Health Care Reform at Work in Appalachia
Check out health care reform on "this side of the hill" in Breathitt County, Kentucky.Much as we Kossacks like to bang on the Washington Post, it's had the good editorial sense to run Stephanie...
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Is Justus Rosemond Done For ... or Will He Get a New Trial?
The justices have spoken in Justus Rosemond’s case, some of them quite a lot. Arguments were held on the morning of Tuesday, November 12. What did they ask? What did they say? What does it...
View ArticleGREATER CHICAGO FOOD DEPOSITORY
What a portmanteau name for a place that delivers irreplaceable community benefits!Its mission is straightforward:WE HAVE 1 GOAL, 1 MISSION. TO FIGHT HUNGER, 1 DOLLAR, 1 MEAL, 1 PERSON AT A TIME. UNTIL...
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What? Straw Purchase a Gun? Abramski v. US
Bruce James Abramski Jr. Courtesy Franklin (VA) News-Post In the Monty Python Pantheon of Silly, this case takes the prize. It is a lawsuit against a question on a Federal form. When he went to buy a...
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Firearms Law & Policy Open Thread - Buying a Gun for Someone Else: What...
The issue of the evening is a "straw purchase" from a commercial gun dealer. In this case, a gun bought by one person for another person whose identity is not disclosed to the retail gun dealer....
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Abramski v. US: The Justices Asked, Counsel Answered.
This case tests the legality of the ATF's ban on straw purchasing guns. These nine Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments on the morning of January 22, 2014.QUESTION...
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NRA Takes Aim at the Federal Courts: NRA v. BATFE and NRA v. McCraw
Do 18 year olds have a constitutional right to buy a handgun from a Federal dealer? Not according to Congress. (NRA v. BATFE) To carry a handgun in public? Not according to the Texas legislature. (NRA...
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Three Big Defeats Today for the Gun Rights Crowd
At its conference on February 21, SCOTUS had petitions for certiorari - requests for the Court to accept appeals from Federal court decisions - in three significant gun rights cases. This morning,...
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Rosemond v. US – A SMALL SECOND CHANCE IN A GUN TRIAL
In Rosemond v. United States, by a 7-2 vote (Justice Elena Kagan for the Court, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting in part and J. Antonin Scalia dissenting on two footnotes), the US...
View ArticleUPDATED: Breaking News ... A New Gun Case Goes to SCOTUS
BREAKING LATE WEDNESDAY ...According to Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog:Justice Kennedy on Wednesday afternoon denied, in a brief order without explanation, the request to block enforcement of the...
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Taking Justice into Your Own Hands: Part 1 - Self-Defense
What warrants the use of deadly force for self-defense?Any person with a loaded firearm can shoot to kill. We have the ability to do that with very little effort. I think that's the point - and also...
View ArticleHow Much Domestic Violence Gets You Banned from Having a Gun? US v. Castleman
Being convicted of a felony gets you banned by Federal law from having a gun. So does conviction on a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. But how violent must the physical contact be to qualify as...
View ArticleTaking Justice Into Your Own Hands: Part 2 - Stand Your Ground
Stand Your Ground statutes have been enacted in more than two dozen states in the last ten years, the product of intense lobbying from ALEC fueled by the fervor of state pro-gun groups.This is Part 2...
View ArticleTaking Justice Into Your Own Hands: Part 3 - Cases that Prove the Rules ......
Cases where deadly force has been used - and self-defense is claimed - are drawing publicity and intense public reaction.Florida is the epicenter of controversy. The Tampa Bay Times is analyzing cases...
View ArticleWhen you think you've seen it all, Georgia enacts Shall Not Enforce gun law.
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has just signed the Safe Carry Protection Act, HB 60, the most liberal gun law in the nation.The legislators who passed it by overwhelming margins (37-18 in the GA Senate,...
View ArticleIt's Spring! Gun Violence in Chicago Wasn't Far Behind
Easter weekend was the bloodiest weekend of the year.Chicago has recorded 90 gun deaths - a total of 465 victims of violence by gun, deaths and serious injuries - since the beginning of 2014. Of these,...
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Is SCOTUS Ready to Rule on Carrying Guns in Public? Drake v. Jerejian
For gun enthusiasts, the Second Amendment is the Holy Grail, a constitutional right to, to ... to WHAT, exactly?... and there's the rub. Despite having dozens of opportunities in the six years since...
View ArticleSCOTUS declines to review Drake v. Jerejian, the NJ case that limits gun...
NEWSWIREMoments ago, SCOTUS denied cert in the Drake case. This means it chose not to accept the case for briefs and argument. (As is typical, the Court gave no explanation.) The Third Circuit's...
View ArticleNo Shooter Ever Acts Alone: Gunrunning 101
David Lewisbey was a star football player at Thornton High School in Harvey, Illinois, south of Chicago. His nickname was "Big Man." He was reportedly well liked and doing very well with his business...
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NOT Breaking News: SCOTUS Continues to Deliberate the Straw Purchase Gun Case
Abramski v. US is the only gun case still pending as the Supreme Court finishes its current term the end of June.Twenty-five of this term's 70 cases have been fully argued and await decisions. Abramski...
View ArticlePaying an Intolerable Price is inflicting intolerable damage.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this weekend that Hamas would "pay an intolerable price" for its assaults on Israel.It is the people of Gaza who are paying the price, whether they are...
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The Sandy Hook Lawsuit: Is There Gun Justice in America?
The Sandy Hook massacre was the deadliest mass shooting at an elementary school in American history.On December 13, 2014, relatives and guardians of several children and adults filed a Wrongful Death...
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The Sandy Hook Lawsuit: A Microcosm of Gun Law
The gun industry usually gets what it wants from legislatures, like getting Congress to bestow immunity on it from deaths and injuries by use of its products. A lawsuit filed last month confronts that...
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The Sandy Hook Lawsuit: Skeptics Have Doubts
There is some skepticism about the prospects for Soto v Bushmaster Firearms, the lawsuit filed last month on behalf of nine of the children and adults killed and a survivor wounded in the massacre at...
View Article"This is Wide Open on Both Sides"
That was Joe Biden, in an interview this morning on ABC.George Stephanopoulos : Our latest polls show [Hillary Clinton] is the overwhelming choice of Democrats. Is there any chance you'd challenge her?...
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The Sandy Hook Lawsuit: Going to Federal Court
Bushmaster Firearms doesn't like to be sued. That's the bottom line. But dismissing it was not the first move for Bushmaster and the Remington Outdoor Company, its colleague in the lawsuit filed on...
View Article"You don't have to have a reason to die no more."
Last night, Wednesday, May 13th about 8pm., three young men got in a car to go shopping on the south side of Chicago. A vehicle pulled up next to them and gunned the three down.Twenty year old Shamari...
View ArticleEVERYone for President!
It's time, people, for you to join the presidential race for the White House in 2016.This is not an original idea. Two dozen candidates - and counting! - have made themselves available, many declared...
View ArticleHate Crime or Terrorism? Let Us Count the Ways
Much is being made whether the massacre of nine black worshippers in the venerable Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston is properly considered a "hate crime" or "domestic...
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Do Lax Gun Laws Violate a Community's Civil Rights?
Three villages neighboring the City of Chicago are being sued by Chicago residents for having gun laws that are too lax.Nearly 20 percent of guns recovered at crime scenes in Chicago come from gun...
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In Gun Violence, It's Never the Gun!
Look there. Or, look farther --- way over there. But don't look here. It's never the gun. It's the shooter, who is deranged, so we should address mental illness and cure it. It's a protest against...
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Federal Judge Returns Newtown Lawsuit to State Court. Where It Belongs.
Shortly after Soto v. Bushmaster was filed, pro-gun interests sidetracked it. Now, nine months after the case was filed, it is back in state court where it began."All my clients seek is an opportunity...
View ArticleBREAKING GUN NEWS: Lyons, IL, Agrees to Major Gun Shop Reform Proposals
In a unique approach to gun reform, a community coalition of Chicago residents affected by gun violence sued three municipalities on the edge of the City of Chicago earlier this year.The lawsuit was...
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SCOTUS Makes the Gun Guys Wait, Defers Hearing Bans on Assault Weapons and...
Faced with astonishing arguments from pro-gun advocates, SCOTUS continues to defer taking an appeal in a Second Amendment gun rights case.A city's ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is...
View ArticleNOT Breaking News: SCOTUS, pressed to review assault weapons ban, says ... To...
Friedman v. City of Highland Park has been scheduled for discussion at four successive SCOTUS conferences. The case is a challenge to a ban of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines by a northern...
View ArticleWhere Guns Come From ... and Where They Go
How Gun Traffickers Get Around State Gun Laws… is the headline in this morning’s New York Times. Where guns used in crimes come from.The graphics below those headlines are maps of the United States and...
View ArticleHomeless Domestic Abuse Victim Convicted of Carrying Stun Gun. Second...
This is not a hypothetical case. Caetano v. Massachusetts is on the US Supreme Court’s doorstep. It offers constitutional questions for resolution — several of them — presenting issues SCOTUS has been...
View ArticleSCOTUS Refuses to Hear Assault Weapons Appeal. Thomas says 2nd Amendment now...
Does the Second Amendment forbid bans of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines?Not now. Until at least the next Court term next year, pro-gun-rights advocates will be sulking.The case was...
View ArticleSCOTUS Sets Second Amendment Stun Gun Case for Hearing: Caetano v. Massachusetts
Jaime Caetano’s conviction for carrying a stun gun in her car for protection against an abusive ex-partner has energized the US Supreme Court. In a unanimous per curiam opinion issued this morning, the...
View ArticleThe Sandy Hook Lawsuit ... What the Judge Actually Decided Last Week
On April 14, 2016, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis held that she did have jurisdiction to hear the case filed on behalf of nine of the children and adults who were killed or seriously...
View ArticleSandy Hook Lawsuit: Discovery is Allowed to Proceed
Discovery can proceed even while the judge considers motions to strike the complaint, Connecticut Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis ruled yesterday. The ruling is a major step forward for the...
View ArticleDear Hillary, What Brilliant Possibilities for Your Running Mate!
Dear Hillary Madam President soon-to-be,News has broken about the choices at the top of your list for VP. We here at Campaign Strategy Central cannot contain our excitement!Both Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)...
View ArticleSo, What IF Donald Trump is Off the Ticket? A Fantasy, Sure, but Let's Test...
A palace coup? Not exactly, but here’s a way it might work. The Republican National Committee hasa formal rule for the occasion:RULE NO. 9 Filling Vacancies in Nominations (a) The Republican National...
View ArticleGuns Galore ... ISIS and the NRA - Perfect Together
“They can buy guns” ...In a front page article in The New York Times —"How a Secretive Branch of ISIS Built a Global Network of Killers"— Rukmini Callamachi and her colleagues "pulled back the curtain...
View ArticleTrump Makes It Easier for the Mentally Ill to Buy Guns. And Signs It in Secret!
So despite all the photo ops of The Donald signing one proclamation after another, this one he saw to it was signed in silence and buried in other news.From the Washington Post (bold emphasis in the...
View ArticleDoes Trump have Corrupt Intent? Will we know it when we see it?
Obstruction of justice is a crime of intent. To be precise, of Corrupt Intent, which is a term serious people find elusive. Special Counsel Robert Mueller has just asked Donald Trump to come forth and...
View Article"This man cannot remain in power." Did this piss Putin off? If not, why not?...
For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.So concluded President Biden’s speech at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. It ended his tour of diplomatic meetings — NATO, G-7 and a summit of European...
View ArticleThe Documents Case — Could Trump Turn a Trial Into a Big Win … for Himself?
Much as we want the Department of Justice to charge Donald John Trump for his possession and misuse of classified government documents, that prosecution might be just the case Donald John Trump...
View ArticleSCOTUS could give Trump his delay, decide his two big cases, and not do...
This is an entirely speculative look at the two big cases looming before SCOTUS — Colorado’s Supreme Court decision keeping him off the state’s ballots. (Trump has yet to file his appeal.) And the...
View ArticleTrump’s Win In Iowa's Caucuses Was Narrow. Perhaps It Shows Why He Will Lose...
Numbers don’t lie. Donald Trump won the Iowa caucus vote by 51%, compared to 21.2% for Ron DeSantis and 19.1% for Nikki Haley. About 110,000 people turned out, all Republicans (though some may have...
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