The issues of the case don’t interest me that much, although I agree that violence can only be used when there is a threat of serious injury.  For example, see Tennesse v. Garner, where the SCOTUS concluded that a LEO cannot discharge his weapon at someone fleeing.

Anyway, the more interesting thing to me is the issue of qualified immunity.  As I’ve said so many times before, qualified immunity is an obscene witch’s brew concocted by the courts with no basis in constitutional law for the sole purpose of protecting the agents and enforcers of the state.

I’m glad John is teaching a young man to defend civil rights.  I’m sure he’ll turn into a good lawyer.  Liberty University is producing some very good graduates in all areas of specialty.

It’s a Brown bear I believe.

Here’s what I suspect is happening.  That bear knows he could kill the more aggressive dog.  What the bear is instinctively thinking is this.  If I turn my attention exclusively to that aggressive dog, what’s going to happen with the other three when I take my eyes off of them?  The bear did try to keep his eye on the one behind him out of the corner of his eye.

Fighting a dog isn’t like fighting a pack of dogs.

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There isn’t any gun legislation that couldn’t be made worse by the presence of the NRA.

Can the folks in NY working to destroy the NRA please work a little faster?  Can someone tell the NRA to mind their own business, which in the best case would be stop pretending to be pro-2A, kicking Wayne to the curb, and go to work to undo all of the infringements they’ve previously engineered against us?

Quick note to the NRA: Please stay out of this and all such matters.  Pring your magazines and leave the hard work to the real men.

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection (forthcoming 2023) will (presumably) publish this pre-print by these two writers on Qualified Immunity as Gun Control.  They think they’re on to something big, and hence the obvious snarkiness by the end of their summary.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in NYSRPA v. Bruen threw the political project of gun regulation into question. Before Bruen, states could enact new kinds of gun restrictions if they passed a relatively stringent means-ends test. That is, if laws meaningfully reduced danger, while not too heavily burdening the right to self-defense, they were allowed. After Bruen, only gun controls actually in force in the founding era, and their close analogues, are permissible. Many fewer regulations will now pass the constitutional test.

Here, we suggest an unlikely source of continuing power, after Bruen, for states to disarm individuals they deem dangerous: qualified immunity. Qualified immunity shields state officers from monetary liability for many constitutional violations. In short, unless a previous case “clearly established,” with high factual particularity, that the officer’s conduct was unconstitutional, the officer does not pay. Thus, a state law enforcement officer may, after Bruen, confiscate an individual’s firearm if the officer deems that person too dangerous to possess it. The officer’s justifications may conflict with the federal courts’ understanding of Bruen or the Second Amendment—perhaps flagrantly. But unless a previous, authoritative legal decision examining near-identical facts says so, the officer risks no liability. And because each individual act of disarmament will be unique, such prior decisions will be vanishingly rare. The result is a surprisingly free hand for states to determine who should and should not be armed, even in contravention of the Supreme Court’s dictates.

Proponents of gun rights, who skew conservative, may see this as lawlessness. In the past, it has been liberals and civil libertarians who have seen qualified immunity that way. Here, as elsewhere in the law, what’s good sauce for the goose is good for the gander. Gun rights advocates may therefore either accept qualified immunity’s implications for their preferred rights or join with their usual adversaries in opposing it everywhere.

If it sounds like these authors, Guha Krishnamurthi (University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law) and Peter Salib (University of Houston Law Center) are hinting that cops just violate second amendment rights under the color of law based on the protections police enjoy virtually everywhere and in most, if not all, circumstances, you’d be wrong.  They say, “The officer’s justifications may conflict with the federal courts’ understanding of Bruen or the Second Amendment—perhaps flagrantly.”

And they don’t really mind very much that you understand them.  They aren’t hinting at latitude (not that there is any) – they are obviously and directly saying that police should violate constitutional protections if they want to, including the 2A.

They are trying to appeal to so-called “law and order conservatives.”  They’re everywhere in government, from Bill Barr (who supported red flag laws, waiting periods, magazine capacity bans, etc., and who defended Lon Horiuchi after he killed Vicki Weaver for no good reason), to “law and order conservative” judge Frank Easterbrook in Chicago, all of whom would disarm Americans.

But these are dinosaurs on the “conservative” side, or another way of saying it is that there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between a communist and a “law and order conservative.”

The authors of the silly paper above presume to impale someone on the horns of a dilemma (certainly not gun owners).  Gun owners have seen the dark side of state power, from overbearing and lying cops during traffic stops, to overreach by the ATF, to the weaponization of federal law enforcement by the power that happens to be in charge at the moment, whether Obama, Biden or Trump (and here I include the bump stock ban just to ensure that I take shots at “law and order conservatives” as well as statists).

Qualified immunity is a concoction and witch’s brew of the courts because the police are agents and enforcers of state power, whether local, state or federal, not protectors of the people.

That dog won’t hunt.  The authors of the study failed, and miserably so.  Between losing qualified immunity or red flag laws, most sensible people will say, “The dilemma fails.  I don’t have to choose – lose them both.”  They have no basis in the constitution and represent the worst from the minds of men.

Liberty Doll has the details along with some commentary.

Here is also a writeup of what happened.  What you heard about the SWAT team berating the man, a pastor, husband and teacher, a normal man by any account, is exactly what these people are like.  These people are not the exception, a few bad apples in an otherwise good bushel of apples.  No, they are all bad.  They want to violate your constitutional rights.  They live for it.  They are sociopathic criminals.

Imagine being employed by the ATF and being able to look at your wife and children when you get home and look yourself in the mirror at night and be able to fall asleep with no trouble.  Imagine having your conscience hardened and soul seared with hot coals to the degree these people have.  I hope this fate doesn’t befall anyone reading this.

As for ATF Special Agent Theodore Mongell sending several SWAT teams to knock on someone’s door, I know little girls with more courage than that.

ATF to federal court: “Hey, we don’t really like all that stuff in NYSRPA v. Bruen about no tiers of scrutiny and not letting us do interest balancing, so we want you to tell the supreme court they’re wrong.”

Imagine being employed by the ATF and being able to look at your wife and children when you get home and look yourself in the mirror at night and be able to fall asleep with no trouble.  Imagine having your conscience hardened and soul seared with hot coals to the degree these people have.  I hope this fate doesn’t befall anyone reading this.

“I can run as fast as you can bike!”  These dogs are having the time of their lives.  Make sure to catch the second dog.  He’s catching big air.

Deer plays with a big cat.  Frankly, I think that Leopard must be thinking, “Is this really happening?  What is that thing doing?”

A puppy is way better than a stuffed animal.

I’ve always known that cats don’t much like water.  I guess big cats are no different.

Who said turtles are slow?

All dogs do this with streams of water.

Numbers matter in a fight.  I believe these are muskrats.

They decided to sedate this Bobcat to get it out.

Maybe they should have called this boy.

Numbers matter even to bears.

But size matters too.

Cowboy State Daily.

It’s illegal to even so much as point a firearm at a wild animal in Yellowstone Park, so bear spray would be the only allowable defense in case of a bear attack.

While it’s legal to carry firearms both open and concealed in Yellowstone, it’s not legal to brandish, aim or shoot them — at animals, people or even targets.

“It is unlawful to point, display or discharge a firearm in the park,” Park Service spokeswoman Linda Veress told Cowboy State Daily. “If a firearm is discharged against wildlife, we would investigate the incident.”

The penalties of any firearms-related violation in Yellowstone Park would depend upon the outcome of an investigation into the incident, she said.

[ … ]

Yellowstone allows people to have firearms in their vehicles, and even to carry them on their persons in some places. But people can’t fire them, even for target practice, within the park, according to breakdown of Yellowstone gun regulations published by Outside Magazine.

The Yellowstone firearms rules were established mostly because so many hunters and other firearms owners travel through the park from the gun-friendly states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

But the strict rules against firing the weapons would leave someone carrying a firearm with little legal option, other than perhaps to use it as a club against a bear, moose or other large, angry critter.

The Park Service recommends that people carry bear spray for defense against possible animal attacks in Yellowstone, Veress said. The agency offers information and tips for the proper use of bear spray and how to stay safe in grizzly country.

“God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” [Genesis 1:28].

“Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I have given everything to you, as I gave the green plant.” [Genesis 9:3]

I’d certainly like to see this challenged in court.  In the mean time, there goes that backpacking trip to Shoshone lake out the window.

Psalm 15

The context of Psalm 15, with the application, is in verse 1. It’s about the man who is worthy to live in the Lord’s house, to dwell in heaven with Him, for His dwelling place has always been His throne on high.

“In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” – Psalm 15:4

Something stands out in verse four. It’s an odd statement, seemingly unfit for a Christian to accept. “He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.” A man who is suited for heaven’s holy hill in the presence of God as His train fills the throneroom is a man who makes his covenant and keeps it, even if it hurts. God’s men don’t choose the comfort of sin in the world, knowing the eternity that awaits.

The notion behind that statement in the Psalm is entirely foreign to modern Christianity in the West. The easy path is that of least resistance and is most often chosen. But what is the covenant, and what does it mean that we ought to do?

The covenant is that which is in the blood of Christ who died for your sins and called you to serve Him. Christ found you as a bondslave on the auction block caught between two masters, and Jesus Christ won the war, making you His purchased possession through love. Indeed you are freed if you are His, and though His burden light and yoke easy, especially by comparison to the sin and death that ruled over you, you remain a bondslave nonetheless, and that to Holy God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You’re on the right side, but it’s no playground. The war between good and evil rages, and as the ever-accelerating arrival of the judgment of God upon Western Civilization arrives, Psalm 15 has some straightforward questions as to who is God’s anointed people. As we’ve said several times: simple doesn’t mean something that’s necessarily easy. The choices coming are immense; war or peace; famine, pestilence, and death loom.

The information war is becoming intense. With AI-driven narratives and false news, it’s become impossible to know for sure what’s real; this is not a mistake. Our God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). That old liar and a murderer from the start, the serpent himself, the devil, will take you captive at his will if he gets the chance. Boundaries here are critical. If you belong to Christ, birthed anew, secure in the power of His resurrection unto life eternal, in Him your final destination is set, but here we are, trouble brewing on every side.

Keeping that last sentence from Psalm 15:4 in mind, another verse that’s worth examination comes to mind. This is a favorite about wisdom.

“And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.” – Job 28:28

When you see Behold in the KJV Bible, as in this verse, or verily (sometimes emphatically, twice – see John 3:3, 6:47), it means to pay attention and get this right.

But what does God say of wisdom herself? It is fear of the Lord: reverence, love, and obedience.

It’s always interesting to see a concept struggled with and defined by the godless. Some definitions of wisdom at Webster’s are the exact opposite of what wisdom truly is. But, as every Christian ought, we take our world-life view not from men or the world’s understanding but from the Almighty. Wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and when rightly applied and acted upon, a man will flee the evil that is without and purge that evil which is within. Note the action in the last clause; just like faith, wisdom is nothing, useless, if it’s not applied. And what does God say is the right action in wisdom? Departing from evil shows our understanding of the wisdom reached through fear of the Lord.

Behold, fear God; get away from evil and purify yourself within, removing corruption so that you might not sin against Him. We have a covenant in Christ’s blood and the commandments to live without sin (1 Peter 1:16). And there is the duty to fear God, keeping His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13), and the charge in Psalm 15:4 to keep your covenant even to your own hurt: not submitting to evil, standing for Christ, by His power, we must possess our bond to God.

Being a public Christian is critical before persecution ramps up. As things get worse, it will seem necessary to do evil in the sight of the Lord. You can get all the money you want if you’re willing to sin a little on the job. You can cut a thousand corners in life thinking you’re better off, but God’s line measures by another standard. In every area, challenges are coming. Sin is easy, even fun for a time, but Moses chose not to belong to the empire enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season (Hebrews 11:24-25), but rightly regarded his future and that of his people as more consequential.

Steady in the face of the fight. Jesus doesn’t call the strong but strengthens the weak and weakens the strong so that He might be our power, persevering until the end in reliance upon Him.

If you’re not a public Christian, the likelihood that you will deny Christ at a pressing juncture of testing increases significantly. When you swore your covenant to Christ, you made your place with Him as His bride; for better or for worse, changeth not. Should evil or blessings reign down, even to your own hurt, depart from evil, for in this is the fear of the Lord brought to bear through a man who belongs by faith to Christ Jesus.

Compromise with evil is a killer, but the way of Psalm 15 is that of life for God’s glory. In times of arriving adversity, you can be numbered among those that changed not, set upon the infallible foundation which is the Rock our King; the man that does these things shall never be moved.

“LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? 2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbour. 4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. 5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be moved.” – Psalm 15

Because it’s the roughest, most dangerous place in the lower 48.

F&S.

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, July 11, a black bear attacked a man who was working as a sheep herder in the San Juan National Forest of southwestern Colorado, about 23 miles northeast of Durango. According to a Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) press release issued yesterday evening, the man survived and was treated for head wounds and other severe lacerations. The bear was tracked down and killed by a federal agent less than 24 hours after the attack.

The 35-year-old herder was working for a permit holder of a sheep grazing allotment in the nearly 500,000-acre Weminuche Wilderness Area when the bear attacked him. It bit him on the head and left additional wounds on his left arm and hand, CPW said. It also left deep cuts on his left hip and scratches on his back.

The herder told CPW agents that he was awoken by the sounds of the bear preying on his sheep around 1 a.m. He fired a .30-30 rifle in response to the attack before the bruin charged and mauled him. “This is an unfortunate incident and we are thankful the victim was able to contact help to get emergency services deployed and that he was able to be extracted to receive necessary medical care,” CPW Area Wildlife Manager Adrian Archuleta said in the press release.

In the aftermath of the attack, the man managed to crawl to his tent and call his cousin for help. An airlift was summoned to the scene, and he was transported to the Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango.

See F&S for the rest of the story.

I’m assuming that he missed with his .30-30.  I would think that round would easily put down most black bears.

It’s good that he had the means to call for help – that area is rugged and is several hours from cell phone connectivity.

When I was there we all three carried firearms, and I carried a 1911 with a 10-round magazine and 22# spring with 450 SMC cartridges (230 gr. at 1130 FPS), along with additional ammunition and magazines.

I also carried a satellite texting phone capable of reaching 911.  Any rescue out of where we were would have required a helicopter because the hike for foot-borne rescuers would have been two or more days.  This is extremely rugged terrain and isolated area, and the sheep herder is blessed to be alive.