….?
For all we know..the woman made an incorrect turn …panicked with all the guns in her face..and ran…. only to be made dead by overzealous, trigger-happy fascists…and then to have the Congress give them a Standing Ovation…..I want to vomit….
Regards,
RJ O’Guillory
Author-
Webster Groves – The Life of an Insane Family
I wish I could say this tragedy would inspire new research into mental illness but it won’t.
The officers responded to the situation as they’d probably been trained. It’s easy for us to armchair quarterback, my perception is they were trying to assess the threat. The only silver lining here is that they now have one more scenario to train for…
Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse!
Sad to say, but he’s probably only getting off because his dad is a cop, anyone else would be facing 20 to life.
I like to play a game with anti-gunowner advocates called: “What if you are right — then what?”
In this case, it means a decline in the guys who have one gun in the closet and rarely use it, and an increase in the active hobbyists who owns many guns, some of which are semiauto and some of which have 11+ round mags. Unlike the one gun in the closet guy, the active hobbyist almost certainly will fight any attack on his gun rights by campaigning and voting (as seen in CO).
Also, it means that the number of guns per gunowner has increased greatly during a period when shootings have decreased greatly. Anti-gunowner advocates have long wanted to limit the number of guns that an individual can possess. In view of the facts, common sense now dictates that anti-gunowner advocates renounce such demands.
Daniel Defense (GA) 5.56mm 1:7 16in mid-length upper with their Omega X 12 cheese grater…
Del-Ton (NC) stripped lower with Daniel Defense (GA) parts kit
Spike’s (FL) extension and buffer
Magpul (CO) ACS stock with .7in recoil pad (for longer LoP, not recoil)
BSA (China) 4-14×44 ffp mil-mil scope on a Primary Arms (probably China) 30mm mount…
Yankee Hill (People’s Republic of Taxachusetts) QDS folding iron sights front and rear (looking for a good offset mount for use with scope attached).
That’s a federal gun law put in place that violates the second amendment rights. The four founding fathers says no government can override right to bear arms. It’s a right and not a privilege. Congress, legislators and Libby’s are responsible with infringing and violating your civil rights. Trump, AG and new team of pro gun will make 2A Great Again and pound the Feds for scrutiny of the peoples civil rights. Do your research and use various keywords to dig up the new changes coming soon in 2017. Second amendment will be restored with anti federal gun ban laws. I’ve found everything I’ve mention above online. http://www.nysun.com/editorials/2nd-amendment-mandate/89814/
I’ve been following closely with Trumps second amendment news and he is correct about the federal government and Anti-gun congress stripping every civil right from us “The People” the last 20 years. Trump and others says you cannot put any federal gun ban law bill on an existing constitutional right such as 2A. It’s unconstitutional and it infringes on your civil rights. It sounds to me Mr. Sessions and DOJ I think will legally hold the Feds and all the anti gun laws accountable for creating a bill that violates civil rights. This is nuts how much of these crooked liberals can just strip your civil rights and not understand the damage of millions of people to protect them and there family. The liberals want to disarm the good guys and let the bad guys kill us with no self protection. Really? I’ve read the lautenberg Brady bill combo federal gun ban for life automatically bans a person after 10 years of being a good person and has passed from the date of incident. That’s a sneaky approach and not constitutional at all. I’m sure our new President will veto/overturned and rights restored. If it weren’t in place after 10 years of being good and law abiding, then you have your civil rights restored and therfore allows you to bear arms like you should. That’s how America was once before. I believe in Trump and he will make America great again. God bless.
I’ve been following closely with Trumps second amendment news and he is correct about the federal government and Anti-gun congress stripping every civil right from us “The People” the last 20 years. Trump and others says you cannot put any federal gun ban law bill on an existing constitutional right such as 2A. It’s unconstitutional and it infringes on your civil rights. It sounds to me Mr. Sessions and DOJ I think will legally hold the Feds and all the anti gun laws accountable for creating a bill that violates civil rights. This is nuts how much of these crooked liberals can just strip your civil rights and not understand the damage of millions of people to protect them and there family. The liberals want to disarm the good guys and let the bad guys kill us with no self protection. Really? I’ve read the lautenberg Brady bill combo federal gun ban for life automatically bans a person after 10 years of being a good person and has passed from the date of incident. That’s a sneaky approach and not constitutional at all. I’m sure our new President will veto/overturned and rights restored. If it weren’t in place after 10 years of being good and law abiding, then you have your civil rights restored and therfore allows you to bear arms like you should. That’s how America was once before. I believe in Trump and he will make America great again. January 20, 2017 the big day. Follow up at the NRA site for news on the 2A. God bless.