{"id":140,"date":"2022-09-02T12:22:15","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T12:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=140"},"modified":"2022-09-02T12:22:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T12:22:15","slug":"behold-idahos-zone-of-death-where-no-gun-control-law-is-enforceable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/?p=140","title":{"rendered":"Behold Idaho&#8217;s &#8216;Zone of Death&#8217; Where No Gun Control Law Is Enforceable"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon.jpg\" data-caption=\"A gun control Karen realizing there's a place in America where no gun control law applies. (Shutterstock)\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"473\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-696x473.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-696x473.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-300x204.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-700x475.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-768x522.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-150x102.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-618x420.jpg 618w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon-560x380.jpg 560w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/woman-cartoon.jpg 770w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" alt=\"cartoon woman anger fear horror\" title=\"cartoon woman anger fear horror\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A gun control Karen realizing there&#8217;s a place in America where no gun control law applies. (Shutterstock)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>A few years ago, Michigan State University law professor Brian C. Kalt was writing a paper on the intricacies of the Sixth Amendment, when he realized that there might be places in the United States where it\u2019s difficult or impossible to select a suitable jury. Why? Because the Constitution is very clear and very picky about juries:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><em>In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p>So, if the government wants to convict you of a crime (and you don\u2019t waive your right to a jury trial), they have to pick a panel from the people that live in both the state and federal court district where the crime happened. Normally, that isn\u2019t a problem, because <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscourts.gov\/about-federal-courts\/federal-courts-public\/court-website-links\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">district boundaries<\/a> encompass states in their entireties and include populated areas from which to select jurors.<\/p>\n<p>But Professor Kalt decided to take a careful look at the maps to see if there are any places without enough residents to form a jury. In his search <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.msu.edu\/faculty_staff\/kalt\/Yellowstone-Summary.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">he was surprised to find<\/a> a place where the stars align to make for an impossible trial: a 50-square mile strip of land in Idaho that runs along the western edge of Yellowstone National Park.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_531316\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-531316\" style=\"width: 2751px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-531316 size-full\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"\" width=\"2751\" height=\"3013\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death.png 2751w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-274x300.png 274w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-639x700.png 639w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-768x841.png 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1402x1536.png 1402w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1870x2048.png 1870w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-150x164.png 150w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-300x329.png 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-696x762.png 696w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1068x1170.png 1068w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1920x2103.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-383x420.png 383w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-560x613.png 560w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 2751px) 100vw, 2751px\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death.png\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-531316 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"2751\" height=\"3013\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death.png 2751w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-274x300.png 274w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-639x700.png 639w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-768x841.png 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1402x1536.png 1402w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1870x2048.png 1870w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-150x164.png 150w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-300x329.png 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-696x762.png 696w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1068x1170.png 1068w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-1920x2103.png 1920w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-383x420.png 383w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Yellowstone_Zone_of_Death-560x613.png 560w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2751px) 100vw, 2751px\"\/><\/noscript><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-531316\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map by the National Park Service (red marking of the \u201cZone of Death\u201d added).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Yellowstone National Park predates statehood of <a href=\"https:\/\/yellowstone.net\/maps\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/03\/YELLmap1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the states it\u2019s in<\/a> (Wyoming, Montana and Idaho), and when those states were formed, they gave the federal government all jurisdiction over the lands that make up the park. You can\u2019t be convicted of a state crime in Yellowstone. Federal laws apply there and you can still be arrested by federal law enforcement and tried in a federal court.<\/p>\n<p>Congress, however, made a small mistake when drawing the district court boundaries for Yellowstone. Probably out of laziness, they put the entire park in the Wyoming District Court\u2019s jurisdiction. If you commit a crime in the Wyoming part of the park, there are plenty of people living in the state who can serve as jurors. So don\u2019t pull a Yogi and steal anyone\u2019s pick-a-nic basket there.<\/p>\n<p>If you happen to be in the parts of the park that lie outside of Wyoming, however, the district court has to follow the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/constitution\/sixth_amendment#:~:text=The%20Sixth%20Amendment%20guarantees%20the,charges%20and%20evidence%20against%20you.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sixth Amendment<\/a> when picking your jury. That means the jurors have to live in both the state and the district where the crime occurred. For the parts of the park that are in Montana, that\u2019s no easy task, but it\u2019s at least technically possible, as a few people live there.<\/p>\n<p>Oddly enough, this loophole hasn\u2019t ever been tested, despite a good opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n<p>A poacher who was caught illegally taking an elk in the Montana portion of the park tried to raise the \u2018Zone of Death\u2019 issue. The Wyoming District Court ruled that there was no case law supporting his motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that a jury would be impractical to form.<\/p>\n<p>But he didn\u2019t go to trial \u2014 he took a plea deal \u2014\u00a0 and thus didn\u2019t demand a constitutionally-compliant jury be formed. So the question of whether he could be tried by a Wyoming jury in Montana was never tested by courts at any level. He also waived his right to appeal based on the Zone of Death argument, so that one instance will never get to be a test case.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_531341\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-531341\" style=\"width: 696px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-531341 size-large\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns=\" http:=\"\" alt=\"Yellowstone National Park waterfall\" width=\"696\" height=\"424\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-700x426.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-300x183.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-768x467.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-1536x935.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-150x91.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-696x423.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-1068x650.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-1920x1168.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-690x420.jpeg 690w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-560x341.jpeg 560w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1.jpeg 2048w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-700x426.jpeg\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-531341 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-700x426.jpeg\" alt=\"Yellowstone National Park waterfall\" width=\"696\" height=\"424\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn0.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-700x426.jpeg 700w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-300x183.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-768x467.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-1536x935.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-150x91.jpeg 150w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-696x423.jpeg 696w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-1068x650.jpeg 1068w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-1920x1168.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-690x420.jpeg 690w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1-560x341.jpeg 560w, https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/13415614-aa7d-463f-9b06-e91ee4fe4731Original-2048x1246-1.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\"\/><\/noscript><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-531341\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cave Falls, on the Falls River in the extreme southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park. (Harry Bryan\/National Park Service)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The section of the park that lies in Idaho, though, is even less hospitable to jury trials. It has zero human residents. So, in that small strip of land, the state government can\u2019t try you for state crimes and there\u2019s not population from which the federal government can select a jury that respects the accused\u2019s Sixth Amendment rights.<\/p>\n<p>A motion to dismiss probably wouldn\u2019t fly any more than it did in the Wyoming part of the park, but it seems very unlikely that a decision by a Wyoming jury for a crime committed in Idaho or a decision by an Idaho jury that\u2019s not in the Wyoming district would survive on appeal, assuming a judge is ballsy enough to apply the law and doesn\u2019t lean on the defendant to take a plea deal and keep that hot potato out of his or her lap.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why Kalt nicknamed that area the \u201cZone of Death.\u201d In <a href=\"https:\/\/\/home\/jennifer\/Downloads\/facpubs20fulltext.pdf.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">subsequent writings<\/a>, he tells of his attempts to get Congress to act and move the district boundaries to make trials in the Zone of Death possible. He even addresses the nearby Montana non-test case, showing that the loophole in the law is still wide open, having never been shut by statute or case law.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Don\u2019t Go Strangling Someone in Far Eastern Idaho<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>While Kalt discovered this legal no-man\u2019s land in Idaho, it was neither his goal nor mine to encourage people to do immoral things in that narrow strip of land. And by morality, I\u2019m not talking about the sexual ethics, Christianity values or the various \u201cmicroaggressions\u201d you can commit under progressive ideology. I\u2019m talking about blatantly immoral violent acts, such as murder or beating someone half to death without justification (like self defense).<\/p>\n<p>Seriously, don\u2019t go killing someone at Yellowstone and say Jennifer sent you, because I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>It would be interesting, however, to commit some <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Malum_prohibitum\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>malum prohibitum<\/em><\/a> violation of the law in the Zone of Death, though. I\u2019m not a lawyer and you definitely shouldn\u2019t take legal advice from me. So, don\u2019t get into any trouble based on what I think is an interesting legal argument. Nobody should to risk time in federal prison just to make a point.<\/p>\n<p>What we should really do, though, is raise the specter of an \u201cIdaho Freedom Zone\u201d where the Karens of Brady, Giffords and Everytown know people can do scary things like build \u201cghost guns\u201d or make unregistered machine guns and possibly get away with it (without actually doing it). That would probably be enough to spur Congress to do what they should have done in the first place and fix the loophole that created the Zone of Death in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>The possibility of someone getting away with murder obviously wasn\u2019t enough to prompt Congressional action. The possibility of people having too much freedom and violating the NFA, however, would probably do the trick.<\/p>\n<p>If they fix it now, though, after all these years, because of something as trivial as someone putting a pistol upper on a rifle lower, we\u2019d be able to rub their noses in it forever. And wouldn\u2019t that be fun?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thetruthaboutguns.com\/idahos-zone-of-death-a-small-strip-of-the-us-where-no-gun-law-is-enforceable\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A gun control Karen realizing there&#8217;s a place in America where no gun control law applies. (Shutterstock) A few years ago, Michigan State University law professor Brian C. Kalt was writing a paper on the intricacies of the Sixth Amendment, when he realized that there might be places in the United States where it\u2019s difficult [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-reviews"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gunsandpride.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}