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Hoosier Governor To Defend The Second Amendment? Eric Holcomb, iStock-884171528

Indiana -(AmmoLand.com)-During a presidential year, it can be easy to overlook gubernatorial races. This can be very understandable the presidency is not for all of the marbles, but it can come pretty darn close in some areas. Governorships, though, have often been a launching pad for presidents and presidential nominees. Since 1976, four of the seven men who have held the Oval Office were governors.

That is why Indianas gubernatorial race is one Second Amendment supporters ought to keep an eye on. At the presidential level, Indiana has long been a reliable red state, save for Barack Obamas very narrow win of that state in 2008. The governorship was a somewhat different story. From 1989-2005, it was held by Democrats. Evan Bayh used the governorship to win two terms in the United States Senate, and Joe Donnelly won one term in 2012.

The current incumbent, Eric Holcomb, is running for re-election. In one sense, Holcomb is an accidental governor he was a last-minute replacement on the 2016 ballot because then-Indiana governor Mike Pence halted his re-election bid to be Donald Trumps running mate. Hed been Pences lieutenant governor for roughly six months, having suspended a Senate campaign (later won by Todd Young) to take that office. Prior to becoming lieutenant governor, hed been a staff member for both federal lawmakers and was Deputy Chief of Staff for Mitch Daniels. He also was chairman of the Indiana Republican Party.

While Indiana has always been respectful of our Second Amendment rights, Holcomb measurably improved the situation there by signing legislation that eliminated carry permit fees. Not only that, during the pandemic, he took steps to ensure that people could still exercise their Second Amendment rights. Consider, as a contrast, the actions of Roy Cooper, another governor up for re-election.

A pro-Second Amendment governor in Indiana is more important than you might think. With the high crime rates in Chicago, that states respect for the Second Amendment is often a scapegoat see Lori Lightfoot in 2019 and 2020 used by politicians to deflect blame for a failure to address crime. Of course, they also ignore a number of federal laws that can put someone who ran guns from Indiana to Chicago away for a very long time (one hypothetical puts a bad guy away for over a thousand years).

Holcomb is facing Woody Myers, whose campaign site indicates a likelihood he will join Lightfoot in seeking to punish Indiana residents for crimes committed in Chicago. As such, Second Amendment supporters need to get to work. Holcombs campaign site is here. They should also donate to the National Rifle Associations Political Victory Fund to help pro-Second Amendment candidates at all levels.

About Harold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.

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Hoosier Governor To Defend The Second Amendment? - Eric Holcomb - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News

Knife Rights: Amicus Brief Filed in Hawaii Butterfly Knife Second Amendment Case

U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- While the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted almost all legislative efforts this year, Knife Rights continues its efforts to serve our knife community and Rewrite Knife Law in America.

Knife Rights Foundation today announced the filing of an important Amicus Curiae (Friend of the Court) brief in a Second Amendment lawsuit currently before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The case, captioned Teter v. Connors, challenges the State of Hawaii's outright ban on butterfly knives. You can view or download the brief at http://bit.ly/teter-kr-brief.

Previously, the district court ruled in favor of the State on its motion for summary judgment, finding that Hawaii's butterfly knife ban does not severely burden the Second Amendment and that it survives intermediate scrutiny because it further[ed] the State's important interest to promote public safety by reducing access to butterfly knives, which leads to gang related crime. If that sounds like a regurgitation of the baseless arguments used to enact switchblade bans in the 1950's, that's because it is.

Balisong knives are legal to possess and carry in at least 43 states (16 because of Knife Rights' efforts repealing switchblade and butterfly knife bans since 2010), and Hawaii is one of only three states that specifically ban these knives. The district court's flawed analysis failed to consider that Hawaii had no ban on these commonly available knives until 1999, and data does not show that the ban was tailored to an actual problem, let alone that it meaningfully reduces crime.

The Knife Rights coalition brief clearly shows that under the U.S. Supreme Court's precedents, including the District of Columbia v. Heller decision, the knives are not both dangerous and unusual, are commonly possessed for lawful purposes, and are protected under the Second Amendment. That's why, Knife Rights and the other amici argue, the State's prohibition must fail.

Butterfly knives, like all knives, are arms protected by the Second Amendment. It is time states like Hawaii stop banning knives in common use based on a fictional threat derived from 1980's action movies, explained the brief's author, attorney John W. Dillon of Dillon Law Group APC.

Hawaii's ban on butterfly knives is both irrational, as are all such knife bans, and unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, said Knife Rights' Chairman, Doug Ritter. Knife Rights is proud to be able to support this appeal of an absurd ruling by the district court and appreciate the collaboration and support from our good friends at San Diego County Gun Owners and Firearms Policy Coalition.

The ability to defend yourself is important to our members and we are proud to fight for Second Amendment rights in all forms, commented Michael Schwartz, San Diego County Gun Owners PAC's executive director.

FPC is delighted to join our friends at SDCGO and Knife Rights in filing this brief to defend Second Amendment rights, said FPC Director of Research, Joseph Greenlee. Butterfly knives are important self-defense tools and certainly among the arms that the people have a right to keep and bear.

Click here to read the Amicus Curie brief.

Click here to read the 2013 law review article, Knives and the Second Amendment, authored by noted Second Amendment scholars Dave Kopel, Clayton Cramer and Joe Olson. This article provides the scholarly foundation for many of the positions in the original case and this brief.

About Knife Rights Foundation

The 501(c)(3) Knife Rights Foundation (www.KnifeRights.org) is dedicated to defense of knife owners' civil rights. The Foundation also works to educate knife owners, public officials and the general public about knife and edged tool related laws and regulations.

About San Diego County Gun Owners Political Action Committee

Founded in 2015, the San Diego County Gun Owners (www.sandiegocountygunowners.com) is a registered political action committee (FPPC ID #1379388) and advocacy organization focused on organizing the gun industry and community and protecting the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms.

About Firearms Policy Coalition

Firearms Policy Coalition (www.firearmspolicy.org) is a 501(c)4 grassroots nonprofit organization. FPCs mission is to protect and defend constitutional rightsespecially the right to keep and bear armsadvance individual liberty, and restore freedom through FPC Law, FPC Research, FPC Policy, FPC Grassroots, and other programs.

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Knife Rights: Amicus Brief Filed in Hawaii Butterfly Knife Second Amendment Case - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News

News Roundup

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 3, 2020, 4:16 pm CDT

Image from Shutterstock.com.

Kelley Drye trims some salary cuts

Kelley Drye & Warren is reducing 10% pay cuts to 5% cuts for associates, special counsels and staff earning more than $100,000. Reductions in equity partner draws will stay in place for now. (Above the Law, Bloomberg Law)

Las Vegas lawyer is accused of writing $400K in bad checks

Las Vegas lawyer Brian Christopher Padgett, 47, has been charged with writing two bad checks totaling $400,000. Padgett was the CEO of a cannabis company that has been sued by investors, edibles companies and a business partner. (The Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Fastcase acquires Judicata in blockbuster deal

Fastcase, a legal research services company, has acquired the legal technology assets of Judicata, a company that analyzed caselaw in California. The plan is to expand Judicatas innovative research and analytics tools nationwide. Fastcase CEO Ed Walters said the acquisition is a blockbuster deal. (LawSites, Law.com, Fastcase press release)

3rd Circuit upholds ban on high-capacity gun magazines

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Philadelphia said Tuesday that New Jerseys ban on high-capacity gun magazines does not violate the Second Amendment, the takings clause and the equal protection clause. The appeals court said a previous 3rd Circuit opinion that reviewed a preliminary injunction had already considered and rejected the challengers arguments. Ruling in a similar case last month, the 9th Circuit at San Francisco reached a different conclusion, finding that Californias ban violated the Second Amendment. (Reason via How Appealing, the 3rd Circuit decision)

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Afternoon Briefs: Another firm trims salary cuts; lawyer is accused of writing $400K in bad checks - ABA Journal

ORCHID: To some 30 Youngstown-area barbers who provided free haircuts to Youngstown City School District students this week preparing to head back to school. The second annual Back to School Free Haircut event was held at Beyond Expectations Barber College on the citys South Side. This wonderful project represented much more than grooming. Despite COVID-19 that has limited the physical return to the classroom, it still is about sending the kids back to their lessons feeling good about themselves. It also was about giving back to the community.

ORCHID: To Youngstown State University alumni Suellen and Michael Weir for giving back to their alma mater with a $1 million gift to establish a new scholarship intended to relieve financial barriers for students studying engineering or science. The award could cover 50 percent of the successful recipients tuition. Suellen attended Cardinal Mooney High School and received her bachelors degree in education from YSU in 1973. Michael, a graduate of North Lima High School, earned his bachelors degree from YSU in mechanical engineering in 1971, and a masters in business administration in 1977.

ONION: To vandals who damaged the beautiful Woodland Park in McDonald this week by spray painting profanity on the restroom building and park benches and throwing trash and garbage around the park. The damage meant some parts of the park had to be closed. We hope McDonald police are able to arrest the vandals and see that they are fully prosecuted to punish and teach lessons and also to send a message to other sad individuals who might think this kind of disruption is entertaining.

ORCHID: To local and federal law enforcement for joining forces this holiday weekend in an attempt to arrest and prosecute gun offenses on the streets of Youngstown. Our Second Amendment right does not protect people from illegally possessing firearms if they have been banned due to previous felony convictions or for other reasons. This weekends partnership benefit to Youngstown and its residents.

ORCHID: To all the organizers and participants at this years Canfield Junior Fair events. It seems strange to us all that we arent taking in the festivities at this years full fair, but we were glad to see the kids be able to showcase their projects and receive the full recognition and attention they deserve.

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Orchids and onions | News, Sports, Jobs - Youngstown Vindicator

The up-Island school committee voted Tuesday to approve the public school re-opening plan currently on the table, with two district-specific amendments. The vote marks a turning point in a protracted, Islandwide reopening debate, as the up-Island district formally breaks with the others to format its own plan.

Also Tuesday the committee voted to hire a full-time nurse for the Chilmark School.

Under a reopening plan approved by the all-Island school committee at a meeting last Thursday, students in grades K-4 will be phased back into the classroom four days a week, beginning early this fall. Student 5-8 will return to the classroom only once per week, starting in late October. Under the plan, Chilmark and West Tisbury students in grade 5 would also return four times a week.

The plan won the backing of the Edgartown and Tisbury school committees and will be voted on by the Oak Bluffs school committee this Thursday. But the proposal was met with hesitation from members of the up-Island committee, who put off voting until their next meeting.

At that meeting Tuesday, up-Island committee member Robert Lionette proposed three amendments to the re-opening plan that he said fit the specific needs of the up-Island community.

Two passed, although not without debate, while a third amendment failed.

The first and most substantial amendment will bring students in grades 6-8 back into classrooms on a twice-weekly basis in West Tisbury (Chilmark has no middle school). Committee chairman Alex Salop voiced support for the amendment, saying the West Tisbury School has ample space to safely accommodate the additional students in its middle school wing.

But school principal Donna Lowell-Bettencourt pushed back.

Amendment aside, under the most recent reopening plan, the West Tisbury will likely not have enough teachers to staff the many small pods of six to eight students who would be returning one day a week, Ms. Lowell-Bettencourt told the committee. When I break those classes into other sections to create smaller classes for the space, I run out of teaching staff, she said.

Depending on final enrollment, Ms. Lowell-Bettencourt said she expects to work with the health and wellness committee to adopt a cohort model for upper-grade students. The amendment would only increase the number of students in the building at one time, she said.

Schools superintendent Dr. Matthew DAndrea echoed the concern, suggesting the amendment would go against the health and wellness committees recommendations.

This plan has gone through many layers of vetting, he said, exhorting the committee not to break with the other Island schools. I caution this committee not to stray from that recommendation and make a unilateral decision.

Mr. DAndrea was joined by committee member Kate DeVane, who opposed the amendment, as well as by parents and community members who voiced a litany of concerns about the proposal.

But in the end the committee passed the amendment 3-2, with Ms. DeVane and committee member Skipper Manter voting nay.

Mr. Lionettes second amendment calls for weekly dashboard tracking caseloads in each school district to be sent to public health officials to track infection rates. Mr. Lionette recommended the superintendent use the Massachusetts education commissioners dashboard.

Mr. DAndrea agreed to the measure, but Chilmark board of health member Matt Poole cautioned against tracking cases on the district level rather than assessing cases on the Islandwide level.

The amendment passed 4-1. Ms. DeVane was once again the lone dissenter.

Mr. Lionettes third amendment proposed a weekly up-Island committee meeting to reassess the schools re-opening with available virus information, but the motion failed, receiving support only from Mr. Lionette and Mr. Manter.

Closing out the discussion, the committee voted to approve the amended reopening plan, passing the motion unanimously.

Whatever we do is going to be contingent upon the approval of the people who run our schools, said Mr. Salop in conclusion. The plan here is simply to put together a plan thats in the best interest of our kids.

In other related business, the committee voted on a proposal long on the floor to hire a full-time nurse at the Chilmark School.

The proposal, raised in multiple school committee and Chilmark selectmens meetings over the past month, has stalled as committee members worried about where the money would come from to pay for the position.

Avoiding further controversy, Mr. Lionette moved to approve hiring a nurse, with revenue sources to be approved at a later date. The motion passed unanimously.

We will figure it out, Mr. Lionette promised.

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Up-Island Schools Approve Reopening Plan, With Amendments - The Vineyard Gazette - Martha's Vineyard News