Kagan Named U.S. Solicitor General

In what all the media is hailing as "the first woman to hold the post of solicitor general of the United States," today the U.S. Senate confirmed Elena Kagan, dean of the Harvard School of Law, to that post.

As solicitor general, her role is to argue the government's position in court cases, including those cases that come before the United States Supreme Court.

During her confirmation hearings, she was asked whether she believed the Supreme Court's Heller decision was correct in overturning the long-time ban on private possession of firearms by District of Columbia residents (and, presumably, whether the 2A represents an individual right). She replied that her private opinions were not important. That she uphold the position of the U.S. government, based on current law, was more important, she reportedly told senators.

Much of the debate today before the Senate voted to confirm was whether she had enough experience for the job. She has never argued a case before The BIG Court, but then neither had Kenneth Starr or Robert Bork. She worked in the Justice Department during the Bill Clinton administration as a domestic policy adviser.

This will be an interesting appointment to watch . . .

Quote Of The Day

“The time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they shall have gotten a hold of us.” - Thomas Jefferson 1782

DoD Explanation Makes Sense On Its Face, But Brief Policy Change Still Smells Like Politics of Control

Here is the official explanation from the U.S. Department of Defense (as relayed via the National Rifle Association) on why the department suspended sales of expended brass to the civilian market.

".....DLA also put to rest various theories and rumors that were circulated on the internet, concerning the reason for the suspension. As DLA explained to Senators Baucus and Tester, and to NRA-ILA, DoD officials responsible for the de-militarization of military property temporarily halted the release of the cartridge cases last week, pending review of a policy change issued last year by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, which, in the interest of national security, halted the sale of items within a broad category of government property including, but not limited to, surplus small arms cartridge cases.

"To make cartridge cases eligible for sale once again, DoD demilitarization officials verified that the cases could be appropriately placed in a category of government property allowing for their release for use within the United States, and then executed the recategorization. Whereas during the brief suspension, fired cartridge cases would have been releaseable only if the purchaser crushed or smelted them, now the cases may be sold as before, intact and reloadable. DoD also assured NRA-ILA that companies previously authorized to purchase cartridge cases under Trade Security Controls need no further vetting at this time, and are eligible to resume purchasing cases under the policy adopted yesterday."

Riiiiiiiight. A business/national security decision. It still reeks of politics, considering the current state of ammunition supplies in the United States right now, and concerns over crime and potential new gun controls.

Regardless, thanks again to everyone who called their senator or representative to Congress. Also a huge thanks to Sens. Baucus and Tester for their yeoman's work in pounding some snse into D0D officials who thought this was a wise policy, and were clueless about the implications of their decision (which was implemented with no rational explanation, other than that they could do it if they wanted to).

At least now we have an explanation.

Congressional Democrats Come Out Against A New Ban On Competition Rifles

With all the talk about AIG bailouts, bonuses, the White House proposing that American G.I.s injured in battle or other duty pay for their own healthcare, and the U.S. Department of Defense deciding to halt sales of expended brass to private re-sellers -- then reversing itself a few days later -- most media missed something extraordinary this week regarding the basic human right of self defense.

Sixty five Members of Congress, all democrats, yesterday sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder insisting that they will not support a new ban on competition rifles (so-called "assault weapons"). Led by Arkansas democrat Rep. Mike Ross, the representatives stated succinctly that such bans do not work, and that the fear-mongering of the anti-gun community, which is trying to connect Mexican drug cartel wars with lawful American firearms ownership, is patently dishonest.

It is an extraordinary letter.

"Even the Urban Institute study of the ban's effectiveness mandated by the 103rd Congress found that it could only have a limited effect because "the banned weapons and magazines were never used in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders.

"It is hard to believe the ban would be any more effective in controlling crime by well-funded international drug traffickers, who regularly use grenade launchers, anti-tank rockets and other weapons that are not available on the civilian market in the United States.

"The gun control community has intentionally misled many Americans into believing that these weapons are fully automatic machine guns. They are not. These firearms fire one shot for every pull of the trigger. Some of the guns that would be banned under proposed bills have been around for more than 70 years, and are often passed down from generation to generation."

As some bloggers have noted, many of the controversial trial balloons being floated are not announced by President Obama, but by his surrogates. If the ideas face a storm of criticism, he can let them die and deny he had a part in their formulation.

But the gun controllers have to be crying in their soup today. This is not what they had in mind. Obama is being silent on this issue. And if you do the math, there is no statistical way such a proposal, supported by President Obama prior to his election to the White House, and announced last month by Mr. Holder, can possibly pass the U.S. House of Representatives. Even if a number of republicans supported such a measure, it still would be likely to fail.

Is it too soon to say RIP assault weapons ban? Yes. But I hear funeral dirge music playing in the background for THIS initiative. At least for now.

There will still be other assaults on the 2A. Like other squeeze on ammunition, which already is in short supply, particularly smaller calibers.

BTW, as an Ohioan, my personal thanks to Reps. Zach Space, Charlie Wilson, John Boccieri for signing onto this letter. Gentlemen, you put statesmanship ahead of politics. You are to be saluted.

Worth Reading - Model Rocketeers Win Huge Battle Against BATFE

“District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton for the District of Columbia today issued an order finding in favor of the Tripoli Rocketry Association and National Association of Rocketry vs. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. . .. . Walton’s order granted a summary judgment motion in favor of the plaintiffs TRA and NAR, denied the summary judgment motion of BATFE, and vacated the classification of Ammonium Perchlorate Composite Propellant (APCP) as an explosive.”

Worth reading. Especially since there are those in Congress who would love to pretty much classify all reloading items as "explosives." A lot of this model rocketry regulation occurred just before and after 9/11, and BATFE was all about classifying this, that and the other as explosives to show they were doing something. The courts (this time, acting in a sensible fashion), rightfully, have disagreed.

Take a look and pass it on.

Power In Numbers

Coordinated protests work.

It appears the U.S. Department of Defense has backed off its change in policy and now will no longer be scrapping expended brass, but will continue to sell it to re-manufacturers.

Read the latest from the Montana Shooting Sports Association, as published by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership

Dear MSSA Friends,

I just received a phone call from the office of U.S. Senator Tester of Montana to inform me that at 5:15 (EST) today a letter cosigned by Senator Tester (D-MT) and Senator Baucus (D-MT) was faxed to the Department of Defense asking DoD to reverse its new policy requiring destruction of fired military cartridge brass. At 5:30, I am told, Tester's office received a fax back from DoD saying that the brass destruction policy IS reversed.

Others report to me that they are already seeing evidence of this on the Websites of entities that liquidate surplus DoD commodities. Our thanks go out to Senator Tester and Senator Baucus, and their staff, for getting on this problem promptly and making the reversal happen. Staff for Tester and Baucus promise they will get me the documentation for this reversal tomorrow morning. I'll forward that when I get it.

Best wishes,
Gary Marbut, presidentMontana Shooting Sports
Associationhttp://www.mtssa.orgauthor, Gun Laws of Montanahttp://www.mtpublish.com

My thanks to all TRL readers who contacted their member of Congress or U.S. senator on this matter. But the battle isn't over. Vigilence is the watchword for the next four years.

h/t to Dave Zimmerman for the heads up that this was resolved

Obama Quietly Cuts Funding That Keeps Skies Safe

President Barack Obama's administration, without warning, has quietly cut funding for the Armed Pilots Program, according to Washington news reports.

"After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings. Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology. The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots."

Just freaking great.

Once again, this is not the "change" that most Americans signed on for. Read the entire story, then pass it on.

h/t to Sebastian

Is DoD Ending Sale of Expended Military Brass, Giving Antis An End Run Around The Second Amendment?

UPDATED Tuesday, March 17, 2009, 4:13 pm -- Story confirmed by Georgia Arms. Go to their website to see the latest.

Reports are that NRA is lobbying to have a waiver put in place for ammunition of 50 caliber and smaller.

Some are now calling this "the right to keep and bear ammunition. Here is a link to the Government Liquidation website, to get a feel for the new language.

*************
A number of firearms and 2A bloggers are trying to follow up on this (nail it down as fact), but considering some of the folks who are trying to get this news out I tend to believe this, and it is of concern.

According to Gordon Hutchinson, who wrote the blockbuster "The Great New Orleans Gun Grab," the U.S. Department of Defense is ending the sale of expended military brass to re-manufacturers. There has been a lot of misinformation floating around about potential threats to guns, but this one appears to be real. Enough so that Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) also is alerting its readers and the 2A community.

I met Gordon at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Covington, Ky. in 2007. I trust his instincts and his sources. And the news he is sharing is troubling. Georgia Arms, the fifth largest producers of ammunition in the U.S., brought the news to his attention.

Click here to go to Gordon Hutchinson's Shootist blog site. There, you will find the text of two letters sent to ammunition manufacturer Georgia Arms, and a letter Hutchinson sent to Lousiana Congressman Bill Haynie and U.S. Sen. David Vitter, also of Louisiana, expressing outrage and concern over this turn of events.

With a national shortage of civilian ammunition, if true, this move has implications for both civilian self defense AND for law enforcement.

PLUS, here is more from David Codrea at Gun Rights Examiner. Dave has his finger on the pulse of what is happening as well.

I urge you to read all of these posts and pass them on.