Thanks, Reason.tv, for a clear explanation!

Yours truly in today’s Washington Post: “Plaintiff in handgun case is suing D.C. for right carry firearms in public”

It was a good chance to head out to the shooting range in Virginia!

I took off a few hours from my work today for something a little different. I went out to the Blue Ridge Arsenal shooting range today with a reporter from the Washington Post for some practice. He’s writing a story on the “right to carry” case in the District of Columbia (He had written a story earlier on the difficulties of obtaining a firearm legally in the District: “Get a Gun in D.C. — Do You Feel Lucky?: Not Just Strict Rules Test Your Decision“)

I let him shoot two of my firearms: the .38 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun that was the basis for my involvement in the initial lawsuit against the gun ban and then the 9mm Glock 26 that is the foundation of my involvement in the current case. He rented a .38 and was loaned another by a manager. It was good to get back on the range, not to mention to be able to buy some ammunition.

The outstanding lawyer Alan Gura, who won the case before the Supreme Court that struck down the ban on ownership of firearms in the District of Columbia today argued our case for the right, not only to “keep,” but to “bear” arms, i.e., to carry them in public. Alan’s smart and focused and we’ve got a strong case.

Cato Chairman Robert A. Levy, who funded the previous case entirely out of his own pocket, made the case for the right to carry in an article in the Washington Post last year: “Gun Owners’ Next Victory in D.C.” That’s the same Robert A. Levy who wrote “The moral and constitutional case for a right to gay marriage” for the New York Daily News earlier this month. Bob is neither a gun owner nor gay; he’s just a decent person who believes in liberty and the rule of law. Oh, and he’s brilliant, too.

From NPR: “Opponents Threaten Court Battle on Health Mandate”

Yes, if done according to the law. (Richard Nixon was certainly impeachable, and would have been impeached had he not resigned; the articles of impeachment were drawn up and voted by the House Judiciary Committee.)

Here’s the analysis in the case of the removal from office of the former Honduran president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, prepared by the Directorate of Legal Research of the U.S. Library of Congress:

Conclusion:

V. Was the removal of Honduran President Zelaya legal, in accordance with Honduran constitutional and statutory law?

Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied constitutional and statutory law in the case against President Zelaya in a manner that was judged by the Honduran authorities from both branches of the government to be in accordance with the Honduran legal system.

However, removal of President Zelaya from the country by the military is in direct violation of the Article 102 of the Constitution, and apparently this action is currently under investigation by the Honduran authorities.

Hat tip: Daniil Gorbatenko

CNN: “Johns Hopkins student kills apparent burglar with sword”

Authorities are determining whether the student will face criminal charges, Guglielmi said.

Naturally, there should be some investigation of the nature of the incident, but if someone breaks into your home and you confront him with a sword and he attacks you….just what should he expect? (And yes, it’s logically possible that the college students kidnapped a burglar who was recently released from prison, trapped him in the garage, and then attacked him for fun. But not likely. So ask questions and determine what happened, but if the student was defending himself, he’s not the one who’s legally or morally responsible for the death of the intruder.)

The text of the legal filing in the case in which I’m a plaintiff to vindicate the right to bear arms in the District of Columbia.

CBS Correspondent Declan McCullagh on the CBS Blog: “New Gun Rights Suit In D.C. Tests 2nd Amend Limit”

The legal sponsor is the Second Amendment Foundation.

I think that Radley Balko basically gets the issue right: “‘The Henry Louis Gates ‘Teaching Moment’”

The conversation we ought to be having in response to the July 16 incident and its heated aftermath isn’t about race, it’s about police arrest powers, and the right to criticize armed agents of the government.

With Professor Nasrullah Stanakzai after our presentations to his law class at Kabul University Faculty of Law

I had some great meetings with the deans of law and political science and of economics, a number of faculty members, and the chancellor of Kabul University, where I gave a brief lecture on the role of property law in economic development (the “3 D’s”: Definable, Defendable, and Divestible) to the law class of Professor Nasrullah Stanakzai, who then gave a remarkable presentation on Afghanistan’s law of landed property.

….from the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy

Read their final report: “Drugs and Democracy: Toward a Paradigm Shift”

It is long past time to end the destructive, wasteful, and unjust policy of prohibition. It fuels terrorism, empowers and funds the most violent criminals, and ruins the lives of millions of people. Enough!

Alan Gura: How a Young Lawyer Saved the Second Amendment (Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2008)

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA V. HELLER: WHATâ??S NEXT?