The Knox Update, Uncategorized

Nothing More than Feelings

Appeals Court places feelings over Constitution

By Jeff Knox 

(April 29, 2015) A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, based in Chicago, has upheld a lower court ruling that an Illinois community’s ordinance banning possession of “assault weapons,” and “high-capacity” magazines is not a violation of the Second Amendment rights of their citizens.  In the two to one decision, the prevailing judges concluded that “If a ban on semi‐automatic guns and large‐capacity magazines reduces the perceived risk from a mass shooting, and makes the public feel safer as a result, that’s a substantial benefit.” 

They stated this outrageous conclusion right after admitting that the “perception” of risk was exaggerated and that the actual risk is extremely low.  (After all, so-called “assault weapons” are involved in something less than 2% of violent assaults and murders.)  In order to reach their conclusion, the judges had to completely dismiss the perceived risks and concerns of the plaintiffs, who choose to have the capability to defend themselves and their families in the event of criminal assault by multiple assailants.  While this too is a low-probability scenario, many people in Baltimore might say it is much more likely than the stated rationale for banning the guns and magazines which was concerns about a Sandy Hook-style mass murder.

Continue reading Nothing More than Feelings →

The Knox Update, Uncategorized

Uber Driver Saves Lives – Media Yawns

Guns Save Lives, but Media Agenda Uber Alles

By Jeff Knox

(April 22, 2015) Did you see the story about the Uber driver who shot a man in Chicago’s Logan Square on Friday evening, April 17.  The story blipped across newspapers and TV screens on Monday, but little has been heard about it since.  The unidentified driver of an Uber rideshare car was parked when he saw a young man across the street open fire on a group of pedestrians.  The Uber driver jumped from his car and fired at the attacker, hitting him in the legs and back.  No one else was injured.

This is exactly the sort of story that Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America founder Shannon Watts keeps insisting never happens.  That it happened in Chicago, where until recently, thanks to multiple lawsuits from citizens and rights organizations, possession of a handgun in one’s own home, much less out on the street, was totally prohibited, adds another interesting angle to the story.  The fact that the hero in this story was one of the few who have successfully gone through the complex, expensive, and invasive process of acquiring the necessary government permission slips to legally carry the gun, and that he actually had it when and where he needed it, should be particularly newsworthy.  If this story had happened in Phoenix, where concealed carry is routine, and where citizens aren’t required to have any sort of permission slip to exercise their right to arms, it probably wouldn’t have been reported nationally at all.  Even so, the short shrift given the story by local and national news media reveals why the public is so misinformed about defensive gun use.

Continue reading Uber Driver Saves Lives – Media Yawns →

The Knox Update

Quick Draw Tim McGraw

Say it ain’t so Tim!

A rose is still a rose, and gun control is still gun control.

By Jeff Knox

(April 15, 2015)  Country music headliner Tim McGraw has announced that he will be staging a concert in Hartford, Connecticut this July as a benefit for the group Sandy Hook Promise.  The concert is scheduled for July 17, and is billed as featuring McGraw, along with Billy Currington (who has now announced that he won’t be participating) and Chase Bryant, as well as some “surprise guests.”  Fans will no doubt be hoping the “surprise” will include McGraw’s wife, country music superstar Faith Hill.

All proceeds from the concert will go directly to benefit Sandy Hook Promise and their various programs.  In a statement McGraw said, “Sandy Hook Promise teaches that we can do something to protect our children from gun violence. I want to be a part of that promise – as a father and as a friend.” 

A personal connection appears to be the spark that brought McGraw to the organization.  One of McGraw’s band members, fiddle player Dean Brown, has friends in Newtown who lost a son in the Sandy Hook tragedy. 

So what’s the problem?  Why would it be controversial for a country music star to do a benefit concert to assist the activities of the grieving families of Sandy Hook?

Continue reading Quick Draw Tim McGraw →

The Knox Update

The Trap of “Those Other People”

Watch out for “Those Other People!”

By Jeff Knox

Gun control is all about fear of “those other people.”  Responsible, law-abiding voters who know gun owners − and even some gun owners themselves − have allowed the dismantling of liberty all based on fear of what “those other people” might do.  The conversation typically begins with a statement of support for gun rights and gun owners, followed with the inevitable “but.”  “But,” the speaker opines, “some ‘reasonable’ restrictions are needed because, while you and I are responsible, law-abiding citizens, there are ‘those others’ who need closer scrutiny and control.”

Throughout history fear of “those other people” has led free people to forge their own chains.  It’s a twist on the old parable of the frogs in the slowly warming pot of water, not noticing that they are being cooked until it’s too late.  But it turns out that the frogs in the pot are themselves adding fuel to the fire in the name of defense against “those other people.”

At various time in America’s historic drift toward gun control “those other people” have been Blacks, Irish, Italians, Eastern Europeans, Jews, Communists, racists, anarchists, Hispanics, illegal aliens, Muslims, radical Christians, military veterans, union organizers, gun nuts… Virtually any group imaginable has been pointed to as the threat that justifies the latest scheme to limit liberty. 

The early days of our Republic saw unrest leading to the Alien and Sedition Acts, but it was Black Freemen in the years leading up to and after the Civil War that became the original excuse for gun control laws.  In the infamous Dred Scott decision, Justice Taney, writing for the Court majority, declared that Scott, who was trying to sue for his freedom, did not have standing to file the suit because he was not a US Citizen.  Taney went on to explain that Blacks could not be citizens because citizenship would give them rights to travel, hold political meetings, and “to keep and carry arms wherever they went.”  And that would obviously be a terrible thing because there’s just no telling what “those people” might do with so much liberty.

The 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution changed the game by declaring that Blacks were indeed citizens entitled to all of the privileges and immunities of citizenship.  The route chosen around that obstacle was to enact general gun laws with a nod and a wink to upstanding White citizens.  The Supreme Court did its part with decisions like the Slaughterhouse cases and Cruickshank which gutted the 14th amendment and stripped rights enumerated in the Constitution from all citizens and opening the door to Jim Crow.  Gun control laws were among the first Jim Crow laws and remain as one of the last vestiges of that racist system. 

Meanwhile in the North, “those other people” were “anarchists” − recent immigrants who were considered low class and often criminal.  The KKK, a major political force within the Democrat Party, widely promoted gun control as one of their leading and most successful initiatives.  Many states, both North and South, adopted the KKK’s Permit to Purchase scheme.  Permits were, and in some places still are, routinely denied to all but middle and upper class White folks.  Similar prejudice is often seen in issuance of concealed carry permits and enforcement of gun laws in general.  This was exemplified during the debate over Arizona’s concealed carry law when a high-ranking law enforcement official asked a pro-rights lobbyist what he was worried about.  “After all, you’re white and wear a tie.”  In other words, our lobbyist wasn’t one of “those other people.”

The issue of “those other people” shows no sign of going away.  The hottest “gun control” idea today is closing the “gun show loophole” by inserting government bureaucracy into private gun trades.  Subjecting millions to undue scrutiny for fear of a very few of “those other people.”

Another popular scheme is the idea of banning sales of guns to people on the “No Fly” and “Terrorist Watch” lists.  That sounds so reasonable until you consider that the process of who, how, and why names are added to the No-Fly and Terrorist Watch lists of “those other people” is a government secret.  It’s also well to keep in mind that conservatives, libertarians constitutionalists, proponents of smaller government, opponents of abortion, patriots, flag wavers, and all those millions of responsible, law-abiding, heavily armed “gun nuts” with their military looking guns and high-powered “sniper” (previously known as “hunting”) rifles are, to the politicians and bureaucrats who control the lists, “those other people.”

To paraphrase that great philosopher Pogo: “We have met those other people and they is us!”

Permission to reprint or post this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes is hereby granted provided this credit is included.  Text is available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.  To receive The Firearms Coalition’s bi-monthly newsletter, The Hard Corps Report, write to PO Box 3313, Manassas, VA  20108. 

©Copyright 2008 Neal Knox Associates

The Knox Update

What They Call “Gun Violence”

What is “Gun Violence?”

By Jeff Knox

(April 9, 2015) When you hear terms like “gun violence” and “gun deaths,” what do you think of?  For most people, the first thought is of thugs waving guns and shooting people during the commission of a violent crime.  But that’s not what’s being talked about in “studies” and “statistics” published in the media.  Sure they include this terminology when they report on those types of crimes, but most of the time, when the media talks about “gun violence” or “gun deaths,” they’re following a game-plan from gun control advocacy groups, and the data is based on much more than violent criminals.  The “gun violence” and “gun deaths” they’re talking about also includes armed citizens using guns to defend themselves and their families, police using guns to stop criminals, hunters unintentionally shooting themselves or others in the fields, and people who use guns when they choose to take their own lives.  Over 60% of all firearm-related deaths are suicides.

When you hear the term “gun violence” do you think of a mom shooting a violent intruder in her home?  Or a police officer shooting an armed criminal?  Even hunting accidents, are included as “gun violence,” and while all of these describe “gun deaths,” they are not the sort of gun deaths most people think of when the term is thrown out on the table.

Continue reading What They Call “Gun Violence” →

The Knox Update

Bad Laws – No Justice

Bad Laws – Unreasonable Prosecutions – Unequal Justice

By Jeff Knox

(April 3, 2015) In recent years I’ve often written about people entangled in our nation’s complex, confusing, and irrational gun laws.  People like David Olofson, who was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for illegal transfer of a “machine gun” after his standard, semi-auto, AR – with no altered or modified parts – malfunctioned and produced hammer-follow doubles and tripples.  Or FBI Special Agent John Shipley, who was sentenced to two years for “engaging in the business” of buying and selling firearms, even though all of his sales were legal, and he maintained better records than most private sellers – something that was actually used as evidence against him during his trial.  And the recent case of Shaneen Allen, the single mom who got a gun and carry permit after being robbed twice, and who, when stopped for an unsafe lane change, informed the officer about the gun in her purse.  Unfortunately, the incident occurred in New Jersey, across the river from Allen’s Pennsylvania home.  Shaneen spent 40 days in jail before finally getting out on bail, and was facing a minimum, mandatory 3-year sentence.  But thanks to the efforts of attorney Evan Nappen, and the outraged cries of gun owners from around the country – not to mention the governor’s presidential aspirations – she was eventually given a suspended sentence deal that will be expunged upon completion (and just this week pardoned by Governor Christie).  Then there was the Reese family, denied bail and kept in custody for 18 months because they sold guns and ammunition to customers in their gun shop whom they “should have known” were lying on federal forms.  You can find those stories at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

Continue reading Bad Laws – No Justice →

The Knox Update

The Accidental Felon

The Accidental Felon

By Jeff Knox

            (January 29, 2008) There are several ways for a person to unintentionally commit a felony, but most of them are looked at by prosecutors, judges, and juries as the accidents they are and dealt with accordingly.  Such is not always the case however, especially when firearms are involved; for the past 2 years David Olofson has been learning that the hard way.  Olofson is a regular guy who happens to be fond of AR15 style sport-utility rifles.  He loaned a rifle to a friend who, while shooting at a local range, fired a couple of bursts of automatic fire from the gun just before it jammed.  Someone at or near the gun club called the police to complain about machinegun fire.  The police notified the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and David Olofson, who wasn’t present at the range, was subsequently charged and convicted of illegally transferring a machinegun.

Olofson was not charged with possession of an unregistered machinegun or with illegally manufacturing, modifying, or otherwise making a machinegun, only with illegally transferring a machinegun.  Since everyone agreed that the gun belonged to Olofson and that he had loaned it to the other guy to shoot, the only issue in question was whether the gun was a machinegun.  A much easier case to make since ATF is the final arbiter in determining whether a gun is a machinegun, and the law defining machineguns tends to be selectively interpreted by them.

As a matter of fact, when the ATF Firearms Technical Branch (FTB) examined the rifle they concluded that it was not a machinegun.  They did find that if the Safety switch was moved beyond its normal range of motion, the disconnector would malfunction resulting in hammer-follow.

The local ATF agent asked that the 5.56 NATO rifle be tested using commercial .223 ammunition with soft primers.  Those tests resulted in intermittent, unregulated, automatic fire and jamming caused by hammer-follow, but this time the FTB concluded that, under strict interpretation of the law, the gun’s malfunction did make it a machinegun.

Anyone experienced with semi-automatic firearms knows how dangerous hammer-follow can be and it is obvious that the ATF testers were also aware of the danger.  The government entered into evidence a tightly edited video clip of one of their testers firing Olofson’s gun for a relatively long full-auto string.  The cyclic rate was estimated to be near 1700 rounds per minute, more than twice that of a properly regulated M16.  In the video, the shooter held the firearm well away from his face and body in obvious fear that the rifle would fly apart at any moment.

 Olofson’s firearms expert was never allowed to touch the gun, but he was allowed to look inside and saw no signs of grinding or tampering.  He recognized that M16 parts were present, but no auto-sear.

In his defense Olofson wanted to point out that ATF had called for a recall of Olympic Arms AR15’s of Olofson’s vintage because the M16 parts had a tendency to cause hammer-follow which could be dangerous when using soft-primered, commercial ammo.  He also wanted to bring up a recent case where ATF ruled that an AR15 converted to fire full-auto and legally registered as a machinegun was not a machinegun because it did not have an auto-sear.  Removing it from the NFA rolls devalued it from a market value of around $20,000.00 to about $1,500.

None of this was allowed into evidence though because ATF and the US Attorney claimed that such information was prohibited from disclosure by tax privacy laws.  This contention now appears to be patently false and the judge has egg on his face for not making the government prove their privacy claim.

The cornerstone of the government’s case was their contention that it doesn’t matter whether a gun fires multiple shots as a result of malfunction or modification because the law defines a machinegun as; “… any weapon which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot, without manual reloading, by a single function of the trigger.”  While on the witness stand, firearms expert Len Savage asked the Assistant US Attorney prosecuting the case if that would make his grandfather’s old side-by-side a machinegun if it malfunctioned and fired both barrels with one pull of the trigger.  The AUSA responded by repeating with emphasis, “any weapon which shoots… more than one shot… by a single function of the trigger.”

After looking into this case, talking to David Olofson and Len Savage, and studying the paperwork, I am convinced that an injustice has been done.  That’s why The Firearms Coalition is encouraging folks to contact their elected representatives in Washington to demand that they launch a full investigation.  We are also working with members of Congress to fix the definition of a machinegun.  Until that is accomplished, I encourage gunowners to be especially cautious; a little paranoia can be a healthy thing.

Much more information about this case is available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.

Permission to reprint or post this article in its entirety is hereby granted provided this credit is included.  Text is available at www.FirearmsCoalition.org.  To receive The Firearms Coalition’s bi-monthly newsletter, The Hard Corps Report, write to PO Box 3313, Manassas, VA  20108. 

©Copyright 2008 Neal Knox Associates

The Knox Update

Jones Leaves ATF – and Questions – Behind

Jones Out at ATF – Questions Never Answered

By Jeff Knox 

(March 25, 2015) The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, or ATF, has announced the resignation of Director B. Todd Jones, effective at the end of the month.  Jones is said to be moving on to a lucrative (multi-million dollar) position with the National Football League.  The announcement came just days after blogger and independent journalist David Codrea (who was also the first to report on the Fast and Furious scandal) had reported on rumors that the ATF chief was on his way out.  Jones headed the agency on an interim basis from August 2011 until a year and a half ago when he was confirmed as Director by the U.S. Senate in July of 2013.

When he was appointed Interim Director, Jones was billed as a reformer, a straight arrow who would get to the bottom of recent ATF scandals – most particularly Fast and Furious, the program that promoted the sales of thousands of guns to Mexican criminals – and get the agency back on track.  At that time I warned that Jones was a “company man” with personal and professional loyalties to Attorney General Eric Holder, and possibly, personal involvement in Fast and Furious.  I pointed out that in his capacity as Chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, Jones was believed to be in attendance at a critical meeting of the AG’s Southwest Border Strategy Group where some believe the group conceived the seriously flawed gunwalking strategy.

Continue reading Jones Leaves ATF – and Questions – Behind →

The Knox Update

More Citizens – Less Freedom?

The Biggest Threat to Our Rights – Amnesty

By Jeff Knox

(March 19, 2015) As we have been scrambling to counter threats like the Obama administration’s recent assault on common rifle ammunition, another, less immediate, but more dangerous threat has been looming and growing; the threat of amnesty for illegal immigrants.

As a political operative focused almost exclusively on Second Amendment issues, some might think illegal immigration and amnesty are a bit far afield for me to be getting into, but there is no greater threat being faced by gun owners right now than the consequences of rapidly converting millions of illegal immigrants into legal, voting citizens.  The equation is very simple: for a variety of reasons, illegal immigrants overwhelmingly support Democrats and Democrat policies over Republicans or other parties.  Data from the Pew Research Center indicates only 4% of (probably unauthorized immigrant) Latinos identify as Republican, and that in 2012, 71% of Latino voters cast their ballot for Obama, while only 27% supported Romney.

Continue reading More Citizens – Less Freedom? →

The Knox Update

ATF Backs Off of Ammo Ban – For Now

ATF Backs Off of Ammo Ban – For Now

By Jeff Knox

(March 11, 2015) Feigning shock and surprise at the huge number of comments they received objecting to their plan to ban popular M855 ammunition, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives announced a tactical retreat from the plan earlier this week.  ATF, released a statement on Tuesday, March 9, saying that over 80,000 comments had been received objecting to the plan, and they were going to postpone any action until they could review those comments.  They didn’t mention the two letters they received from the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, which contained similar objections and were signed by majorities from both those legislative houses, but that political pressure undoubtedly played a role in the decision.

At the core of the planned ammo ban is a 1986 law known as the Law Enforcement Officer Protection Act, or LEOPA.  Passed as a result of media hype over so-called “Cop-Killer Bullets,” (which had never killed a cop) the stated objective of LEOPA was to prevent widespread distribution of “armor-piercing” handgun ammunition that might be used by criminals to penetrate police body armor.  Even though the act’s sponsors stated that the act was not intended to apply to centerfire rifle ammunition, the final version that passed out of Congress included the phrase, “which may be used in a handgun,” as part of the ban criteria.  Since the difference between a rifle and a handgun is simply a matter of how long the barrel and stock are, a “handgun” version of any rifle can be made in any caliber.  

Continue reading ATF Backs Off of Ammo Ban – For Now →

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