Michigan’s pack is built and free. The next one goes wherever you all point me, and right now it’s a dead tie. The question is on the FOIA page and takes about 4 seconds. Standings are in section 2.
Three things in here:
1 - The whole Kalamazoo Flock file is public
2 - Which state gets the next FOIA pack
3 - Form MN-2A, the item-by-item results
1. The whole Kalamazoo Flock file is public
Kalamazoo’s public safety department runs Flock plate readers. I asked for the search log in June. Got part of it. Appealed. On July 22 the rest came loose.
116,017 searches. Michigan State Police ran 74,448 of them, which is 64.2% of the traffic on a system Kalamazoo pays for.
The whole production is up in the file room. The zip, three reader documents you can open on your phone without pulling the archive, and the hashes so you can prove the file you got is the file I got. Free, and I’m not making you hand over an email to get it. There’s a signup box on the page if you want to know when the next one lands, but nothing is gated behind it.
One thing to know before you dig in. The raw export has 140,561 rows and 116,017 searches. Some searches get written twice, once per report. MLive won their own appeal for this file and published 140,561 as the search count. I sent both reporters the field-level work the same day. I don’t know yet whether they’ve run a correction. Either way, go check my math.
The video on how this contract keeps itself alive without anybody voting is here.
Kalamazoo cost me nothing but time. Most records aren’t free, and this runs on my money and whatever you all send. If you want more files coming loose, you can chip in here.
2. Which state gets the next pack
When you signed up, the form asked which state should get the next FOIA pack. 34 of you answered, naming 20 different states.
Michigan’s built and free already. After that it’s a three-way tie: Ohio, Indiana and North Carolina, 3 votes each. Everything else sits at 1 or 2.
Too close to call, so I’m still counting. Hit reply with your state and the agency you’d point it at. The agency box is the more useful half, and so far people have named Columbus PD, Toledo PD, Bluffton, Durham, Wagoner County, and one guy in Indiana who listed two towns, two counties, and all local and state police.
Then send the pack page to somebody who’d use it. 34 votes won’t break a tie. The more that come in, the sooner I start building the next one.
3. The results are in
152 people have finished Form MN-2A. Time to see what everybody else answered.
Quick reminder first: your answers aren’t attached to your email. They sit in a pile of anonymous submissions in a database. I can see that somebody folded on the prison question. I can’t see who.
The big numbers, from 152 completed questionnaires:
Average score: 79.5 out of 100
17 people walked out with the Genuine Second Amendment Absolutist certificate. That’s 11%.
89 landed in Almost Absolutist. “You said absolutist. The paperwork says otherwise.”
32 people skipped at least one question. One person skipped all 26 and was awarded Professional Fence-Sitter. I respect the commitment.
Where the line holds: 88% of you reject assault weapon bans outright. 86% called the NFA tax an infringement. 85% said no registry, under any framing.
Where the line breaks: prison. 24% said the right to armed self-defense survives custody. Among the Almost Absolutists specifically, 79% flinched on that one question. Illegal immigrants owning guns held 36%. Violent felons getting their rights back, 43%.
And the nuke: 49% of you looked at your accountant neighbor’s warhead and said “I meant what I said.”
So 79% call ordnance an arm, 49% keep a straight face at the warhead, and 24% hold the line in a cell. 42 of you said yes to the nuke and no to the inmate. Everyone’s an absolutist until you ask the right questions.
The full item-by-item, percent of all 152 taking the absolutist answer. A skip counts as not taking it:
1 - Private sale checks: 72% said no checks on anything, including retail
2 - Mag limits: 82% said a magazine is an arm
3 - Assault weapon bans: 88% said these are the exact arms the amendment protects
4 - Carry permits: 82% constitutional carry, everywhere, no permit ever
5 - Age minimums: 48% said none
6 - Registry: 85% never, under any framing
7 - Gun-free school zones: 76% abolish
8 - Red flag laws: 78% never, due process before forfeiture
9 - Non-violent felons: 66% rights restored the day they walk out
10 - Violent felons: 43% same answer
11 - Suppressors: 84% over the counter, like a muzzle brake
12 - Machine guns: 78% legal, no registry, no stamp
13 - The NFA tax: 86% any tax on arms is an infringement
14 - Restraining orders: 68% no conviction, no forfeiture
15 - Bail: 64% innocent until proven guilty means exactly that
16 - The terror watchlist: 68% a secret list with no charges is not due process
17 - Involuntary commitment: 59% rights restored on release
18 - Green card holders: 46% “the people” isn’t citizens-only
19 - Illegal immigrants: 36% the right attaches to persons
20 - Business property bans: 61% that’s property rights, not a 2A issue
21 - Drunk carry: 72% being armed isn’t a crime, misusing it is
22 - Government buildings: 63% where the public owns, the public carries
23 - The cop carve-out: 70% equal rights means equal, on and off duty
24 - Prison: 24% the right survives custody
25 - Artillery: 79% no line, ordnance included
26 - The nuke: 49% yes, and I meant it
Usual caveat: this is everyone who took the questionnaire, not a poll of America. You people are not a normal sample. That’s why I like you.
If you know someone who calls themselves an absolutist, send them the test. The certificate prints either way.
All of it lands on X first, @MagneticNorse.
Mags