Blog Posts
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Supremacy Clause Immunity
I’ve been reading “The 1811” for nearly 30 years. This is the first time I’m published in it. Hopefully you belong to the ...
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Dr. Doofenshmirtz
When you think about crime, do you sometimes think of Dr. Doofenshmirtz? No? Just me? Well, he’s what I thought of when I ...
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Habitual Felon
When the Court writes “attaining the status of a habitual felon,” it sounds like it’s an accomplishment. Herman Anthony Maynor’s reward for achieving ...
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Wants and Warrants
You sometimes hear cops check for “wants and warrants.” Constitutionally speaking, those are not the same. Police had probable cause to arrest Ryan ...
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Absence of Malice
“Absence of Malice” wasn’t just a great legal movie. It’s a viable defense to federal arson. I love watching classic movies (and making ...
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Father and Son in a Field
My son killed his first buck with the same rifle I used to kill my first deer when I was about his age. ...
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12 Months ≠ 1 Year
If you have no doubt that 12 months equals 1 year, you probably don’t suffer from being a lawyer. Sometimes the law can ...
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AP on Straw Purchases
“Thomas Chittum, a former ATF official and a University of Nevada-Las Vegas adjunct law professor, said the relationship between federal authorities and gun ...
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Tropical Flavored Skittles
Like “tropical flavored Skittles” is my favorite new way for police to describe a suspect’s shoes. When I was a kid, you might ...
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Deadly Celebration
I’ve written before about the dangers of celebratory gunfire but as this court notes, “this dangerous practice can have tragic results in other ...
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Technological Crumbs
In 2021, I gave a presentation on the future of police tech that I called “Casings, Cameras, and Crumbs.” It was at the ...
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A Leopard’s Spots…
With criminals, I have found that the saying “a leopard can’t change its spots” is often spot on. There are a lot of ...
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Obey your mother
Obey your mother…unless she asks you to help her with a retaliatory shooting. Yes, that’s really what happened in this case from the ...
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DON’T do it for Johnny!
The Ninth Circuit: “DON’T do it for Johnny!” A few weeks ago I wrote an Outsiders-themed post about switchblade knives and the Second ...
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Nonviolent Stalking
Assassinating a CEO is violent. Stalking the CEO so you can shoot him is not (or so says this court). I’ve written a ...
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Making Guns
Americans have been making guns for a long time. What does the law say about it? On February 20th, I’ll explain “The Law ...
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Machinegun Briefing
This was a really cool event. (See the University of Wyoming’s Firearms Research Center post here.) It was awesome of the ATF to ...
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No Soliciting
Perhaps the best two dollars I ever spent at Walmart was on a “No Soliciting“ sign. (And I’ve spent a lot of money ...
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Nonmailable Firearms
A few Christmases ago, I wrote about the Nonmailable Firearms Act of 1927. You can read that post here. Last week, the U.S. ...
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Expert Witnesses
Have you ever had a day so good that you start worrying something must go wrong, because how can it stay that good, ...
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Firearms and Lethality
On January 8, I participated in a panel discussion on “Firearms and Lethality” at the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Annual Meeting. ...
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Which Declaration?
It seems Nicholas Cage may have stolen the wrong document! America turns 250 this year. As we all know, on July 4, 1776, ...
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Do it for Johnny!
I make my kids watch old movies with me. We recently watched “The Outsiders.” Sometimes they grumble a bit. “But they’re classics,” I ...
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Gunfire on NYE
It’s NYE. Don’t shoot!! I spoke to reporter Pat Loeb about America’s long history with celebratory gunfire. Listen to the KYW Newsradio story ...
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Yukon Cornelius
Without Yukon Cornelius, there’d be no Rudolph. He was the real hero that foggy Christmas Eve. And that peppermint prospector goes heeled!* I ...
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Crypto Kidnapping Conspiracy
My experience is that most criminals are dumb and their crimes unsophisticated. (Or maybe those are the only ones I caught, and I’m ...
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Making Bombs
I know how to build bombs. I could teach you (but I’d have to charge).* Is that legal? I read The Anarchist Cookbook ...
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Ol’ “Crazy Gun”
I always appreciate when a nickname captures a person’s true self. Take Cameron “Crazy Gun” Watkins, for instance. The OakTree Inn & Suites in ...
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The Imperfect Law
Open Source Defense is one of my favorite substacks to read. A lot of interesting and insightful commentary for the pro-2A crowd. I’ve ...
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Dangerous to Turkeys
I ate SO MUCH turkey on Thanksgiving! Did I use a weapon to do it? That’s (sorta) the question the Oregon Supreme Court ...
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Drunk and Armed
“Driving cars, handling chainsaws, and wielding deadly weapons all seem to be activities that are best performed while sober.” But, as this Ohio ...
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CNN: Investigation of Explosion
“‘The problem in this scene is that it is complete devastation,’ Chittum said.” I spoke with Rebekah Riess at CNN about the difficult, ...
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Crime Doesn’t Pay
Let’s say you and your pals rob a stash house but you’re nabbed before you get a cut of the loot. How much ...
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I Want Some More
The court was right to detain this criminal menace, but wrong about the law that will punish him. Joseph Knight regularly visits the ...
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Never Assume
I thought I had a new term to refer to an armed criminal. Boy, am I glad I looked “gunsel” up first! One ...
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An Excited Aunt
Excited utterances are an exception to hearsay. “He’s shooting a mother-f***ing gun at my house!” is an example. Clement Austin may have been ...
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An Ocean View
As a young agent, I had a perspective-changing conversation with a defense attorney on an island. I’ve mentioned before that I moved from ...
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Contraband Cigarettes
I often write about firearms, sometimes explosives, but rarely alcohol or tobacco. They make up half of ATF’s official name (and 2/3 of ...
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A Better Gun
If you’ve ever thought, “I could build a better gun (or silencer),” you should do it. BUT FIRST… Make sure you stay on ...
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That’s Not Pumpkin
Did you know that much of the pumpkin you eat is not pumpkin at all, but is really squash? My family thinks I’m ...
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Happy Constitution Day!
Happy Constitution Day! I found this little guy in the shower at the gym yesterday. Guess somebody thought I needed a little Jesus ...
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WIP Conference Summary
ICYMI, the University of Wyoming College of Law’s Firearms Research Center posted highlights from its 2025 “Works-in-Progress” Conference on its forum. (The conference ...
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Young people these days…
It has become fashionable to badmouth young people. (Or maybe it always has been.) They are: “Lazy.” “Entitled.” “Self-absorbed.” “Clueless.” This badmouthing is ...
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Forfeiture by Wrongdoing
On my birthday in 2021, Ashanti Hines was shot and killed as she sat in her car in Elkhart, Indiana. She was not ...
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I can’t believe my eyes
Sometimes we can’t believe our own eyes. So why should a jury trust them? That’s what the “Telfaire instruction” is about. Police responded ...
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The Short Shooter
Cornell R. Tarte is diminutive. Did being called “short” in front of a jury entitle him to a new trial? Weed dealer Michael ...
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The Alto Rango Lounge
The Alto Rango Lounge doesn’t look like much on the outside, and must be bigger on the inside than you’d think. Situated on ...
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Nosy code inspectors
Even if you’re not a criminal, the government—nosy busybody that it can be—might still violate your rights with an illegal search. I’ve written ...
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Gucci Gun Club
Full disclosure: I’m not an expert in trademark law. I also don’t own any luxury goods. And I’ve never been accused of having ...
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The Lorraine Motel
The Lorraine Motel looks much the same today as it did on April 4, 1968. I took this picture of it last week. ...
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Blog Post: Silencers & 2A
Guns have improved in almost every respect since the founding of our nation. They are lighter, more durable, more reliable, more accurate. But ...
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The conflict of laws
This story in the New York Post highlights one of the many internal inconsistencies in the law. Of course, in a country with ...
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A tragic tale in St. Louis 
Some critics say ShotSpotter can’t distinguish gunfire from fireworks. This tragic case says differently. About a week after Independence Day in 2022, Rickey ...
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Dust under your bed
When was the last time you dusted under your bed? Prolly been a minute. Unfortunately (for him), same for this guy. Early one ...
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Sorry for the length of this…
This quote speaks to me: “I’m sorry for the length of this letter. It would’ve been shorter if I had more time.” It ...
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Happy Independence Day!
Happy Independence Day! If you’re like me (and most Americans), your celebration today will involve fireworks in one way or another. As I ...
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Somebody’s Watching You
If, like Rockwell,* you always feel like somebody’s watching you, it probably isn’t the government. Well, I mean, the government almost surely is ...
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Restoring Gun Rights
“The devil is in the details—and this budget proposal is short on those,” said Thomas Chittum, a former associate director at the ATF. ...
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Happy West Virginia Day!
Happy West Virginia Day! “Montani Semper Liberi.” For those not familiar, that is West Virginia’s motto. It means, “Mountaineers are Always Free.” It’s ...
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Just Regular Everyday Normal Guys
I’m just a regular everyday normal guy.* But once upon a time, I was “The Government.” When you don’t deal with them everyday, ...
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CBS News Report on DOJ Cuts
“No one becomes a seasoned investigator overnight.” I appeared on CBS News this evening with Scott McFarlane to offer my view on the ...
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Me and Butch Cassidy
You probably thought that was Paul Newman and Robert Redford, but no. It’s just me, standing by a picture of the real Butch ...
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A tiny killer claims ineffective counsel
Some attorneys are better than others. This tiny killer thought his defense attorney was one of the bad ones. Edwin Davis arose early ...
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Three ShotSpotter Cases in One Day
On average, I get one or two Westlaw alerts a week with judicial decisions that mention ShotSpotter. Today there were three. None of ...
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Trafficking and the Retail Firearms Industry – Podcast
The single best source of real-time intelligence on firearms trafficking is the retail firearms industry. That’s why it is so important for ATF ...
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This Killer Likes Nicknames
Do you have anyone stored in your phone under a nickname? “Princess,” perhaps. Or maybe “bbygurl.” Or just “Bae.” Well, this killer did ...
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The Law of Aliens and Firearms
As you can probably tell, the man in this picture is not hunting. Why does that matter? Because if he was, he might ...
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Schoolhouse Rock and the Battle of Gonzales
Because much of the discussion about guns today revolves around their use in crime, it’s easy to lose sight of the original reason ...
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Hearsay Reliability in Probation Revocation
Besides alerting police to shootings (which it did in this case), ShotSpotter can also be used to corroborate what witnesses say. Here’s a ...
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Information I Could’ve Used Yesterday!
You have the right to remain silent. You also have the right to remain PARTIALLY silent. And if you save the good stuff ...
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What Goes Up … : A Brief Legal History of Celebratory Gunfire
In Federalist 51, James Madison wrote, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” He might’ve said instead: “If some men were ...
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A bird in the hand….
As the old adage goes, sometimes a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I assume that’s what happened here. ...
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The Law is Shades of Gray
One of the most important lessons I learned in law school happened in “Contracts.” But it didn’t just apply to contracts. It was ...
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“My pleasure!”
“My pleasure!” I love Chick-fil-A Restaurants. Everyone does. Even would-be murderers. And in this case, we have the evidence. I’ll warn you at ...
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Aspiring Political Arsonists…
If you’re an aspiring political arsonist, no need to be fussy about the materials you use. Just go with what you have on ...
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Firearms and the Bundle of Sticks
I love the artful, clever idioms used to express some legal concepts. “Fruit of the poisonous tree,” for instance. But I never cared ...
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My LinkedIn Activity
For years now, I’ve been an active contributor of posts to LinkedIn that I hope were both engaging and informative. Now that I ...
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I Like Walmart
I like Walmart (and once testified to that in federal court). So must this judge, because he gave this arsonist a heck of ...
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Flying Armed
I fly a lot. One of the things I miss most about being a federal agent is flying armed. While it had its ...
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O.N.E. is not a Boy Band
“O.N.E.” sounds like the name of a ‘boy band’ to me but turns out it’s a violent criminal enterprise. If it had been ...
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Ways to Get Money
“Ways to get money: – Sell drugs / not happening. – Rob people / maybe. – Contract killer / considering. – Just stick ...
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Being a Police Chief is Tough
Read the first few paragraphs of this announcement and you’ll sense why being a police chief is one of the toughest jobs in ...
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ShotSpotter’s Origin Story
I love an origin story. This is ShotSpotter’s. One of the best things about working at SoundThinking (formerly ShotSpotter) is being surrounded by ...
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The Mystery of the Private Sector
I became a federal employee as a teenager, and stayed one until I retired. The private sector was mysterious to me. Perhaps the ...
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It’s the “Criminal Justice” System
Subtlety is often lost on me. Maybe it’s because attention to detail isn’t my strongest suit, but I find it helpful when things ...
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One of the Best Things About Being a Professor
One of the best things about being an adjunct law professor is all the bright young future attorneys I meet. What’s even better? ...
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Sesame Street: One of These Things…
Police photo arrays aren’t supposed to be like Sesame Street, where “one of these things is not like the others” and there are ...
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