'Aloha' Unconstitutional Gun Law
Federal Judge Says Hawaii Handgun Inspection Requirement Violates Second Amendment
Attorney Alan Alexander Beck (l) and Alan Gottlieb with the Second Amendment Foundation. Beck successfully fought a restrictive Hawaii gun control law.
Handgun buyers in the Aloha State have long been saddled with a jump-through-the-hoops requirement. This rule requires that people who obtain a permit to buy a handgun must make that purchase within 10 days, and must physically bring the gun to the police department for an in-person inspection and registration within five days of acquiring said sidearm.
Last month, Chief U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright of the District of Hawaii ruled that the requirement is an unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment. The case is known as Yukutake v. Connors. The main plaintiff is Todd Yukutake, a director of the Hawaii Firearms Coalition. The defendant is State Attorney General Clare Connors.
“(B)oth provisions are subject to intermediate scrutiny,” Judge Seabright wrote. “And because the Government has entirely failed to demonstrate how each law effectuates its asserted interest in public safety, neither law can pass constitutional muster under this standard of review.”
Judge Seabright is a George W. Bush appointee to the federal district court, so he’s been around a while. He might be an example of why Second Amendment activists keep reminding one another “elections matter.”
Noting that Hawaii is the only state in the nation to require in-person inspection and registration of firearms, Judge Seabright also observed, “If it were truly a matter of common sense that in-person inspection and registration promoted public safety—or that misidentification in the absence of in-person inspection and registration was a problem—one would expect additional states to maintain similar requirements. The Government has failed to show that the in-person inspection and registration requirement is reasonably tailored to a significant, substantial, or important government interest.”
Art of Discouragement
Hawaii isn’t the only state where laws have been written and enforced in a way that seems designed to discourage people from exercising their Second Amendment rights.
New York, New Jersey and Maryland are three other prime examples, which explains why the Empire State’s law regarding gun permits is being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court.
In New Jersey and Maryland, as well as New York, getting a permit to carry is nearly impossible. The Hawaii approach has been to make just getting a handgun a daunting task. According to Todd Yukutake’s attorney, Alan Alexander Beck of San Diego, the process begins with going to the police department to apply for a permit. Next comes waiting for 14 days, going back to the police department to pick up the permit, and bringing the handgun back for inspection and registration. As Beck explained, this system requires average working people to take three days off work just to crawl through the process.
Beck worked with Mississippi attorney Stephen D. Stamboulieh to successfully challenge those requirements.
State Dept. Bans Russian Ammo Imports
If everything went according to plan, sometime this week the Federal Register was to have published notice of new sanctions against Russia, most notably a restriction on imports of “certain Russian firearms.”
Worse news, however, is that “New and pending permit applications for the permanent importation of firearms and ammunition manufactured or located in Russia will be subject to a policy of denial.” The National Rifle Association, which cancelled its would-have-been gala 150th anniversary members’ meetings and exhibits in Houston scheduled for last weekend in Houston, wasn’t pleased.
The prevailing suspicion is that the Biden administration is merely using the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksey Navalny in August 2020 as an excuse to ban the ammunition imports. Lots of U.S. shooters use Russian-manufactured ammunition, and the loss of this ammo could prove itself to be a blow to those gun owners.
The ammunition shortage in this country is well-known. Loss of the Russian imports will only exacerbate the problem.
In a prepared statement, the NRA observed, “The full effect of this new policy will likely not be realized for a few months, but it will certainly lead to more ammunition shortages, higher prices, and therefore fewer Americans excising their fundamental rights. It may also result in the shuttering of American small businesses that rely heavily on the importation of Russian ammunition. All of this is of course by design for the Biden Administration.”
Ruger Introduces MAX-9 Pistol
Looking for a new carry pistol with punch?
Ruger’s recently-announced MAX-9 is a tough little 9mm striker-fired pistol with a 10-round magazine. It can deliver 11 rounds with one in the chamber and a full magazine.
According to the Ruger spec sheet, the MAX-9 has a hardened alloy steel slide and barrel, both finished with black oxide. Barrel length is 3.2 inches, cut with six lands and grooves on a 1:10-inch right-hand twist. The front sight features a tritium lamp and fiber optic tube, and the rear sight is drift-adjustable.
Ruger delivers this pistol with two 10-round E-Nickel Teflon-coated magazines. It weighs 19.2 ounces (empty) thanks to the frame, which is made from high performance glass-filled nylon and has an overall length of 6 inches. The magazine release is reversible.
Ruger designed this pistol to be optic-ready for direct mounting of co-witnessed JPoint™ and Shield-pattern micro fed dot sights.
The MAX-9 features a Hogue Beavertail HandALL grip sleeve with Hogue’s trademark Cobblestone texturing.
There’s an integrated trigger safety, manual safety and internal striker blocker. There’s also a small port to visibly see whether the chamber is loaded.
This pistol has an MSRP of $599.
Fatally-Botched Robbery
The Norfolk, VA Police Department and Commonwealth’s Attorney were investigating the fatal shooting of a would-be robber by an armed 7-Eleven clerk in mid-August.
The deceased suspect was identified by police as Javier Garcia, 28. He allegedly entered the convenience store about midnight on Aug. 15. The identity of the armed clerk was not released, as is common practice in such cases.
The Virginian-Pilot said Garcia died at a local hospital.
This wasn’t the first time a shooting has happened in the Hampton Roads neighborhood. There have been two others over the past four years, the newspaper said.
Screen Capture from YouTube video posted by Josh Hawley, Originally Shown on C-SPAN
Biden Pulls Chipman Nomination
Joe Biden and his allies in the gun prohibition movement suffered a stinging defeat this week when the White House withdrew the nomination of David Chipman to head the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Chipman is the retired BATF agent who has been working as a senior advisor to the gun control lobbying group Giffords. During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this year, he acknowledged support for a ban on so-called “assault weapons.”
What derailed the effort to put an anti-gunner in charge of the nation’s firearms control agency was unanimous opposition from Senate Republicans and the likelihood that three, and possibly four, Democrats would vote against Chipman’s confirmation. An unidentified administration official told CNN the votes simply weren’t there, so Chipman will not be running the show.
This comes as the nation observes the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack that took the lives of nearly 3,000 innocent people.
