|
|
Brickbat: Run for Your Life
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
California Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur (D–Los Angeles) has introduced a bill that would change the state's self-defense laws to require people outside their homes to try escaping safely before using deadly force, even if they're in danger. The bill also says people can't use lethal force just to protect property or homes and limits self-defense claims if someone starts a fight or uses too much force. Critics say the bill is an attack on people's right to protect themselves. Zbur says it's about deterring vigilantes. |
CA: California self-defense bill pulled due to 'misleading information'
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
A California bill aimed at closing a legal loophole related to self-defense claims is being withdrawn due to 'misleading information.'
Assemblymember Rich Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) said Wednesday he was withdrawing the bill. AB 1333 stirred fears from critics that it could create confusion about when the use of deadly force is legally justified, limiting an individual's right to protect themselves. |
Guam: Attorney General to hosts Q&A on castle doctrine and self-defense laws
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
The Office of the Attorney General is calling on the village of Malesso to attend the “AG’s Protect One Another” Q&A to learn more about castle doctrine, self-defense laws, and more.
The Q&A will take place on Saturday, March 22, 2025 at 10 a.m. at the Francisco C. Chargualaf Gym.
At previous events, the AG and his staff covered how Guam’s self-defense laws work, including the castle doctrine and the definition & application of the term “curtilage.” |
OR: Oregon gun control Measure 114 declared constitutional in major reversal by appeals court
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday found that Oregon’s voter-approved gun control Measure 114 is constitutional in a major reversal of a Harney County judge’s ruling that has kept the measure on hold for more than two years.
Advocates for the measure applauded the decision while the lawyer for two gun owners who challenged the regulations said he plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The Appeals Court found that a qualified person can acquire a gun for self-defense under the plain language of Measure 114 and thus the measure meets the Oregon Constitution’s right-to-bear arms provision. |
OR: Oregon Appeals Court Upholds Gun Purchase Permit Requirement, Magazine Ban
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
One of the most sweeping gun-control measures ever passed by ballot initiative was just given the green light by a state appeals court.
A three-judge panel for the Oregon Court of Appeals handed down a unanimous ruling on Wednesday upholding Measure 114 under the Oregon constitution. The panel held that the measure, which contains a permit-to-purchase requirement for all gun sales and a ban on ammunition magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, does not violate the state constitution’s right to keep and bear arms. |
Deadline quietly passes for AG to recommend killing gun control policies
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
The deadline has quietly passed on Attorney General Pam Bondi delivering a report to President Donald Trump on whether any leftover Biden administration policies infringe on Americans' right to bear arms. It came just days after Democratic leaders sent her a letter suggesting there is "plainly no need for any new plan of action."
Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 7 after making campaign promises to gun-rights groups like the National Rifle Association (NRA) that "no one will lay a finger on your firearms." |
The Supreme Court Is at a Fork in the Road on Gun Rights
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
The Supreme Court’s preferred method of interpreting the Constitution is originalism, which requires judges to abide by the original public meaning of the constitutional text. This is often more complicated in practice than in theory. Few areas of the law demonstrate the pitfalls better than the Second Amendment.
Since the Supreme Court adopted what’s come to be known as the “history and tradition” test in Second Amendment cases three years ago, the lower courts have wrestled with countless questions about how to apply it. I’ve noted before how judges have taken a wide range of approaches to finding historical counterparts for modern gun laws. |
MA: SJC gives a Second Amendment win to Mass. lawmakers looking to license non-residents
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Massachusetts lawmakers are free to require that New Hampshire residents – and all out-of-staters – have licenses to carry firearms within the borders of the Bay State after the state’s highest court decided recent gun licensing rules for non-residents pass constitutional muster.
Massachusetts, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Tuesday, can enforce its gun laws even against people who are legally allowed to carry a gun in another state.
The decision signals that even under a tougher standard for determining the constitutionality of gun regulations recently set by the Supreme Court, Massachusetts’ firearms restrictions – some of the strictest in the nation – may rest on solid ground. |
IL: 7th Circuit Rules SBRs Not Second Amendment Arms
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled in United States v. Rush that restrictions on short-barreled rifles (SBRs) under the National Firearms Act (NFA) remain constitutional. This decision reinforces decades-old legal precedent that many gun rights advocates argue is outdated and incompatible with the modern understanding of the Second Amendment. The ruling is particularly significant in the post-Bruen legal landscape, where courts are supposed to evaluate firearm regulations based on historical tradition. |
FL: Republicans in Florida's Capitol restart push to lower the gun-buying age to 18
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Gun rights advocates have fought to overturn a Florida law banning gun purchases by people under 21 ever since the day the measure was signed in 2018 following the Parkland school shooting, one of the deadliest mass killings in the U.S.
With new leadership in Florida's Republican-controlled Capitol, conservative lawmakers appear to have their best chance in years of persuading colleagues to roll back the law. A bill to lower the state’s gun-buying age to 18 would ensure “all adult citizens in Florida are afforded their full Second Amendment rights,” state Rep. Michelle Salzman said Wednesday as the measure she's sponsoring cleared its first committee stop in the House. |
ME: Judge Denies Request to Temporarily Reinstate Gun Purchase Waiting Period
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Maine’s 72-hour waiting period to buy firearms will not be reinstated in the short term.
Gun rights supporters challenged the law in November and convinced a federal judge to block enforcement of the waiting period, which state lawmakers passed after the 2023 Lewiston mass shooting.
Wednesday, a federal judge denied Attorney General Aaron Frey’s move to get the waiting period reinstated while an appeals court considers whether the waiting period is constitutional. |
AL: Mistrial declared in Grove Oak stand your ground homicide case after jurors ‘hopelessly deadlocked’
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
“It’s as clear cut a case of Stand Your Ground as any I have ever seen,” said Sullivan’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, who also represented embattled New Yorker Daniel Penny. “I really don’t have an answer as to why Mr Sullivan is being prosecuted. In Danny’s case, he acted to protect subway passengers who were strangers; in Mr Sullivan’s case, it was his wife and teenage daughter. The law obviously applies in the same way in both cases, but the motivations are to protect.”
According to Kenniff, Alabama is one of the last places he would expect such a trial.
“In New York, we see liberal prosecutors and judges who don’t really value self-defense the way they do in Alabama, so it is surprising to me,” he said. |
Senators Introduce ATF Transparency Act to Improve Fairness and Speed of Gun Background Checks
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
A group of U.S. Senators, including Sen. Roger Marshall, M.D., introduced legislation designed to improve the fairness, speed, and transparency of background checks and application processes for National Firearms Act (NFA) items. The proposed ATF Transparency Act aims to ensure that law-abiding gun owners experience a fair and efficient application process when exercising their Second Amendment rights.
The bill would codify an appeals process to protect Americans from wrongful denials of background checks, require the ATF to process applications within three days (with automatic approval if not), and mandate the Government Accountability Office and DOJ to report on unresolved background checks and recommend ways to improve the process. |
Mel Gibson Controversy Highlights a Bigger Scandal: Many Americans Lose Their Gun Rights for No Good Reason
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Elizabeth Oyer, a former public defender who was appointed as the Justice Department's pardon attorney in April 2022, says she was fired last Friday because she refused to sign off on a recommendation to restore Mel Gibson's gun rights. The movie star and director, who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election and was recently designated as one of the administration's three "ambassadors" to Hollywood along with Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone, lost the right to own firearms because of a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction. |
Congressional Dems: ‘No Need To Protect Second Amendment’
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Democrats in Congress are all fired up about President Donald Trump’s executive order demanding a whole-of-government review of federal firearms regulations, and his instructions to new Attorney General Pam Bondi to “examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements and other actions of executive departments and agencies to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens.” |
AG Pam Bondi Misses Second Amendment Executive Order Deadline
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
The deadline for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s autopsy on the Second Amendment has come and gone. The order, Protecting Second Amendment Rights, issued on February 7, provided a thirty-day period for the Attorney General to “examine all orders, regulations, guidance, plans, international agreements, and other actions of executive departments and agencies to assess any ongoing infringements of the Second Amendment rights of our citizens, and present a proposed plan of action to the President, through the Domestic Policy Advisor, to protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans.” |
Cloud Introduces Bill to Prevent Federal Gun Control Through Emergency Declarations
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Congressman Michael Cloud (R-TX) introduced the Protecting the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Act to block the federal government from exploiting national emergencies as a backdoor for unconstitutional gun control measures.
In June 2024, the Biden Administration’s U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory declaring firearm violence a “public health crisis.” This advisory was a thinly veiled attempt to justify radical gun control measures—including public carry bans, firearm confiscation, so-called “assault weapon” bans, magazine capacity limits, strict storage mandates, and a national gun registry. |
Fifth Circuit Gives Trump Opportunity to Act on Suppressors
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
Interesting things are happening in the Fifth Circuit case involving silencers, USA v Peterson. A three-judge panel ruled that silencers were not “arms” as defined by the text of the Second Amendment.
Peterson and his attorneys have asked the case be reheard in an en banc review. The Fifth Circuit has been reasonably diligent in its Second Amendment cases, so an en banc (review by the whole court) has a good chance of reversing the three-judge panel. The Peterson case appears to be seriously considered by the Fifth Circuit. The court has sent a request to the parties involved to send a response on to the Appellant’s Petition. The request for response was sent on March 7, 2025. |
The Gun Silencer Debate: Health, Rights, & the Fight Against Outdated Laws
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
This Deep Dive is based on the excellent scholarly article “Incomparable Burden — The (Un)constitutionality of State Silencer Restrictions” by Yang Liu, which was published in association with the Firearms Research Center.
Firearm suppressors, commonly known as silencers, are devices attached to the muzzle of a firearm to reduce the noise and muzzle flash generated upon firing.
Despite common misconceptions, suppressors do not render gunshots inaudible but can significantly lower the decibel level, thereby protecting the shooter’s hearing and reducing noise pollution. |
Proposed legislation would allow military spouses to buy guns on base
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
A North Carolina U.S. Congressman has introduced a bill that would allow military spouses to buy guns on base.
Congressman Greg Murphy introduced the Protect Our Military Families’ 2nd Amendment Rights Act to ensure that military spouses' Second Amendment protections are protected and equal to those serving in uniform.
Under current law, active-duty service members can purchase firearms at their assigned duty station with proper documentation, but their spouses cannot. |
Mel Gibson should have a way to get his guns back. Here’s why.
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
But there already exists a federal law on the books that responds to both of these concerns. In 1965, Congress amended the Federal Firearms Act to include a provision that has been codified as Section 18 U.S.C. § 925. This provision allows anyone whose gun rights have been restricted by federal law to petition the Justice Department for the restoration of those rights. The attorney general is instructed to grant any petition if the applicant is not “likely to act in a manner dangerous to public safety.” And § 925(c) also gives applicants the right to appeal a denial by the Justice Department in federal court. |
FL: Is this the year Florida restores the rights of 18-year-olds to purchase long guns?
Submitted by:
Mark A. Taff
Website: www.marktaff.com
|
There
are no comments
on this story
Post Comments | Read Comments
|
A proposal to lower the age for individuals in Florida to purchase shotguns and rifles from 21 to 18 advanced in its first hearing before a House committee in the 2025 session on Wednesday.
The bill also would allow someone 18 years old or older to purchase a handgun from a private seller. (Federal law prohibits anyone under 21 from purchasing a handgun from a federal firearms licensee).
Similar legislation — which would remove a key provision of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act — has passed in the Florida House in the past two legislative sessions, but has been blocked in the Senate. |
Last 30 Days'
Newslinks Archives:
March 12, March 11, March 10, March 8, March 7, March 6, March 5, March 4, March 3, March 1, February 28, February 27, February 26, February 25, February 24, February 22, February 21, February 20, February 19, February 18, February 17, February 15, February 14
Newslinks Archives by Month:
/, 8/2000, 9/2000, 10/2000, 11/2000, 12/2000, 1/2001, 2/2001, 3/2001, 4/2001, 5/2001, 6/2001, 7/2001, 8/2001, 9/2001, 10/2001, 11/2001, 12/2001, 1/2002, 2/2002, 3/2002, 4/2002, 5/2002, 6/2002, 7/2002, 8/2002, 9/2002, 10/2002, 11/2002, 12/2002, 1/2003, 2/2003, 3/2003, 4/2003, 5/2003, 6/2003, 7/2003, 8/2003, 9/2003, 10/2003, 11/2003, 12/2003, 1/2004, 2/2004, 3/2004, 4/2004, 5/2004, 6/2004, 7/2004, 8/2004, 9/2004, 10/2004, 11/2004, 12/2004, 1/2005, 2/2005, 3/2005, 4/2005, 5/2005, 6/2005, 7/2005, 8/2005, 9/2005, 10/2005, 11/2005, 12/2005, 1/2006, 2/2006, 3/2006, 4/2006, 5/2006, 6/2006, 7/2006, 8/2006, 9/2006, 10/2006, 11/2006, 12/2006, 1/2007, 2/2007, 3/2007, 4/2007, 5/2007, 6/2007, 7/2007, 8/2007, 9/2007, 10/2007, 11/2007, 12/2007, 1/2008, 2/2008, 3/2008, 4/2008, 5/2008, 6/2008, 7/2008, 8/2008, 9/2008, 10/2008, 11/2008, 12/2008, 1/2009, 2/2009, 3/2009, 4/2009, 5/2009, 6/2009, 7/2009, 8/2009, 9/2009, 10/2009, 11/2009, 12/2009, 1/2010, 2/2010, 3/2010, 4/2010, 5/2010, 6/2010, 7/2010, 8/2010, 9/2010, 10/2010, 11/2010, 12/2010, 1/2011, 2/2011, 3/2011, 4/2011, 5/2011, 6/2011, 7/2011, 8/2011, 9/2011, 10/2011, 11/2011, 12/2011, 1/2012, 2/2012, 3/2012, 4/2012, 5/2012, 6/2012, 7/2012, 8/2012, 9/2012, 10/2012, 11/2012, 12/2012, 1/2013, 2/2013, 3/2013, 4/2013, 5/2013, 6/2013, 7/2013, 8/2013, 9/2013, 10/2013, 11/2013, 12/2013, 1/2014, 2/2014, 3/2014, 4/2014, 5/2014, 6/2014, 7/2014, 8/2014, 9/2014, 10/2014, 11/2014, 12/2014, 1/2015, 2/2015, 3/2015, 4/2015, 5/2015, 6/2015, 7/2015, 8/2015, 9/2015, 10/2015, 11/2015, 12/2015, 1/2016, 2/2016, 3/2016, 4/2016, 5/2016, 6/2016, 7/2016, 8/2016, 9/2016, 10/2016, 11/2016, 12/2016, 1/2017, 2/2017, 3/2017, 4/2017, 5/2017, 6/2017, 7/2017, 8/2017, 9/2017, 10/2017, 11/2017, 12/2017, 1/2018, 2/2018, 3/2018, 4/2018, 5/2018, 6/2018, 7/2018, 8/2018, 9/2018, 10/2018, 11/2018, 12/2018, 1/2019, 2/2019, 3/2019, 4/2019, 5/2019, 6/2019, 7/2019, 8/2019, 9/2019, 10/2019, 11/2019, 12/2019, 1/2020, 2/2020, 3/2020, 4/2020, 5/2020, 6/2020, 7/2020, 8/2020, 9/2020, 10/2020, 11/2020, 12/2020, 1/2021, 2/2021, 3/2021, 4/2021, 5/2021, 6/2021, 7/2021, 8/2021, 9/2021, 10/2021, 11/2021, 12/2021, 1/2022, 2/2022, 3/2022, 4/2022, 5/2022, 6/2022, 7/2022, 8/2022, 9/2022, 10/2022, 11/2022, 12/2022, 1/2023, 2/2023, 3/2023, 4/2023, 5/2023, 6/2023, 7/2023, 8/2023, 9/2023, 10/2023, 11/2023, 12/2023, 1/2024, 2/2024, 3/2024, 4/2024, 5/2024, 6/2024, 7/2024, 8/2024, 9/2024, 10/2024, 11/2024, 12/2024, 1/2025, 2/2025, 3/2025, 3/3004, 1/3006, 3/3006
|
|
| QUOTES
TO REMEMBER |
| The right of the people to keep and bear arms has been recognized by the General Government; but the best security of that right after all is, the military spirit, that taste for martial exercises, which has always distinguished the free citizens of these States....Such men form the best barrier to the liberties of America — Gazette of the United States, October 14, 1789. |
|
|
