[D.C.] State Department top lawyer nominee wants global gun control:
Last week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing on the nomination of Harold Koh, a former Dean of the Yale Law School, to be Legal Advisor to the State Department. One of the many concerns with Koh is his belief that international organizations should be empowered to regulate the Second Amendment right to own a firearm.
On April 2, 2002, Koh gave a speech to the Fordham University School of Law titled “A World Drowning in Guns” where he mapped out his vision of global gun control. Koh advocated an international “marking and tracing regime.” He complained that “the United States is now the major supplier of small arms in the world, yet the United States and its allies do not trace their newly manufactured weapons in any consistent way.” Koh advocated a U.N.-governed regime to force the U.S. “to submit information about their small arms production.”
Koh supports the idea that the U.N. should be granted the power “to standardize national laws and procedures with member states of regional organizations.” Koh feels that U.S. should “establish a national firearms control system and a register of manufacturers, traders, importers and exporters” of guns to comply with international obligations. This regulatory regime would allow U.N. members such as Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea and Iran to have a say in what type of gun regulations are imposed on American citizens.
Taken to their logical conclusion, Koh’s ideas could lead to a national database of all firearm owners, as well as the use of international law to force the U.S. to pass laws to find out who owns guns. All who care about freedom should read his speech (pdf). Senators need to think long and hard about whether Koh’s extreme views on international gun control are appropriate for America. ...
[Missouri] Stocking up for perilous times?:
Ammo. Canned goods. Vegetable seeds. Fortified water by the case.
They are reportedly flying off the shelves, these staples of the stockpile crowd.
“Survivalist” isn’t the right term, not in a downturn that has got everyone nervous. “Preparedness” or “self-sufficiency” — that is what they are saying.
Adhesive bandages. Gardens in the works — be they victory gardens or, as some prefer, “crisis gardens.”
The closet off the living room in the Owens home near Lawson, Mo., isn’t huge, but it’s organized.
Heavy coats, sweatshirts and Ron Owens’ cap collection greet wife, Jan, as she enters and flips the light. She pulls back the heavy coats.
There, on a rack covering the wall: Nonfat dry milk. Rice. A cast-iron skillet.
...
Nationwide, retailers report shortages of canning jars, water-purification tablets and ammunition — especially ammunition.
For many gun owners, the stockpiling “isn’t just kind of — it’s full on,” said Jeff Neuman of The Bullet Hole gun store and firing range in Overland Park. “We’re real thin on ammunition, same as everywhere.” ...
[California] Hysterical "journalist" bemoans "paranoid worldview" of "right wing gun nuts":
On April 18 and 19, I attended gun shows in Antioch, Calif., and Reno, Nev., to probe the culture of gun enthusiasts at the onset of the Barack Obama era.
I came away from these events with a portrait of a heavily armed, tightly organized movement incited by right-wing radio to a fever-pitched resentment of Obama and his allies in Congress.
Even as the economy suffers, gun dealers and their Washington lobbyists are leveraging renewed anti-government sentiment into unprecedented sales figures and fattened membership rolls.
...
While the prospect of organized right-wing violence against the federal government seems far-fetched at this point, the paranoid rhetoric I documented suggests the militia movement that organized against President Bill Clinton's policies during the 1990s could experience a dramatic resurgence by mobilizing resentment against Obama.
If a new militia movement coalesces, its members will have no shortage of sophisticated assault weapons to choose from. At the gun show in Reno, I witnessed the sale of rocket-propelled grenade launchers and bazooka guns; I watched a California dealer demonstrate how rapidly he could field strip his .308-caliber sniper rifle, then stash it in a deliberately innocuous-looking backpack and a briefcase that "looks just like a camera case." [emphasis added]
Nearby, I interviewed another dealer retailing a brand of .50-caliber assault rifle that was banned in California because it could supposedly down an airplane. He told me by slightly altering the bullets his gun fired, and by converting the gun from semiautomatic to bolt action, he was able to sell it in California once again. ...
Comment: Who knew that "rocket-propelled grenade launchers and bazooka guns" were so widely available at gun shows? Video interview available at the link. The interviewer wears a "Defend Frisco" t-shirt with a drawing of an AK-47, likely to try to make himself appear simpatico with the gun show attendees. And no, I didn't see in the video any RPGs or bazookas for sale. :)
Op-ed pokes holes in anti-gunners' claims:
Dishonesty is a common thread through the arguments for controlling crime by limiting the general public’s access to firearms. So it is not surprising that this administration is lying to us about the supposed link between gun sales here and American-manufactured machine guns in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The theory is that people in this country buy guns that are legal here, ship them to Mexico and sell them to drug cartels, and have a major impact on Mexico’s crime rate. With the money those organizations have they could ship in whole car loads of AK 47s much more simply.
Apparently rifles and pistols made here do get into the hands of Mexican criminals. But they are not machine guns and they only amount to about 17 percent of the total guns seized. The higher percentage the administration is using refers only to the guns sent here from Mexico for identification. Mexican authorities do not send the much larger number of guns they seize that are obviously manufactured somewhere else.
...
The dishonesty of the argument is not surprising. It joins a long list of similarly dishonest arguments from those who would take away the public’s right to be armed.
The most recent was the book “Arming America,” which argued that guns were uncommon in colonial America so the Second Amendment could not have been about an individual right to be armed. The book was so dishonest the author, a tenured professor, was fired and Columbia University, which had given him the prestigious Bancroft prize, asked for it back. Since the book was published, the Supreme Court has explicitly stated the Second Amendment protects an individual right to be armed.
Before that there was the doctor in Seattle who attracted a lot of attention by publishing an article claiming that if you had a gun in your home you were 47 times more likely to shoot a family member, or an acquaintance, than you were an intruder. When I debated the head of Washington Cease Fire on local radio, he left out the “or acquaintance” part. He had nothing more to say on the subject when I pointed out that when the good doctor finally identified the specific shootings on which he was basing his claim, they were almost all drug deals gone bad, pimps shooting reluctant hookers, abusive boy friends who had it coming and the like. They were people with long histories of criminal activity and or mental problems. The idea that ordinary people with guns were a danger to the community just didn’t wash. ...
NRA takes on disgraced ex-governor Eliot Spitzer on gun control:
... After resigning from the governorship of New York in shame and spending months out of the public eye, Eliot Spitzer (D) has decided to launch a campaign to rehabilitate himself by giving unsolicited gun control advice to President Barack Obama. Yes, this is the same Eliot Spitzer who, after railing against the "unregulated" firearm industry as New York's Attorney General, was driven from public office when caught spending $4,300 on a member of the oldest and most unregulated of professions.
On Wednesday, Spitzer wrote in Slate magazine that President Obama should not worry about Congress and the public, but should impose gun control on his own. Spitzer's article resurrects a scheme from former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo's idea was that the federal government would buy guns for the military and federal law enforcement agencies only from manufacturers who agree not to sell "certain types of weapons" (unspecified, but presumably including "assault weapons" and many types of handguns) to the general public; not to sell guns without trigger locks, hidden serial numbers, or a magazine disconnect—features that have no particular benefit and some of which decrease the firearm's usefulness for self-defense; not to sell guns to dealers who are not "authorized;" and not to sell guns to dealers to which guns recovered from criminals have been traced. ...
[New York] Some law enforcement departments support microstamping bill:
Lawmakers, members of the law enforcement community and advocates for gun reform say they want to see a bill mandating microstamping pass both houses this year.
The bill (A.6468/S.4397) would require new models of all semiautomatic firearms in the state to be capable of microstamping ammunition by January 2011. The process involves using a laser to make microscopic engravings on the internal mechanisms of a gun, such as the breech face or firing pin. Every time the gun is fired a serial number is stamped onto the cartridge.
The bill — which was one of a 13-bill package of gun reform legislation passed in the Assembly last Tuesday — is sponsored by Assemblywoman Michelle Schimel, D-Great Neck, and Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Bronx.
“No killer has the right to hide behind a blank shell casing,” said Schimel. “When a person is murdered with a firearm, we want to know who fired that firearm. Today, murderers are firing anonymous ammunition.” [emphasis added]
...
The measure has the endorsement of over 70 police and sheriff departments around the state, according to the lawmakers, who said it is unfortunate microstamping does not already exist. ...
Comment: Wouldn't it be simpler (and just as effective) to pass a law banning murderers from "firing anonymous ammunition"? Let's see, we could add it right after the statute banning ... murder. Yeah, that'll work. Right?
[New York] More on the anti-gun extravaganza working its way through the legislature:
... Earlier this week, the New York State Assembly passed a package of gun-control legislation that was billed as a way to “combat gun violence.”
According to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol, the bills aim to enhance safety by assisting police in their efforts to investigate illegal firearms, prohibiting felons from buying guns, requiring child-proof devices on guns, and banning advanced firearms and ammunition used to kill police officers.
“New York is one of the safest states in the nation and it must stay that way,” said Speaker Silver. “To achieve this, we must craft laws that prevent dangerous felons from possessing weapons while assisting law-enforcement agencies as they combat gun trafficking. Although the majority of gun owners are law-abiding citizens, we must ensure that guns do not fall into the hands of violent felons or children. This package contains bills that address public safety, while weighing the needs of hunters and sportspeople.”
One of the Assembly bills (A.801A) requires the re-licensing and recertification of firearms permits after five years. Another (A.5844) creates the Children’s Weapon Accident Protection Act, which requires that there be a weapons-safety program for school children and makes it a crime for failing to store firearms safely.
The legislative package also includes bills that would require all firearms sold in the state to be child-proof (A.1326), capable of microstamping ammunition (A.6468), and instituting background checks for firearms sold at pawn shops (A.7574).
Another bill (A.1093) requires record keeping and reporting of gun sales, liability insurance, and employee training for gunsmiths to prevent the sale of guns through so-called “straw purchases.”
Other measures in the Assembly gun package include a bill to protect the safety of law-enforcement personnel by prohibiting the sale and ownership of ammunition designed to fragment or explode upon impact and pierce body armor (A.2881) and a bill that would require law-enforcement authorities to record projectiles, shell casings, and guns in their possession into an electronic databank that they suspect were used in a gun crime (A.2882A).
Other bills would ban the sale, use, or possession of 50-caliber or larger weapons, and create a program to recall those currently legally owned (A.3211A) and define a “disguised gun” to include those weapons designed and intended to appear to be a toy gun and ban their production and sale. (A.5078).
The legislative package also includes bills that would establish a standard firearms safety course for people applying for a gun license (A.3076B), add to the definition of assault weapon to include additional weapons (A.6157), and empower courts to revoke licenses and seize weapons of certain individuals who could present a threat to the public (A.7733). ...
Comment: I hope gun owners in New York are paying attention to what's going on in Albany. Because New York's draconian gun controls may be about to get much worse.
[Illinois] Gun rights advocates to get their say:
Just because they weren't allowed to speak during a recent gun control forum in Wheaton doesn't mean a group of gun-rights supporters will keep silent.
In fact, many gun owners' rights advocates voiced displeasure over what they called a "one-sided" April 21 forum hosted by several League of Women Voters chapters and the Illinois Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
On Tuesday night, it's their turn to take the podium at Wheaton city hall.
Rosanna Pulido, who recently ran as the Republican candidate in Illinois' 5th Congressional District, has organized a forum about the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. She said the event is a response to dozens of gun-rights supporters being prohibited from speaking during last month's gun control meeting.
"To make up their minds, people must hear both sides of the story," Pulido said. ...
[Wisconsin] Op-ed highlights open carry, preemption law debate:
If nothing else, recent wrangling between Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen and Gov. Jim Doyle illustrates that it's time for the state to come to grips with the issues of gun rights and gun violence.
Van Hollen sent a memo to the state's district attorneys stating that openly carrying a handgun in public isn't automatically a crime. The governor responded by suggesting that communities should be allowed to adopt their own gun-control ordinances.
Emotions run high with any effort to balance Second Amendment rights and public safety. That's why the governor, attorney general and Legislature must step back and review these issues carefully and without political posturing.
...
Green Bay Police Chief Jim Arts tells the Green Bay Press-Gazette that he concurs with the sentiment expressed by Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn, who said: "My message to my troops is if you see anybody carrying a gun on the streets of Milwaukee, we'll put them on the ground, take the gun away and then decide whether you have the right to carry it." [emphasis added]
Brown County Sheriff Dennis Kocken said he would support his officers if they decide to question someone whom they see openly carrying a firearm. However, he added that as long as the individual isn't acting irresponsibly, there would be no reason to take the matter further.
...
Whatever regulations the Legislature drafts would have to make sense in Green Bay and Greenleaf, Ashwaubenon and Athelstane. It just would not be good policy to have different rules for different communities. ...
Comment: Looks like we have another badge-wearing thug in Green Bay's police chief. Hopefully the Wisconsin courts will teach him some manners, and to mind the constitutionally protected rights of Wisconsinites.
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