Josh Blackman has them, over at the Volokh Conspiracy. The government wisely chose the Rahimi case. It involves a violent goon, and the prohibited person category hardest to justify under text, history, and tradition. They want to challenge Bruen, or at least cut back on its teachings, and Rahimi was the perfect case for that.

Josh points out there is another case pending on cert (vote likely to be taken later this month), which is the converse. In the Range case, the prohibited person was such due to a conviction for welfare fraud, years ago. The Third Circuit upheld…
Continue Reading Thoughts on Rahimi and on Range

Today the US Supreme Court granted certiorari in two gun-related cases: Garland v. Cargill, which challenges the ATF “bump stock” regulation, and NRA v. Vullo, which seeks to hold NY liable for taking regulatory actions in retaliation for NRA’s political stances.

Cargill will be interesting. For quite some time the courts have given “Chevron deference” to an agency’s interpretation of ambiguous statutes. Some members of the Court have challenged that, as abdication of the Court’s responsibilities. Cargill is a fine vehicle for challenging that, since ATF reversed its position on bump-stocks (I seem to recall more than once). How does…
Continue Reading Supreme Court cert grants

SAF and GOA, and others, get a 9th Circuit ruling that strikes down California’s ban on gun advertising that might appeal to minors. Since it was commercial speech, the majority applied intermediate scrutiny; the concurrence argues that since it involved viewpoint discrimination, strict scrutiny should apply.

SAF, Crossroads of the West, and others get a preliminary injunction against a California law forbidding gun shows at government-owned facilities. The judge finds that the law violates both the First and the Second Amendments, as incorporated.
Continue Reading Good times in the courts!

The Dep’t of Commerce has stopped issuing most firearm export permits for 90 days, with no explanation given. In response, Global Defense has started this petition.
Continue Reading Export permits stopped

A judge in the Southern District of New York has just struck down the New York permitting requirement of “good moral character.”

“In sum, having considered Defendants’ proffered historical materials, and applying the standard set in Bruen, the Court determines that the magnitude of discretion afforded to New York City licensing officials under subsections (a)(2) and (a)(9) of Section 10-303 of the New York City Administrative Code and the pre-December 16, 2022 versions of Sections 3-03 and 5-10 of Title 38 of the RCNY, empowering them to evaluate an applicant’s “good moral character” and “good cause” in deciding whether to…
Continue Reading Victory in New York

And for the posting to which he responded.
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Steve Halbrook has a nice one at the Volokh Conspiracy.
Continue Reading Roundup of Rahimi amicus briefs

All but the government’s reply have been filed, and can be seen here. I haven’t read all, but two stand out of those I have read. The brief of the Bronx Defenders Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, here, documents how little due process is given by courts issuing restraining orders. David Kopel’s brief, here, does a good job of explaining how the Court can get out of the trap planned by the government.

The government must have seen, early on, that Rahimi was the perfect vehicle to attack Bruen. The defendant is a…
Continue Reading US v. Rahimi briefs

Opinion here. The court enters a PI against the Maryland “sensitive place” restrictions on private property, places that sell alcohol, and demonstrations.
Continue Reading NRA & FPC win against Maryland

They’ve recently released a book, “To Trust the People with Arms: The Supreme Court and the Second Amendment,” and will be presenting on it at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus(and remotely, on Zoom) on October 12, 4:30 PM Eastern Time. You can register here.

It’s being sponsored by Capital University Law School, and should be good for two free hours of MCLE. I’ll be signing up, every reason in the world to get Second Amendment CLE hours!
Continue Reading Bob Cottrol & Brannon Denning presentation in Ohio

The FB says it happens but rarely, but John Lott shows it’s more like a third to half the cases, and 63% in areas where lawful carrying is allowed.
Continue Reading Lott: how often do armed citizens stop mass shootings?

9th Circuit case, here. Case dismissed as moot, but it’s illustrative of abuse potential. California law forbids firearms possession by anyone subject to ANY form of restraining order (domestic or not). This couple had a crazy neighbor, who filed for a restraining order on the basis that the couple’s security cam was invading her privacy. Some sloppy judge granted it, and so they wound up as prohibited possessors for years.
Continue Reading Illustration of California law

Right here.

Interesting — one charge is possession by a prohibited person, a user of unlawful drugs, but the other two are of lying on the 4473. There has been some dispute over whether the drug user prohibited person category is unconstitutional under Bruen, but questions are now also posed (1) is it constitutional to punish false statement under Bruen and (2) would it make any difference if the false statement concerned a prohibited person status that was unconstitutional?
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