Outdoor Life.

A recent court ruling in Tennessee restricts some of the powers that the state’s game wardens have traditionally held when policing hunters and anglers on private land. According to that ruling, which was handed down by a Court of Appeals on Thursday, wildlife officers can no longer enter private property to monitor, look for, or otherwise investigate wildlife crimes without a warrant.

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These powers are summarized in a Tennessee law that allows officers with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency “to go upon any property, outside of buildings, posted or otherwise” in order to enforce wildlife laws.

In its unanimous decision, a panel of three judges determined that the state’s game wardens were taking these powers too far, and that the current statute allowing for warrantless searches on posted private property is unconstitutional as applied by TWRA. The judges even drew comparisons between TWRA’s past actions and the tyrannies colonial Americans were subjected to under British rule.

“The TWRA searches, which it claims are reasonable, bear a marked resemblance to the arbitrary discretionary entries of customs officials more than two centuries ago in colonial Boston,” the judges wrote in their decision. “The TWRA’s contention is a disturbing assertion of power on behalf of the government that stands contrary to the foundations of the search protections against arbitrary governmental intrusions in the American legal tradition, generally, and in Tennessee, specifically.”

The decision stems from a lawsuit filed in Benton County Circuit Court by two Tennessee landowners, Terry Rainwaters and Hunter Hollingsworth …

The defense cites the so-called open fields doctrine, of course.

In defending the agency’s actions, attorneys representing TWRA argued that because so much hunting takes place on private land in Tennessee, officers would be unable to protect the state’s wildlife resources if they couldn’t patrol these lands. They also cited the “Open Fields Doctrine,” a federal precedent set during the Prohibition era …

That’s a great point. The open fields doctrine which comes from Hester v. The U.S., where it was held that these intrusions don’t violate the fourth or fifth amendments.

1. In a prosecution for concealing spirits, admission of testimony of revenue officers as to finding moonshine whiskey in a broken jug and other vessels near the house where the defendant resided and as to suspicious occurrences in that vicinity at the time of their visit, held not violative of the Fourth or Fifth Amendments, even though the witnesses held no warrant and were trespassers on the land, the matters attested being merely acts and disclosures of defendant and his associates outside the house. P. 265 U. S. 58.

2. The protection accorded by the Fourth Amendment to the people in their “persons, houses, papers, and effects,” does not extend to open fields.

Affirmed.

This case occurred in the western district of South Carolina.

Isn’t that special? The revenuers wanted to collect money from untaxed liquor, so the Supreme Court held that they can go on a man’s private property.

That is now used as a pretext for game officers invading a man’s property and installing cameras, walking around, or doing essentially whatever they want to.

The main point here isn’t what’s happening to game on the land. The main point is that these powers have been given to game officers and tax collectors. The main question is this: do you want game officers with that much freedom and control over you or anyone else? If so, perhaps we should grant police the power to ignore the constitution in all other cases. After all, what’s the difference between untaxed liquor and game animals and any other thing? Just apply the open fields doctrine to everything, everywhere.

Because money. It belongs to the king. And only the king’s men can hunt the royal forests – or those who pay him. All lands are the royal forests.

Except now in Tennessee, apparently.

Good.

Here is a bracing video on the goings on with Mike Glover.

Now, I won’t judge him, especially until everything is done and finished with this ugly affair.

However, there are some noteworthy things about this affair that I should bring up. First, have your family life in order.

Second, have your family life in order.

Third, have your family life in order.

Fourth, have your family life in order.

Eleven months ago, Mike posted a video of a tent review with this family. As it turns out, that wasn’t really his family. He divorced his wife, with whom he had children, and apparently chased after a girl twenty years his younger. She also apparently had mental problems, and he put his children in her care.

As for the ugly happenings which are the subject of the event in question, as I said, I won’t judge until I hear all of the facts. But he talked to the police.

He … talked … to … the … police.  Without his lawyer being present. Presumably he did this because he is “buddies” with cops and trains them. That’s another problem we could address, but not here. Anyway, I repeat. He talked to the police without his lawyer being present. Then after that, he violated a restraining order.

I feel pretty certain that all of his firearms have now been confiscated by the police. His business is likely all but finished, and probably his “family” too, as much as you can call it a family.

Folks, I don’t care how good you have done at your career, or how many enemy fighters you have killed, or how many decorations you can adorn your uniform with. If you fail at family life, you have failed.

Have your family life in order.

And don’t put other men up on pedestals. It harms the second amendment community when you do that.

Now, let’s discuss Tim Kennedy for a moment before embedding two videos.

I’ve heard all about Tim’s anti-2A views. I’m not so sure about that – it just seems to me like he has a big mouth and doesn’t know when to stop talking. It also seems to me like he immature and prone to hyperbole and extreme exaggeration. But the most troubling thing about this interview with Tim begins at about 38 minutes.

His views at that point are the most bizarre, strange, and unchristian I have ever heard. And despite what he says about not celebrating eugenics, he does do that very explicitly and directly when discussing his views on evolution, self-correcting problems, and natural selection in the context of the Spartans.

Another thing. David didn’t kill Goliath because he was physically fit. That would have destroyed the entire point of the biblical report. The point was that despite his small stature, he killed the enemies of God because of faith. It wasn’t faith AND fitness, it was faith alone that did it.

As to his assertion that the “smartest dudes I know are [like] insanely fit,” the two don’t go together at all, and Tim must not know anyone who is smart. If he thinks he does, let him discuss the various methods of solving differential equations and then I’ll listen.

Finally, Tim has far too much confidence in his own abilities and what he will be like at 85 years old. No matter how much money a man has or how fit he is, age humbles a man. Tim will be humbled at some point, and disease will take him, perhaps not before someone has to change his diaper.

And no, we can’t do sit ups or push ups to the point that we no longer need doctors. That denies both the second law of thermodynamics and Genesis Chapter 3.

The Tim Kennedy silliness begins at about 38 minutes.

Folks, don’t make heroes out of former Spec Ops guys. It’s always and forever a mistake of huge proportions. Just don’t do it. There is no good reason to do it.

Thanks for dropping by to my regular readers. I have been out of town at a professional conference and presenting a publication.

I will probably be a bit more regular with postings.

Remember. They hate you.

If we’re waiting on the SCOTUS to do the right thing, I think we all may be very disappointed.

Source.

To face a better-armed populace, U.S. Marshals agents have upgraded their tactics and training, Silverman said. That includes building more “shoot houses,” simulated homes and businesses where agents learn to subdue and apprehend suspects in close quarters, and more tactical training officers – elite, highly trained officers – joining groups serving warrants.

Great.

More shoot houses and training in CQB.

It’s like a heroin addict who thinks that the solution to withdrawal is to inject more poison into his blood.

I have a better idea. Teach them to think. Like position a camera near enough to the house to know when the perp leaves to go get gas or go to the grocery store, and jump him when he gets out of the car.

Or even this idea: the average IQ of cops is just slightly above average in the U.S. That average includes everyone, if you get my drift.

Hire smarter people.

And just stop doing raids. Just say no.

A dog is a reflection of its owner. She didn’t spend time to train the dog.

Simple problems allow for simple solutions.

Does @SteveDettelbach know you’re campaigning to take his job as @ATFHQ director? https://t.co/QPSjMTADoY

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) May 3, 2024

Source.

After a shooting in Charlotte killed four law enforcement officers and injured four of their colleagues, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass tougher gun regulations. “We must do more to protect our law enforcement officers,” Biden said in a statement that came late Monday night. “ He first called for more funding directed to law enforcement. Then, he narrowed his focus in on guns.

“Leaders in Congress need to step up so that we ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, require safe storage of guns, and pass universal background checks and a national red flag law,” Biden said. “Enough is enough.” An AR-15 and an .40 caliber handgun were both found following the shooting, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings, during a news conference Tuesday.

None of which would have had the slightest affect on the incident. Not a single bit.

Why? Because they were felons in possession of firearms. That was the reason for the raid to begin with.

Here’s a much better idea. Stop police raids. Just stop them. Don’t do them any more.

Sit and wait for them to leave the home, and then arrest them after a traffic stop.

Stop police raids. Nothing good ever comes from them. Innocent people get killed, guilty people get killed, LEOs get killed. Someone always gets killed.

This is not supposed to be MOUT in Iraq and LEOs are not supposed to be assaulters.

Our founders tried to make sure of that.

A republic – if you can keep it.

The US Court of Appeals for Fifth Circuit (TX, LA) has issued a ruling upholding the 2022 federal law requiring additional background checks for 18-20 year olds. They used the so-called “Dicta” from the Bruen decision.

Great.

Cornyn and Tillis are to blame. They are both awful humans. We have Tillis for a couple more years. This is what happens when the party is controlled by money.

And the supreme court is to blame. The supreme court said too much, or too little, or not clearly enough. Or believes the wrong things.

I repeat what I’ve said before. The average age of the freedom fighters at the battle of Kings Mountain  was 14 years old.

Source.

Good. He should never have been charged to begin with.

That is enough said. Unless readers want to add more about out-of-control prosecutors playing political games to prove a point.

I like Tim Harmsen and have talked with him before. Occasionally I disagree with him. This is one of those occasions.

Tim focuses on the fact that there isn’t a firing pin block on the CZ Shadow 2 Compact. I’ll let you watch the video for the details of his objections.

However, there are numerous videos where guys beat on the hammer with a mallet and cannot get the gun to fire. See here for an example. There are others like it.

The problem seems to stem from the use of an aftermarket firing pin, so the moral of the story is don’t use an aftermarket firing pin.

Frankly, I don’t think Tim did his research before posting this video.