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Amy Swearer Profile picture
Amy Swearer
@AmySwearer
Senior Legal Fellow at @Heritage. Always technically as advertised, but never quite what you expected. All views and cat pictures are my own.
Hecate's Crossroad #QVArmy Profile picture Cheri Stahl Profile picture 𝔾𝕖𝕟𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕪 𝔾𝕚𝕣𝕝 Profile picture Listo Lyman ( Dude/Duder/El Duderino) Profile picture coonjc Profile picture 9 subscribed
Jan 18 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
I'm reading through the DOJ's scathing report on the disastrous Uvalde response so that you don't have to.

Here's what sticks out: 🧵

static.texastribune.org/media/files/17… The investigation "identified several critical failures and other breakdowns" during the response and refers to "cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy, and training that contributed to those failures and breakdowns."
Aug 14, 2023 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
Can we take a minute to appreciate how many women have protected themselves and others with firearms in the last two or so weeks? It's basically a highlight real of just how important the right to keep and bear arms is for us, too. Tip of the DGU iceberg, but important:

📜📜📜 Aug. 11, Tucson (AZ) - A woman living by herself fatally shot a would-be intruder who kept trying to break into her home despite knowing she was armed.

kold.com/2023/08/12/pcs…
Jul 21, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
(1) She was 30 weeks pregnant, which would have been illegal in most states pre-Roe [and most of the world], and is 20 weeks past the FDA's approved usage timeline for abortion pills.

(2) She wasn't charged under the abortion law. She was charged with concealing the remains. (3) Her mother is charged with *performing* the abortion after 20 weeks, as well as with performing the abortion without a medical license.

(4) Doctors lose their licenses all the time for far less egregious things than prescribing abortion pills at 30 weeks.
Jun 27, 2023 • 20 tweets • 5 min read
It's indisputable that an armed civilian stopped an active shooter last week.

You almost certainly haven't heard about it.

Why?

Because Las Vegas Police have gone out of their way to downplay it, while the media have shown basically zero interest.

THREAD. Last Friday, LVPD responded to a shooting at a luxury condo just off the Las Vegas strip. The initial reporting on it looked generally like this:

Two people involved. One shot and injured.

That's it. Pretty standard crime, right?

8newsnow.com/news/local-new…
Jun 8, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Example #1837 of why it's a horrible idea to only count defensive gun uses if they're confirmed in some publicly available media report.

Often, the public doesn't get updated if a shooting is later deemed justified unless it's suddenly relevant again.

wtvr.com/news/local-new… Case in point - a Richmond teenager was fatally shot in Nov. 2021. Limited info, except for a March 2022 article detailing that his family was upset no arrests had been made. That could mean many things, including a lack of suspects.

nbc12.com/2022/03/22/tho…
Jun 8, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This is some Orwellian doublespeak. You don't "enshrine freedom" by literally limiting the scope of your existing freedoms, which are already enshrined. And you can't "leave the Second Amendment intact" while cutting out its heart and removing its soul. The Second Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, protects what citizens may do by telling the government what it cannot do.

Newsome's amendment turns this on its head, mandating what government MUST do in order that peaceable citizens may NOT do certain things.
Jun 6, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Normally, I'd say this isn't going anywhere, given that Colorado's ERPO statute explicitly states there's no civil, criminal, or administrative liability for declining to initiate investigations or file petitions...

...but the kicker is that it has to be done in "good faith." This could be a problem for a Sheriff that explicitly and repeatedly said his office simply wasn't going to pursue or initiate these, ever, as a categorical rule...and would only enforce privately-initiated ones in "extreme circumstances."

Is that a "good faith" declining?
Jun 6, 2023 • 14 tweets • 3 min read
Assuming that the basic facts are correct - that the woman fatally shot her unarmed neighbor through a locked door during a dispute - I'm genuinely astonished that the woman hasn't been charged yet.

"Stand your ground" isn't relevant here.

Here's why:

cbsnews.com/news/florida-m… Florida authorizes the use of deadly force when a person reasonably believes such force is necessary to prevent either imminent death or great bodily harm or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony.

leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index…
Jun 2, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
26 felonies. They're charging him with 26 felonies, each of which has a mandatory minimum of 3.5 years in prison.

Why?

Because an otherwise upstanding, peaceable citizen with a license for 5 rifles...didn't have a license for his other guns.

abc7ny.com/queens-shootin… If he has a NYC permit for 5 rifles, he's an upstanding citizen *according the city itself*.

The process for obtaining a rifle permit is virtually identical to the one for a pistol permit, except that the latter is twice as expensive and requires an in-person interview.
Jun 1, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
This is actually worse than it appeared at first, and it appeared really bad.

Turns out, the guy has a license to own a shotgun or rifle. Just no license to own a handgun. And no license to carry.

nbcnewyork.com/news/local/cri… You want to know what the process is for a handgun license in NYC? Just the license, not the carry permit?

$325 application fee. Nonrefundable.

$90 fingerprint fee. Nonrefundable.

A scheduled in-person interview, during typical weekday work hours.

nyc.gov/html/nypd/down…
May 30, 2023 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
People think I'm being dramatic about just how big of a problem these giant teen "house parties" are becoming...but let me present a short rundown of recent times they turned into shootings. And by recent, I mean "just this year." Two teens killed a 20-year-old and 19-year-old, and injured 5 teens aged 15-to-19, at a Yuma, AZ, house party of more than 100 attendees.

Almost 11 pm.

abcnews.go.com/US/2-teens-arr…
May 30, 2023 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
If you want to understand the rise in "children" being shot - the "who, where, when, and why" - look no further than this recent incident.

Let's break this down.

whio.com/news/local/sho… The article calls 2 victims "children" and states the incident took place at a party with "50 to 60 kids." You'd think someone opened fire on an 11-year-old's mid-day birthday party with that framing, and that it's just random violence killing our kids during low-risk activities.
Apr 18, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
Gun owners, let's talk about the many ways this tragedy could have been prevented. I understand being elderly and feeling vulnerable in general, but we have to make better decisions - and set ourselves up to avoid costly mistakes.

cnn.com/2023/04/17/us/… (1) Install a peephole so you can see who's there without having to physically open your door. I'm not suggesting that this teen was inherently threatening. But let's say you're uncomfortable for whatever reason - a peephole allows you to be uncomfortable BEHIND the locked door.
Apr 14, 2023 • 19 tweets • 5 min read
Because they're not "weapons of war." They're incredibly useful for defending innocent life from criminal threats in noncombat zones like...say...downtown Louisville. Which is exactly why the peace officers responding to that civilian-context threat used them, too. But while I have everyone's attention, let's have a history lesson and reality check at the same time.

Gather round, children, and let me tell you the tale of how mass public shooters have ALWAYS been able to kill a lot of people with far more...rustic...guns.
Mar 30, 2023 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
An AR doesn't prevent a home invasion. But it will help you end one.

Also, tell me you've lived a very safe and privileged life without telling me you've lived a safe and privileged life.

Happy for you, truly, but do you realize how often people face multiple home intruders? As you should have guessed by now...

kansascity.com/news/nation-wo…
Mar 29, 2023 • 25 tweets • 6 min read
Someone has never been a woman alone in the woods and it shows. I'm far more concerned with other humans. But also not taking my chances with bears, mountain lions, and [in the south] those damn wild boars. Stop.

nbcnews.com/news/us-news/f…
Mar 29, 2023 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
I don't typically tell people what guns I own, but I literally own this gun because it is a perfect home defense weapon. Let me explain why I recommend it (and its more expensive pistol caliber carbine cousins) to everyone for urban/suburban home defense: It's a pistol caliber carbine, meaning it shoots the same 9mm round as my handgun. But unlike my handgun, it gives me third point of contact for increased stability and accuracy under pressure. So I have the tactical benefits of a rifle but a lesser risk of overpenetration.
Mar 29, 2023 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
This isn't a super helpful framing because it implies that the mere existence of an emotional order is sufficient to prove a person is dangerous to self or others - even worse, that actively seeking treatment and cooperating with one's own healthcare should be held against them. Obviously, this person WAS dangerous. But they seem, like almost all mass shooters, to have exhibited specific violent tendencies, including a recent history of being actively suicidal. But an emotional disorder on its own isn't evidence of dangerousness.
Mar 23, 2023 • 23 tweets • 5 min read
Guns don't protect women. But women armed WITH guns are far more capable of protecting themselves. And, just like men, women often rely on their Second Amendment rights to do just that. Women.

nbcmiami.com/news/local/wom…
Mar 8, 2023 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
"What we got to do, if we really want to see homicides go down, is keep bad guys with guns in jail. Because when they're in jail, they can't be in communities shooting people."

He's objectively correct.

foxnews.com/media/dc-polic… As I explained in my recent Legal Memo, it's universally true that most gun crimes in any given city are committed by a small number of predictable people - almost always serial offenders. Remove them from the community, and the community is much safer.

heritage.org/firearms/repor…
Mar 8, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The Founders were able, as a practical matter, to free themselves from that tyranny because (1) the citizenry was widely armed and (2) resisted tyrannical disarmament efforts. That's one of the reasons they sought to safeguard the right to keep and bear arms in perpetuity. Moreover, death at the hands of criminals is (like death at the hands of tyrants) absolutely the greatest infringement on the most fundamental natural right. And that's precisely why there's an inherent right to self-defense, and a corresponding right to *arms* for self-defense.