The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has announced they will seek Supreme Court review in Bianchi v. Wilkinson, SAF’s challenge to Maryland’s assault weapons ban, after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law.
“Today’s decision from the 4th Circuit is unsurprising given their prior decision in Kolbe,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “We believe, much like in Kolbe, the court’s analysis is flawed and that the challenged law is unconstitutional. We will be filing a petition for certiorari at the Supreme Court, as this case presents an excellent vehicle for the Court to settle this debate once and for all.”
In the 65-page opinion, judges for the majority wrote: “The assault weapons at issue fall outside the ambit of protection offered by the Second Amendment because, in essence, they are military-style weapons designed for sustained combat operations that are ill-suited and disproportionate to the need for self-defense.” Chief Judge Diaz drafted a concurring opinion, with five other judges joining.
Judge Richardson drafted a dissenting opinion, with four other judges joining stating: “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right subject to the whimsical discretion of federal judges. Its mandate is absolute and, applied here, unequivocal…In holding otherwise, the majority grants states historically unprecedented leeway to trammel the constitutional liberties of their citizens.”
Joining SAF in the case are the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Field Traders, LLC., the Firearms Policy Coalition, and three private citizens, David Snope, Micah Schaefer and Dominic Bianchi, for whom the case is named. “The court relied heavily on the distinction between ‘military style’ arms and those appropriate for self-defense use,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb.
“This distinction runs completely contrary to the mandates of Heller and Bruen, and now sets the stage for another petition for SCOTUS review of the case.”
The Illinois sheriff’s deputy who gunned down Sonya Massey in her home last month is now listed as suspended on a statewide registry of officers who have been fired, forced to resign or had their law enforcement licenses revoked due to misconduct.
The suspension of former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson’s law enforcement certificate came only after he was fired and charged with murder.
On July 6, Grayson responded to a report of a prowler at Massey’s home. Bodycam footage from another deputy showed Massey saying she rebuked Grayson, and the former deputy threatening the 36-year-old woman. The encounter ended with Grayson shooting Massey in the head and failing to render aid.
After being discharged from the Army for serious misconduct and a history of driving under the influence, Grayson was employed since 2020 by six Illinois law enforcement agencies – at three of them, as a part-time officer, employment records show.
Grayson is part of what law enforcement officials and experts call America’s legion of “wandering officers” who drift from police department to police department – sometimes even after having been fired, forced to resign or convicted of a crime.
“The shooting again underscores the critical need for police agencies to thoroughly vet potential hires,” the International Association of Chiefs of Police said in a statement Tuesday. “The pattern and nature of frequent job changes by a police officer should raise flags about their suitability for the policing profession.”
The professional association of prominent police leaders called Massey’s death “a devastating and avoidable tragedy.”
The absence of an exhaustive, national database for tracking and weeding out rogue cops – along with a lack of coordination among the more than 18,000 law enforcement agencies in the country – has allowed officers like Grayson to get hired without their checkered histories sounding an alarm, according to policing officials and experts.
“There’s no question that … officers getting rehired after they’ve been let go under whatever circumstances is a huge problem and appears to be responsible for a grossly disproportionate number of tragic incidents,” said Christy Lopez, a former deputy chief in the special litigation section of the civil rights division at the Justice Department during the Obama administration.
In addition, Lopez said, part-time law enforcement positions – like those Grayson held – tend not to attract the best candidates or get the most training.
“It’s never a good sign when a police department is hiring officers on a part-time basis,” said Lopez, a Georgetown University law professor.
A police misconduct registry funded by US Justice Department, and known as the National Decertification Index (NDI), already lists nearly 55,000 officers who had their law enforcement certificate or license revoked because of misconduct. But its coverage is spotty, according to policing officials and experts: Not every US police agency submits data to the registry or checks it before making hiring decisions. The names in the database are not public. And Grayson had never been decertified.
“That certification index on its own is not enough,” Lopez said. “It wouldn’t have caught Sean Grayson. It’s not going to catch a lot of your problem officers.”
Military discharge should have been ‘red flag’
Grayson, 30, was indicted by a grand jury on three counts of first-degree murder and one count each of aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He has pleaded not guilty and was denied pretrial release, according to court records.
Grayson’s attorney Daniel Fultz declined comment on Saturday.
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell fired Grayson after the shooting, saying in a statement: “Sonya Massey lost her life due to an unjustifiable and reckless decision by former Deputy Sean Grayson.”
“Grayson had other options available that he should have used. His actions were inexcusable and do not reflect the values or training of our office.”
Campbell, in a separate statement, said no law enforcement agencies reported problems with Grayson before he was hired in Sangamon County, though previous employers had commented he “needed more training.” Grayson received 16 weeks of academy training after being hired, according to Campbell.
“This is not unusual for deputies with Grayson’s experience, and is standard procedure for Sangamon County deputies,” Campbell’s statement said. Grayson’s personnel file included “references from people I know well,” said the sheriff, adding those “insights are invaluable in making informed hiring decisions.”
Grayson was discharged from the US Army in 2016 due to “misconduct (serious offense),” according to a Department of Defense document included in Grayson’s personnel file during his time at the Kincaid Police Department in Illinois. The personnel file was obtained by CNN affiliate KSHB.
Sean Grayson, a deputy with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office, faces multiple charges in the shooting death of Sonya Massey. – Sangamon County Jail/WISC
“A red flag would be his military” discharge, said Brian Grisham, deputy director of the nonprofit International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training and chair of the National Decertification Index. “That’s a potential disqualifier in most states.”
The DOD document said Grayson was separated from the Army under a general discharge after he served as a private first class at Fort Riley in Kansas. The alleged misconduct was not disclosed.
Army spokesperson Bryce Dubee, in response to a CNN request for more detail, wrote: “Sean P. Grayson was a 91B (Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic) in the Regular Army from May 2014 to February 2016. He had no deployments and left the Army in the rank of private first class.”
Grayson was charged with two DUI misdemeanor offenses in Illinois’ Macoupin County – one in 2015 and the other in 2016, court records show. The website of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, which sets professional standards for law enforcement and correctional officers, does not list driving under the influence as a “decertifiable misdemeanor.”
The first incident occurred in August 2015. Grayson’s vehicle was impounded after he was charged with driving under the influence. He pleaded guilty and paid more than $1,320 in fines, according to court records.
In July 2016, Grayson was charged with another DUI. Again, he pleaded guilty and paid more than $2,400 in fines, court records show.
Grayson acknowledged the DUI charges when he applied to be an officer at Auburn Police Department in Illinois in 2021. He worked there from July 2021 to May 2022. CNN’s review of Grayson’s records there did not reveal any major problems or disciplinary issues.
In May 2022, Grayson started working at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, records show. He wrote the sheriff a brief letter detailing his “terrible decision to drink and drive.”
Grayson’s letter also said he lost his driving privileges for one year after pleading guilty to his second DUI, in 2016.
A background check was performed prior to Grayson’s hiring in Sangamon County, Campbell said. Prior DUI convictions “are not disqualifying criteria for a deputy,” Campbell said.
‘We can’t have you in our uniform’
Grayson worked at six Illinois law enforcement agencies over a four-year period.
He started working part time with Pawnee police in August 2020, followed by the Kincaid and Virden police departments. Then he started working full time with Auburn police, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, and finally the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office in May 2023.
His employment records from the Auburn Police Department indicated why Grayson said he left previous positions: In some cases, he wanted to work full time but could only get part-time hours. In another, he said he didn’t want to move.
Grayson was on the Kincaid police force for only three months before he was let go “because he refused to live within a 10-mile radius,” KSHB reported.
“The decertification index originally was created to keep problem officers from moving from state to state but the reality is they move from agency to agency,” Grisham said.
“I do think there have been rogue officers that have gone all over the place and inadequate background checks let them continue on with potential bad acts in other jurisdictions.”
Grayson did not appear to have disciplinary issues as an Auburn officer but records from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office recommended he take “high stress decision making classes.” The records said Grayson failed to slow down after his boss called off a vehicle pursuit. Grayson was driving about 110 mph before striking a deer, according to the records.
A Logan County chief deputy wrote that Grayson “failed to show due caution while driving through stop intersections.” Grayson’s supervisor “terminated the pursuit” and the deputy turned off his emergency lights, the report stated. But Grayson “continued at a high rate of speed (110/55 mph zone) prior to striking the deer.”
Audio recordings that appear to coincide with Logan County’s internal review of the incident captured the chief deputy admonishing Grayson for describing it inaccurately in his report despite previous orders to check for accuracy.
“If we can’t trust what you say and what you see, we can’t have you in our uniform,” the chief deputy told Grayson.
“I’m getting goosebumps. This is extremely concerning,” the chief deputy said later. “Everybody likes you. I gotta be able to trust you. Was this a purposefully done lie?”
“No,” Grayson responded.
“Deputy Grayson acknowledged he lacks experience,” the report said. A series of recommendations included “additional traffic stop training, report writing training, high stress decision making classes, and needs to read, understand and discuss issued Logan County Sheriff’s Office Policy.”
It was not immediately clear if Grayson followed through with the recommendations. In April 2023, he resigned from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office. The next month, he joined the sheriff’s office in Sangamon County, where his encounter with Massey more than a year later resulted in murder charges.
A psychological examination before his was hired by Sangamon County said Grayson was “a suitable fit for the position” but also noted a low score on a cognitive assessment. “He knows he can move too fast at times. He needs to slow down to make good decisions,” read the report of the March 2023 examination.
On Friday, a spokesperson for the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office said the agency did not receive a complete disciplinary report from Logan County about Grayson, including his reprimand for an inaccurate report of the traffic incident.
Campbell did not respond to CNN’s request for comment, but he told CNN affiliate WICS that “we need to take a look at” more thorough background checks of job candidates.
“We did not receive all the information from some of his previous employers that came out afterward,” the sheriff said.
The Logan County Sheriff’s Office has not responded to a request for comment.
The union representing Illinois law enforcement officers said it will not challenge Grayson’s termination. After an evaluation of the deputy’s grievance, “the union has determined that it will not be proceeding any further,” the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council said in a statement, which expressed sympathy “for the family and loved ones of Sonya Massey.”
“If you look at it, an individual can push the envelope over and over and never get to the point of being disciplined on their license, but they’ve left a cloud everywhere they’ve been,” Grisham said.
‘There are agencies cutting corners’
Massey’s death has led to renewed calls for passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, the failed legislation targeting racial bias and use of force – including the creation of a more robust nationwide police misconduct registry.
George Floyd, the act’s namesake, was another Black person killed by police. The 46-year-old died in police custody on May 25, 2020, after Derek Chauvin, a White police officer, was filmed kneeling on Floyd’s neck and back for nearly nine minutes as Floyd pleaded for help and said he couldn’t breathe.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in a state trial in 2021 and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison. He later pleaded guilty in federal court of depriving Floyd of his civil rights.
Chauvin had 18 prior complaints filed against him with the Minneapolis Police Department’s Internal Affairs before his fatal encounter with Floyd, according to the police department. Another officer on the scene also had a history of complaints.
Floyd’s killing sparked a wave of protests around the world, along with a spate of legislative measures intended to address police brutality and racial bias. But the Floyd bill has languished for years amid partisan differences that are especially heightened today. At the same time, many police agencies have struggled in recent years to hire and retain quality officers given the low pay, dangerous work and a perceived lack of respect from the public.
“There are agencies cutting corners and they always have,” Grisham said. “But with the recruitment and retention issues we have today, where agencies nationwide, on average, used to receive hundreds of applications for vacancies and they get dozens now … they’re having to dig deeper into the hiring availability. So there could be a slight uptick in misconduct.”
Lopez, who led the team that investigated the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri after the 2014 killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown, said having “potentially thousands and thousands of bad apple officers” on the streets “can wreak havoc” in communities.
“We saw in this case, for example, there were two officers on the scene. Only one of them shot Sonya Massey,” she said. “You will see that in many of these incidents. Everything’s fine. Most officers are handling it fine, but it just takes one officer to send it spiraling off into the wrong direction.”
Lopez recalled that, while investigating police in Ferguson, local officials spoke about “the muni-shuffle” where officers often sauntered “back and forth” between jobs in the 91 municipalities and 50 or so police departments in St. Louis County.
“An officer at Ferguson complained to me about accidentally hiring a really terrible officer from another agency because he wasn’t aware about the officer’s misconduct history,” she said.
“Agencies sometimes – especially when they’re under pressure to hire, hire, hire – will hire officers from other agencies and they don’t have to go through all the same training that a brand new officer would have to go through. So it’s sometimes seen as a cost efficient way to hire new officers when, in fact, it is a really dangerous way to hire new officers.”
Smaller cash-strapped agencies often end up hiring an experienced officer who may have a checkered past instead of paying to train and hire a new officer, according to Lopez and other experts.
Police brass are ‘now on notice’
In 2015, a report by President Barack Obama’s task force on 21st century policing called on the Justice Department to partner with the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training to expand its decertification database to help remove the worst cops from the streets. National and standardized reporting, the report said, would ensure that “officers who have lost their certification for misconduct are not easily hired in other jurisdictions.”
“There’s no requirement that anybody, any local jurisdiction that has a Sean Grayson situation … send information to that central clearing house,” Laurie Robinson, a professor at George Mason University and co-chair of Obama’s task force, told CNN. “It’s something that has been going on as long as I’ve been around policing, which is 25 years.”
Decertification and other employment records are kept by the Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) boards in each state, but not all boards report the information to the national registry. Only California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Tennessee, New York, New Jersey and Texas require that records be reported to the national index, Grisham said.
“We are not a government agency. We can’t mandate usage of it,” he said, noting the registry is still “averaging over 200 new actions added monthly” and more than 1,000 new user requests per month.
“We’ve got documented cases where officers are pretending like they’ve never been in law enforcement before and applying for jobs and this system has caught them,” Grisham said.
In 2020, a Yale Law Journal study titled “The Wandering Officer” said the scope of the problem in American policing is unclear. That remains true today, according to policing experts.
“Not all those who wander are lost, but in policing, many are,” the researchers concluded.
“These officers, we have shown, are subsequently fired and subjected to ‘moral character’ complaints at elevated rates relative to both officers hired as rookies and veterans with clean professional histories. And we likely underestimate the prevalence of the phenomenon nationwide.”
The researchers found wandering officers “tend to migrate to agencies with fewer resources in communities with slightly higher proportions of residents of color.”
“Police administrators are now on notice. Even when well intentioned — as a second chance for a hard-working cop — hiring a wandering officer is risky business,” the study said. “Beyond their own misbehavior, wandering officers may undermine efforts to improve police culture, as they carry their baggage to new locales.”
CNN’s Holly Yan, Bill Kirkos, Amanda Musa, Andy Rose, Chris Boyette, Brad Parks and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.
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One solution: require officers to carry personal malpractice insurance, similar to doctors. Bad cops won’t be able to afford insurance.
Another is that of starting up a Police ROTC like the Military ROTC programs. Maybe that would bring in some good folks into the ranks?
But the huge problem is the American people and their attitude towards Cops. I mean who in his right mind would want the job? So the standards will keep sliding down and you will see stuff like this more & more in the future.
D-Day and the subsequent Allied advance gave renewed hope to the European continent. Four years of Nazi occupation and oppression were nearing the end, and resistance groups grew more active in hope of speeding up liberation. The clandestine press in Belgium fervently updated Allied progress, and at Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre in Herstal, Belgium, work disruptions were a daily occurrence.
The writing was on the wall for the German directors who had run the factory since the Nazi occupation began. Machinery and select parts were shipped eastward to Germany, but when orders came to ship Browning pistol parts and relocate pistol manufacturing, the German directors properly assessed that it was too late to take any action and these were left behind.
The timing had a significant impact on FN’s post liberation recovery. Days before the arrival of American 3rd Armored Division arrived in Liège, the German directors and some Belgian collaborators fled. Fabrique Nationale’s workers—including slave laborers from Eastern Europe—were left without direction, and they decided to continue production and supply the resistance groups entrenched in FN’s workforce. The eventual idea was to supply new arms to the advancing Allies and Free Belgian Forces.
Reconnaissance patrols of the 3rd Armored Division reached the gates of FN, and they entered with caution as it was obvious that there was activity—enough to that the G.I.s believed that the Germans were still present. Instead of Germans, they found FN’s eager workers wanting to help the war effort. But the local population had no concept of how well fed and equipped American soldiers were. The idea of supplying pistols to the advancing Allies soon appeared paltry.
American soldiers learned of the large arms manufacturer, though, and FN quickly became a tourist attraction for servicemen. Flush with cash, many soldiers wanted to buy souvenirs—especially pistol models used by the Germans. In not time, G.I.s were lining up to buy FN Browning Model 1922 and High Power pistols. Some even believed FN workers were stamping the “Browning” name on guns just to make the pistols more appealing—not realizing these were genuine Browning designs.
All FN Deluxe rifles were roll-engraved with the elaborate FN logo on the receiver ring.
The flow of servicemen through the company continued, and the influx of currency became critical to restarting FN. Most G.I.s purchased one or two pistols, but some saw them as commodities and purchased 10 or more. Inquiries for other types of guns were common, and some officers even ordered shotguns, such the Browning Auto-5 and the Superposed. The latter were not in production, but FN accommodated the visiting customers by assembling guns from leftover prewar parts.
While some inquired about shotguns, many asked about “deer rifles” a term with which FN employees were unfamiliar. Hunting larger game with powerful rifles was not common in Belgium, and FN had not produced a large caliber sporting rifle in a long time. These repeated requests had a lasting impression on FN’s management, who were restarting production in a dismal post-liberation economy.
This 1948 rifle was part of the first import for Firearms International. It incorporates all the FI requested features. The presence of the “Chrome Vanadium Steel” marking on the barrel always indicates a Firearms International import.
A 1946 first-production-year rifle, this FN Deluxe Safari was sturdier than the standard Deluxe rifles, and it had a shorter stock with the forward swivel mounted directly to the barrel. This variant was designed for rugged use, specifically in the Congo. This specific rifle was purchased by a U.S. serviceman in Germany who had a German scope and side mount installed. The Safari variant was never sold in the United States.
The only customers with real spending power were U.S. soldiers and foreign export markets untouched by war. Consequently, FN’s management decided to produce a Mauser sporting rifle that could be sold to U.S. soldiers and offered throughout the PX system in Europe.
The first rifles were made in 1946. The FN Deluxe was beautifully made and finished, as FN made certain that the quality stood out. All were chambered in 30-’06 Sprg. The “thirty-aught-six” designation, especially the “aught-six” pronunciation, confused many at FN as the cartridge was virtually unknown outside of the United States. Fabrique Nationale marked the early guns as .30 EU (for Etats Unis, French for United States). More recently, the marking has confused many collectors who often misinterpret the abbreviation as “.30 European Union.”
Returning servicemen made inquiries in the United States about the FN rifles they had seen in Europe. It did not take long for the U.S. importer and distributor, Firearms International (FI), to notice the excellent craftsmanship of the FN Mauser rifles. Located in Washington, D.C., FI started inquiring with FN as early as 1947. Europe was still in shambles, and FN gladly worked with the American distributor to produce and export the rifles.
Before orders were placed, though, FI made several requests to improve the rifles’ appeal to U.S. consumers. The receiver was modified, and remnants of the military stripper clip guide were eliminated. The confusing “30 E.U.” marking was changed to “30.06,” and FI wanted to capitalize on the quality of Belgian steel, so the barrels were marked “Chrome Vanadium Steel.” Firearms International also ordered rifles without rear sights and installed precision sights before selling them.
These changes led FI to claim it had developed the rifle with the collaboration of several noted firearms writers. The production changes were, in fact minimal, and the whole campaign was really nothing more than marketing. It worked, though, and FI sold the FN Mauser successfully in the United States from 1948 well into the 1970s. Through the years, FI expanded its chamberings to include .270 Win., .257 Roberts, .250-3000 Savage, 300 Savage, 220 Swift and 7x57mm Mauser. In order to further diversify its offerings, FI alos commissioned engraving upgrades.
Original FN assembled and finished rifles can easily be identified by the factory stock. All had an FN logo on the butt-plate and the checkering was finished with a pearl edge design. The lack of these stock features indicates that a rifle was assembled and completed in the United States.
While FI was successful selling complete rifles, it properly assessed the need to sell barreled actions to gunsmiths and other manufacturers. Starting in 1952, the company expanded to include barreled actions in various calibers, including magnum calibers and other options.
This allowed gunsmiths nationwide to build their own rifles, but this approach was not limited to small enterprises, FI brokered the sale of thousands of FN barreled actions to other manufacturers like Harrington & Richardson. So many barreled actions were sold that there are more aftermarket assembled rifles than FN completed rifles in the United States. Firearms International’s was so successful, it drew the attention from Browning, which started importation of the sporting FN Mauser, selling it under the Browning name. But that’s another story.
William Terry patented his innovative turn-bolt action in 1856, making it one of the earliest breechloading bolt-actions that featured locking lugs on the bolt itself. His resulting Terry carbine, produced by the firm of Calisher & Terry, had a short lifespan, but it saw British military service with the 18th Hussars and showed up in the American Civil War. Watch our I Have This Old Gun segment above from American Rifleman Television to learn more about this unique, enigmatic breechloading rifle.
“You know, a lot of people think that a bolt-action rifle is kind of a modern contrivance, but it’s not. It goes back to the mid-19th century,” said Garry James, American Rifleman field editor. “There were a number of different companies that made different bolt-actions. There was Palmer, there was a Greene, and to my mind, the most interesting was the Calisher & Terry or just the plain Terry carbine.”
The Terry carbine used a unique paper-wrapped cartridge with a greased felt wad at its base. When the breech was opened, the cartridge was inserted into a small cutout on the right side of the receiver. With the Terry being a “capping breechloader,” there was no primer embedded into the cartridge, and the inserted round was ignited by a percussion cap hit by an external hammer.
The greased wad provided a rudimentary gas seal, while the paper cartridge fully combusted ahead of the felt wad. When the shooter inserted another round, the nose of the new projectile pushed the greased wad of the previously fired round into the bore. Firing the next round would push the greased wad out the bore, thereby clearing out fouling from the barrel and lubricating it to keep the fouling soft.
“The firm of Calisher & Terry in Great Britain in the 1850s designed and manufactured what I consider to be one of the first fairly functional, fairly successful, practical, breechloading bolt-action rifles of their time,” said Philip Schreier, National Firearms Museum director. “We often associate the first bolt-action with the Mausers and Samuel Norris in 1867, but here, we’re talking about 12 or 13 years earlier with something that looks remarkably like an actual bolt-action with locking lugs on it that is in the form of the Calisher & Terry carbine.”
Aside from the nearly 1,000 carbines produced for the British cavalry, the Calisher & Terry firm also did a healthy trade in commercial carbines, and there are several sporting rifles that feature floral embellishments, scroll-engraving and checkered furniture. Though guns were not imported in great numbers, several notable examples of the Terry carbine appeared in the American Civil War. The carbine was the choice of Confederate cavalry general J.E.B. Stuart, and a Terry carbine was found in the baggage of Confederate President Jefferson Davis upon his capture. Despite its popularity with notable figures of the era, the carbine didn’t survive the transition to the metallic-cartridge era.
“The problem with the Terry is because of this weird, two-lug locking breech at the rear and this tiny, little loading port, you’re not loading straight from the back of the gun like you are with other breechloading designs of the era, like the Sharps rifle,” said Evan Brune, American Rifleman executive editor. “So, when metallic cartridges do come to the fore, the Terry carbine isn’t suited to load a self-contained metallic cartridge, because it has no direct access to to the breech, and there’s no easy way to get that spent case out.”
