Second Amendment Project Newsletter. August 10, 2001

About once a month, Dave Kopel produces a free e-mail Newsletter containing short summaries and links to important new research and writing involving the Second Amendment and firearms policy. The newsletter also reports on Kopel's latest writing.

The content of this newsletter is produced by the Second Amendment Project at the Independence Institute, a think tank in Golden, Colorado. The newsletter is electronically distributed by the Second Amendment Foundation in Bellevue, Washington. Thus, the Second Amendment Foundation will be given your e-mail address.

Archive of past issues.


The Second Amendment Project is based at the Independence Institute, a free-market think tank in Golden, Colorado.
http://IndependenceInstitute.org

=====================
Table of Contents

1. New Kopel material.
Magazine articles: Five-part series on Guns and the United
Nations. A look NRA Live Americans for Gun Safety. Police scandals.
Law Review articles: "The Self-Defense Cases" and "Miller versus  Texas"  Electronic media: Chicago Public Radio discussion on the Second  Amendment with Kopel and Sanford Levinson. NRA Live on the United  Nations.

2. Links. Crime in England, many other topics.

3. Special field reports: abusive gun law enforcement Illinois and New  Jersey.

=====================
1. New Kopel material.

a. Magazine articles.

U.N. Out of North America. National Review Online. Aug. 9, 2001. The future of the UN's anti-gun campaigns.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel080901.shtml

U.N. Gives Tyranny a Hand. National Review Online. Aug. 6, 2001. Proposed restrictions on the transfer of firearms to "non-state  actors."
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel080601.shtml

Bypassing U.S. Voters. National Review Online. Aug. 3, 2001.
The role of anti-gun lobbies at the U.N. conference.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel080301.shtml

Gunning Against Guns. National Review Online. Aug. 1, 2001.
Gun registration and "transparency" at the U.N. conference.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel073101.shtml

Score One for Bush. National Review Online. July 30, 2001.
A U.N. conference concludes without too much permanent damage, despite the prohibitionist intention of many of its supporters.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel073001.shtml

Demon's in the Details. Americans for Gun Safety tries to put together  a new gun strategy, but wind up in the same place — falsely demonizing  gun owners. National Review Online. July 24, 2001.
http://www.nationalreview.com/kopel/kopel072401.shtml

Officer Politics. Recent police department scandals are a result of  increased federal involvement and racial hiring practices. American  Outlook. May/June 2001. By Dave Kopel and Mike Krause.
http://www.hudson.org/american_outlook/

articles_sm01/kopel.htm

An Appeal for De Gaulle
France's true greatest day.
National Review Online. July 5, 2001.
http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/

history/history-kopel071401.shtml

B. Law review articles

"Miller versus Texas: Police Violence, Race Relations, Capital  Punishment, and Gun-toting in Texas in the Nineteenth Century—and  Today."
9 Journal of Law and Policy 737 (2001).
With Cynthia Leonardatos and Stephen P. Halbrook.
http://i2i.org/SuptDocs/Crime/

LawReviews/MillerVersusTexas.htm

"The Self-Defense Cases: How the Supreme Court Confronted a Hanging  Judge in the Nineteenth Century"
27 American Journal of Criminal Law 294 (2000).
A dozen Supreme Court cases vindicating the right of self-defense.
http://i2i.org/SuptDocs/Crime/

LawReviews/SelfDefenseCases.htm

C. Electronic media

Second Amendment Jurisprudence.
Sanford Levinson (Professor of law and government at the University of  Texas) and Dave Kopel discuss the Second Amendment on WBEZ radio,  Chicago. July 13, 2001. One-hour program in RealAudio.
http://www.wbez.org/services/ram/od/od_010713.ram

UN Keeps Your Gun Rights in its Sights.
NRA Live interview with Kopel.
http://www.nralive.com/left.cfm?ID=1279

2. Links

a. Gun Locked
I haven't been this scared in quite a long time.
By James A. Swan, "Media Watch" columnist for North American Hunter magazine
July 14-15, 2001
http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/outdoors/outdoors-swan071401.shtml

b. Gun regulation in colonial New England.
By Clayton Cramer
http://www.ggnra.org/cramer/

GunControlColonialNewEngland.PDF 
http://www.ggnra.org/cramer/

GunControlColonialNewEngland2.PDF

c. Federal Preemption:
Understanding the Militia Clauses and the Second Amendment
This site makes available materials relating to the judicial  interpretation of the allocation of state and federal militia powers,  and examines the Second Amendment's role in immunizing the states from  federal preemption.
http://www.federalpreemption.org/

d. Gun-control Radicals Target Ashcroft
by David Limbaugh
July 17
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/

davidlimbaugh/dl20010717.shtml

e. Brady Campaign (formerly known as Handgun Control, Inc., formerly  known as the National Council to Control Handguns). Mean-spirited and stupid cartoon of Charlton Heston being thrown out of  an airplane. he U.K. gun ban OK?
By IAIN MURRAY, Special to United Press International
July 4
http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=199824 

g. Handgun crime 'up' despite ban
British Broadcasting Company
16 July, 2001
A new study suggests the use of handguns in crime rose by 40% in the  two years after the weapons were banned.
The Economist
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=513031

i. When Kmart Costs Lives
Failing to think through policies.
By John R. Lott Jr.
National Review Online
July 20, 2001
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-lott072001.shtml

j. Rosie O'Donnell interview on Good Morning America.
August 9.
Television star describes how she became mentally unbalanced after the  Columbine shootings. Also discusses other subjects relating to her  battle with depression.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/

GMA010808Rosie_depression.html

k. New Book: "The Seven Myths of Gun Control."
Washington Times Review
http://www.washtimes.com/culture/20010712-16818184.htm

l. Artnotguns
Founded by two college students in May 2000, Artnotguns is a non-profit  organization that annually publishes literature and art from gun  violence survivors, artists, writers, students, and others.
www.artnotguns.org

m. GrassRoots South Carolina.
Statewide pro rights group. Offers e-mail alerts.
http://www.scfirearms.org

n. Georgia Sport Shooting Association.
http://www.gssa.com

o. Direct-Action.
Maryland gun rights news.
http://www.direct-action.org

p. Gun Owners of America
PSA on the dangers of trigger locks
http://www.gunowners.com/psatext.htm

q. [Indiana Senator Evan] Bayh said Democrats should be concerned that they lost overwhelmingly not only among voters who go to church  regularly but also among members of the military and gun owners. "We  didn't get it when it comes to their concerns," he said. Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe said Democrats  must find ways to neutralize many of those issues if they hope to  compete in more states in the 2004 election.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5138-2001Jul16.html

r. National Evaluation of the Youth Firearms Violence Initiative
National Institute of Justice
http://222.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/184482.txt

s. Perspectives on Crime and Justice: 1999-2000 Lecture Series
National Institute of Justice
Includes material on gun control.
Speakers include Franklin Zimring and Lawrence W. Sherman
http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles1/nij/184245.txt

----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Special Report: Gun Law Enforcement

a. Illinois
It Has Started! Illinois Begins to Confiscate Registered Guns
http://www.isra.org/indexa.shtml 

The Chicago Police Department and the Illinois State Police have  teamed up to make good on Mayor Daley's pledge that, if it were up to  him, nobody would have a gun. Daley and his elite "CAGE" unit are  apparently taking advantage of gun privacy loopholes to pinpoint  certain individuals for inclusion in the confiscation program.

The ISRA is following up on leads in one case that has disturbing  implications. An elderly first-generation Chicago resident was recently  paid a visit by an Illinois State Police trooper. After asking to come  inside the man's home, the trooper asked if the man owned a gun - to  which he replied yes. The trooper then directed the individual to  surrender the firearm. The man complied with the officer's demand and  the trooper left with the gun. And the story gets better...

The gun in question was purchased legally by the man in the 1970s shortly after he became a U.S. citizen. When Chicago's infamous gun  registration scheme went into effect in the early 1980s, the man  registered the firearm as per the requirement. However, over the years,  the fellow apparently forgot to re-register the firearm, and forgot to  renew his Illinois FOID Card.

So...what does this all mean?

In the last edition of The Illinois Shooter, we reported on the  activities of a shady taskforce known as the Chicago Anti Gun  Enforcement (CAGE) unit. This elite squad, operated jointly by the  Illinois State Police, the Chicago Police Department, and the Cook  County State's Attorney's Office, supposedly exists to identify illegal  gunrunners. However, information gained by the ISRA makes it clear that  the CAGE unit is targeting law-abiding citizens, not criminal  gunrunners.

Thanks to a ruling by a liberal federal judge, the CAGE unit now has  the name of every single person in the United States who, since 1992,  lawfully purchased more than one handgun in the period of a week. The  CAGE unit also has all the makes, models and serial numbers of those  guns. In essence, the Chicago Police Department is now registering guns  and gun owners nationwide.

The ISRA has also learned that the CAGE unit has compiled a list of  families where more than one person in that family holds a FOID card.  Acting on that information, the CAGE unit is now contacting gun shops  where those families have shopped, and is illegally registering all  guns purchased by those families.

Now, it appears that the CAGE unit is scrubbing Chicago's gun  registration list against the list of FOID card holders. Indications  are that folks who have let their registrations and FOIDs lapse will  have their guns confiscated. We have to wonder how long it will be  until state troopers show up at the doors to confiscate the guns of  non-Chicago residents who have let their FOIDs expire.

More later as this story develops.

b. New Jersey
Be charged with possession of an "Assault Firearm" in  New Jersey and get kicked out of your home for 2 years.
By Evan F. Nappen, Esq.

Gun owners who suffer under the Florio/Gormley supported "Assault Firearm" ban are now being kicked out of their  homes and businesses under the newest Gormley sponsored law.  This law is entitled the "Drug Offender Restraining Order  Act of 1999," (DOROA) and can be found at N.J.S. 2C:35-5.7.  Aggressive implementation of this law has now begun. All a law abiding gun owner needs to do is be charged  with possession of a so-called "Assault Firearm" and the  gun law victim is automatically kicked out of his/her residence and/or business by way of a restraining order which  lasts for a minimum of 2 years. It does not matter one bit  that drugs were not involved. The municipal court judges  have been instructed to routinely issue these DOROAS. These  restraining orders are issued ex parte (without any input by  the defendant or his attorney).

After the issuance of a DOROA which normally accompanies the criminal complaint, there is no hearing scheduled  on the DOROA. As passed, the law is void of any due process  for the defendant. Just last week, I had one of these  DOROAS come up in Monmouth County. My client was charged  with possession of "Assault Firearm's" which are not "Assault Firearms" (Mini-14 and Ruger 10/22). I immediately  went back to the municipal court judge who issued the DOROA  to try to persuade the judge to vacate the order. There is  a section in the law that claims that the DOROA should not  be issued to remove a person from their residence unless the  judge is clearly convinced that there is a need to bar the  defendant in order to protect the public safety. The municipal court judge informed me that although he issued the  DOROA and was sympathetic to my client's predicament, he no  longer retained the jurisdiction to make any modifications  to it. This is in spite of the fact that he was the court  of origin for the DOROA. The judge of the municipal court  claimed that as soon as he signed the DOROA kicking the  defendant out of his home, he no longer retains jurisdiction and that the Superior Court now has jurisdiction.

Since there is no procedure in the DOROA law for challenging this restraining order or even affording the victim  of the DOROA a hearing, my client was presented with a  situation in which he had no opportunity to be heard on  challenging the restraining order's issuance. I therefore  created and filed emergency papers with the Superior Court  to try to get my client back in his home. Fortunately, the  Monmouth County Superior Court and the Monmouth County  Prosecutor's Office took the appropriate action, which was  initiated by my creative filings The Monmouth County Superior Court vacated and dissolved the restraining order. By  the time this had been accomplished, the law-abiding gun  owner had been barred from his home for one week under the  threat of jail.

My client resided with his wife in a home on 20 acres  of property. On a simple charge of possession of a so-  called ""Assault Firearm"" in which the defendant holds a  valid New Jersey Firearms Identification Card and poses a  threat to no one, my client suffered this injustice which  could have lasted for years. None of these facts were  presented to nor considered by the judge of the municipal  court who issued the initial DOROA.

This is a serious situation for law-abiding New Jersey  gun owners. False charges for possession of an "Assault  Firearm" frequently occur in New Jersey. I have personally  handled many cases falsely charging "Assault Firearm"  violations. These cases include the new Marlin Model 60's  (which hold less than 15 rounds), Colt Match Target rifles  and their clones, SKS's with a fixed magazines, 1927 Thompson/ Auto Ordinance .45's, M1 Garand Rifles, MAK-90's, Marlin  Camp Carbine's, Remington 7600's, Russian Dragunov's, and  Springfield M1A's without a bayonet lug, just to name some  of the common false charges made against law-abiding New  Jersey gun owners.

In the name of "the war on drugs," be prepared to be  kicked out of your home with no due process thanks to  Florio, Gormley, and Whitman .

This article may be freely reproduced with credit given  to the author, Evan F. Nappen, Esq., (732-389-8888). For  more information about New Jersey Gun Law, see www.evannappen.com 
and purchase and read
Nappen II: New Jersey Gun, Knife & Weapon Law.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/

ASIN/0967066034/independenceinstA/


That's all folks!


Share this page:

Kopel RSS feed Click the icon to get RSS/XML updates of this website, and of Dave's articles.

Follow Dave on Twitter.

Kopel's Law & Liberty News. Twice-daily web newspaper collecting articles from Kopel and those whom he follows on Twitter.

Author page on Amazon.

Search Kopel website:

Make a donation to support Dave Kopel's work in defense of constitutional rights and public safety.
Donate Now!

Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily representing the views of the Independence Institute or as an attempt to influence any election or legislative action. Please send comments to Independence Institute, 727 East 16th Ave., Colorado 80203. Phone 303-279-6536. (email) webmngr @ i2i.org

Copyright © 2018