A Piece of the Action

The federal government will not file criminal charges against any of the 15 out-of-state gun dealers accused by Mayor Bloomberg in a federal lawsuit of selling guns illegally, the Daily News has learned.

In a stern rebuke to the city's high-profile crusade against illegal guns, the feds warned the Bloomberg administration that it could face "potential legal liabilities" if it continues to conduct sting operations that fall within the jurisdiction of federal agents.

Looks like the Feds don't want the Iotians muscling in on their territory. What were we just saying about gangland turf wars?

I wonder if Bloomberg knows how to play Fizzbin?

A Dime's Worth of Difference

Cook County commissioners proposed a flurry of new taxes and fees Tuesday as they scramble to find money to stave off planned budget cuts for next year...

Commissioners proposed...A 10-cents-per-bullet ammunition tax.

Well, let's just see--harassing constituent gun owners, destroying legitimate businesses and creating a new financial opportunity for parking lot car trunk sales by already established criminal networks, not to mention driving business and revenues out of Cook County--I wonder if these geniuses could have screwed things up any worse if that had been their intent?

Let the gangland turf wars for control of sales territory begin! And then, of course, we can blame the guns even more.

[Via Nathan F]

Chapter 44 Project

Original Intent's Chapter 44 Project has been named for the main piece of federal anti-gun legislation -- United States Code, Title 18, Chapter 44 -- the Federal Firearms Act. We encourage you to read what Chapter 44 really says and what it actually means. A groundbreaking treatise on the proper application of Chapter 44 can be read at http://www.originalintent.org/edu/chapter44.php.

To our knowledge, this groundbreaking information has never been adjudicated by a federal court. We believe it is the key to ending the infringement of the right to keep and bear arms enjoyed by the Citizens of the states of the Union.

Preliminary indications are that national groups that purport to support your right to keep and bear arms are rejecting the idea of using the information, nor will they even disseminate the information to their members. In short, they appear to be placing a gag on the facts. Again, we have to ask "Why?"

An interesting treatise. It brings to mind some questions, primarily, even if they're right, what makes them think the federal judges would allow it to be brought out in open court (I'm thinking Wayne Fincher here)?

Still, it always irritates me no end when the unimaginative among us immediately dismiss a novel idea and insist on staying the course that led us into the morass. This is something that a lot of thought and research has gone into, and it deserves an open mind.

I'll send a link to this post to Dave Champion at Original Intent, and see if he'd like to set aside a day when he can answer some no holds barred questions from me and anyone else who wishes to chime in, kind of like what we did in the David Hardy and Matthew Bracken interviews.

[Via Jeff from Wisconsin]

Wayne Fincher Update: February 8

Per Paul W. Davis, the docket for USA v. Hollis Wayne Fincher has been updated with the Response to Motion for Arrest of Judgment.

I see our wonderful "Department of Justice" is arguing that in camera betrayals and side bar savaging are all the due process one needs to afford the mere peasantry. After all, the relevant statutes "are within the authority granted to Congress under the Constitution," as long as we forget that inconvenient bit about "shall not be infringed," and previous stare decisis power grabs give the whole foul process a surface mask of legality.

[More about Wayne Fincher via WarOnGuns]

This Day in History: February 8

Just six months after his release as a prisoner-of-war, Major Timothy Bigelow becomes colonel of the 15th Massachusetts Colonial Line of the Continental Army on this day in 1777.