[Texas] Sales of guns, ammo shoot up:
SAN ANGELO, Texas — The recession has hit a lot of people hard with job layoffs and home foreclosures across the country, but times are good in West Texas for sales of guns and ammunition.
“In the nine years I’ve been here, we’ve had special orders, now we have waiting lists,” said Gary Hicks, a salesman at the Outdoorsman sporting goods shop in San Angelo.
Prices have gone up and, in the case of ammunition, shortages are occurring, say people in law enforcement and firearm sales.
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The election of President Barack Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress triggered that boom in demand for firearms and ammo, said Daryl Presley, another Outdoorsman salesman.
“It has nothing to do with hunting or sport. It has to do with rights. They keep nibbling at the rights. A lot of the concern is the termite effect, or how does a man eat an elephant? One bite at a time,” he said. ...
[Arizona] Guns sales soaring:
AT THE National Rifle Association’s 138th annual convention, held this year in Phoenix, Arizona, 65,000 people poured through the doors. They admired the fancy firearms, snacked on grilled buffalo and were happily recruited by shooting associations. Tom Power, of the Texas Gun Collectors Association, says membership has been soaring since Barack Obama took office. Bill Bachenberg, the owner of a shooting range near Allentown, Pennsylvania, has been registering 400 new members a month. “American gun-owners don’t trust this administration,” he says.
American gun sales surged after Mr Obama was elected president. He had a voting record of raising the tax on guns and ammunition by 500%, and, on top of that, he hinted during the campaign that he might restrict gun sales and create a national registry of gun-owners. The election was seven months ago, and the buying spree has not flagged since. Data released by the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System, which serve as a gauge of actual sales, reported 1,255,980 checks in April 2009: a sixth monthly increase, and a 30.3% increase from the 940,961 reported last April.
Concealed-weapon permits are up, too. Ohio, Kentucky, North Carolina and Montana all report a rise in licences issued; Ohio saw a 139% increase in the first quarter of this year over last. Meanwhile, classes on gun rules in Phoenix are booked solid for months, ammunition is sold out, and gunmakers and dealers alike are scrambling to keep up with demand. ...
[New Hampshire] Sig Sauer to resume shipping handguns with two magazines:
SIG SAUER, the leading manufacturer of military, law enforcement, government agency and commercial firearms, will resume shipping all standard commercial pistols with two magazines.
SIG SAUER suppliers increased production to meet the heightened consumer demand, thus allowing SIG SAUER to resume shipping two magazines with every commercial handgun.
Previously, SIG SAUER had announced effective March 20, 2009, that all standard commercial pistols would ship with a single magazine.
Models that included more than two magazines were not affected. Shipments to distributors and dealers with the two magazines in each pistol will commence immediately.
Op-ed: Sotomayor has decided Bill of Rights doesn't apply to states:
If you thought the Bill of Rights gives you constitutional protection for freedom of speech, of religion and a free press; you are wrong according to Obama Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The likely newest member of the high Court decided that all these rights guaranteed by the first Ten Amendments which make up the Bill of Rights can now all be taken away from us at the whim of our state legislatures - who would have imagined.
Sotomayor has been criticized for racist statements and a belief that courts set "policy" not just issue decisions based on the law, and it has been noted that she meets the Obama intention of appointing a Supreme Court judge with "empathy," but her credentials as judge have been accepted without question – this is a big mistake.
Sotomayor was on a panel of the Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit which issued an unsigned opinion dismissing a challenge to a New York law that banned a martial arts weapon despite the earlier Supreme Court ruling in Heller v District of Columbia which struck down a ban on handguns and said individuals have the right to keep arms at home for self defense.
But the panel on which Sotomayor served said in the case of Maloney v. Cuomo that it was clear from the Supreme Court precedent that the Second Amendment could be applied only to the federal government, or in a federal enclave such as Washington. It said the Supreme Court has "the prerogative of overruling its own decisions."
The issue raises the question of whether the Bill of Rights applies to state and local governments. Lawyers challenging gun restrictions and legal scholars contend that they do, through the due-process clause of the 14th Amendment. And that was the finding of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit earlier this year. The Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision last year in the Heller case decided for the first time that the Second Amendment provided an individual right to bear arms.
If the 2nd can be said to not apply to the states and local governments, then why should the other rights spelled out in the Bill of Rights apply? ...
[Ohio] Attorney General moves to intervene in BFA lawsuit against Cleveland:
Buckeye Firearms Association is pleased to report that Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray's office has filed a Motion to Intervene in a lawsuit filed by Buckeye Firearms Foundation, Inc. against the City of Cleveland.
The lawsuit was filed by the Ohio not-for profit foundation, to stop the City of Cleveland from prosecuting law-abiding gun owners under local ordinances that restrict gun ownership and concealed carry (CCW). The lawsuit also asks the Court to declare 20 different local ordinances unconstitutional on the grounds of state preemption of firearm laws, on the grounds that the ordinances are in conflict with R.C. 9.68.
In response to the Foundation's complaint, the City filed an Answer alleging that R.C. 9.68 is unconstitutional. The City further argues that R.C. 9.68 is not a general law of the State of Ohio and is therefore an unconstitutional attempt by the General Assembly to preempt local ordinances in violation of the Home Rule Amendment of the Ohio Constitution.
The Attorney General's response was quick and decisive.
On May 29, Cordray filed a Motion to Intervene in this case, in order to "defend this state law." ...
[Tennessee] Legislators explain veto override vote on restaurant carry bill:
... The veto was also overridden in the state Senate on Thursday, but state Sen. Steve Southerland, R-1st, of Morristown, was absent, on a trip long planned on the assumption that the legislative session would end in May.
In a telephone interview this morning Southerland said he voted for the original bill and would have voted to override if needed, "but we had plenty of votes to override the governor's veto."
Southerland added, "All we were doing was upholding the Constitution," which he noted "guarantees citizens the right to bear arms."
Southerland said guns are already present in bars and restaurants when people who are carrying weapons without a permit bring them in. "This allows law-abiding citizens to carry their guns with them instead of leaving them in the car, where (the gun) may be stolen."
The House of Representatives overrode the veto on Wednesday.
"It's important to make sure that the issue is clear," Hawk said in a telephone interview this morning. "It's not about guns in bars. The issue is about citizens who have a legal permit to carry their guns in places where permit holders across the country are able to carry their guns."
Hawk said the bill "brings Tennessee in line with 36 other states" that allow weapons in places where alcohol is served. ...
[South Carolina] New gun law sparks debate:
... The state has long allowed any legal gun owner to keep a firearm locked in their vehicle, in a glove compartment, closed console, closed trunk or secured container in the vehicle. Just not on school grounds.
But after Gov. Mark Sanford signed a bill into law this week, CWP holders are now allowed to take guns onto school property. However, guns must remain secured and in the vehicle. And non-CWP holders still are banned from taking firearms onto school property.
Sen. Jake Knotts, R-West Columbia, worked on the committee that considered the bill. He said it will not have any effect on gun violence on campuses.
"It's not in any way going to increase any type of shootings on campuses," Knotts said. "The people who do the shootings on campus are not law-abiding citizens." ...
[Illinois] Elderly couple wants concealed carry option:
I don't know if there's such a thing as a typical supporter of Mayor Jim Ardis' concealed-carry proposal.
But my last guess might be Wanda and Ron Swenson, a pair of gray-haired retirees who live in a nice condominium in northwest Peoria.
Their dwelling and station in life seem far removed from the gangs, shootings and mayhem that regularly plague certain slices of the city. Still, they feel the creep of crime, so much so they often feel like prisoners in their own home. They'd feel much safer if they could pack a firearm when about town.
"I would not think twice about using it if my life was bring threatened," says Wanda, who describes herself as a "gun-toting granny."
She doesn't carry one now, but she used to. Wanda, 69, grew up on a farm in Tennessee, where she learned to use a gun from her father and brothers, avid hunters all. ...
[California] Bill restricting ammo sales back:
After being placed in the suspense file, and everyone thinking it was dead, Assembly Bill 962 is moving through the state legislature again.
It passed the state Assembly Wednesday and now moves to the state Senate. How it got this far is a mystery.
In case you've forgotten, Los Angeles Assemblyman Kevin DeLeon's bill would:
1. Stop the sale of more than 50 rounds of handgun ammunition per month to individuals.
...
2. It would license and tax anyone selling handgun ammunition commercially and force these stores to get background checks on anyone selling that ammunition.
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3. It would require ammunition sellers to get a thumbprint from anyone buying handgun ammunition, and mandate store owners to keep these records for five years.
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4. It would ban all ammunition sales that don't take place face-to-face, effectively banning all mail-order sales. ...
Comment: If you live in California, you'd better contact your elected servants and have them stop this bill.
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