Good News  by Tom Reynolds

It seems that there is always bad news to spread about 2A, so here is some positive ‘stuff.’

Over fifteen years ago, a man was convicted, in Pennsylvania, of carrying a firearm without a state license. Fifteen years later, he was stopped by another state’s police officer, whom he told of a pistol in the center console of his car. The man was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

Being a non-violent felon with no other criminal history, his defense lawyers made a motion that the state firearm law was “unconstitutional both facially and as applied to him.” However, the trial court denied his motion and the man pled no contest to the felon in possession state charges – and then appealed his conviction.

Recently, the state’s Attorney General responded to the appeal and wrote that the conviction for possessing a firearm by a felon violates the 2nd Amendment. “On studied reflection, the Attorney General has concluded that the conviction does indeed infringe (the man’s)right, as a nondangerous felon, to keep and bear arms. The state must therefore confess error and urge this Court to reverse.”

The A G writes that, since he swore an oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution,  “It is thus the Attorney General’s duty to admit when he believes the State has obtained a conviction in violation of the Constitution.”  The A G wants to file a brief for this case in which he will “discuss the lack of historical evidence supporting the dispossession of all felons as distinct from the strong historical evidence supporting the dispossession of dangerous felons.”

Wow, has Tricia James seen the light?

Not a snowball’s chance…  It was Florida’s Attorney General, James Uthmeier and it was not his first venture into defending 2A.

 A Florida law bars those under 21 from carrying concealed firearms.  Uthmeier recently asked a state appeals court to uphold a teen defendant’s right to carry.

In another case, Florida’s First District Court of Appeals ruled that Florida’s open carry ban was unconstitutional.  Uthmeier backed that up when he wrote on X: “I’m issuing guidance to Florida’s prosecutors and law enforcement in light of the 1st DCA’s decision…Because no other appellate court has considered the constitutionality of Florida’s open carry ban since the SCOTUS decision in Bruen, the 1st DCA’s decision is binding on all Florida’s trial courts. Meaning that as of last week, open carry is the law of the state.”

Any chance Uthmeier could be persuaded to move to New York?

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For over 30 years, veterans who lacked the ability to manage their financial affairs — often due to service-related disabilities — were automatically reported by the VA to the NICS’ check as “prohibited persons.” This reporting effectively barred them from legally owning or purchasing firearms.

On February 17th, the VA formally ended this unconstitutional practice; the VA will no longer report veterans to NICS solely because they need fiduciary help and the VA is working with the FBI to remove veterans’ names that were improperly submitted in the past.  In its official announcement, the VA acknowledged that this practice violated both the Gun Control Act and the constitutional rights of veterans, because the department was making life-altering disability determinations without any judicial or quasi-judicial due process — a fundamental right in American law.

Congressional allies in both chambers have already introduced bills like the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act that would permanently prohibit the VA from submitting NICS reports unless the veteran is adjudicated a danger by a court.