We finally got a decision. We have been waiting for months… well, really years… for Judge Roger T. Benitez to release his opinion in Duncan v Bonta. You may remember this originally as Duncan v Becerra. California has Penal Code § 32310(c) and (d) that was amended by Proposition 63 which essentially made the mere possession of a...
“Bearing arms does not mean from your bathroom to your kitchen!” That little missive was penned by Justice Clarence Thomas in a dissent to the granting of certiorari on a Second Amendment case a few years back. The gravamen of the case centered around the question: Does the Second Amendment provide protection for conduct outside the...
It has been said Nero rejoiced in the destruction of Rome. That might be pushing it a bit… I think he reached a point of being so overwhelmed he lost his capacity for rational thought. His “joy” may have been, in a sense, a self-defense mechanism. We now find ourselves similarly situated. Rome is burning… or to...
In 2014 I was having a conversation with my friend, Rich Nelson. At the time he was a deputy with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. More specifically, he was the Administrative Deputy for Lake Forest and spent a good chunk of his time here at Artemis, both in his law enforcement capacity, as well as...
In the introductory pages of John le Carré’s, The Night Manager, a lawyer is about to be executed. He is trying to process the enormity and finality of the moment and becomes fixated on the instrument of his demise, specifically the gun being pointed at him. He does not reflect on the circumstances that led him to...
Well, I had every intention of writing a blog this week about either God, the transcendent human condition, why I really like gefilte fish, or the demographic catastrophe about to manifest on the European continent… But, a funny thing happened on the way to the forum, so to speak. We got a victory in federal court (well…...
Last week I wrote a blog about the Kyle Rittenhouse testimony immediately after he finished testifying. I was nervous the jury was going to return a verdict before the blog went out the following Wednesday. As it turns out that was not something I needed to be worried about. I am writing this blog post on...
“What is the most powerful piece?” This was a question my father asked me when I was a boy. I had discovered a chess set in our den closet and was anxious to learn to play. I could not have been much older than seven or eight, and the chess pieces were each like little treasures....
“So ummmm… have you heard about the Supreme Court case?” “New York Rifle and Pistol v Corlett?” “Yeah… that one. Does that mean that we are all going to be able to finally get off-roster guns?” “Ummmmm… maybe a discussion is in order.” I have had numerous conversations over the last week that essentially started out like that. I...
On Thursday of last week, President Biden announced his “executive actions” on gun control. This is somewhat of a misnomer as he really did not issue any “executive actions”. The President… all presidents… are allowed to use executive actions when authorized by Congress during states of national emergency and when necessary to clarify executive actions...
