Gun Thread (7-27-2014)

DC Carry Ban Overturned ...

In case you missed it, Washington DC's ban on carrying handguns was overturned yesterday.

“We won,” Alan Gura, the lead attorney for the Second Amendment Foundation, told Fox News in a phone interview. “I’m very pleased with the decision that the city can’t forbid the exercise of a fundamental constitutional right."

Gura said he expects the District to appeal this decision but added, “We’ll be happy to keep the fight going.”

The decision leaves no gray area in gun-carrying rights.

Gura and the plaintiffs won this victory the old fashioned way, by crafting well-supported arguments and doggedly pursuing them through the courts. Attention whoring stunts were not a factor.

... But There's Lots Of Work To Do Elsewhere

Boston's top cop hasn't gotten the message from Heller, McDonald and Peruta. Maybe Palmer v. DC will break through?

In an interview Boston Public Radio, [Boston Police Commissioner Bill] Evans stated:

For the most part, nobody in the city needs a shotgun, nobody needs a rifle, and I don’t know a lot of people who are into hunting who, being lifelong residents, would actually want that who lives in the city, but, especially here in the city I want to have discretion over who’s getting any type of gun because public safety is my main concern and as you know it’s an uphill battle taking as many guns off the street right now without pumping more into the system.

What nobody needs, Mr. Evans, is petty bureaucrats like you arbitrarily deciding which of our civil rights we can exercise.

There's a court case in MA, Davis v. Grimes, that seeks to overturn the current system of arbitrary restrictions on licenses to carry.

Now that the right to carry has been affirmed in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, we need to redouble our efforts to make it clear that any associated licensing regime must be "shall issue" to pass constitutional muster.

Gun Of The Week

(answer below)

Marksmanship Award

Of course, the doctor wasn't supposed to have a gun at the hospital. File this one under "I'd rather be tried by 12 than carried by 6".

Honorable mention: MAKE MY DAY: Concealed Carrier Named Eastwood Captures FIVE Suspects After Officer Goes Down During Chase

Gun Of The Week - Answer

That's the General Electric GAU-8 Avenger 30mm cannon (with a VW Beetle for scale) around which the most effective close air support platform ever devised was built.

A Beautiful Custom .45

Some Moron sent these (click in the image to embiggen):

Jerry Miculek Dual Wields SIG ARs

Because why the hell not.

Tips

If there are topics you're interested in seeing in the gun thread, please send them to AoSHQGunThread at gmail. You can also send them to me on Twitter at @AndyM1911.

The owner's manual for your concealed carry permit: The Law of Self Defense

Defend the Second Amendment. Join: The National Rifle Association * Gun Owners of America * The National Shooting Sports Foundation * Your state's second amendment org.

Celebrate America's firearms heritage: participate in Project Appleseed.

posted by Andy at 02:10 PM

| Access Comments