Image from Pennsylvania Courts Public Domain, Cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten Posted on 10/10/2020 5:43:10 AM PDT by marktwain
U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- On 20 March 2016, 32-year-old Joshua Hudec of Mount Pleasant, left his three children and house in the hands of an 18-year-old babysitter. The babysitter apparently left 13-year-old James Gustavson and 14-year-old John Bunsworth in the home. In the home was a Springfield XD pistol.
The babysitter is said to have asked Bunsworth to point the pistol at Gustavson in order to scare Gustavson into leaving. Bunsworth fired the pistol, killing Gustavson. He later claimed the magazine was removed from the pistol, so he thought it was unable to fire, and he did not mean to fire it. He was sentenced to involuntary manslaughter in juvenile court. Joshua Hudec was charged and pled guilty to five counts of child endangerment and reckless endangerment, to serve between 11.5 and 23 months in prison.
These details were not included in the case before the court.
Image from Pennsylvania Courts Public Domain, Cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten
In the court findings, only the fact the 14-year-old obtained the handgun in the Hudec household, then subsequently shot and killed Gustavson, is in the court document. It is accepted as fact that Bunsworth, the 14-year-old, told the truth when he claimed the magazine was out of the gun, and he assumed the gun was unloaded because the magazine had been removed.
The fact the pistol could fire with the magazine removed is the basis for the liability lawsuit.
On 28 September 2020, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (one of two state courts of appeals in the state of Pennsylvania) issued an opinion which held the United States Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA) was unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment, the Commerce Clause, and the Fifth Amendment.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
The court also claims the Fourteenth Amendment and Second Amendment do not apply... because.
My semi autos all fire without a magazine. I know some don’t. I wouldn’t want to be left helpless while in the middle of changing magazines in a dangerous situation.
I love the fact that the 10th Amendment was the basis of the opinion. It’s the linchpin to limiting the federal government to only what the Constitution says the government can do.
Once Amy Comy Barrett is confirmed to the Court... interesting things may happen.
The big issue here is the 10th. PLCAA is a purposeful over-ride of state laws, expressly justified by the Commerce Clause. This is the precise reason the Commerce Clause exists, and it’s being used to protect the 2nd Amendment.
Appeals courts usually ALWAYS presume the facts of the case as found by the lower courts unless there’s a basis for finding them literally unreasonable or impaired.
Among states, a “Supreme” court is a lower court (trial level) and an “appeals” court is the higher court.
I believe that depends on the state.
Some states use different nomenclature than others.
I agree. A state cannot destroy business outside its boundaries with its tort law, and say "It is not commerce, it is law".
If it has feathers like a duck, waddles like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.
Tort law in the U.S. has undergone a complete revolution since 1965. There were many restraints on tort law which have been eliminated.
Yes, I was distracted as I wrote that and failed to say, “usually.” And actually, I researched and found that in Pennsylvania, the highest court IS in fact called, “the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.”
It varies by state.
CC
“Among states, a “Supreme” court is a lower court (trial level) and an “appeals” court is the higher court.”
In the State of New York the Supreme Court, County, Family and Surrogate courts are the lowest level. The Appellate Division is next, and the Court of Appeals is the highest court. But the State of New York is an anomaly. Generally the Supreme Court is the highest court of a State and the Court of Appeal, or Appeals, is below it.
Pennsylvania Ping!
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I can hear the leftists screaming. Here's the reality: there are more firearms in America than at any other time in our history. That's a good thing. Children can learn firearm safety. I started teaching my daughters fire arms safety when they were 7 and 8 years old. I started them with a semi-auto .22 pistol. With hearing protection it is barely audible, so no big boom to scare them. The trigger pull was light enough for a child to easily use. The goal was to have them safely plinking for fun while learning to respect firearms.
They were taught first how to pick up the weapon safely or receive it from someone else's hand safely. Then to point the weapon in a safe direction while checking to see if it was loaded - with and without a magazine. They learned to never trust the weapon's safety and to always treat the weapon as if it was loaded ... and so on. After about of month of periodic instruction they were allowed to fire the pistol, which they were anxious to do, because they saw how much fun that mommy and daddy had at the sportsmans club's range. Their first target was a print out of Big Bird from Sesame Street. (That's an entirely different story.) Safety lessons continued and they were introduced to a wide range of weapons with all sorts of actions so they knew how to handle just about any weapon.
Recently I heard a story about my one married daughter that made me a proud daddy. Shortly after my daughter met her boyfriend, now husband, she was over his parents house. Her now father-in-law had just built an AR-pistol and had asked her if she wanted to hold it - thinking she needed to get used to being around weapons. My daughter confidently handled the pistol, dropped the mag, opened the action, and inspected it for a chambered round, all the while with her finger to the side of the trigger guard. My son-in-laws family was floored by this and apparently said somethings that prompted my daughter to say, "do you want to see me field strip it?" My son-in-law instantly fell in love (well, it certainly helped the situation.) Moral of the story: Love and guns go together.
In the vast majority of States, the State Supreme Court is the highest. Generically all of the highest State courts are State supreme courts.
You are almost entirely incorrect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_supreme_court
We own multiple XD series pistols. Every single one of them has an owners manual which clearly states that the gun WILL fire with the magazine removed.
Every single one.
L
Hasn’t the PLCAA already been upheld in federal courts?
In N.Y., I believe that is true, but I don’t think that is universal.
Yes.
However, I do not think it has been challenged on Tenth Amendment grounds.
In addition, this court relies heavily on the Lopez case, which challenges conventional wisdom of the Commerce Clause, and has therefore been pretty much a dead letter.
,,,that’s a
Great Post!
Thanks
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