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Posted on 08/21/2008 1:33:43 AM PDT by neverdem
In one of the first lower court rulings since the Supreme Court handed down the weakly-worded Heller Decision, a government restriction on firearms has been upheld.
Steven Mullenix, a federal firearms licensee (FFL), was denied permission to import German WWII replica rifles by the notoriously anti-gun Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). The BATFE used arguments from the 1968 Gun Control Act to argue that the replica BD-44 held no "sporting purpose" and therefore Mr. Mullenix could not legally import them.
In return Mullenix sued the BATFE for infringing upon his right to keep and bear arms, calling their ruling "arbitrary and capricious."
Just a few short days after the Supreme Court ruled on the Heller Case -- the supposed victory for the Second Amendment --the North Carolina Circuit Court used Justice Scalia's own words to uphold the BATFE's restriction on firearms importation.
The lower court agreed with the BATFE's findings that the firearms Mr. Mullenix wanted to import were not "generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes."
They went on to restate the Heller Decision language that the Second Amendment wasn't unlimited, and that the government has the right to restrict or ban any type of firearm, stating that the right only applies to certain types of firearms.
Clearly, the ripples of the Heller Decision will be felt for years to come. Unfortunately we can only speculate on the future unintended consequences of this weak decision.
This much we do know: the Heller Decision is far from a victory for gun owners. It is already being used successfully to infringe upon the rights of gun owners across the county.
Read the full lower court ruling in Mullenix v. BATFE here. pdf link
For all the latest Heller Decision related news, click here:
http://www.nationalgunrights.org/truthaboutheller.shtml
Komrad Kalashnikov doesn't look so original. The AK-47 looks like a complete ripoff, IMHO.
The source has more stories about Heller being problematic.
It's not about hunting. It's not about crime.
Absurd of course. At the time the amendment was written banning hunting would been considered ludicrous on the level of gay marriage.
Oh, but the violent overthrow of gummint is a crime. Ask the gummint.
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From time to time, I’ll ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
That one line is all that the courts will ever use from Heller.
"[l]ike most rights, the Second Amendment is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose."
That's the only part the courts will focus on. Nothing else said in it will matter. They will keep chipping away at which weapons and and for what purpose thay are permitted. Mark my word.
Uh, since the Olympics themselves have shooting competitions that don't involve killing something, isn't shooting itself a sport?
Call them what they are: BAT FEces.
The only down side is that it would be a semiauto and the ammo is really expensive when you can find it...
The 2nd isnt about "sport"
Has everyone read the book “Unintended Consequences”?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1888118040/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
For those that haven’t, it’s part history and part fiction. In it, members of the “gun culture” start taking out BATF members and activist judges, then posting in the classifieds ads pointing out how easy it was, and that BATF members should quit their jobs or suffer the same fate.
They left in droves, and eventually, things started to get better.
Now I would NEVER advocate someone break the law, but wouldn’t it be interesting if the revolution was fought guerilla style like that?
When everybody was celebrating Heller, I was urging caution, telling everyone that we did not win anything significant. Future courts could limit our 'right' to be exercised only in the home as everywhere else will be deemed off-limits and anything other than handguns too dangerous.
While Lucas is a lib, remember the words of Yoda admonishing Obi-Wan when Obi-Wan called their battle against the droids a 'victory'?
Yoda said: "Victory, you say? Master Obi-Wan.....not victory. The shroud of the Dark Side has fallen. Begun the Clone War has."
So it is with the Second Amendment. We won a single battle by a 5-4 vote. The war could easily be lost.
Activist local judges will always rule against liberty. Always have, always will. It doesn’t have any effect on us unless this were appealed and upheld. But you can bet that SCOTUS doesn’t take crappy pro se cases.
This would be news only if the court had ruled the other way.
I suggest everyone read the book “Term Limits” by Vince Flynn.
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