“Driving cars, handling chainsaws, and wielding deadly weapons all seem to be activities that are best performed while sober.” But, as this Ohio appellate court notes, only one of those implicates the U.S. Constitution. (And, incidentally, the Ohio Constitution, as well. Almost all state constitutions include a provision protecting the right to keep and bear […]
“‘The problem in this scene is that it is complete devastation,’ Chittum said.” I spoke with Rebekah Riess at CNN about the difficult, maybe impossible, task investigators face trying to determine the cause of the catastrophic explosion in Tennessee. You can read the story here: https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/14/us/tennessee-plant-explosion-blast-cause.
CNN: Investigation of Explosion Read More »
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 do you owe Uncle Sam? Matthew Elias did just that. He was a getaway driver for a group that stole $20K, a gun, and 40 lbs. of weed in NYC (after beating
The court was right to detain this criminal menace, but wrong about the law that will punish him. Joseph Knight regularly visits the library. Maybe he’s well-read and would get my meme reference to Oliver Twist. Probably not though. Rather than reading books, he seems to spend most of his time there shooting women. On
I thought I had a new term to refer to an armed criminal. Boy, am I glad I looked “gunsel” up first! One of my favorite jokes is, “I use big words, even when I don’t know what they mean, because it makes me sound more chlorophyll.” But I never want to be the guy
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 having a bad day. He got into an argument inside his aunt’s apartment. (About what isn’t entirely clear; maybe something about a girl and cigarettes). He stormed out and as soon as
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 IRS Criminal Investigation to ATF when I was still in my early 20s. (https://lnkd.in/g3AZdxb9) At IRS-CI, I frequently found myself in nice houses. That’s the nature of white collar criminal investigations. But
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 its acronym) but only a tiny fraction of its modern mission. Alcohol and tobacco, however, offer a fascinating study in American history and the mechanics of “gray” markets. (Not really “black” markets,
Contraband Cigarettes Read More »
If you’ve ever thought, “I could build a better gun (or silencer),” you should do it. BUT FIRST… Make sure you stay on the right side of the law. Advanced manufacturing tools and techniques have made it easier, cheaper, and faster to design and produce many things, even firearms. Making firearms, however, can raise a
Did you know that much of the pumpkin you eat is not pumpkin at all, but is really squash? My family thinks I’m making this up, but it’s true. You can see the FDA’s take on labeling cans of squash as “pumpkin” right here: https://lnkd.in/gDPWb4Du. As far as the government is concerned, go ahead and
That’s Not Pumpkin Read More »
