Idaho Senate Joint Resolution 101

This is a proposed amendment to the state constitution.  In general, it is unoffensive.  Some people are concerned this is a Trojan Horse to create "red flag" laws without any legislative action.  That sounds a little paranoid, but the sections of concern:

(10) To reasonable protection from the accused and those acting on behalf of the accused throughout the criminal justice process.
(D) Nothing in this section is intended to, or shall be interpreted to, supersede an accused's federal constitutional rights, nor to afford a victim an independent right to be heard as a party during trial.

Note that an accused's state constitutional rights (such as Art. I, sec. 11) are not explicitly protected. I suspect this is an oversight. A person under indictment for a felony may not "ship, transport, or receive firearms or ammunition."  I suspect anyone charged with domestic violence (the driver for SJR101) is going to be subject to a restraining order, which is also a firearms disqualifier under federal law.  This does not create any new authority that a restraining order does not already provide.  I would contact your legislators and emphasize that Sec. 1(D) should be revised from "federal constitutional rights" to "constitutional rights recognized by both the U.S. and Idaho constitutions."

The letter I wrote to my representatives this morning:

Dear Rep. Gestrin:Senate Resolution 101 has one worrisome oversight: sec. D provides "Nothing in this section is intended to, or shall be interpreted to, supersede an accused's federal constitutional rights, nor to afford a victim an independent right to be heard as a party during trial."  It would be good to replace "federal constitutional rights" with "rights guaranteed by the U.S. and Idaho constitutions."  Some people have imagined ASJR101 as a way to justify additional restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms.  I think this apparent exclusion of the guarantees under Art. I, sec. 11 of the Idaho constitution as some sort of end run to impose restrictions on the rights of the accused.  I do not think this is the case, but I would sleep easier with this change.
Very Truly Yours,Clayton E. Cramer

Rep. Moon says that the sponsor will not be changed by the sponsor.  She is voting against.

You Are Familiar With "The Only Good Indian is a Dead Indian"

Sometimes you get awesome counterexamples. Sacramento daily record-union. [volume], May 20, 1882, Image 1
:

About to Do an Interview on WURD in Philly

Subject: Racist Roots of Gun Control

Need a Cheap Nav System? Like $10

Cleaning out the odds and ends.

Not Everyone Had a Good Mother

Including me.  But it could be worse.

Chicago, IL (1882)
6/9/1882: Baker’s wife dressed her four children “in fresh white clothes, with bright ribbons, gave them strychnine, and when they died, laid them out carefully with flowers in their hands and all surroundings made as beautiful as possible.”  Then she took it herself and waited for her husband to return home to tell him what she had done.  “See how pretty they were, with nice flowers for [angels].”  Described as “demented”: no other obvious explanation.
Category: family
Suicide: yes
Cause: mental illness
Weapon: poison[1]

---

[1] “AMother’s Crime,” Wheeling [W.Va.] Register, Jun. 12, 1882, 1.

There are a lot of tragedies that I find.  Many are monstrous in choice of weapons (like blowtorches).  But the ones where a mother murders her children are especially hard to read.

Yes, It's True: Some People With Concealed Carry Permits Are Not Emotionally Stable

2/17/19 WKBO:

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) -- A Tennessee man is in jail after being accused of pulling a gun on a Sam's Club customer Saturday.

According to the police report, officers were called to Sam's Club due to a person with a gun.

According to the alleged victim Terry Pierce, a man pulled a gun on him because he was wearing a Make America Great Again (MAGA) hat.

"I have as much right to wear that hat and support my country and my president as he has not to," said Pierce.

The police report confirms that the suspect, identified as James Phillips, admitted to flipping off Pierce and Pierce's wife because of their hats.

Pierce tells 13 News that he was shopping with his wife when Phillips "Pulled a .40 caliber out and stuck it in my face, backed up and said, 'It's a good day for you to die.'"
Pierce went on to tell 13 News, "I said, 'Then pull the trigger. Put the gun down and fight me or pull the trigger. Whichever one you want.' And he backed up and he said it again, he said, 'It's a good day for you to die.'"

Pierce said the Phillips then took off. That's when Pierce followed him out into the parking lot.

"I went out the front of the store to confront him again and that's when I got him in his car. He couldn't leave because his mother was still in the store. And we were having a verbal altercation outside," said Pierce.

And yes, the article reports Phillips had a concealed carry license.  I am sure past tense is the case now and after conviction he will never be allowed gun possession again.  This Trump Derangement Syndrome is a serious illness; always carry in public; even if you aren't wearing a MAGA hat.   As one commenter observed:

The MAGA hat doesn't represent hatred and racism but it sure does trigger it.

You Want a National Emergency? You Can Create One

2/14/19 The Hill:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday issued a warning to Republicans poised to support President Trump's decision to declare a national emergency at the southern border: the next Democratic president, she said, could do the same on guns. "A Democratic president can declare emergencies, as well," Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. "So the precedent that the president is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans."

Yup.  A national emergency declaration about guns could indeed create a national emergency. She is so isolated from flyover country and much of California that she has no idea of the national emergency it would create.