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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 2, 2025

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Lamont has dropped.

Plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on the merits. Connecticut’s restrictions on AR-15s, .300 Blackout-chambered “other” firearms (in Plaintiffs’ intended configuration), and large capacity magazines are one more chapter in the historical tradition of limiting the ability to “keep and carry” dangerous and unusual weapons. The challenged statutes are “relevantly similar,” to historical antecedents that imposed targeted restrictions on unusually dangerous weapons of an offensive character—dirk and Bowie knives, as well as machine guns and submachine guns—after they were used by a single perpetrator to kill multiple people at one time or to inflict terror in communities.

Unanimously, the 2nd Circuit has now redefined "dangerous and unusual" to mean "unusually dangerous". I don't see many ways to resolve this which don't leave the Second Amendment a dead letter, or at best allow a gun in a circumstance. The logic? To repeat myself: (because fuck you, that's why)

Association of N. J. Rifle & Pistol Clubs, Inc. v. Platkin updates

The court, sua sponte, orders rehearing en banc in the above-captioned cases. The Clerk of Court shall list this matter for Wednesday, October 15, 2025 beginning at 9:30 a.m. in Philadelphia, PA.

In theory, recent changes to the 3rd Circuit's makeup could result in this case having a pro-gun and perhaps even fast decision. The case had no chance at the appeals level (two judges, Schwartz and Freeman, have already signed onto pretty bad anti-gun rulings), so this could even simplify matters.

In practice, I'm not that optimistic. The whole circuit has only a slight R-D lean, and it has enough squishy Rs on a complex enough topic that it'd be a hard situation to run on, and unlike Range has no easy way to limit to the borders of this case or the limits of the popular.

On the other hand, I guess it could be worse. It could be Koons. Except then there's a question why the en banc Koons, too.