Jack's Scott's perfect world?

The following are remarks by CA. State Senator Jack Scott on confiscating guns after a disaster interspersed with the reality of such confiscations...

From NRAMembersCouncils.com

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A note on these Fish and Game video clips

I've noticed that some of these posts have scrolled off the bottom of the page. They're still on this site, but you'll have to do a bit of hunting, pardon the pun, to find them. Clicking here, or on the "condors" label under any of these posts, will show you everything that's been posted on this blog regarding condors.

It's not just about big game hunting

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is one of the groups pushing for a ban on lead ammo in CA. In this clip, NRDC lawyer James Birkelund makes it clear that this isn't just about big game hunting...

You heard that correctly. He's talking about banning the use of all lead ammo for any hunting purposes. Can plinking be far behind? (No one makes a non-lead .22 LR bullet, BTW.)

Dr. Saba on all-copper bullets

Dr. Saba addresses the issue of all-copper bullets and the safety in this clip...

Condors, blood lead, and the hunting season

One of the claims made about condors and lead is that their blood lead levels peak during the deer season. However, as Tony points out in this clip, pig hunting goes on year 'round in "condor country". Also there's evidence of a second, off-season peak in spring.

As I've said before, we reject a hypothesis if it can be shown to be false in an experiment.

Yet more on condors and lead

Anthony Canales addresses all-copper bullets in this clip...

These bullets are currently more expensive than good ol' lead; a lot more expensive. They may also be regarded as "armor piercing" by law enforcement.

Lead and condors: The isotopic evidence

In the following clip, Dr. Saba addresses the isotopic evidence presented before the commission. The isotopic data was alleged to show that the lead levels in condors not only increase in the wild, but that the isotopic ratios change from what they are in captivity to a ratio indicative of bullet lead.

(A quick primer on isotopic ratios: Lead occurs in several different isotopes. An isotope of an element is an atom of that element with one or more extra (or missing) neutrons. Some isotopes are unstable and break down via radiation. Lead has several stable isotopes. The ratios of these isotopes to one another can act as a fingerprint to distinguish one source of lead from another. Isotopic ratios are measured with a device called a mass spectrometer. This device separates the isotopes according to their mass.)

As Dr. Saba shows, the analysis of the isotopic ratios is seriously flawed. The researchers limited their sample to two bullet brands: Remington and Winchester. Dr. Saba found many different brands available in "condor country"; all with wildly different isotopic ratios. The result is that the condors' lead ratios should have dispersed, rather than coalesced around a single value, if bullets were really the source of lead in their diet.

This is damning evidence. In science we reject a hypothesis if we can devise an experiment that contradicts the predictions of the hypothesis. The condor/bullet hypothesis predicts that the lead found in condors will become more like that of bullets as time passes. The isotopic ratios of lead in bullets varies broadly. If the condors were getting lead from bullets, the lead in their blood would also vary broadly. It does not. It approaches a single value. Bullets cannot be the sole source, or even a major source, of lead in the condors' diet. Something else is poisoning these birds.

A note on Heller...

You might notice that I still often refer to the Heller case by its old name, Parker. This is just to keep the various posts tied together using Blogger.com's labels feature. Also, some of the linked articles are using the old name.

"Non-biased" data?

Eric Brunnemann is the superintendent at Pinnacles National Monument. In this clip, you'll hear him say that it's his job to provide "the best non-biased possible scientific data available" on condors at that facility. But how non-biased can he be when he refers to the birds as "my flock"?

As I see it, there are two jobs Mr. Brunnemann could be doing with regard to condors: He can be an advocate for the birds and thus feel somewhat proprietary about them; or, he can be a disinterested observer providing unbiased data. He can't be both, however. I suspect that he's really doing the first job and God bless him for that. But, that means that the "data" he presents here must be seen as opinion.

More with the CA Fish & Game commission

Here is a clip of Dr. Don Saba addressing the commission. Dr. Saba also addresses the issue of junk ingestion by condors; specifically, the toxic effects of other metals they may eat, including zinc in galvanized metals.

These two clips are from the commission's morning session. More clips will follow later.

CA Fish and Game Commission meets on condors and lead

On 8/27, the CA Fish and Game commission met in Sacramento to discuss, amongst other things, a proposed ban on lead ammunition in "Condor Country". The proposed regulation would require the use of all-copper bullets in the affected areas. The Commission is considering the ban under the theory that the birds are ingesting lead from gut piles left by hunters and shot animals lost by hunters. Even if one were to accept these ideas as a way for lead to enter the birds' digestive systems, the condor recovery projects in the State are failing to recognize far greater threats to the birds than the odd bullet fragment.

In this clip, Anthony Canales, the President of this Members' Council, addresses one of these threats to the California Condor: Rubbish Ingestion.



OK... For the non-gun nuts in the audience, why am I questioning the notion that condors could ingest lead from gut piles and lost animals? First off, most hunters use copper- jacketed bullets; not solid lead. Secondly, for a bullet to get into a gut pile, the animal must have been shot in the gut. That, of course, could happen. However, if that happens, the bullet won't strike bone on the way in and thus won't fragment exposing the lead inside. Mr. Condor, in that case, would end up dining on the copper jacket rather than the lead.

For more on the issue, read Tony's latest post on the NRAMembersCouncils.com website.

We have some more clips from the 8/27 CFG meeting. Those will be uploaded soon.

Chi-town antis sweatin' Parker...

James Oliphant at the Chicago tribune notes that the D.C. gun case may hit Chicago.

On Tuesday, the district government appealed the decision to the Supreme Court. If the court takes the case, as many observers believe it will, it could place Chicago's handgun ban, as well as similar laws nationwide, in jeopardy.

To go back to that poker analogy, this is what it means to go all in.

Oliphant notes that the Chi-town ban is a "close cousin" to the DC ban. It also has a grandfathering clause that makes compliance with the ban's registration requirement impossible for new gun buyers. And like the DC ban, the Chicago ban has produced a thriving black market. Of course, illegal gun dealers don't check for IDs or ask a buyer's age in either city. Unlike what one finds in a legal merchant's shop, a 14-year old's money is just as good as anyone else's when the shop is the trunk of a '92 Camry.

(On our side of the argument, we call those "unintended consequences".)

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Parker reactions...

As part of The Federalist Society Online Debate Series, Glenn Reynolds made this comment on certiorari...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that the Supreme Court will deny certiorari on this case. I think that's likely because of the difficult position the Court would be placed in if it failed to find an individual right to arms under the Second Amendment. As Prof. Mike O'Shea wrote Concurring Opinions : How many Americans would view District of Columbia v. Parker as the most important court case of the last thirty years? The answer must run into seven figures. The decision would have far-reaching effects, particularly in the event of a reversal. Here is one way to think about the message the Supreme Court would be sending if it reversed the D.C. Circuit on the merits in Parker . . . That's a comparison between the Court's handling of the enumerated rights claim at issue in Parker, and its demonstrated willingness to embrace even non-enumerated individual rights that are congenial to the political left, in cases like Roe and Lawrence. "So the Constitution says Roe, but it doesn't say I have the right to keep a gun to defend my home, huh?" The Court's jurisprudence of unenumerated rights (with which I'm largely in agreement, by the way) would make it politically very difficult for the Court to eviscerate a clearly enumerated right to which many Americans attach great importance. At the same time, I don't think the Court is willing to affirm in Parker. If I'm right, a denial of certioriari is the only way for the Court to avoid a very difficult situation

An interesting observation. Might the Supremes simply run and hide?

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It's official...

D.C. will appeal Heller. (nee Parker.)

SCOTUSblog has links to the city's pleading and other materials.

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