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TN: What 'stand your ground' law means in TN as Ja Morant's lawyers argue self-defense
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‘Stand your ground.’
We’ve heard about the law in a number of states, including Florida, but what does it mean here in Tennessee?
According to criminal and civil attorney Andre Wharton, the self-defense law in Tennessee is not called ‘stand your ground’, but it does work exactly the same way.
“It is absolutely effective,” said Wharton, an attorney with the Wharton Law Firm.
As the lawsuit against Ja Morant trudges on, a judge ruled this week that his attorneys can move forward with a self-defense argument. |
OH: Does Ohio’s self defense law strengthen protections for individuals or hinder prosecutors?
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The bill, which took effect in 2019, when combined with other loosened gun laws, including the end to concealed-carry licensure requirements and a widened “stand your ground” law, have begun to have an impact. In Cuyahoga County, as we noted in a recent editorial, quoting from a story by cleveland.com’s John H. Tucker, “the new laws have dissuaded the prosecutor’s office from seeking indictments in about 12 to 15 homicide cases each year,” Tucker reported, citing Saleh Awadallah, who oversees the county prosecutor office’s homicide investigations. |
CA: Women Are Arming Themselves at an Accelerated Rate
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The face of gun ownership is changing. Over the last few decades, more and more women are arming themselves.
As of 2022, women are the fastest-growing group of gun owners in the United States.
In 2005, only 13 percent of gun owners were women. Now, one in five women reported owning a firearm. What’s even more staggering is that most gun purchases during the pandemic were made by women according to a Harvard survey. |
OR: Judge upholds stringent Oregon gun control law as constitutional
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A federal judge on Friday found Oregon’s new gun law — which bans large capacity magazines and requires residents to obtain a permit to purchase firearms – does not violate the Second Amendment.
After a week-long trial, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut in a 122-page order found that the law keeps up with “the nation’s history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety.” |
DE: 20 states file brief in case challenging Delaware's gun control bills
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A coalition of 20 attorneys general is requesting the U.S. Court of Appeals reverse a district court decision upholding Delaware's ban on assault weapons and certain magazines.
Republican Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led the group in filing an amicus brief in support of the Delaware State Sportsmen's Association, Inc., in their case against the Delaware Department of Safety and Homeland Security. They argue two Delaware bills violate the Second Amendment. |
Guns Are Not the Leading Cause of Children’s Deaths
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The first question is: What is a child? For those under 18, vehicle deaths are consistently greater than those from firearms. Adding homicides, unintentional deaths, and suicides together shows 2,443 total deaths from vehicles and 2,218 from firearms. In 2021, there were again 2,668 vehicle and 2,519 firearm deaths. When we exclude justifiable homicides that are committed in self-defense, that number falls by several hundred.
So, even if we are counting 17-year-old gang members as “children,” the White House’s claim is incorrect. In 2019 and 2020, more minors died from suffocation. |
FL: Federal appeals court to take up Florida gun law
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A full federal appeals court said Friday it will take up a legal battle over a 2018 Florida law that bars sales of rifles and other long guns to people under 21.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a March decision by a three-judge panel that upheld the constitutionality of the law. The Atlanta-based court said the case will be "reheard en banc," meaning by the full court.
The one-paragraph order did not explain the court's reasons. But the National Rifle Association, which challenged the constitutionality of the law, sought a rehearing by the full court. |
Sorry, Gov. Newsom, but Citizens Want to Use Guns to Defend Themselves, Others
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Although the Second Amendment protects individual liberty by telling the government what it can’t do with respect to gun control regulations, Newsom’s proposed constitutional amendment would tell the government what it must do to restrict individual liberty through gun control.
The California governor’s proposal would ban civilian sales for semiautomatic firearms commonly owned by millions of Americans, strip law-abiding young adults of their right to keep and bear arms, and (in the form of waiting periods and universal background checks) impose many layers of bureaucratic red tape between peaceable citizens and the exercise of their natural right to self-defense. |
'Stand your ground' law now associated with more deaths from guns
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Ten years ago, George Zimmerman was acquitted for the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
And while Zimmerman's defense didn't formally cite "stand your ground," his trial was the first time most Americans had heard of the law.
"Here was this person who was going home, and just because of how he was perceived, he was deemed violent, or dangerous, and then killed," said Jonel Edwards, the lead organizer of Dream Defenders. |
CT: Lawsuit over Connecticut state park gun laws dismissed, appeal filed
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A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Connecticut’s ban on handguns in state parks was dismissed by a federal court judge, who said plaintiff David Nastri of Cheshire lacked standing to bring the suit.
Connecticut allows hunters of small game, like rabbits, to carry .22 caliber rimfire handguns for hunting purposes, and allows other handguns to be carried on state park property for use at designated firing ranges. However, individuals visiting state parks cannot carry a handgun for self-defense, and violation carries a small fine and possible eviction from the park for up to one year. |
TN: 901 Firearms Training to Host Women’s Self-Defense Course
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Buddy Smith, owner and head instructor of 901 Firearms Training, joined KWAM’s “Wake Up Memphis” to discuss their upcoming women’s self-defense class.
“Women are many times easier victims than men,” Smith pointed out.
The women’s self-defense workshop will take place on Saturday, July 22 at 901 Firearms Training. Register for the course here.
As a retired US Army Veteran and retired Shelby County Deputy Sheriff, Smith has seen the rapid rise in carjackings in the Memphis area. |
Is domestic abuse really protected by the Second Amendment?
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Enormous attention is focused on the case of U.S. v. Rahimi, which the Supreme Court has agreed to take up next term. It involves Zackey Rahimi, a Texas drug dealer with a long and sordid history of armed violence, who was ordered to disarm in 2019 for assaulting and terrorizing his female partner under a federal law that allows for those under a domestic violence restraining order to be disarmed.
Ed.: Rahimi is about whether the mere *accusation* of domestic violence constitutionally justifies forfeiture of fundamental civil rights. |
OR: Federal judge says Oregon’s new gun rules don’t violate US Constitution
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A federal judge says Oregon’s new, stricter gun safety rules are constitutional.
In a 122-page written order issued late Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut found banning large capacity magazines and requiring a permit to purchase a firearm are in keeping with “the nation’s history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety.”
Immergut’s order comes after a weeklong trial in early June testing the constitutionality of Oregon’s new gun laws, which voters approved last fall.
Ed.: Another rabidly anti-gun judge nominated by Trump and easily confirmed by the Senate. |
CA: City Of San José’s Gun Harm Reduction Ordinance Prevails In United States District Court
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On July 13, 2023, Federal Judge Beth Freeman of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California ruled in the City’s favor and issued a decision upholding the insurance requirement of the City of San José’s Gun Harm Reduction Ordinance.
In effect since January 1, 2023, the liability portion of San José’s Gun Harm Reduction Ordinance requires firearm owners to obtain and continuously maintain a homeowner’s, renter’s or gun liability insurance policy that specifically covers losses or damages resulting from accidental use of the firearm, including but not limited to death, injury, or property damage. |
MD: Federal judge consolidates two cases challenging new Md. law to curb open carry of firearms in the state
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U.S. District Court Judge George L. Russell II issued a memorandum Thursday consolidating two separate gun cases that challenge recently passed gun laws in Maryland.
The judge agrees with a motion filed by defendants Gov. Wes Moore (D) and six other state officials and state’s attorneys that the plaintiffs’ suits present similar arguments.
“Consolidation promotes judicial economy,” the judge wrote Thursday. “Consolidation of similar cases allows judges to conscientiously resolve other pending cases, and a reduction in demand for judicial resources, such as jurors, benefits the community.” |
MD: Limiting guns in Baltimore and beyond
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Kudos to Dan Rodricks for writing about this issue. I am just flabbergasted as to why there isn’t a wider media campaign, like there was with smoking and cigarettes, on reducing gun violence. It is just outrageous that there are places in this country, where one can walk around with a firearm with no controls, licensing or training. No other country in the world has this kind of callousness to loss of human beings and, most notably, of children. I will not set foot in a state like Texas or Florida, lest there are those who will advocate for “Second Amendment rights.” |
NY: Orders Barring Gun Possession Skyrocket
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The use by police in Dutchess and Putnam counties of court orders that prevent people deemed a risk to themselves or others from buying or possessing guns has skyrocketed since a mass shooting in Buffalo last year spurred changes in the law.
This year, Dutchess’ Supreme Court had approved 221 temporary and final extreme risk protection orders (ERPO) — also known as “red-flag” orders — filed by the sheriff’s office and other police agencies in the county through July 8, more than the 150 granted all of last year and nearly 20 times the 11 from 2020. |
LA: There are few violence interrupters on the bench
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A lot of laws designed to keep the murder rate down may go unenforced regardless of NOPD's staffing problems because the courts seem increasingly protective of our right to keep and bear arms. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a few years ago that that right was not dependent on membership in the "well regulated Militia" that the Second Amendment avers is “necessary to the security of a free State,” but went out of its way to aver that it is subject to some legislative limitation. |
WY: Wyoming Communities Will Get Their Shot At $10 Million Shooting Complex
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Within the next few years, one lucky Wyoming community could host a $10 million shooting complex that will be the envy of the entire region.
At least that’s the hope of a shooting complex task force appointed by Gov. Mark Gordon, which met for the first time in Casper on Friday.
If and when it’s built, the shooting complex could spark huge economic benefits, Gordon told the task force members via Zoom.
The complex “is a better way to preserve our respect for the Second Amendment, firearms and marksmanship,” he said. |
MA: Massachusetts House ramps up pressure on gun bill, Senate
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Representatives will gather in closed-door meetings next week to hold “candid discussions” about a 140-page gun reform bill that Speaker Ron Mariano wants to win House approval by the end of the month.
With the omnibus bill idling amid a House-Senate procedural dispute and national gun safety groups applying new pressure on legislative leaders, Mariano’s office scheduled a pair of private events for representatives and staff to talk about the proposal. |
TX: Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin launches campaign for Texas House of Representatives
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But he is also known to reach across the aisle, especially in the aftermath of the Robb massacre. McLaughlin is a gun owner and a strong believer in Second Amendment rights, but he also supports raising the age to purchase assault-style weapons from 18 to 21.
King spearheaded that effort in the Texas Legislature this year. His bill passed out of a House committee at the end of the session — with two Republican "yes" votes — but never received a vote on the House floor. |
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