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   From: NOT-SURE@idiocracy.gov   
      
   On 12/15/22 3:37 AM, zinn wrote:   
   > PROVIDENCE — As the deadline approaches for gun owners to give up their   
   > high-capacity firearm magazines or face legal consequences, a federal   
   > judge on Wednesday upheld a newly enacted state law banning magazines that   
   > carry more than 10 rounds of ammunition.   
   >   
   > U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. refused to grant a   
   > request by a Chepachet gun store and several Rhode Island gun owners for a   
   > preliminary injunction blocking the law, which on Sunday will make   
   > possession of a large-capacity gun magazine a felony in Rhode Island.   
   >   
   > McConnell found that the plaintiffs Big Bear Hunting and Fishing Supply;   
   > three Rhode Island residents — Mary Brimer, James Grundy and Jonathan   
   > Hirons; and, a Newport homeowner who lives in Florida, Jeffrey Goyette,   
   > had not shown that they would suffer irreparable harm if the law was   
   > allowed to take effect, and that allowing its enforcement was in the   
   > public's interest.   
   >   
   > Rhode Island politics:RI gun-control lobby buoyed by election wins   
   >   
   > "It is not entirely accurate to say that the victims of mass shootings are   
   > chosen randomly. True, they are random in that their identities are   
   > usually not known to the shooter, and it appears to matter not to the   
   > shooter whether the next one killed is a particular person or the woman   
   > standing next to him. But in actuality, victims have not been chosen   
   > randomly. They have been chosen because they are attending a synagogue in   
   > Pittsburgh or church in Sutherland Spring. Or because they are sitting in   
   > a school classroom in Newtown or a high school classroom in Parkland. Or   
   > because they were at a concert in Las Vegas or a nightclub in Orlando,"   
   > McConnell said. "They were not chosen because of anything they did, but   
   > because of what they represented to a particular person with a gun and a   
   > lot of ammunition."   
   >   
   > "Consistent with its obligation to protect public safety, but consonant   
   > with its fealty to the Constitution, the Rhode Island General Assembly has   
   > responded with, among other firearms regulations, the [large capacity   
   > magazine] Ban. It is inevitable that Rhode Island will one day be the   
   > scene of a mass shooting. The LCM Ban is a small but measured attempt to   
   > mitigate the potential loss of life by regulating an instrument associated   
   > with mass slaughter," the judge wrote.   
   >   
   > The ruling came as Wednesday marked 10 years since a gunman shot and   
   > killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.   
   > Twenty of those killed were children between 6 and 7 years old.   
   >   
   > Sandy Hook to Uvalde: Congress has proposed many gun control laws. Only   
   > one has passed.   
   >   
   > Combatting gun violence:RI police find guns — and people who shoot them —   
   > with ballistics 'fingerprinting' machine   
   >   
   > The plaintiffs, he said, had not shown that the magazines represented   
   > "arms" as seen in the Second Amendment, nor had they presented credible   
   > evidence establishing them as a weapon of self-defense.   
   >   
   > The Second Amendment protects the right to people to "keep and bear arms,"   
   > and at its core the right to self-defense, McConnell observed.   
   >   
   > The ban was a reasonable and measured approach to restricting large-   
   > capacity magazines, which in practice easily convert handguns into semi-   
   > automatic weapons capable of rapid fire, he said.   
   >   
   > He accepted the opinion of an expert for the state that throughout history   
   > "high capacity firearms ... were understood to be weapons of war or anti-   
   > insurrection, not weapons of individual self defense."   
   >   
   > McConnell, likewise, rejected arguments that the law represented an   
   > unconstitutional "taking" without just compensation.   
   >   
   > In ruling, the judge cited doctrine establishing that a regulatory   
   > restriction that is a valid exercise of police powers does not entitle a   
   > property owner to compensation, meaning that the policy is in the public   
   > interest, is reasonably designed to accomplish a purpose and is not overly   
   > burdensome. The prohibition, he said, was a reasonable response to the   
   > public safety interests of the state.   
   >   
   > He relied, in part, on testimony from another state witness, Dr. Megan   
   > Ranney, an expert in emergency room medicine with a focus on the public   
   > health fallout from gun violence. Ranney produced evidence that the   
   > ability to spray bullets results in more injuries, often with multiple   
   > wounds, making treatment more complex and victims more numerous.   
   >   
   > McConnell found that data produced by Ranney, though sparse, showed "a   
   > connection between employment of LCMs and increased injuries, both in   
   > number and seriousness."   
   >   
   > The judge determined that any burden placed on owners to sell, forfeit or   
   > modify their magazines under the law was "minor."   
   >   
   > "If this is even a burden at all, it pales in comparison to the   
   > substantial nature of the public safety interest at stake," McConnell   
   > said.   
   >   
   > State lawmakers hail ruling   
   > State leaders on Wednesday praised McConnell's 59-page opinion issued   
   > Wednesday afternoon.   
   >   
   > “The legislation placing restrictions on high capacity magazines was   
   > carefully developed and thoroughly reviewed, and it was enacted after   
   > lengthy public testimony in both the Senate and the House Judiciary   
   > Committees," Senate President Dominick J. Ruggerio and House Speaker K.   
   > Joseph Shekarchi said in an email. "We firmly believed that the   
   > restrictions are necessary, reasonable and in the best interests of public   
   > safety, and that they would be upheld in a court of law, just as similar   
   > provisions in other states have been upheld. We are grateful to Chief   
   > Judge John McConnell for his decision today.”   
   >   
   > Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, who spoke in support of the gun   
   > restrictions at the State House, said Judge McConnell made the right call.   
   >   
   > "We are pleased with the Court’s decision and are confident it is the   
   > correct ruling. We are still reviewing the decision and expect we will   
   > have additional comment very soon," Brian Hodge, spokesman for the   
      
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