PHOENIX – Favoring the constitutional right to bear arms over others' concerns about gun safety, Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday signed into law a bill making Arizona the third state allowing people to carry a concealed weapon without requiring a permit.
The measure takes effect 90 days after the current legislative session ends, which likely puts the effective date in July or August.
"I believe this legislation not only protects the Second Amendment rights of Arizona citizens, but restores those rights as well," Brewer, a Republican, said in a statement.
Alaska and Vermont now do not require permits to carry concealed weapons.
By eliminating the permit requirement, the Arizona legislation will allow people 21 or older to forego background checks and classes that are now required. ...
About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday—the latest incidents in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.
Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.
Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.
The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he said. ...
"What he is doing is perfectly legal," Det. J. Oliver, of the Phoenix Police Department said. "We are here to keep the peace. If we need to intervene, we will intervene at that time."
... The media conducts a constant and insidious assault on our freedom by ridiculing and denigrating the American way of life and more importantly, the way of life that made America great. Hollywood and New York have forgotten that just about everybody between the two coasts does not subscribe to these values-or have they? Perhaps they know we don’t hold their values and this is a way to make inroads to changing our minds and numbing us into letting our freedoms slip away. If you say a lie often enough, it becomes the truth, for it is impossible to un-hear what you have heard. Some of you may have read Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s propaganda minister quoted saying, “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” [3]. The danger of all this is the rumor, the lie, and the innuendo become fact and we in the 2nd Amendment fight don’t have near the resources or ability to combat these kinds of slander the left does. We don’t make movies or print newspapers. We can write letters to the editor, etc., but they still control what is printed and shown on the air. We are losing the war on the culture front by letting these huge Trojan Horses of the media right into our living rooms, and national consciousness, disguised as entertainment or news.
To combat this it is imperative we point out insidious derogatory references to the great American way of life when we see them. It is important to teach our children and our children’s children that freedom does not mean dragging down the rich heritage and culture that made America great. Teach them how to think critically about what they see in the movies, TV and print. Help them understand the biases that are introduced into each movie and television story line. Don’t censor their viewing, but help them understand the disparity between fact and fiction, ideology and reality. It means influencing everyone you can about what message some of these shows and articles are really trying to say. Eventually, the majority will understand the difference between trash and treasure, perhaps even changing what movies and television shows they watch, thus hitting anti-gunners right in the wallet. ...
It's been a year since a Northwest D.C. housewife carried a Ruger .357 Magnum into police headquarters in a blue plastic grocery bag and became the District's first legal handgun owner since the Supreme Court overturned a decades-old ban.
Today, Amy McVey's handgun is one of just 515 that have been legally registered with the Metropolitan Police Department -- a number that pales compared with more than 2,000 illegal weapons that have been seized in the same period.
She hasn't had to use it to defend her home. Nor has anyone attempted to steal it and use it against her or to commit some other crime -- undermining the most widely used arguments for and against permitting guns. ...
Montgomery County Republican Party Chair Greg Gantt is circulating an email to "Republican insiders" that Mike DeWine will announce his candidacy for Ohio Attorney General on Wednesday, July 22nd at 9:45am at the Greene County Courthouse.
That's right, Mike DeWine.
The same Mike DeWine who was thrown out of his U.S. Senate seat by voters in 2006, after running around sporting a Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (formerly Handgun Control Inc.) endorsement because "his record really wowed the group."
The same Mike DeWine who Human Events Online named among the Top 10 anti-gun U.S. Senators, noting that he was "consistently the only Republican to speak in favor of anti-2nd Amendment legislation on the Senate floor."
The same Mike DeWine who, shortly before his defeat in 2006, took a position in opposition to legislation which barred gun manufacturers, distributors, dealers or importers from frivolous lawsuits designed to put them out of business.
The same Mike DeWine who consistently cast his votes on the side of the most rabid anti-gun Democrats in the Senate. ...
There will be no new trial for Harold Fish says Coconino County Attorney David W. Rozema.
Rozema said today, July 16, that his office will not conduct a second trial in the Fish case, in the event that the recent decision to vacate Fish’s initial trial conviction is upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Rozema says they are working with Fish’s attorneys to have him released from custody.
The Arizona Court of Appeals had ordered a new trial for the 62-year-old retired schoolteacher who shot and killed a Payson man four years ago at a trailhead north of Strawberry. The state legislature just passed new self-defense rules and made those new rules retroactive so they would apply to any new trial for Fish.
The court said the original trial judge — Mark Moran of Flagstaff — erred in not allowing the victim’s past behavior to be introduced into evidence. The court also ruled that the three dogs the victim, Grant Kuenzli, had with him could have been classified as “dangerous instruments” as defense attorney Melvin McDonald asked.
“There have been two recent, significant developments in the case involving Mr. Fish,” said Rozema. “First, the Court of Appeals reversed the conviction. Second, the legislature passed a bill requiring retroactive application of the new self-defense law.”
“The attorney general’s office has the decision-making authority with respect to the appeals process in this case. It is our understanding that they will be appealing the Court of Appeals decision through the filing of a petition with the Arizona Supreme Court. We will respect whatever decision is ultimately made by the Supreme Court regarding Mr. Fish’s jury trial conviction.” ...
The confluence of the recession and the election of Barack Obama have made for boom times in the firearms business. New Mexicans have always had a love affair with weaponry, but fear has driven them to add to their collections. It’s not fear of crime but fear that big government is going to amend their Second Amendment rights by taking their guns away.
Gun buyers are not afraid to spend big bucks for the big bang. Truisms about the gun business – guns don’t wear out and their prices don’t go down. Many are buying guns as collector’s items.
Some gun shops are running sales increases in the 50 percent range since last November’s presidential election of Barack Obama and subsequent appointment of Attorney General Eric Holder.
“We are doing very well, strictly because of Obama and the anti-gun stance of his attorney general, Holder. Our customers are buying now in advance of anti-gun legislation,” says Ron Peterson, who has operated a gun shop in the Duke City since 1963.
His Ron Peterson Firearms LLC is located at 4418 Central Ave. SE and is generally acknowledged as the place to purchase high-end vintage guns. The Duke City metro area has around six gun shops, where everything, from the less expensive handguns to machine guns, is available.
“Our sales are ahead 50 percent as of June 1 and we could not get merchandise because the wholesale distribution has not been set up for this demand. We are still rationing ammo,” adds Peterson. ...
Jersey City Police Chief Thomas Comey could not make it more clear. Pump action shotguns are "assault weapons.""This weapon is manufactured for nothing other than to hunt man."
...
Left unsaid is why he considers weapons "manufactured for nothing other than to hunt man" suitable for police work:"It's used as part of a tactical equipment for law enforcement agencies in this country."
Translation: We're the "Only Ones" who should have pump-action shotguns. You cannot. ...
... Deputies say Dean Favron and Roderick Porter knocked several times on the apartment door. The two young children, a ten-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl, stood on the other side, terrified. "He told his sister to be quiet and seconds later, they started kicking on the door and finally kicked the door in," said Sheriff Mike Cazes. The two children ran to their mother's bedroom closet.
In a panic, the ten-year-old grabbed his mother's gun for protection. "He did what I told him to do. I never told him to get the gun, but thank God he did," she said. Once the two suspects opened the door, threatening the kids, deputies say the boy fired a bullet into the lip of Roderick Porter. The two men were taken to the hospital by a third suspect, who is a 15-year-old juvenile. Once they got to the hospital, they were later arrested. "It's just hard. I don't understand why they would do that. I know they have little brothers and sisters and they wouldn't want anyone to break into their house," said the mother. ...
BARTONVILLE, Ill. - National Rifle Association firearms instructor Lee Merriman says a lot of people fear the criminal elements around them.
That is keeping Merriman busy these days as he trains people from all walks of life to use a firearm safely.
“I have a lot of older people who live in bad areas of Peoria who are scared,” said Merriman.
“Most people are here because the crime rate is so high.
“I just had a guy and his wife who had never fired a gun in their lives. They live in the country and are on the road a lot. The wife wants to be able to protect her two young daughters. We’re seeing a lot of that. I recently has a contractor, his wife and 13-year-old daughter go through the class; two ministers; a private class for judges, doctors and so forth; and nine nurses together. You wouldn’t believe the people taking gun courses now.”
Merriman said the number of people requesting tutoring in gun usage is increasing. His August class is full. Merriman’s class may get fuller as more and more the push for concealed carry comes to the forefront in Illinois.
In recent weeks the city of Peoria volunteered to be a test city for a concealed carry law. Bartonville promptly followed suit, requesting to be a part of any pilot program agreed to by the state.
The Bartonville City Council and the Bartonville Police Department passed a resolution on July 9 supporting concealed carry in the state of Illinois and delivered it to the Illinois General Assembly. The resolution comes in response to an Illinois Sheriff’s Association survey of all sheriffs in the state which showed that 90 percent support concealed carry of weapons, the resolution said. [emphasis added] ...
... Brewer signed into law a proposal that will allow the state's 125,000 carriers of concealed-weapons permits to bring their firearms into bars and restaurants. The measure allows bar owners to remain gun-free by posting signs prohibiting weapons. Permit-holders would be prohibited from drinking in a bar while carrying their firearms.
For gun-rights advocates, the law means greater freedom for gun owners.
For opponents, it blends a dangerous cocktail of alcohol and guns.
"Any time law-abiding gun owners can carry firearms into more places, the safer the public is," said Todd Rathner, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association.
Rathner noted that carriers of an Arizona concealed-weapons permit must undergo a criminal-background check, be fingerprinted and take an eight-hour training course. He called such permit holders "the most law-abiding citizens we have," and he noted that 39 states have a similar law in place relating to concealed weapons in bars and restaurants.
State Sen. Ken Cheuvront countered that the new Arizona law has more potential for danger because the state's permit system is among the more lenient nationally.
"All I know is that guns and liquor do not mix," said Cheuvront, a Democrat and the owner of a wine bar in central Phoenix. "They're putting other patrons and my staff at risk by having a gun in my establishment."
Brewer's approval of a second proposal will prohibit property and business owners from banning guns from parking areas, so long as the weapons are kept locked in privately owned vehicles.
The law exempts parking lots that are fenced or guarded, as well as those that provide secure gun storage.
Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman said both gun laws "struck a good balance" between the rights of gun owners and private-property owners. He called the governor's action "consistent with her long track record of defense of Second Amendment rights."
Lastly, Brewer OK'd a proposal that allows any individual who feels threatened to indicate that they're carrying a weapon without violating intimidation statutes. The law only applies for instances of self-defense.
Senate Bill 1449 directly impacts the case of Harold Fish, who was convicted of second-degree murder in the 2004 shooting of a hiker near Payson. Fish claimed the shooting was self-defense. During Fish's 2006 trial, the state changed its self-defense law to shift the burden of proof from the defendant (the person claiming to fire in self-defense) to the prosecution.
The new law allows the modified self-defense law to be applied retroactively to Fish's case, as well as to any others filed after April 24, 2006, as long as the defendant did not plead guilty or no contest.
Beyond farce in statehouse politics — think New York, Illinois and South Carolina — there can be danger. Think Tennessee, where the Legislature just overrode the governor’s veto and rescinded a law barring patrons from carrying handguns in bars and restaurants.
Once again, politicians caved to the gun lobby’s “right to carry” agenda which insists that there is no place — campuses, workplaces, churches — that should be off limits to guns.
We fear that Gov. Phil Bredesen, a gun owner and hunter, was right when he warned his state: “It’s an invitation to a disaster.”
The governor found no safety in provisions that ban the licensed gun toters from drinking alcohol — is it the honor system or will bartenders do a search? — and allow bar and restaurant owners to opt out by posting a notice prohibiting guns. Unfortunately, there is no requirement for owners to post warnings of the dangers inside at the doorways of gun-friendly places.
The pity is that more than 30 states have similar laws. Travelers might want to check for sensible places to eat, unless they really believe the gun lobby’s propaganda that an armed diner at the next table offers an extra comfort. ...
After lengthy debate, the House passed a bill on Friday that would prohibit property and business owners from banning guns in their parking areas, if the guns are locked in privately owned vehicles.
Legislators also amended Senate Bill 1168 to exempt certain lots. Parking areas that are fenced or guarded, or which provide temporary and secure gun storage, would still be able to prohibit firearms.
PHOENIX -- Saying it will make people safer, state senators voted Friday to let people with concealed weapons permits carry them onto college and university campuses where they are now forbidden.
The 15-6 vote on the provision in HB 2439 came after backers said they believe that having people who are licensed by the state to have weapons should cut down on the number of massacres that occur on campuses. And Sen. John Huppenthal, R-Chandler, said that has happened in Arizona. He did not refer by name to the 2002 incident at the University of Arizona where three instructors at the College of Nursing were slain by student Robert S. Flores Jr. who then turned the gun on himself.
But Huppenthal said the evidence shows that it makes sense, from a safety standpoint, to let people carry guns.
"The states that have concealed carry (laws) have statistically significant smaller mass shootings," he said. ...
Concerned with how a blanket ban on guns in parks will affect the city, Murfreesboro City Council chose to defer voting on the issue Thursday night.
“I’d like to wait to hear from the TSSAA and see if this would affect Spring Fling,” Mayor Tommy Bragg said.
City Manager Roger Haley proposed a city-wide ban in municipal parks after Tennessee’s General Assembly passed a law that allows carrying guns in state and city parks legal, as along as the individual has a carry permit.
“It’s not our intention to interfere with the Second Amendment rights of the people … (but) to provide for a safe environment for the children and public use our park facilities,” Haley said last night.
Councilman Toby Gilley disagreed in full, saying he wholly supports the new state law. Gilley was the only councilman who voted against deferring the measure.
Haley’s suggestion to outlaw guns in city parks backed is by Murfreesboro Police Chief Glenn Chrisman, Parks and Recreation Department Director Lanny Goodwin and Old Fort Golf Director Tracy Wilkins. ...
After literally years of effort, the powerful anti-gun forces in New Jersey politics have finally succeeded in passing a "one handgun per month" bill, which now heads to Governor Corzine's desk for his inevitable signature.A measure sponsored by Senators Sandra Bolden Cunningham and Teresa Ruiz, which would prohibit the sale and purchase of more than one handgun per person, within a 30-day period was approved today by the full Senate by a vote of 21 to 15.
Unless I'm missing a state or two somewhere, that makes New Jersey the fourth to pass this kind of law (or fifth, if you count South Carolina, which repealed its version of the law in 2004, after finding it to be ineffective at reducing violent crime). The others that still have such a law are California (no surprise there, with it's Brady Campaign Number One Tyranny Rating), Maryland (again, no surprise, with Maryland ranking almost as "high" as California), and Virginia. The fact that Virginia is one of only three (soon to be four) states with such a law is probably a surprise to some. Virginia, after all, is blamed for having "lax gun laws" that contribute toward it being part of the so-called "Iron Pipeline" of guns that end up illegally in places like New York City. ...
Judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Barack Obama’s first nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court, has a narrow view of the Second Amendment that contradicts the Court’s landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller. A heated debate has started in the U.S. Senate over her opposition to the right to keep and bear arms. This issue, which has decided the fate of presidential elections, could also decide her nomination. Gun owners, and especially the members of the National Rifle Association, must aggressively oppose Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation to the Supreme Court.
On June 24, senators began speaking on the floor of the Senate expressing grave concerns over Judge Sotomayor’s Second Amendment record. Senator Jeff Sessions R-AL, the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pointed out that although her record on the issue is “fairly scant,” she has twice stated that the Second Amendment is not a fundamental right. Senator Sessions also noted that in Second Amendment and other constitutional cases, Sotomayor’s analysis of important constitutional issues has been lacking suggesting “a troubling tendency to avoid or casually dismiss difficult Constitutional issues of exceptional importance.” Sotomayor’s view on the Second Amendment clearly reflects an extreme anti-gun philosophy, and some Democrat senators from pro-gun states are justifiably nervous. ...
... In his rush to derogate without performing his own analysis of the data, two points were neatly avoided:
· The comment distracts from the fact that, “significant” or not, there is a negative correlation between Brady grades and violent crime, personal freedom, etc. In simpler words, the higher Brady regards a state, the more dangerous it is to live in for law-abiding citizens, and they suffer more at the hands of the criminals and also their own government.
· None of the charts show a positive correlation. In other words, there is no data to support the idea that Brady may at least be partially correct.
I left a response that I would provide Excel data and formulae, but no response yet. While this is not surprising–my book includes a positive comment from Peter Hamm, Communications Director of the Brady Campaign, praising me as a “very good writer” while challenging none of my datasets or conclusions–we will re-examine the data in the near future to ensure that those final nails are firmly secured in the Brady Campaign’s coffin. ...
... Washington D.C. and Chicago have two things in common: the most restrictive gun laws in the country, and a near-"leadership" position in terms of murder rates. Whether or not one believes that the strict gun laws in those cities actually contribute to the violent crime, it would certainly be difficult to argue that they do much to reduce it.
Groups like the CSGV argue instead that those restrictive gun laws would be effective, if only similar laws were put in place everywhere else. In other words, violence would be reduced if the rest of the country would enact the kinds of laws that have been in place for decades in some of the most violent cities in the U.S. Yeah--that makes sense. ...
WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans vowed Wednesday to press Sonia Sotomayor on gun rights -- a politically divisive issue that they hope could potentially weaken Democratic support for the Supreme Court nominee.
While Republicans are a pronounced minority in both the House and Senate, they have used the gun issue to their advantage to divert the Democratic legislative agenda, forcing members from moderate and conservative states to take politically risky votes on gun provisions.
Sotomayor's judicial record appears to provide the GOP with another opportunity to bring the issue to light. Since the Supreme Court decided in a landmark case last year that restrictive gun laws in Washington, D.C. -- a federal entity -- infringed on a constitutionally protected right to own a handgun, the legal debate over guns has shifted to whether that ruling also affected handgun-control laws in individual states.
Earlier this year, Sotomayor was part of a three-judge panel on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York that held the Second Amendment didn't apply to the states. At a press conference Wednesday, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and other senators said they were concerned about the decision and pledged to grill Sotomayor about it at her confirmation hearings, which begin July 13.
The panel's reasoning, Sessions said, "would eviscerate the Second Amendment in many parts of the country." ...
Has it really been one year since the United States Supreme Court in a disappointingly narrow 5-4 ruling struck down the Washington, D.C. handgun ban and affirmed once and for all that the Second Amendment protects an individual civil right to own a gun that has no connection with militia service?
For some, it appears the ruling never happened at all. Even now, gun prohibitionists are loathe to acknowledge that they were wrong about the Second Amendment; that their own hostility toward the private ownership of firearms had led them to conclude – largely by misinterpreting and deliberately misrepresenting the high court’s 1939 ruling in U.S. v. Miller – that the Second Amendment protected only some mythical “collective” right of the states to organize a militia. My colleague, Daniel White, offers an analysis of the ruling here.The Second Amendment is not a constitutional obstacle to the regulation of firearms, since the amendment by its own terms deals with the rights of the state militia, not individuals.” - Edward M. Kennedy, June 15, 2009
As Justice Antonin Scalia so wisely noted in his majority opinion, “Miller did not hold that and cannot possibly be read to have held that.” ...
Gun advocates have a bang-up idea for a picnic in Traverse City.
A group called Michigan Open Carry Inc. plans to host a gun-toting picnic at Sunset Park on Saturday.
It's part of the nonprofit's ongoing effort to promote the legal, open carry of firearms and the Second Amendment to the Constitution. ...
PHOENIX -- State lawmakers agreed Thursday to let some gun owners bring their weapons into restaurants -- but not before they expanded the measure to also apply to bars.
That change in SB 1113 came not at the behest of the National Rifle Association which crafted the bill but after a push from the organization that represents bar owners. Lobbyist Don Isaacson of the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association said there is no sharp definition in state law that spells out what is a restaurant and what is a bar. But Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Phoenix, noted that NRA lobbyist Todd Rathner has argued all along that the legislation is aimed at providing relief to gun owners who simply wanted to get a bite to eat and did not want to leave their loaded weapons in their vehicles. She called extending that right to places where food isn't served "a dangerous cocktail."
Sinema acknowledged that the law would preclude anyone who is armed from also drinking. ...
U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg has a point, to a point.
The Democratic lawmaker from New Jersey says it “simply defies common sense” to allow gun sales to people suspected of being terrorists. He’s right – until he proposes that the government’s terrorism watch list should be the deciding factor of whether someone can buy a gun.
At Lautenberg’s request, the Government Accountability Office recently studied firearms and explosives purchases among terror watch list members. It found that people on the list tried to buy guns 963 times in the last five years, and nine out of 10 times they were successful because nothing else in their background disqualified them.
That sounds outrageous, but consider this: The FBI refused to divulge details about who was able to buy a gun and what their connection to terrorism might be. That itself makes conclusions rather hard to draw.
Then there’s the watch list itself, which has a number of problems, the first being its size. At last count, the list had more than 1 million names representing 400,000 people, and it’s growing quickly. Just four years ago, the list stood at one-fourth of its current size.
It’s also rife with errors. While much of the criticism can be attributed to cases of mistaken identity – such “false positives” have snared the likes of Sen. Ted Kennedy and members of the Federal Air Marshal Service – the list itself is also suspect.
Just last month, the Justice Department inspector general found that the list included the names of at least 24,000 people who may not have belonged on it. Other names that should have been on the list weren’t.
But the most significant concern is the secrecy surrounding such intelligence tools, which doesn’t necessarily make much room for due process.
A person may never find out that a government agency nominated them for the list, and even if he or she does, getting off can prove impossible. ...
The recession has put the brakes on all sorts of industries, but the upward spike in gun sales that began about the time President Obama was elected continues.
In California, for example, sales over a six-month period late last year and early this year are up 32 percent from the same period a year ago. And while no national figures on gun sales are available, the FBI reports a strong surge in applications for background checks — the best available indicator.
Gun retailers, consumers and politicians on both sides of the aisle attribute the spike to the election of Barack Obama and fears that his administration and a Congress controlled by Democrats will seek new restrictions on gun ownership. ...
PHOENIX — Siding with gun owners over cops, the Senate Judiciary Committee agreed Friday to let people carry concealed weapons without getting a state permit.
The 4-3 vote came despite comments from several police officers who said letting anyone at least 18 have a hidden gun will make their jobs more dangerous. Friday's vote sends the measure to the full Senate. ...
The U.S. Army has ordered 38.4 million rounds of .300 Winchester magnum ammunition for its newly modified M-24 sniper rifles, as well as similar SOCOMs Mk13 models. The new ammo will cost about $1.30 per round. The .300 Winchester magnum will be ordered in minimum lots of 56,160 rounds (117 boxes of 480 rounds each). The entire 38.4 million rounds will last a while.
All this is in response to requests from snipers for a longer range weapon, but not one as bulky and heavy as the 30 pound .50 caliber rifle (which is good to about 2,000 meters). Thus the army is modifying existing M24 rifles to fire the more powerful .300 Winchester Magnum round. It was felt that this gave the snipers all the additional range they needed, without requiring a much heavier rifle. SOCOM has been using this approach since the early 1990s. ...
Mexico's police are overwhelmed in part because drug traffickers have them outgunned. Mexico's Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora is helping lead the effort to break up the cartels.
"Half of what we seize, 55 percent are assault rifles. And this is what gives these groups this intimidation power. Over 17,000 assault rifles, throughout the last two years. Two thousand and 200 grenades, missile and rocket launchers. Fifty caliber sniper rifles," the attorney general explained.
It might surprise you to learn where all these guns are coming from. It turns out 90 percent of them are purchased in the US.
"The Second Amendment was never designed to arm criminal groups, and especially not foreign criminal groups as it is today," Medina-Mora said.
Asked if he blames the U.S. for not doing more to stop this flow, he told Cooper, "We believe that much more needs to be done. We need a much more committed effort from the U.S." ...
KINGSTON, Jamaica -- Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica's main harbor loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S. imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that stoke one of the world's highest murder rates.
The volume is much less than the flow of U.S. guns into Mexico that end up in the hands of drug cartels _ Jamaican authorities recover fewer than 1,000 firearms a year. But of those whose origin can be traced, 80 percent come from the U.S., Jamaican law enforcement officials have said in interviews with The Associated Press. ...
New Jersey Democrat senator Frank R. Lautenberg plans to introduce legislation designed to cancel the Second Amend rights of well over a million U.S. citizens this coming week, according to the New York Times. “Mr. Lautenberg plans to introduce legislation on Monday that would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales to people on terror watch lists,” the newspaper reports. ...
BATON ROUGE -- Legislation urging the New Orleans City Council to enact a citywide ban on assault weapons was shot down by a Senate committee Tuesday.
The Judiciary B Committee failed to muster a single vote for House Concurrent Resolution 150 by Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, killing it unanimously. The non-binding measure is an expression of the feelings of the Legislature on an issue and would have called on council members, but not required them, to act.
The council can enact a ban on the assault weapons on its own. ...
... If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Judge Sotomayor will likely be on the Supreme Court while a potentially groundbreaking Second Amendment case is decided. Constitutional scholars, gun owners and freedom loving Americans will once again find themselves on pins and needles.
For months now, the rights of gun owners all across this country have been in limbo as they experienced the fluid ups and downs of federal court opinions. At times they saw their individual rights eroding away under the weight of anti-gun activists who would impose personal views in place of the plain language of the 2nd Amendment. At other moments, it seemed the activists would be defeated by cases like District of Columbia v. Heller and individual rights would prevail.
In fact, over two hundred years ago – the author of the Declaration of Independence - President Thomas Jefferson, had many of the same concerns as he sat down to write a letter to his friend Wilson Cary Nicholas. Jefferson wrote, “Our peculiar security is in possession of a written Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction." ...
Citing not the Constitution but judicial supremacy through legal precedent, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld strict gun control ordinances in Chicago and suburban Oak Park, Ill., stating the 2nd Amendment applies only to federal laws.
This is one of the rare times you will see the federal government deciding in favor of states. Except in this case, it’s misapplied and incorrect, because the Bill of Rights, wherein the Second Amendment is contained, takes precedence over any states’ infringement or cancellation of specific rights granted thereof. The Bill of Rights was meant to prohibit states from trampling on the rights of the people, just as much as it was meant to rein in such attacks from the federal level; it was meant to be a limitation on any government power.
Three Republican appointees — Judge Frank H. Easterbrook, Judge Richard A. Posner and Judge William J. Bauer — saw fit to hail their peers as the interpreters, deciders, and ignorers of the Constitution. Now the case will head for the Supreme Court in fall. And possibly by that time, Sonia Sotomayer will most likely have been approved by the Senate and sitting on the bench.
Sotomayer was part of a three-judge panel in New York that had already concluded that the 2nd Amendment and its protection does not apply to state and municipal laws. So the outcome of such a Supreme Court case leaves little to the imagination, as the justices will most likely try to squeeze out of the Second Amendment their own interpretation. ...
It’s time we talk. The debate over gun control is not about guns, it’s about culture, and here is how it works: You point to school shootings and other violence and say that it’s my fault because I support the right to keep and bear arms. I point to violent video games and sociopathic teenagers, and I say the problem is your fault, thanks to inadequately internalized values and morals.
But here’s the thing: Between guns and culture, only one thing has changed. Weapons have been in the hands of man since time immemorial. There is nothing special about semi-automatic “assault weapons.” In fact, until 1934 people could go out and buy fully automatic Thompson submachine guns, hand grenades or just about any other implement of destruction they could afford.
...
Now, we could go the way of the Brits who, after the Dunblane massacre, banned everything in sight. Unfortunately, in this most perfect of gun control laboratories – an island nation with strict laws and tight borders – the result has been an explosion in crime…and yes, that especially includes gun crime.
It has also led their inadequately socialized post-60s kiddies to stab each other with such alarming regularity that the British have now begun to ban knives, leading us to the sad but inescapable conclusion that Brits can no longer be trusted with sharp objects. ...
The State Senate approved legislation today "that seeks to combat the destruction of the 10th Amendment of the Constitution by the Federal government in their attempt to infringe upon states’ rights."
Senate Bill 1610, known as the “Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act,” sponsored by Senator Mae Beavers, "takes a step in the right direction to restore to the states control of intra-state commerce and the regulation of firearms manufactured and sold within Tennessee," she said.
“Be it the federal government mandating changes in order for states to receive federal funds or the federal government telling us how to regulate commerce contained completely within this state – enough is enough,” urged Judiciary Chairman Beavers.
...
The state House of Representatives passed the companion bill (HB 1796 by Ben West and Henry Fincher) last week and the bill will now head to the governor’s office.
There were 87 representatives and 21 senators who voted in favor of the bill.
... Microstamping allows police officers to identify the buyer and seller of a gun used in a crime -- even if the gun is not recovered at the crime scene. Tracing shell casings found at the scene is no different than tracing a crime gun.
Here's how microstamping works:
Gun manufacturers already print a serial number on all guns, often on the barrel. If they also begin inserting a serial number on the firing pin inside the barrel, every time a gun is fired, a tiny stamp would be left on the shell casings, which police officers routinely recover at crime scenes.
Microstamping gives law enforcement a new link in the evidence chain.
With the serial number from the casing, police can identify the gun and trace it back to the original sale in a gun store to find out who bought the gun. Even if the first retail purchaser has nothing to do with the crime -- for example, in cases where the gun was stolen from a legal gun owner -- determining the chain of custody of a gun is a critically important lead that can break a case open.
Suddenly, a stolen gun becomes the key to finding the shooter.
This technology fills a critical information gap between crime scenes, crime guns and the criminals who pulled the trigger.
Microstamping is fully consistent with the Second Amendment, and it is supported by more than 60 New York police departments, the New York Association of Chiefs of Police, the New York State Fraternal Order of Police and 19 New York mayors who are part of the bipartisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns. [emphasis added] ...
The ".22" I bought is actually considered a small-bore rifle. Gun sizes or "calibers" actually refer to the inside diameter of the gun barrel. "Caliber" is interchangeable with the word "inch." So, a 0.22 caliber gun fires a bullet that is 0.22" across.
I would think that a gun that fires such a little bullet would not worry the anti-gun folks so much. Boy, was I wrong.
I have never purchased a gun in the state of California. I had been through a gun class recently, so I was aware that there was a 10-day waiting period. I guess that helps stop "crimes of passion" where people rashly go out and buy a gun to do someone in.
I'm really glad we have that law. Now, instead of guns, all these angry people can use knives, baseball bats, rat poison and any one of myriad other methods to kill someone. That's much more humane.
I had shopped around and knew guns were very hard to find these days.
All the latest moves by the Obama administration have convinced the gun community that guns will soon be very hard to acquire.
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After checking out the goods, I decided to get it. Little did I know I was going to fall into Gun-Control Hell.
The pimply-faced, 18-year-old employee told me that there were a few formalities to take care of before our transaction was complete.
After fingerprinting me, verifying my driver's license, doing the laser eye retina scan and testing my DNA, he presented me with a small form to fill out.
"Small" is a relative term, of course. The extensive list of questions included queries about my criminal record, my relative mental stability, and whether I was a fugitive from the law.
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After half an hour of fun and games, I was allowed to pay for the gun and leave the store- without the gun. I was now in my "waiting period."
This was fine with me because I now had to go find ammunition since a gun without ammo is like a Democrat without union money. Impotent. ...
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton on Tuesday pulled the D.C. Voting Rights Act from consideration by the House of Representatives, as it became clear supporters did not have the votes to reject a pro-gun amendment attached in the Senate.
Norton, a Democrat, made the decision to withdraw the measure after meeting with key players over the weekend, including House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, according to an e-mail she sent to key voting rights backers. The bill would have expanded the House by two seats, one for the District and the other, temporarily at least, for Utah.
“All agreed that there were good reasons to wait — for now,” wrote Norton, D.C.’s non-voting delegate. “Please understand that we are holding the bill for now, not giving up on voting rights.”
The bill, which had suffered defeat twice before, is unlikely to return before the next congressional session. ...
Remington Arms Company, Inc. through its fully owned subsidiary DA Acquisitions LLC has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire certain assets of Dakota Arms, LLC including the Dakota, Miller Arms, Dan Walter and Nesika Bay Precision brands. The transaction closed on June 5, 2009.Established in 1982 and headquartered in Sturgis, South Dakota, Dakota Arms is the leading manufacturer of custom and semi-custom rifles for the sporting markets.
The Dakota product lines are universally recognized for outstanding quality, design, accuracy and aesthetic appeal. The Dakota brands include Nesika, Miller Arms and Dan Walter. Nesika Bay Precision actions and rifles renowned for their exceptional accuracy; Miller Arms is known for the reliability and performance of its single-shot actions and custom rifles; and Dan Walter Cases are regarded as the premier travel and display cases for shotguns and rifles. Dakota Arms is strongly anchored in the Black Hills of South Dakota and currently employs 35 people. ...
... Whatever Mr. Obama's true conviction, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, his pick for the Supreme Court, does not view the Second Amendment as guaranteeing an individual right. Yet media from the Los Angeles Times to The Washington Post think they have the proof she is not an "anti-gun radical."
Their logic goes something like this: Last week, a three-judge panel of Republican-appointed judges on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Second Amendment limits only federal gun laws, not state laws. Because Judge Sotomayor was being criticized for sitting on a panel that reached a similar decision and these Republicans can't be "anti-gun," neither can Judge Sotomayor.
But the media are either unable or unwilling to read beyond who won the 2nd and 7th circuit cases and the most basic parts of the decisions. Both panels said it really was up to the Supreme Court to apply the Second Amendment to the states. Yet Judge Sotomayor's panel tried to eviscerate the recent Supreme Court decision that had struck down the District's gun ban even for federal laws.
To her panel, the Second Amendment would not block any gun-control laws as long as the politicians passing the laws thought the weapon was "designed primarily as a weapon and has no purpose other than to maim or, in some instances, kill." With that interpretation, the Supreme Court never could have struck down the D.C. gun ban, let alone any other gun-control law.
That Judge Sotomayor would make such an argument less than a year after the Supreme Court's decision in the District of Columbia v. Heller means she would vote to return the D.C. gun ban the first chance she got. For those who have any remaining doubts, in a 2004 decision, U.S. v. Sanchez-Villar, Judge Sotomayor ruled "that the right to possess a gun is clearly not a fundamental right." ...
... Though Sotomayor was "very personable and engaging," "I didn't hear anything today that eased my concerns," DeMint said in a statement.
"She was unwilling to say the Second Amendment protects a fundamental right that applies to all Americans, which raises serious questions about her view of the Bill of Rights. When I asked if an unborn child has any rights whatsoever, I was surprised that she said she had never thought about it. This is not just a question about abortion, but about the respect due to human life at all stages, and I hope this is cleared up in her hearings," DeMint said. [emphasis added] ...
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted Monday to let some gun owners bring their weapons into places where alcohol is served after the Arizona Restaurant Association dropped its objection to the proposal.
Monday's 4-3 vote came after assurances from the National Rifle Association that the provisions of SB 1113 are limited to restaurants. Todd Rathner, a member of NRA's board, said that goes along with his organization's belief that gun owners should not be required to leave their weapons in their vehicles simply because they want something to eat and the restaurant also happens to serve alcohol.
But Rathner acknowledged that the wording of the bill, which now goes to the full Senate, actually could let guns into more than just what are usually seen as restaurants.
SB 1113 allows someone who has a state-issued permit to carry a concealed weapon to bring it into a place that has a liquor license and "offers for sale food for on-site consumption prepared in a kitchen located on the premises."
...
Sen. Jack Harper, R-Surprise, said he sharpened this year's version to apply only to those individuals who have state-issued licenses to carry concealed weapons. That not only screens out those who haven't been through the training and background checks, but it also ensures no one has a visible gun strapped to a hip.
It also preserves language from prior years spelling out that anyone who is armed cannot drink. And it says any restaurant owner who doesn't want patrons carrying guns can keep the weapons out by posting signs to that effect at all entrances.
Steve Chucri, president of the Arizona Restaurant Association, said his members still aren't supporting the plan. But they're no longer trying to kill it, either.
And Gov. Jan Brewer already has said that unlike her predecessor, who vetoed a similar bill in 2005, she's inclined to sign it. ...
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.
...
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. ...
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. ...
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.
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? ...
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." ...
... 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. ...
... 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." ...
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. ...
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.
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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. ...
Nevada's two U.S. senators don't agree on too many things outside of the state. But Democrat Harry Reid and Republican John Ensign both voted Wednesday in favor of an amendment that would allow people to carry loaded guns in national parks and wildlife refuges.
The amendment sponsored by Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn passed by a vote of 67-29.
Coburn says it would protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. ...
New legislation currently winding its way through Congress is forcing Democratic leaders to face the serious problem the party has when it comes to guns.
At the heart of the matter is the question of packing heat in Yellowstone.
The Senate voted overwhelmingly to attach an amendment to unrelated credit card legislation allowing people to carry guns in National Parks, something more liberal House Democratic leaders are determined to yank out of the bill. ...
On May 7th, State Representative Tom Emmer [R-Delano] introduced the “Firearms Freedom Act,” legislation that will protect firearm owners and manufacturers in Minnesota from federal government restrictions on the lawful exercise of Second Amendment rights.
“For far too long elected officials and unelected bureaucrats at the federal level have passively forgotten or actively neglected the Tenth Amendment that guarantees rights not enumerated in the Constitution be left to the individual states,” said Rep. Emmer. “The willful disregard of the Tenth Amendment in relation to a citizen’s right to bear arms isn’t the only constitutional infringement that we should be worried about, but it is one that has been singled out by the new administration.”
The bill would exempt any personal firearm, firearm accessory or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Minnesota and that remains within the boundaries of the state from federal law or regulation; including registration. ...
PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer signaled her support Friday for laws to expand the rights of Arizonans to carry loaded weapons in their cars, and maybe even into bars.
Brewer told members of the National Rifle Association meeting here of the long-standing relationship between Arizonans and their firearms.
"Over the years, our Arizona frontiersmen always kept a gun under the seat of their wagon," she said.
The comments came just days after the state House voted overwhelmingly to allow individuals to have their guns in their cars in parking lots on private property, even over the objections of the property owner. That measure, now awaiting Senate action, is being pushed by the NRA.
Gubernatorial press aide Paul Senseman said Brewer never firmly commits to signing legislation until she's seen the final version that lands on her desk.
"But generally speaking, she's supportive of the thrust of that legislation," he said. ...
But Brewer herself told the NRA that she has a very broad view of the rights of Arizonans to carry firearms, pointing out that the state constitution is, in some ways, more absolute than the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. ...
The Alabama Legislature has decided the identities of people with permits to carry concealed handguns or stow them in their cars should be secret.
The Alabama Senate voted 24-0 Friday to give final approval to a bill pushed by the National Rifle Association. The House passed the bill 102-0 in February. It now goes to the governor.
The bill would seal the handgun permits maintained by county sheriffs and make them available only to law enforcement officers. The public would have access to individual records only if the gun owner had committed a felony. ...
The Social Democrats (SPD) say they will not support a ban on paintball - just two days after they and their senior coalition party, the Christian Democrats (CDU), agreed on the proposed ban as part of a new set of strengthened gun control measures.
"There will be no ban," said SPD politician Dieter Wiefelspuetz, an expert on domestic affairs.
In addition to a ban on war-like games such as paintball and laser tag, the coalition's reforms would include random inspections of gun owners' premises to ensure guns and ammunition are properly stored and locked. ...
The Senate has a chance this week to kill the most offensive nomination of an executive-branch official since President Clinton's ill-fated selection of radical black racialist Lani Guinier for assistant attorney general in 1993. Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh is unfit to be chief legal counsel at the State Department. Senators should vote him down.
Mr. Koh's repeatedly stated agenda is contrary to the American tradition of law originating in the "consent of the governed." In its place, Mr. Koh would apply what he calls a "transnationalist" approach whereby domestic laws and even the Constitution could be brushed aside in favor of international authorities.
...
The Second Amendment fares no better. In an essay called "A World Drowning in Guns," Mr. Koh endorsed a "global regulatory" regime to outlaw firearms though "rules negotiated among governments at a horizontal, intergovernmental level and interpreted through the interaction of transnational actors." Those laws, he wrote, could then be "internalized into the domestic statutes, executive practice and judicial systems of those participating nations."
What he means is that international gun bans could be imposed on American citizens without a vote of the American people. Likewise, the Eighth Amendment could be newly read to bar the death penalty despite the Constitution's explicit acceptance of it elsewhere in the document, merely because American judges suddenly decide to "pay decent respect to the opinions of mankind." ...
DENVER — Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed a bill Friday that would have allowed some gun owners to bypass additional background checks each time they buy a gun.
In a letter to lawmakers, Ritter said the bill had inadequate safeguards to prevent people who have had their handgun permits revoked.
He said there also was no way to notify law enforcement that a person has a valid handgun permit because the state is barred from keeping a list of permit holders.
"There are numerous troubling aspects to this bill," Ritter wrote.
The bill would have allowed some people with permits to carry concealed weapons to skip additional background checks each time they buy a gun. ...
Prompted by the death of an 8-year-old Connecticut boy at a Massachusetts gun club, the state House of Representatives voted unanimously Thursday night to keep machine guns out of the hands of anyone under the age of 16.
The House action came after the state Senate recently voted 31-2 in favor of the bill, with two Republicans voting against it. ...
Violence continues to roil south of the border between drug cartels at war with each other and the Mexican government.
But Republican Gov. Jan Brewer says she opposes additional regulations intended to keep weapons purchased in this country from finding their way into the fight.
"New gun laws are not the answer to increasing gun violence in Mexico," Brewer told National Rifle Association members gathered Friday in downtown Phoenix for the gun-rights group's annual convention.
"The answer is to secure the border and leave the freedoms of the United States citizen alone. Don't mess with the Second Amendment," declared Brewer, an NRA member. ...
RACINE — The armed bicyclist who scared off a group of teens he believed were trying to rob him earlier this month will not be charged, the Racine County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
In a letter to the 42-year-old Racine man, who has asked not to be identified, District Attorney Mike Nieskes wrote, “After speaking with the investigating officer on this matter, I have decided it would not be in the greater interest of justice in the community to charge you with violation of Wisconsin Statute regarding gun free zones.”
According to police reports, the man was riding his bicycle in the 1100 block of Grand Avenue on May 1 when he was knocked from his bicycle by four teens. The man told police he thought the group was trying to rob him, so he pulled out the revolver he was openly carrying in a side holster. Reports said he pointed the gun at the sky and yelled, “Gun!”
The group of teens fled and the man flagged down a Racine police officer. During the assault, the man suffered a wrist injury. He was treated at the scene by Racine rescue.
Police did not arrest the man. They escorted him home and returned his gun to him.
However, the incident raised questions from law enforcement because the man was armed within a 1,000 feet of a school, which is illegal under state statute. The current law conflicts with a recent opinion by the state Attorney General’s Office which said it is legal to openly carry a firearm.
In his letter, Nieskes said the decision not to charge the man was based on the recent determination of the attorney general, along with the man’s lack of prior criminal record and no showing of irresponsible use of the firearm. “I don’t believe it would be appropriate to charge you,” Nieskes wrote. “I will presume that you understand that despite the announcement by the Attorney General for the State of Wisconsin regarding open carry, that you and all other individuals, a notable exception being on-duty police officers, are barred from possessing a firearm in certain circumstances and place.” ...
Gun owners won a long-fought victory in the U.S. Senate yesterday with the passage of an amendment to repeal the gun ban on National Park Service (NPS) and National Wildlife Refuge System land.
GOA was the driving force behind this amendment and lobbied Senators hard prior to the vote to get the provision passed. The amendment, offered by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 67-29. People can see how their Senators voted on the Coburn amendment by clicking here. ...
Mexican federal police commander Gen. Rodolfo Cruz Lopez described a weapon seized last month from one of the nation’s deadly “drug cartels” as a .50 caliber anti-aircraft gun that fires 6-inch armor-piercing bullets at the rate of 800 rounds per minute.
The mainstream media coverage on both sides of the border trumpeted the capture of this Rambo-style machine gun as evidence of the increasing danger the drug-trafficking organizations pose to civil society.
A report on the seized “anti-aircraft” weapon by the Associated Press noted that “assailants have fired on government aircraft performing anti-drug missions in Mexico in the past, but apparently never with the caliber of weapon found Monday [April 13 in northern Mexico].”
But there is just one problem with this narrative. According to U.S. law enforcers, specifically the ATF, the captured weapon is not what it appears to be, or at least what it was purported to be by the Mexican police commander.
In fact, according to Bill Newell, special agent in charge of ATF in Arizona and New Mexico, the so-called 800 rpm “anti-aircraft gun” isn’t a machine gun at all, but rather a WWII-era semi-automatic replica of a Browning machine gun made by a U.S. company.
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A spokesman for [firearms manufacturer] TNW, who asked that his name not be used, stresses that his company re-manufactures WWII-era machine guns, converting them into semi-automatic (one-bullet-per-trigger-pull) weapons, which it then sells to wealthy collectors, WWII re-enactors, movie companies and museums. He says the guns are remanufactured, with ATF oversight, and are re-engineered so that they can “never be made into machine guns again.”
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The TNW spokesman adds that, in his mind, it would make no sense for a drug trafficking organization to purchase a TNW replica Browning, which sell for in excess of $10,000 a pop, when they could get the real thing much cheaper and without the same risk through the black market — even from corrupt elements within Mexico’s own military. [emphasis added] ...
We have had a lot of concerned customers calling to ask about primer availability. Actually, our lines have been flooded with calls regarding the availability of primers as well as the availability of other components. The easiest and quickest way to check on availability is through our new website, whether you plan on phoning an order in, ordering off the web, or using some other means. The following is our view on the current primer situation. Basically, there has been a two-pronged drain on primer supplies for the reloading market.
The first driving force has been the huge demand for loaded ammunition through 2008 and continuing into 2009. The large primer manufacturers like ATK (which would include Federal and CCI), Winchester, and Remington are directing the majority of their primers into loaded ammunition. Ammunition sales are going through the roof as individuals stock up because of political concerns. The huge consumer demand for ammo is in addition to the demand from law enforcement agencies and our military to re-supply their own inventories. I know that smaller ammunition manufacturers have been impacted drastically by the primer shortage since their demands are higher than normal for primers that they have to obtain through Federal, CCI, Winchester, Remington, etc. Many of these smaller manufacturers have had to go to other sources to get quality primers. Because of this situation, some of them cannot keep up with their own ammunition production. Unfortunately, these smaller ammo makers can’t control their own destiny since they don’t have the capacity or tooling to make primers.
I mentioned that there were two factors impacting primer availability; the first factor is creating the second one. Since ammo demand has consumed more of the primer supply than normal, the quantity of primers on the shelf has declined at the box stores, the reloading companies (like Sinclair), and the smaller gun shops. With the fast communication via the internet, the word spreads quickly and the result has been consumers stockpiling and hoarding primers. Individuals are buying and keeping more primers in their own personal inventories and this has prevented some reloaders from having any primers at all. We normally see people buying 1,000 or maybe 5,000 primers at a time, now we are seeing customers buying 25,000 at a time. [emphasis added] ...
PHOENIX – The state House has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would permit a gun owner to keep a weapon out of sight in a locked vehicle in a parking lot or garage.
House approval of the bill on Wednesday on a 41-10 vote sends it to the state Senate, which has not yet begun considering non-budget bills during the current session.
Supporters said the bill would serve Arizonans who want to have guns in vehicles for self-defense and recreational purposes. Critics said it tramples on private property rights and overturns employers' bans of weapons on their property. ...
... In another United Nations official publication ("Guide to the Implementation of the World Programme of Action for Youth"), the U.N. urges member nations to "explore enacting bans on all handguns to civilians or certain cheap models that are attractive to youth."
The U.N. agenda for children does not stop with the direct disarming of individuals. Article 29 of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child imposes educational standards on nations that become parties to the treaty. This includes "peace education," which in other U.N. contexts means disarmament education. The U.N. World Congress on Disarmament Education adopted the following statements:
Definition of disarmament
For the purposes of disarmament education, disarmament may be understood as any form of action aimed at limiting, controlling or reducing arms, including unilateral disarmament initiatives and, ultimately, general and complete disarmament under effective international control. It may also be understood as a process aimed at transforming the current system of armed nation states into a new world order of planned unarmed peace, in which war is no longer an instrument of national policy and peoples determine their own future and live in security based on justice and solidarity.
While our Second Amendment should be interpreted broadly to protect gun ownership, there is significant reason to believe that pressure will be placed on legislative bodies to tell adults that, while they may still own guns, they must be kept in another location if children are present in the home.
The U.N. is not content with regulating our families and children. They want us to march into a New World Order without weapons. Our families and our means of defending our families are in significant peril.
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child must be defeated. ...
For the past five weeks, hundreds of agents participating in a newly intensified $95 million outbound inspection program have been stepping into southbound traffic lanes, stopping suspicious-looking cars and trucks.
The Associated Press fanned out to the busiest crossings along the Mexican border - San Diego, Nogales, El Paso and Laredo - to see how effective the inspections are.
The findings? Wads of U.S. currency headed for Mexico, wedged into car doors, stuffed under mattresses, taped onto torsos, were sniffed out by dogs, seized by agents and locked away for possible investigations. No guns were found as the reporters watched; they rarely are.
"I do not believe we can even make a dent in (southbound smuggling) because that assumes the cartels are complete idiots, which they're not. Why in the world would they try to smuggle weapons and currency through a checkpoint when there are so many other options?" said Border Patrol Agent T.J. Bonner, president of the agents' union.
According to CBP, between March 12 and April 30 officers seized:
• Fifty-one pieces of ammunition, weapons parts and guns, a minuscule fraction of the 2,000 weapons the Mexican government estimates are smuggled south every day. ...
I've mentioned Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY) before, regarding his letter to President Obama, urging him to impose an executive order banning the importation of so-called "assault weapons." Here's Engel's justification for taking that course of action:Over 90% of firearms confiscated yearly in Mexico orginate in the United States.
In other words, although the supposed exportation of firearms was cited as the problem, the banning of their importation was offered as the solution.
Even ignoring that strange bit of "logic," a major problem with that idea (beyond, of course, the fact that criminal misuse of smuggled firearms in other countries does not constitute a legitimate reason to attack our rights in the U.S.), is that the "90%" figure has zero basis in reality (Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea has been following that story, and helping to expose that lie, for quite a while now, and provided a nice summary yesterday).
Perhaps because more and more of the public is catching on to the fact that "90%" of the Mexican drug cartels' guns do not come from the U.S., Engel is looking for a new angle (sorry--couldn't help myself), and is now applying the "90%" figure to Jamaica, as well. ...
Grab a phone book and call every gun shop across the Valley.
You will probably hear the same thing. It’s been nearly impossible to keep ammunition on their shelves.
Some companies, like Sportsman’s Warehouse in Phoenix, have had to post signs letting people know that handgun ammo and other popular rounds are sold out.
On Wednesday, the store started a new policy that customers can only buy two boxes per day.
Manger Mark Russell said no one could have ever expected this level of demand.
Jenni Rigs works the cast register and said she was seeing people buying boxes of ammunition by the cart full. ...
Continuing a nationwide trend that began before November's presidential election, area gun retailers are reporting an increase in firearms sales.
The result? Heightened demand has diminished ammunition availability at retail locations throughout the U.S. Although gun sales tend to go up during times of economic hardship, retailers, gun owners and industry insiders credit rising sales and declining supply to fear that President Barack Obama and a Democratically controlled Congress will enact strict gun-control measures.
As shortages have grown, stores -- including Wal-Marts in Ashland, Mansfield and Wooster -- have limited ammo purchases on certain varieties to ensure availability to more customers. Manufacturers have cranked up production in response to demand. Winchester Ammunition has a notice on its Web site updating its production status.
"Our team is literally working around the clock to make quality ammunition available for purchase," Winchester Ammunition's Web site states.
Outside Ashland on U.S. 250 East at Fin, Feather & Fur Outfitters, demand for firearms, ammunition, gun safes and reloading supplies has soared to "unprecedented" levels in the store's 23-year history, said manager Jake Jacobs. Demand has limited availability of even the most common ammunition, such as .22-caliber long rifle bullets typically associated with target shooting and introductory firearms training. Scarcity has caused prices on some products to jump since the election, Jacobs said. [emphasis added] ...
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