If there’s a big loser in Second Amendment-related court proceedings over the past few months, it has to be California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In fact, after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 24 that the state’s ammunition background check law violated the Second Amendment and affirmed a district court’s order granting a permanent injunction against enforcement of the law, Newsom shared some harsh words with the media.
“Strong gun laws save lives—and today’s decision is a slap in the face to the progress California has made in recent years to keep its communities safer from gun violence,” Newsom said in a released statement. “Californians voted to require background checks on ammunition, and their voices should matter.”
Newsom’s frustration isn’t just with the decision on ammo background checks, however. To be sure, Newsom’s and California’s anti-gun regime have seen plenty of court losses as of late, and they have been dealt with especially harshly by the 9th Circuit Court—historically a bastion of anti-gun advocacy—in recent weeks.
For one, on June 20, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court struck down the California law limiting firearm purchases to just one every 30 days. This gun-rationing scheme, the court said, not only violated the Second Amendment but had no historic precedent as required by the Bruen doctrine.
“The district court held that this law violates the Second Amendment. We affirm,” the 9th Circuit ruling stated. “California’s law is facially unconstitutional because possession of multiple firearms and the ability to acquire firearms through purchase without meaningful constraints are protected by the Second Amendment, and California’s law is not supported by our nation’s tradition of firearms regulation.”
Less than a month later, the 9th Circuit reversed a district court decision and upheld an earlier ruling that the Golden State’s law prohibiting advertising of any “firearm-related product in a manner that is designed, intended, or reasonably appears to be attractive to minors” is also unconstitutional.
“California has many tools to address unlawful firearm use and violence among the state’s youth,” the ruling stated. “But it cannot ban truthful ads about lawful firearm use among adults and minors unless it can show that such an intrusion into the First Amendment will significantly further the state’s interest in curtailing unlawful and violent use of firearms by minors.”
Note that the big losses haven’t just been in the 9th Circuit Court, but also at the district court level. On July 1, the United States District Court for the Southern District of California ruled that the state’s law banning nonresident carry permits is unconstitutional.
“Although California identifies a regulatory burden from potentially tens of thousands of new applications, the constitutional infringement pushes the balance of equities in Plaintiffs’ favor,” the ruling stated.
Ultimately, his recent court losses might have something to do with Newsom’s recent lie proclaiming he’s now a Second Amendment advocate.
“I’m not anti-gun at all,” Newsom said at the time. “I’m for just some gun safety common sense. I’m challenged by large-capacity magazine clips in urban centers, weapons of war sometimes outgunning the police. But otherwise, man, people have the right to bear arms, and I’ve got no ideological opposition to that at all.”
Hopefully, pretending not to be anti-gun made him feel a little better about all the bad beatings he’s been taking in court recently. He’s going to need it, as more lawsuits in the pipeline will continue to dismantle the state’s tangle of anti-gun laws.
In March of 1915, the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment under the command of LTC Phillipp Englehardt was posted along a two-mile length of defensive trench near Fromelles, France. This regiment had already survived Ypres and had been well-blooded. Amongst the surviving veterans was a skinny, hard-charging 26-year-old Austrian.
The German Gewehr 98 represented a massive leap forward in military rifle design when it entered service in 1898.
He was a simple man but a dedicated soldier. He was also an artist whose wartime sketches were of sufficient quality to have been stolen by some nameless opportunist.
When first issued his long Gewehr 98 rifle, the newly minted trooper was enthralled. A comrade later said of his experience, “He looked at it with delight, as a woman looks at her jewelry, which made me laugh.”
Polish insurgents armed with German military weapons during the 1919 conflict against Bolshevik forces. Image: Polish National Digital Archives
Combat in these ghastly trenches was unimaginably horrible. For interposing his own body to save LTC Englehardt during a particularly severe artillery barrage, the young man had been awarded the Iron Cross 2d Class. He later described the moment of the award as, “The happiest day of my life.” By this point in the war, the man had been promoted to corporal and made a runner for the regimental staff.
The Gewehr 98 equipped millions of German soldiers during the First World War and became synonymous with Imperial German military power.
Runners at this time passed orders and retrieved combat reports in an era without radios. This job was harrowing and immensely dangerous. It involved timing the fall of artillery and gauging enemy machine gun fire, then sprinting across the battlefield from one position of cover to another. It was amazing the man had survived as long as he had. Many of his comrades had not.
The Polish military adopted the Mauser wz. 98 rifle based on the German Gewehr 98 design and paired it with their own wz. 28 bayonet. Image: Polish National Digital Archives
The deprivations in such a place were legendary. In this case, the man’s unit had gone weeks without hot food. When a mobile horse-drawn field kitchen set up and began distributing black bread and hot-boiled cabbage, it was like manna from heaven.
This man queued up alongside his mates, slung his long G98 rifle, and waited in line for his first hot meal in about forever. Once he had his steaming tin of cabbage, he found a handy spot with his friends to wolf it down. Before he could get his mess utensils out, however, the strangest thing happened.
This Gewehr 98 displays the standard military sling configuration used throughout World War I. It allowed German soldiers to carry the 9-lb. rifle during long marches.
Amidst the banter of his buddies and their enthusiasm for this hot repast, an audible voice came to the man directing him to simply get up and walk around the corner.
At first, the hungry corporal wrote the experience off to combat fatigue and proceeded with his dinner. Then the voice came back again, more forcefully this time.
Now both confused and frustrated, the man grudgingly gathered his gear and his weapon and did as he was told. Moments later, a French artillery round landed where he had previously been sitting, killing everyone in the immediate vicinity. This young man had been miraculously spared by an inexplicable phantasmic voice in his head.
Adolf Hitler used to relate the preceding tale of his time in the trenches during World War I at dinner parties as evidence of his divine mandate to rule. In another instance, a British artillery round landed nearby, killing all those around him and ripping the sleeve off of his tunic while leaving him unscathed.
German trenches featured rifle lockers where soldiers stored their Gewehr 98 rifles. Lockers kept the bolt-action rifles organized and protected from the constant mud and water of trench life. Image: Public Domain
Perhaps he had a point, though I don’t think his particular guardian actually took his mail in heaven. Regardless, the long bolt-action rifle he carried in that most horrible of wars was a legend in its own right.
The Weapon
The rifle with which a young Private Adolf Hitler was so enamored back in 1914 was the famed Gewehr 98, often shortened to simply G98 or Gew98.
Launched in April of 1898, the Gew98 replaced the previous Gewehr 1888 in Imperial German service. The Gew98 was an evolutionary development of Paul Mauser’s 1895 action. The rifle first saw combat in China during the Boxer Rebellion.
The Gewehr 98 bolt action proved exceptionally tough and reliable, even under the harshest battlefield conditions.
During WWI, the Gew98 fired the 7.92x57mm Mauser S Patrone cartridge. This round pushed a 154-gr. Spitzer (pointed) bullet that was fairly devastating downrange. Muzzle velocities were a bit north of 2,000 feet per second out of this rifle.
Mechanical Details of the Gewehr 98
The Gew98 is a manually operated bolt-action rifle that feeds from an integral five-round box magazine. The rifle is loaded single rounds or via five-round stripper clips that feed from the top. The bolt handle sticks out at a right angle from the receiver.
Poles, receiving firearms training from a Roman Catholic priest, are using Gewehr 98 rifles. Image: Polish National Digital Archives
The Gew98 was a controlled-feed design. This meant that the extractor snapped over the rim of the cartridge as it fed from the magazine, maintaining positive control of the round all the way into the chamber. This is opposed to push-feed designs wherein the extractor does not positively grab the cartridge rim until the bolt closes.
The Gewehr 98 featured the complex “Lange Visier” rear sight system graduated from 200 to 2,000 meters in 100-meter increments.
The bolt on the Gew98 was designed for both strength and safety. Two beefy locking lugs engage corresponding recesses in the steel receiver to ensure positive lockup for firing. There was also a third safety lug milled into the rear of the bolt assembly to provide extra strength. Nowadays, quality reliable steels make such redundancy superfluous. However, that was not necessarily the case at the turn of the 20th century.
Gas relief holes on the bottom of the bolt direct hot gases away from the firer in the event of a case or primer failure. Once again, this is not much of problem nowadays given the refined state of munitions manufacture. Back then, however, it was a bigger deal.
There is a cam built into the bolt that enables a slight degree of cartridge extraction at the beginning of the unlocking process. This aids in removal of spent cartridges even if they are dirty or sticky.
The case is also positively controlled during the extraction stroke. This makes for an exceptionally reliable action that has been widely copied in both military and sporting arms, particularly those for use with dangerous game where a mechanical failure might prove catastrophic. The firing pin cocks on opening.
Members of the Polish Military Training Corps pose with their Gewehr 98 rifles in this formal group photograph circa 1928. Image: Polish National Digital Archives
The safety is a three-position, flag-style tab on the back of the bolt. Left is fire. Right locks both the bolt and the firing mechanism. In the up position, the firing mechanism is still locked, but the bolt will open.
The Gewehr 98 featured a three-position flag-style safety tab on the rear of the bolt that was easy to access and operate under stress.
The Gew98 is 49” long and weighs 9 lbs. The barrel is 29” long. The curved, tangent-style rear sight is graduated from 200 meters out to 2,000 meters in 100-meter increments. This complex sighting device is called the Lange Visier.
Legacy
More than nine million copies were produced from 1898 through 1918. In 1915, the Germans converted some 15,000 Gew98 rifles for sniper use by fitting these weapons with optical sights. These Scharfschützen-Gewehr 98 (sniper rifle 98) featured turn-down bolts that were angled to clear the scopes and corresponding stock cutouts to accommodate.
German soldiers with some Gew98 rifles protect a train during reconnaissance operations in the Great War. Image: Public Domain
Accuracy expectations were surprisingly sloppy by modern standards. For acceptance into service, the Gew98 was expected to put half its rounds into a 2.4” circle at 100 meters and 93% of its rounds inside a 4.7” ring. However, this was not atypical for martial arms of this era.
Polish insurgents armed with Gewehr 98 rifles prepare for combat against Bolshevik forces in 1919 during the Polish-Soviet conflict. Image: Polish National Digital Archives
The Gew98 went on to inspire the American M1903 Springfield, The British Pattern 14 and 1917 rifles, and the Czech Vz-24. A great many modern hunting arms use the same basic design today. The Gew98 was eventually shortened and polished into the Kar98k that carried German forces all the way through World War II.
Conclusion
The massive, heavy, bolt-action beast of a rifle that Adolf Hitler carried in combat in the First World War was one of the most influential military small arms in history.
Coming as it did at the very beginning of the era of smokeless powder, the Gewehr 98 offered effective long-range performance, reliability, and ease of maintenance in a manual repeater action that facilitated impressive rates of fire.
That same 127-year-old action soldiers on in a variety of guises even today. Its positive legacy is one that stands in marked contrast to that of the aforementioned corporal from the trenches of World War I that loved it so.
Just a quick show of hands, who here is just crazy about their job? I mean, so much so that you’d do it for free? Gun writing doesn’t count.
I used to get paid to fly helicopters for the Army, and it still seemed like work sometimes. Work is generally unpleasant. That’s why they pay us to do it.
A quarter century of medical practice will change a guy. I didn’t start medical school until I was 32, so I already had some fairly ingrained opinions about the way things worked.
I had traveled widely, lost friends as a soldier, jumped out of airplanes in the middle of the night, and commanded multi-ship air assaults under night vision goggles. In short, I thought I had seen enough of the world that I could no longer be surprised. It turns out I was wrong.
I never might have imagined the extraordinary things human beings intentionally do to themselves and others before I worked in a busy urban emergency room.
It is truly shocking how many folks were just working on their ceiling fans in the middle of the night while naked on a ladder, only to fall onto some weird errant object and get it lodged up their backsides. Tragically, I have actually seen that happen more than once. And then there are those who are just full-time professional lazy people.
Raising Sloth to an Art Form
Don’t get me wrong. Disability is not funny. If someone gets legitimately hurt at work, it is the right thing to do to take care of them until they can get back on their feet. However, suffice it to say, there are those who strive mightily to take advantage of that institutional altruism.
One particularly artistic practitioner of turbocharged languor torqued his back while working on an assembly line in my little town. Back pain is the second-most common reason people go to the doctor, right behind head colds. I hurt mine when I was 27 and a soldier. It sucks. I agree.
However, this dude strolled into the clinic like clockwork every few weeks for more than 9 months, seeking nothing more than a work excuse to stay home. His job was willing to have him answer the phones or, basically, do whatever he would otherwise be doing at the house, but he adamantly refused. I don’t recall what happened to him, but it was frustrating.
I have countless other examples. However, all of them pale in comparison to the story of Julija Adlesic. Ms. Adlesic was indeed truly committed. I’m a fairly creative guy, and I’m not sure I could have made this stuff up.
This is Julija Adlesic. She voluntarily chopped her own arm off in an effort to score a big insurance settlement. Instagram photo.
The Scheme
In 2019, a 22-year-old Slovenian woman named Julija Adlesic was out working in the yard with her boyfriend, sawing branches with a circular saw. Something truly horrible happened, and Julija cut her left hand off above the wrist. Her boyfriend leapt into action and bound the stump.
The distraught boyfriend then threw the hysterical woman into the car and raced to the hospital. In the rush, they forgot to retrieve her severed hand. Once in the ER, the Slovenian medical system kicked into high gear. Some poor slob was dispatched back to her home to retrieve the cooling limb. In a truly impressive feat of doctoring, a hand surgeon actually got that rascal sewn back on. That’s all objectively ghastly, but there’s more.
I honestly cannot fathom any manner of enticement that might motivate me to willingly stick my arm into this thing. Public domain.
The Plot Thickens …
Over the course of the previous year, Julija had taken out five different insurance policies against bodily injury and disability. It was later discovered that her boyfriend had undertaken Internet searches about artificial hands in the days and weeks preceding the event.
After the traumatic amputation of her limb, Julija stood to gain around $1.16 million in insurance payouts. Half of that would come as a lump sum. The rest would be paid over time. All totaled, that’s a bit like winning the lottery … except that, to win, you had to chop your hand off with a circular saw.
Somebody alerted the authorities, and an investigation ensued. Julija declared her innocence throughout. However, a court in the capital Ljubljana was not convinced. She was sentenced to two years in prison. Hard time in the Big House was probably even tougher with that gimpy mitt.
This sordid scheme was actually a family affair. It seems that her no-account boyfriend was the criminal mastermind. He got three years for his part in the fraud. Julija’s dad got a year suspended. Several other relatives were arrested as well.
At trial, it was discovered that Julija and her boyfriend had intentionally abandoned the severed hand at the work site rather than bring it along to the hospital.
Apparently, not having your hand at all paid more than having it chopped off and then reattached. That was the only way to prove that the disability was indeed permanent. Prosecutors used all of this circumstantial evidence to establish that the injury was intentional.
It is frankly amazing that there was a surgical team available that could reattach Ms Adlesic’s severed hand given the sordid circumstances. Wikipedia photo by Piotr Bodzek, MD.
Ruminations
I’m 59 years old. I’m close enough to retirement to at least start dreaming about the details. I would, likewise, love to think that I could abandon my medical clinic and live out the rest of my days recreationally banging out GunCrank columns. However, I’d struggle to do that if I intentionally chopped off my primary typing hand first.
We live in a fallen world populated with fallen people. As Julija Adlesic so graphically demonstrated, some of those fallen people are also pretty darn stupid. This wasn’t just some lame tattoo or an impractical pet.
That chick chopped her own arm off in hopes of scoring insurance money. I’m genuinely curious to know how her worthless boyfriend actually talked her into that. That dude clearly missed his calling. He should be out there selling ice to Eskimos.
