Judge Denies Stay Request in Interstate Handgun Case

Guns dot com (link provided by George Jefferson)

U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor denied a request from attorneys on behalf of the Justice Department to stay a February ruling that found interstate handgun purchase bans are unconstitutional.

The Citizens Committee for the Rights to Keep and Bear Arms originally brought the case, Mance v. Eric H. Holder and B. Todd Jones, last July. The group filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth division, over the case of a couple from Washington, D.C. who tried to buy handguns from a federally licensed firearms dealer in Texas but could not due to federal law.

Under attack is the Federal Regulatory Regime set up by the Gun Control Act of 1968 that bars FFLs from selling handguns to potential eligible buyers who do not reside in the same state the dealer is located.

No such restriction applies to the interstate sale of rifles or shotguns.

The government filed a motion two days after the Mance judgment was handed down requesting a 60-day stay while Justice contemplated appeal options. Connor effectively told the government to either fish or cut bait Thursday in a simple order denying the motion.

This was greeted by suit plaintiffs with understated relief Monday.

“We’re delighted that Judge O’Connor is not going to simply allow the government to stall this ruling,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb in a statement obtained by Guns.com. “This case could have significant ramifications nationwide, and allowing a two-month stay while the government essentially claims it will be thinking about whether to appeal obviously was not warranted.”

Guns in America: Gun Sales are Plunging

ABC

Sales of guns and ammo are losing steam after a frenzied run-up sparked by fears of greater restrictions in the wake of the Newtown shooting and other massacres.

Background checks by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, considered to be the most accurate means of tracking gun sales, plunged by a third in January compared to the year before. There were about 1.66 million background checks last month, and nearly 2.5 million in January the year before.

In the past two years, gun shop owners and consumers have complained of ammunition shortages and a dearth in fast-selling semiautomatic rifles and high-capacity magazines, even as manufacturing ramped up.

But the shortage appears to be over. "Retail inventories, which had been in short supply last spring, have largely returned to normal now," wrote Rommel Dionisio, a gun industry analyst for Wedbush, in a recent report.

"Monthly comparisons have recently turned sharply negative, a trend we expect to last through at least May or June 2014," Dionisio wrote.

Dionisio said the "feared tightening of gun control legislation," which was the initial motivation for buying up guns and ammo at such a frenetic pace, has subsided.

Facebook Gun Sales

Come on, we all know there are gun sales being made without background checks.   It doesn't take too long to find someone who is willing to sell a gun "no questions asked".


Don't come the old "enforce the laws on the books" since the laws are set up so that it is next to impossible to prosecute these people.  Anything which might prevent these sales are opposed on the basis that they "infringe upon our rights."

Or "criminals don't obey the law".

OK, if criminals don't obey the law, let's get rid of all laws.

Texas No. 1 in Gun Purchase Applications

Mercury News

Texas is leading the nation in the number of people seeking federal permission to buy guns.

Federal statistics reviewed Friday by the Houston Chronicle ( http://bit.ly/17FYwPP) show 1.2 million people in Texas through the end of September filled out applications for background checks.

At that rate, last year's record 1.4 million requests will be surpassed by the end of 2013.

"The gun business is doing well," Rob Elder, head of the Houston division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said.

He said number of requests could increase his agency's workload, but he said most purchasers are law-abiding citizens seeking firearms for legitimate purposes.

The figures don't equate to the number of purchases but represent people who have asked to buy from a federally licensed dealer.

One Houston gun store owner, Jim Pruett, told the newspaper President Barack Obama motivates gun buyers.

"Any time he talks about gun control, it drives people crazy and they go and buy guns," he said.

The Gun Frenzy of 2012

New York Times op-ed

President Obama’s election and recent re-election have apparently fueled a gun-buying craze in this country unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times.  

USA Today reported this week:

“For the second consecutive year, prospective gun buyers joined Black Friday shoppers in record numbers as firearms dealers swamped the F.B.I. with required buyer background check requests. The F.B.I. fielded 154,873 calls, a roughly 20 percent increase from last year’s previous one-day record of 129,166, according to bureau records. The requests came in such volume throughout the day that F.B.I. call centers experienced two brief outages — one of 18 minutes and one for 14 minutes — during the busy day, bureau spokesman Stephen Fischer said Monday.” 

As the report made clear: 

“The F.B.I. does not track actual gun sales. But the number of firearms sold Friday is likely higher because multiple firearms can be included in one transaction by a single buyer.”

We had a pretty good discussion about background checks and how they relate to gun sales a while ago. The thing I picked up on is that used guns sold by pawn shops and FFL gun dealers also require the NICS background check and they obviously don't represent new guns entering the market.

Another reason is to request a concealed carry permit.  No gun sale is required for that.

On the other hand, as this NYT article points out, some folks purchase multiple weapons with only one background check. So, although counting background checks as a way of gauging gun sales is far from accurate, I think we can all agree that business is booming and Obama is the greatest gun salesman of all time.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Guns are Flying off the Shelves in Hawaii

Local news reports

Gun store owners on the island said they have seen a major increase of people trying to buy guns. At the X-Ring Security and Firearms store rifles are flying off the shelves.

Brian Takaba said sales have doubled with four times more customers searching for guns.
"There's been a definite increase right after the election," said Takaba.

He said it is because many gun owners think President Barack Obama will ban guns especially assault rifles.

Obama's good for business, no question about that.

Why We're Bullish on Gun Stocks

via Town Hall

The Reasons Behind Increased Gun Sales

via an interesting article in Forbes in which Frank Miniter argues that the surge in gun sales predatges Obama.

There are many other categories and statistics showing the tidal shift in gun ownership beneath this current wave of sales, all of which are related to legislative successes that freed up Second Amendment rights, judicial victories and a popular shift in the way American’s view guns. With all of this going on it’s a shame so many in the media are ignoring or cynically simplifying the movement behind gun sales. It’s just more convenient for them to say the surge in gun sales is only about fear of new gun-control legislation.

Though I don’t want to discount the fear. After all, when the Supreme Court twice comes within one vote of ruling that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights isn’t an individual right, Americans have a right to be concerned. When an incumbent president seeking a second term has already put two people on the nine-member Supreme Court who would vote away this basic human freedom, they have the right to be fearful. And when you realize that, if reelected, that incumbent president would have a good chance of getting a few more Supreme Court picks, and so could reshape the high court for decades, people have a right to be motivated to buy firearms now.

What do you think? He made some interesting points and connections to explain the increase in gun sales, but I still think this is the main one: "the Supreme Court twice comes within one vote of ruling that the Second Amendment of the U.S. Bill of Rights isn’t an individual right." 

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

The Gun Boom of 2012 is in Full Swing

via Crooks and Liars

The National Rifle Association and the assorted far-right gun nuts who make up the gun lobby, as we recently pointed out, really are creating an extremely problematic environment for any post-election America in which Barack Obama has won re-election -- because, thanks to their fact-free and irresponsibly inflammatory attacks on Obama, they've once again convinced a significant segment of the American populace that Obama is secretly plotting to take their guns and their freedoms away.

Indiana Gun Sales Skyrocketing

CBS Chicago reports

What is causing this? Some gun store owners say it is a lingering concern over a perceived push by President Obama for tougher gun control laws – particularly as he campaigns for reelection – even though Obama has been largely silent on the issue of gun control.

But experts say the popularity of TV reality shows such as “Top Shot” and “Sons of Guns” also likely plays a role.

We all know many gun owners are shaking in their boots about Obama's second term. For this we can thank Wayne La Pierre. But do you think these new popular TV shows are partly responsible? Isn't it possible that shows like these give many people the idea that guns are cool and fun, people who otherwise might not have felt that way?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Why Gun Sales are Up

via Forbes

published a fascinating article by Frank Miniter, who, as you can see by his bio, is completely unbiased and objective about the gun debate.

I am a bestselling author and a freelance journalist who concentrates on man’s struggle to keep the state in balance with the American dream. My latest book is Saving the Bill of Rights. I am also the author of The Ultimate Man's Survival Guide. My website is www.frankminiter.com.

Here's the best part.

Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) explained that in 1959 some 70 percent of the American public favored handgun bans, whereas today that number has flipped. “We’ve been able to conclusively prove scientifically that, as John Lott wrote, more guns do equal less crime. Other factors include the fact that the number of hunters has actually risen in a number of states. Then you have returning servicemen and women who are staying with the shooting sports. Meanwhile, the advocacy of the NSSF, the NRA and other groups have shown that the Second Amendment is a fundamental part of our freedom.”

Don't you just love that "conclusively prove scientifically" part?

Background Checks Are Up - Are Gun Sales?

The Huffington Post published a wonderful article by Josh Horwitz about the different ways a NICS background check would not result in a guns sale. Starting with the obvious, the list goes on and on.

Thousands of background checks each year result in denials when it is determined that individuals in question are prohibited under federal and/or state law from purchasing firearms. So the checks are run, but the guns are never actually sold.

The pro-gun folks have been stumbling all over each other to repeat the good news that gun sales are up. But in usual fashion, this is largely an exaggerated manipulation of the facts.

Another claim is that the total number of gun owners is up. This may be true but not nearly to the extent that they infer. They like to pretend that all the background checks represent new gun buyers. It's just not true.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Give a Gun a Good Home for Christmas

via TTAG

Alaska Gun Shop Case

NECN.con reports on the way gun-friendly states conspire to make it easy for criminals and mentally ill folks to get guns.

The case involves a gun used to kill Simone Young Kim in 2006 outside a store in Juneau for no apparent reason. The gun was obtained at the Rayco Sales gun shop.

Ray Coxe, owner of the store, has said the shooter — Jason Coday — chose the rifle, put $200 on the counter and left without completing the required paperwork.

Coday, 33, is serving a 101-year sentence after being convicted of first-degree murder.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence

A new report issued by the CSGV has some interesting suggestions to stop the gun flow.

The following are examples of procedures that have been successful in deterring straw purchases and “off the books” sales by FFLs:

• All firearms sales are videotaped and these videos are maintained for an extended period of time.
• A computerized log of crime gun traces relating to the retailer is maintained in-house. When a customer who has a prior trace at that retailer attempts to purchase a firearm, the sale is electronically flagged. The dealer has the discretion to stop the sale.
• The dealer posts clearly visible signage to alert customers of their legal responsibilities at the point of sale.
• Customers are prohibited from making in-store calls on their cell phones.
• The dealer requires criminal background checks for all employees that sell or handle firearms in the store.
• The dealer conducts daily and quarterly audits to make sure no firearms are missing.
• The dealer prohibits all sales based on “default proceeds,” which are permitted by law when a background check has not returned an approve/deny result within three days.
• The dealer keeps all firearms in customer-accessible areas in locked cases or secured to gun racks.

Unfortunately, self-regulation remains voluntary, and there is no indication that the gun industry will take such sensible steps. Given the difficulty of passing legislation to force manufacturers to regulate themselves, there is a need for a new approach.

What's your opinion? Wouldn't mandatory videotaping of all gun sales be useful? What about the other ideas?

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

Glock Sales

via Il Principe.

Smith & Wesson Sales are Down

I guess it's time for some more trumped up reasons to buy guns.

Gun Purchases by Region

FatWhiteMan sent me the link to this fascinating article about gun purchases. But his accompanying remark to me was the best part of it.

Here is a neat chart I found. I am sure you can pervert it to your own agenda, especially the handgun part of the Southeast :)

Rather than provide a lengthy analysis of the handgun purchases in the Southeast and how they obviously feed the iron pipeline, I actually find the shotgun folks up north more interesting. And it was not lost on me that FatWhiteMan himself resides within the confines of shotgun heaven. My question is, why. Why do folks in Ohio and its neighboring Great Lakes States buy so many shotguns? Is there a psychological explanation?

It's definitely a fun chart which I accept from FatWhiteMan as an early Christmas present and offer to you in the same spirit.

Merry Christmas everybody.