B.L.U.F. Why the Sixth Circuit Court found that the bump stock ban is not constitutional.

This was not a Second Amendment challenge to the rule. Instead, it was an Article I, Section 1 challenge.

The ATF is not a part of the Congress, but is instead a part of the Executive branch. The Executive branch is charged with enforcing laws, not in creating laws.

Given this challenge, Bruen plays no part in the decision except that it indicates that the Supreme Court is serious about Second Amendment protected rights.

The Question

Is the ATF’s interpretation of 18 U.S.C § 922(o)(1) which incorporates 26 U.S.C. § 5845(b) Constitutional?

§ 922 is the Gun Control Act. This is where it says it shall be unlawful for any person to transfer or possess a machinegun. — §922(o)(1). That definition of a machinegun is what is at issue:

Is it a machinegun?

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B.L.U.F. — Examining the 1939 case of United States v. Miller 307 U.S. 174 where we first lost our Second Amendment Rights. Touching on how Heller, McDonald, and Bruen all reference back to Miller but how it got twisted to allow the courts to allow infringements to continue

Background

There is a different version of the arrest of Miller in Unintended Consequences, this appears to be more factual.

This is how the District Judge Heartsill Ragon described it:

There are some significant aspects to this case and how it was charged. The state would have to prove that the firearm in question required a NFA tax stamp, that it did not have that tax stamp, that it had been transported across state lines. And that the police had reason to make the stop.

This was before Miranda but the law still required some reason to arrest and search people.

The Miller case was a case of tax evasion. Failure to pay a $200 tax on a $15 shotgun. In addition, the NFA made transporting a registered firearm across state lines a crime unless the state first gave permission.
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B.L.U.F. — Judge Rudolph Contreras believes that banning magazines with more than some magic number is constitutional. This leads to another WTF post analysis of a Judge’s opinion.

The Question

Is D.C.’s LCM ban Constitutional?

The ban basically says that it is illegal to possess, sell, or transfer — D.C. Code § 7-2506.01(b) a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds. The exception is for tube feed .22 caliber magazines.

Background

This duffus had to go out and find another judge who is just as ignorant as he is in order to make a statement as stupid as saying that attaching a “large capacity magazine” to a handgun makes it into a semiautomatic.

He is quoting the memorandum and opinion out of the District Court of Rhode Island. He had this to say about an “LCM” challenge.

Judge John J. McConnell, Jr, chief judge of the District Court of Rhode Island

The Supreme Court has not said anything about magazines being arms, which is what allows this level of disingenuous reasoning. Regardless, reading the Ocean State Tactical opinion was an exercise in self-control. Breaking monitors does not do any good. As Mark Smith said in a video the other day, when the Judge is a Firearms person, it shows. In the same way, when a Judge is ignorant of even the most basic aspects of a firearm, we get hurt.

It is easy to tell when the state is lying when you have personal knowledge of the subject, it is harder when you are trying to figure out whose experts to trust.

Standing

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B.L.U.F. When a family is hurting, they want somebody to pay. It is easier to put that anger against a company than a dead body. Especially when there are blood vultures at work.

History

On April 15, 2021, some asshole entered the FedEx facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, and proceeded to start shooting. Eight people were killed, and more were wounded. The asshole then killed himself.

He had two rifles with him, both AR-15-style semi-automatics.

Shortly after, the blood vultures started to congregate. President Biden had flags flown at half-mast. The usual suspects jumped up and down screaming that guns were the problem.

To this day I’ve never had a single firearm give me a motive for anything it has done. That’s because all of them are inanimate objects. Any evil attributed to a firearm is a figment of a human’s mental derangement.

Bains v. American Tactical, Inc

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B.L.U.F. — What’s with all these court cases and what does it all mean in the grand scheme of things?

How Come We Have To Work So Hard At This?

If everything was as it should be, when the Bruen Court issued their opinion all of the states would have looked at the laws they currently had in place, looked at what would not pass muster, and then would have created new legislation to bring the state into line with the Bruen decision. The infringing states could not bring themselves to do the right thing.

In fact some (all?) of the infringing states jumped on the “Bruen Response” bandwagon to see who could do the most harm to gun owners the fastest.

This starts the long, slow march back to the Supreme Court to get more of these infringements knocked down.

There is a game that is played to accomplish this because the infringing states want to continue to infringe.

In the best of their imaginary worlds only the people they control who are loyal to them would have guns. And those firearms would not be allowed out of the control of dear leader. In their warped world view a cop would travel to work on public transport, they would be issued their duty weapon(s) and would then do a tour. At the end, they would turn in all their duty weapons and ride public transport home.

There would be nobody to stand up to their will.

To get this they need to disarm The People. This means passing regulations that disarm the people.

The Fight, Standing

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B.L.U.F. Another case where a Judge used Bruen to come to the correct decision. This This one is §922(g)3 and §922(d)2. This is a criminal case in front of a US Federal Judge for the Western District of Texas. It highlights how case law works.

History

On December 28, 2021 the El Paso Police Department responded to a 911 call. Transcripts are not available nor needed. When the police arrived they heard several gunshots and observed Paola’s husband with a shotgun at the neighbors house. The police then arrested Paola’s husband.

From this they managed to get permission to conduct[ed] a protective sweep of Connelly’s house &mcite; Order on Motion for Reconsideration P. 1. The cops found evidence of firearms and marijuana. From this they called in the ATF.

The ATF searched the house and found 1.2 grams of marijuana, 0.21 grams of marijuana extract, 27.74 grams of “THC Edible” and 37.74 grams of suspected psilocybin — Id. as well as multiple firearms and ammunition.

Paola through her husband under the bus, accusing him of smoking crack. She was then asked about her own drug use and told the cops …she uses marijuana on a regular basis “to sleep at night and to help her with anxiety.” — Id. at 2.

If this was the locals then it would have likely meant nothing more than the loss of her pot. Because the feds were involved, it now became a felony charge:

The second count, transfer or sale to a prohibited person is charged because the lived together. Since he had access and could have gotten the firearms the state argues that she had transferred the firearms to her husband. It is unclear who owned the shotgun he used.

October 18, 2022 Paola filed to have the charges dismissed. Her argument was that post Bruen §922(g)(3) and §922(d)(3) were unconstitutional under the second amendment because the denied her rights to keep and bear arms while the state was unable to find an similar regulation from the founding era. She also argued that the law was unconstitutional under the fifth amendment because it was vague. What does addicted mean? What does “user” mean?

She points out that under the dictionary definition, user could mean anybody that ever took a toke.

Her motion to have her indictment dismissed was denied on December 21, 2022.

The Second Try

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B.L.U.F. Those scary ammosexuals want to go bang fast but that’s scary because going bang fast is scary. So let’s ban scary bump stocks and get taken to the Supreme Court for infringing on the core civil rights of The People

The question

This case is not a second amendment case though it is a constitutional case that impacts us. Mr. Cargill (good guy) is sueing to overturn the ATF’s bump stock ban. He is asking the court to determine if:

1. Did the ATF violate Article I, §§ 1,7 and Article II §3 by amending congressionally approved statutes
2. Did the ATF violate Article I §1 and Article II § 3 non-divestment
3. Did the ATF violate Article I §1 and Article II § 3 separation of powers
4. Did the ATF violate Article I §1 because they did not have the constitutional authority to ban bump stocks
5. Did the ATF violate the Administrative Procedure ACT 5 U.S.C. §§ 706(2)(A),(C) by exceeding their statutory authority
6. Did the ATF violate the Administrative Procedure ACT, 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A) by making an arbitrary and capricious rule

This was case was filed on March 25, 2019.

What this comes down to is that Mr. Cargill is asking to court to find the final rule banning bump stocks to be enjoined because the ATF did not have the authority to make that rule the way they did.

Cargill demanded a trial by jury but it looks like only a bench trial was granted.

District Court Findings

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