SAN DIEGO -- A best-selling novelist from San Diego County is taking on the issue of guns traveling from the U.S. to Mexico where they are used by drug cartels, 10News reported.
T. Jefferson Parker's new novel, out this week, is fiction but based on a grim reality.
Parker has written 17 novels, has won several awards and has been on best-seller lists. He enjoys the Southern California lifestyle at his Fallbrook home, but he became increasingly concerned hearing about the drug violence in Mexico.
"These are all murders by gun. Where are they getting the guns? You can't buy them in Mexico. You can't go to a store and buy a gun," said Parker.
Parker said he found most of the guns used by Mexican drug cartels -- some say 90 percent -- come from the U.S. along what is called the Iron River, running from San Diego to Corpus Christi, Texas. "Iron River" is the title of Parker's newest novel. ...
... Before we get down into the weeds of Mexico's arms trade, let's do something a little different and first take a brief look at how arms trafficking works on a regional and global scale. Doing so will help illustrate how arms trafficking in Mexico fits into these broader patterns.
When analysts examine arms sales they look at three general categories: the white arms market, the gray arms market and the black arms market. The white arms market is the legal, aboveboard transfer of weapons in accordance with the national laws of the parties involved and international treaties or restrictions. The parties in a white arms deal will file the proper paperwork, including end-user certificates, noting what is being sold, who is selling it and to whom it is being sold. There is an understanding that the receiving party does not intend to transfer the weapons to a third party. So, for example, if the Mexican army wants to buy assault rifles from German arms maker Heckler & Koch, it places the order with the company and fills out all the required paperwork, including forms for obtaining permission for the sale from the German government.
Now, the white arms market can be deceived and manipulated, and when this happens, we get the gray market - literally, white arms that are shifted into the hands of someone other than the purported recipient. One of the classic ways to do this is to either falsify an end-user certificate, or bribe an official in a third country to sign an end-user certificate but then allow a shipment of arms to pass through a country en route to a third location. This type of transaction is frequently used in cases where there are international arms embargoes against a particular country (like Liberia) or where it is illegal to sell arms to a militant group (such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym, FARC). One example of this would be Ukrainian small arms that, on paper, were supposed to go to Cote d'Ivoire but were really transferred in violation of U.N. arms embargoes to Liberia and Sierra Leone. Another example of this would be the government of Peru purchasing thousands of surplus East German assault rifles from Jordan on the white arms market, ostensibly for the Peruvian military, only to have those rifles slip into the gray arms world and be dropped at airstrips in the jungles of Colombia for use by the FARC.
At the far end of the spectrum is the black arms market where the guns are contraband from the get-go and all the business is conducted under the table. There are no end-user certificates and the weapons are smuggled covertly. Examples of this would be the smuggling of arms from the former Soviet Union (FSU) and Afghanistan into Europe through places like Kosovo and Slovenia, or the smuggling of arms into South America from Asia, the FSU and Middle East by Hezbollah and criminal gangs in the Tri-Border Region.
Nation-states will often use the gray and black arms markets in order to deniably support allies, undermine opponents or otherwise pursue their national interests. This was clearly revealed in the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s, but Iran-Contra only scratched the surface of the arms smuggling that occurred during the Cold War. Untold tons of military ordnance were delivered by the United States, the Soviet Union and Cuba to their respective allies in Latin America during the Cold War.
This quantity of materiel shipped into Latin America during the Cold War brings up another very important point pertaining to weapons. Unlike drugs, which are consumable goods, firearms are durable goods. This means that they can be useful for decades and are frequently shipped from conflict zone to conflict zone. East German MPiKMS and MPiKM assault rifles are still floating around the world's arms markets years after the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist. In fact, visiting an arms bazaar in a place like Yemen is like visiting an arms museum. One can encounter century-old, still-functional Lee-Enfield and Springfield rifles in a rack next to a modern U.S. M4 rifle or German HK93, and those next to brand-new Chinese Type 56 and 81 assault rifles.
There is often a correlation between arms and drug smuggling. In many instances, the same routes used to smuggle drugs are also used to smuggle arms. In some instances, like the smuggling routes from Central Asia to Europe, the flow of guns and drugs goes in the same direction, and they are both sold in Western Europe for cash. In the case of Latin American cocaine, the drugs tend to flow in one direction (toward the United States and Europe) while guns from U.S. and Russian organized-crime groups flow in the other direction, and often these guns are used as whole or partial payment for the drugs.
Illegal drugs are not the only thing traded for guns. During the Cold War, a robust arms-for-sugar trade transpired between the Cubans and Vietnamese. As a result, Marxist groups all over Latin America were furnished with U.S. materiel either captured or left behind when the Americans withdrew from Vietnam. LAW rockets traced to U.S. military stocks sent to Vietnam were used in several attacks by Latin American Marxist groups. These Vietnam War-vintage weapons still crop up with some frequency in Mexico, Colombia and other parts of the region. Cold War-era weapons furnished to the likes of the Contras, Sandinistas, Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front and Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity movement in the 1980s are also frequently encountered in the region.
After the civil wars ended in places like El Salvador and Guatemala, the governments and the international community attempted to institute arms buy-back programs, but those programs were not very successful and most of the guns turned in were very old - the better arms were cached by groups or kept by individuals. Some of these guns have dribbled back into the black arms market, and Central and South America are still awash in Cold War weapons.
But Cold War shipments are not the only reason that Latin America is flooded with guns. In addition to the indigenous arms industries in countries like Brazil and Argentina, Venezuela has purchased hundreds of thousands of AK assault rifles in recent years to replace its aging FN-FAL rifles and has even purchased the equipment to open a factory to produce AK-103 rifles under license inside Venezuela. The Colombian government has accused the Venezuelans of arming the FARC, and evidence obtained by the Colombians during raids on FARC camps and provided to the public appears to support those assertions. ...
Big lies die slowly.
After a claim by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that 90% of Mexican drug dealers' military weapons (machine guns, hand grenades and missiles) come from American gun stores was exposed as a lie several months ago, it's back — this time with the imprimatur of the Government Accountability Office.
A June 21 CBS "60 Minutes" report by Anderson Cooper was clearly coordinated to coincide with release of the GAO report and a similar one by "activist" Josh Sugarmann.
You are likely to soon hear and read that the GAO report commissioned by Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., confirms what Mexico's attorney general, Eduardo Medina-Mora, told Cooper: "Two thousand two hundred grenades, missile and rocket launchers!"
Cue Cooper as a video of machine guns, hand grenades and other weaponry fill the screen: "It turns out 90% of them are purchased in the U.S."
That's not all. You will hear from Sugarmann that Mexican drug dealers are buying FN Herstal Five-seven pistols from licensed U.S. gun merchants because those pistols fire bullets that penetrate protective body armor.
What you are unlikely to hear and read is that all such military weapons are illegal in the U.S., that Mexican criminals are supplied through an international black market and that this black market prominently features weapons the U.S. sold to the Mexican military and that are resold to drug cartels by corrupt Mexican officials.
Neither are you likely to hear or read that the vest-penetrating ammunition made for the FN Herstal Five-seven is available only to military and special police units.
The facts don't matter. Reinstatement of the federal "assault weapon" ban that lapsed in 2004 matters, and is nothing short of a fetish among powerful supporters who will tell almost any untruth to achieve it. ...
Should there be a background check for national reporters?
One wonders. On June 21, CNN’s Anderson Cooper aired a special report for CBS’ “60 Minutes.” In this report, Cooper repeated the tired, discredited, blatantly incorrect idea that 90% of Mexican drug cartels’ arms supply comes from the United States. In addition, Cooper showed some interesting B-roll footage of seized weapon, some of which clearly cannot be bought on the civilian market.
Initially, one might note the M16A1, M16A2, M4, and what appears to be a standard NATO-issue M60.
There are, however, semi-automatic civilian versions of some of these weapons available on the American market which look quite similar – without a closer look at the weapons, it is impossible to tell. That being said, there also appears to be a 40mm M203 grenade launcher attachment on one of the weapons. That, dear reader, is unavailable on the U.S. market – even in Texas. ...
In the previous article, we examined how states considered the best by the Brady Campaign also have higher police officer density (more cops per 100,000 population). However, these states also have the highest violent crime and murder rates.
Another article examined how Brady’s favored states had the lowest levels of firearms ownership. For review purposes, the following charts show that as gun ownership levels increase, Brady scores, violent crime, and murder rates all decrease.
...
Not surprisingly, as Brady scores increase, a state’s Overall Freedom score decreased. This means that Brady’s “best” states really are best only if you work for the government. ...
The genius of concealed carry of handguns is that would-be murders remain uncertain as to who is armed and who isn't. This is true for everyone interested in being as safe as they can be from future violence, because it comes to the realization of specific unalterable realities: you're on your own.
This week some Southern California Church Leaders came to that very same conclusion, and took up a position advocating not only a very discreet security presence of professionals, but also took the advice of their consultants and adopted the policy of advocating concealed carry of handguns among the congregation.
Realities are the core of solving the problem of church violence, and having the stomach to face those realities and to meet them. For too long, employers, churches, schools and others have said many different ways that they are sad to see things have to come to this, but this is a trap which serves not the people, but the killers. Fifteen Southern California church leaders refused to fall into that trap, and they sought out expert advice. It involves concealed carry of handguns in church, and they took it. Yes, concealed carry of handguns by the members who come to worship. ...
Less than 24 percent of the guns seized last year by Mexican authorities, mostly from drug trafficking organizations, were traced back to the United States, according to data released in a report by the Government Accountability Office.
Of the 30,000 guns seized by Mexican authorities in 2008, only 7,200, or approximately 24 percent, were submitted to the U.S. for tracing. Of those 7,200 firearms, 6,700 (or about 22 percent) were actually determined to have originated in the United States.
The country of origin for the remaining 22,800 guns seized by Mexico that were not traced cannot be known. ...
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.
...
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.”
...
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] ...
PRINCETON — An increasing demand for ammunition has led to its increasing scarcity on retailers’ shelves in both Virginias and across the nation.
In the past, hunters and other gun owners usually purchased a few boxes of ammunition at a time, but now they buy whole cases at a time when merchandise is available.
Concerns among gun owners that the new president’s administration will alter gun laws or increase taxes on ammunition sales is sending consumers to retailers. Some are looking for a new firearm, too.
“It isn’t necessarily because they (gun owners) are afraid of the government putting taxes on it. It’s because of the president we elected,” said Marlin Douglas of Douglas Sporting Goods in Princeton. “Right now, I can’t buy a small handgun from any of my suppliers because they’re totally out. It’s due to the fact of electing a president who has been a strong advocate to get rid of guns.”
The public has responded by purchasing more firearms; even people who did not own a gun are buying one, Douglas said. Demand for bullets of all calibers and shotgun shells has increased. ...
... Women never cease to amaze me. The majority of them are still "afraid" of guns. Afraid, as in "oohhhh, they are so scary." They say things like "I don’t like them around" and "they’re dangerous." I know of women who have defense-minded, pro-gun husbands and they will not let their guy talk about those nasty things in their presence. Shhh, the children will hear, or, they might actually see an evil gun! Keep them locked away. Don’t tell the neighbors you have a gun in our house, or we’ll be outcasts. And in the background you can almost hear another feeble Oprah sermon keeping women stupid, but oh, they feel good about themselves and their newfound self-esteem.
All the time, women are shocked, shocked! to hear that I have a gun, and worse, I have several guns. And then, oh no, I actually carry one with me. That’s so odd, they think. Oh she’s different. Why more than one gun? She must be the aggressive type. After all, the Oprah way is to trust everyone and insist that all people have good intentions always.
Although I tend to think that most women don’t make sense, period, I especially believe this concerning the gun issue. It’s not only difficult to get women to come around to wanting a gun of their own, but they still can’t get to the point where they will understand and accept why others want to own them. ...
LINCOLN — An Omaha man who once expressed homicidal and suicidal thoughts was wrongly denied a state handgun buyer’s permit by the Douglas County sheriff, the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday.
Joseph D. Gallegos had never been "committed" to a mental institution under the definition of the 1968 federal gun law, according to the court’s unanimous opinion.
He should not, therefore, have been denied a handgun permit in 2007, the court said. ...
... Regents, it's time to realize that just because you may doesn't mean you should. Ask yourselves a few questions and open your minds to honest conclusions: Will a person who doesn't respect laws against rape, murder and other violence obey your gun rule?
Will a suicidal maniac with plans for murder, like the Virginia Tech psycho, opt for peace because you say "no guns"?
Gun bans have no effect whatsoever on the behavior of violent criminals. Those who obey them are the kind of people who brought this lawsuit. They are people like plaintiff John Davis, a University of Colorado-Colorado Springs senior who spent 12 years in the military and serves as a sergeant in the Army Reserves. Davis will obey your gun ban each time he steps foot on campus. If he ever hears shots ring out or sees students screaming and running, he won't be able to use his weapon and skills to save lives and bring peace. He will be hobbled by your rule. Davis won't be able to use what Miller said "any right-thinking person" must acknowledge as a legitimate hedge against crime.
Instead, Davis and others licensed to carry guns will run for cover and wait for police. As sirens wail in the background, the killer will kill and kill and kill. You and your policy will be at fault.
The Virginia Tech maniac had two hours to kill on a massive campus. Nobody could stop him because of the gun ban. The ban was more helpful to the lunatic than his own guns.
Protected by the ban, he could have killed at leisure with hammer or a knife. ...
Nearly eight years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the FBI's terrorist watch list is so flawed that at least 10 people who should have been kept out of the United States were allowed to cross its borders, an internal audit released Wednesday shows.
Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn A. Fine concluded that the bureau also was slow to remove names that should not have been on the list, leading to outcries from civil libertarians who have long been critical.
The list also audited more than 65,000 names and concluded that more than one-third were outdated. The whole list includes 1.1 million names, though aliases and variant spellings mean these represent fewer people.
"That the FBI continues to fail to place subjects of terrorism investigations on the watch list is unacceptable," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the FBI.
"Disturbingly, today's report reveals that in 72 percent of the cases, the FBI has also failed to remove subjects from the list in a timely manner. ... Given the very real and negative consequences to which people on the watch list are subjected, this is unacceptable." [emphasis added] ...
What is a life worth? We often hear about the thousands of people every year who kill themselves with guns, the thousands more who kill others with guns and the hundreds of lethal accidents that happen in a year with a gun. The anti-gun crowd wring their hands over this carnage and begs America to disarm. They believe that if we could get rid of guns, all these deaths could be avoided. This is wishful thinking and bad logic.
Estimates I have found for the worth of a human life range from $1 million to over 7 million, depending on who is doing the figuring. They factor in lost earnings, medical costs, and legal costs. Using punitive and "pain and suffering" awards from juries in civil cases, they try to calculate a cost for the intangibles such as the anguish of the bereaved family. Violent crimes not resulting in death introduce the pain and time of healing and physical therapy, and the permanent damage to the victims spirit and mind. Whatever amount you agree with, in America we value life, and seek to avoid people getting killed needlessly. Getting rid of guns among law abiding citizens will cause more, not less death and violence.
1. Removing guns from the hands of law abiding citizens does not remove them from the hands of criminals. As has been abundantly proven with drugs in America, we cannot stop the flow of anything illegal if there is enough demand for it. Criminals prefer guns as the tool of choice for their profession. ...
U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso, R-Wyo., have added their names as co-sponsors of a bill that would allow individuals to carry concealed weapons into national parks.
The legislation, called the Preservation of the Second Amendment in National Parks and National Wildlife Refuges Act, seeks to replace an administrative rule that has been mired in court proceedings since January that would also allow visitors to carry concealed weapons into national parks.
A federal judge in April struck down that administrative rule, which was set in place last December by the outgoing Bush administration, after several conservation and other groups filed a lawsuit.
“While the appeal of the rule to allow guns in national parks is a small setback, the pressure to do what is right and preserve Second Amendment rights in and out of national parks will not stop,” Enzi said in a statement released Thursday. “The Wyoming delegation is turning up the heat.”
The two senators join U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., who is co-sponsoring an identical bill in the House. ...
... Come we now to a new investigate report, from the Associated Press of all places. I'm astonished because it is not the usual ignorant propaganda I've come to expect. The headline says it all:
Mexico cartel weapons cache stymies tracing
And then we learn:Deep inside a heavily guarded military warehouse, the evidence of Mexico's war on drug cartels is stacked two stories high: tens of thousands of seized weapons, from handguns and rifles to AK-47s...
In all, the military has 305,424 confiscated weapons locked in vaults, just a fraction of those used by criminals in Mexico...
A fraction? You mean there are...millions?
That ought to give us quite an inventory to trace, right? It ought to. But then we're told:The Mexican government has handed over information to U.S. authorities to trace 12,073 weapons seized in 2008 crimes...
Wait a minute--they have the guns all neatly stored in a warehouse, inventoried, cataloged...if this is such a huge problem, we can't just get a printout? Mexican bureaucracy (if you buy into that being the real reason) won't allow it? So the easier solution is to adjust your and my rights accordingly?
But perhaps I'm being unfair. After all, we're told there's a Spanish language barrier that hampers the effort. Lord help us finding anyone in our government who can communicate in that obscure dialect.
And then we have this astounding admission:About a third of the guns submitted for tracing in 2007 were sold by licensed U.S. dealers.
Really? Not 90% of "Mexican crime guns" (or "95% to 100%" if you shill for the Brady Campaign)?
And remember, that's a third of the relatively insignificant quantity of guns reported, vs. actually warehoused, and that assumes what is in official inventory reflects 100% of what has been seized. Any bets that it's even close? ...
Recent national polls by CNN, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal have revealed that support for new gun control measures is declining in the United States, despite efforts by the Obama administration and its media cheerleaders to demonize guns by sensationalizing recent shooting incidents, and the bloody drug war in northern Mexico.
In April, CNN polling found that 46 percent of Americans say existing gun laws are adequate, and another 15 percent believe they ought to be relaxed, while only 39 percent of those responding want stricter gun laws.
Also last month, an NBC News/WSJ poll revealed that support for restrictions on so-called “assault weapons” had dropped from 75 percent in 1991 to 53 percent today, which may have something to do with the rush on gun shops over the past six months by people buying those guns and case upon case of ammunition for them. ...
... Meanwhile, the administration is steering away from another politically-sensitive fight by proposing only minor changes to a legislative language, known as the Tiahrt Amendments after Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kansas), which limit the use of gun tracing data maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Obama’s budget would slightly ease restrictions on the use of the data. The changes would allow the tracing data to be shared with state and local officials even outside the context of a investigation of a specific crime. Localities could use the data to identify gun dealers who sell lots of guns traced to crimes, but rules prohibiting the use of such data for civil suits would remain in place. ...
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is profoundly disappointed that President Obama has failed to follow through with his promises for 'openness' by reaffirming much of the so-called Tiahrt Amendments.
This means a continuation of the reckless Bush-era policies that endanger public safety and make it easier for criminals to obtain illegal firearms.
President Obama's proposal undermines the landmark Brady Law by continuing the dangerous Bush administration policy requiring the destruction of most Brady background check records in just 24 hours. ...
Governor Deval Patrick is filing legislation today to reduce gun violence that includes a provision to restore a crime-fighting tool for prosecutors that was taken away by a court ruling Monday.
The bill would allow suspects to be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing for charges that involve illegal possession, use, or trafficking of guns, the governor's office said.
The legislation would also create a new felony of using a gun while committing a misdemeanor, limit gun purchases to one per month, and require sales of guns by private parties to be recorded by licensed gun dealers. ...
One of the worst pieces of anti-gun owner legislation in a number of years effectively has been tabled by the California legislature when Los Angeles Democratic Assemblyman Kevin De Leon's AB962 was put in the Suspense File by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Wednesday this week.
While the bill can be revived, it is likely dead for this year.
The bill would have stopped the private transfer of more than 50 rounds of ammunition per month between individuals or by stores to individuals. It would have licensed and taxed anyone selling ammunition commercially and forced these stores to get background checks on anyone selling ammunition. It would have required a thumbprint from anyone buying handgun ammunition (and a costly bureaucracy to manage those thumbprints) and it would have banned all mail-order ammunition sales. [emphasis added]
The stated intent of the bill was to stop felons and gang members from getting ammunition. If you can figure out how those provisions would have somehow stopped that, give me a call and explain that to me. ...
RACINE — Four teens knocked a 42-year-old Racine man from his bike Friday night. He thought they were going to rob him.
The man pulled a Smith and Wesson revolver from his side holster, pointed it at the sky and yelled, “Gun!”
The four suspects ran, and the man flagged down a Racine police officer.
The incident will perhaps mark the first time a new opinion allowing open carry of firearms is put to the test here, as it conflicts with another state statute that makes it illegal to possess a gun within 1,000 feet of a school, if not on private property.
The Racine man involved, who asked not to be named and declined to comment on the alleged robbery attempt when contacted by The Journal Times, was assaulted in the 1100 block of Grand Avenue, which is within 1,000 feet of Walden School, 1012 Center St.
Police did not arrest the man. After he was treated for head and wrist injuries at the scene by Racine rescue, officers escorted the man home and returned his gun to him.
But that doesn’t mean charges won’t be filed against the man, and police are questioning how such situations should be handled in the future. ...
BERLIN - THE GERMAN government has agreed to curb gun rights, two months after a 17-year-old killed 15 people with a pistol taken from his father's bedroom, according to press reports on Thursday.
The left-right 'grand coalition' has agreed to present a series of measures to parliament in late May tightening arms control laws, several dailies said.
...
The proposals on the table include banning paintball, a game in which players use air rifles to shoot ammunition filled with paint at opponents.
Lawmakers say the sport 'simulates killing' and should be outlawed.
The draft law would also bar youths under the age of 18 from shooting high-calibre guns at target practice and permit police to conduct checks at the homes of gun owners to ensure their weapons are under lock and key.
An electronic registry of firearms would also be introduced along with, eventually, biometric security systems to help ensure weapons are only used by their rightful owners. ...
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. ...
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.” ...
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. ...
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. ...
... 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. ...
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. ...
... 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). ...
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. ...
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. ...
Barely 100 days into the new Obama-Biden administration, ominous storm clouds are already gathering over your most fundamental right as a free citizen: Your right to own a gun to protect yourself, your family and your freedom.
Betraying all their campaign promises to protect your right to keep and bear arms or your freedom to hunt, the Obama administration has put its chess pieces in place and set in motion its strategy to do just the opposite.
Throughout the West Wing, they’ve appointed a cabinet composed of some of the most experienced and politically effective gun grabbers Washington, D.C. has ever seen.
Meanwhile, powerful members of the U.S. Senate and House have admitted that gun bans remain a top objective, but only “when the time is right.” Which really means “when some awful tragedy conveniently captures national attention.”
Yes, Barack Obama had an extensive and extreme anti-gun voting record as an Illinois senator. Yes, he called for gun bans during the Democratic presidential primaries. But once he won his party’s nomination, Obama reversed that spin and spent millions showering key states with flyers promising voters that he would never try to take their guns. But after winning the presidency, those pro-freedom showers dried up overnight. ...
In order to justify their political agenda, gun control organizations often claim that “most Americans” support various restrictive laws. For example, Mayors Against Illegal Guns published a report last year stating:Nearly 60 percent of Americans favor stricter gun laws. A majority of Americans, 59 percent, believe that the laws covering the sale of guns should be made more strict than they are currently. This is very similar to the 56 percent of Americans who said so in a January 2007 poll conducted for Mayors Against Illegal Guns. A third of the public, 33 percent, think that gun laws should be kept the same, and only 7 percent believe that they should actually be made less strict.
With such polling numbers, it seems reasonable that gun control organizations should have large, active membership, just like the National Rifle Association with its “nearly four million members.”
...
The question is: Does Violence Policy Center actually represent the public’s views?
One way to determine if an organization has true public support is to see if they garner a certain amount of membership dues. For example, if an organization’s total annual revenues is $1 million and $750,000 of that came from membership dues, then one can reasonably conclude that since dues represent 75% of revenue, the organization represents part of the public. Further, if annual dues are $25, then the organization has about 30,000 members. ...
...
In the beginning of this section, the concept of public support was in part defined by evidence of membership dues being paid to an organization that claims to promote beneficial public policies. Violence Policy Center’s tax returns included a section entitled “Schedule A, Part IV-A: Support Schedule.” It includes a line item for membership fees.
For the years 2000 through 2006, the total membership fees received was $0. ...
The Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Auturo Sarukhan, appeared on a CBS news program recently and repeated a lie we have heard for many months about the violence in Mexico. The ambassador says Americans are to blame for the violence wrecked on his country by the Mexican drug cartels because “most of the guns confiscated by Mexican police can be traced back to the United States.” That is not true, but the way that claim has been accepted by American politicians and the mainstream media raises suspicions about a hidden agenda.
...
We can easily understand Mexico's reasons for preferring the 90% number to the more accurate 17%. Mexico does not want to openly discuss the many other sources of advanced weapons being used by the drug cartels. Thousands of advanced weapons and tons of military equipment are stolen from its own military and state police. Weapons are smuggled across its southern borders from Guatemala and by boats landing on its 8,000 miles of coastline, weapons that often originate in Venezuela, Colombia, and Nicaragua, or from purchases in Eastern Europe. But it is easier for a Mexican politician to blame the U.S. than to explain his own government’s failure to police its borders, its ports of entry and its military installations.
Did the Mexican ambassador mention that over 100,000 soldiers have deserted the Mexican army in the past seven years and that many of them took their weapons with them and joined the cartels? ...
Last week, in a typically misleading move designed to bolster their political agenda rather than reduce violent crime, the Brady Campaign released a report calling for background checks on "all gun sales in America, including at gun shows." The Brady report was intentionally designed to correspond with, and bolster, a "gun show loophole" bill (S. 843) introduced this week by fanatical anti-gun Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). In fact, the Brady report was released at the press conference Lautenberg held earlier this week.
...
The bill is not about gun shows. Rather, S. 843 is a solution in search of a problem; numerous government studies have determined that gun shows are an insignificant or miniscule source of firearms misused in crime. For instance, a 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics study, "Federal Firearms Offenders, 1992-98," found only 1.7% of federal prison inmates obtained their gun from a gun show. Similarly, a 1997 National Institute of Justice study reported less than 2% of criminals' guns come from gun shows. ...
For four days in March, gun owners across the country were up in arms about a Department of Defense decision to not resell its spent brass casings.
The DOD sells more than 100 million used casings a year -- in .223 and .308 variants -- to businesses such as Georgia Arms, near Atlanta, which in turn reloads the cartridges and sells them to the public.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz says the decision not to resell was made intentionally by the Obama administration, and he plans to introduce legislation to ensure it doesn't happen again.
It was "a concerted effort by this administration to short the supply" of ammunition, said the 3rd District Republican who views it as back-door gun control.
Georgia Arms co-owner Larry Haynie agrees. He said he was told by government officials that it was a clerical error.
"Hell no," he said when asked if he believed that. "That's just the government catch-all right there." ...
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer this week signed into law a new self-defense statute that will “steal the thunder” from gun prohibitionists who invariably whine that armed citizens might “take the law into their own hands.”
The new statute squarely puts the law in the hands of the citizens, by plainly stating they have no duty to retreat if attacked in a place where they have a right to be. The law also allows armed citizens to use force or threaten the use of force when he or she reasonably believes an attack is about to occur, or to stop an attack already in progress.
There is also a section on citizen’s arrest, and one that codifies the legality of open carry.
It is a gun prohibitionist’s nightmare, but for the armed Montana citizen – or anybody visiting the Big Sky Country – it may just be the best news they’ve had this year. ...
The Second Amendment Foundation, The Calguns Foundation and four California residents today filed a lawsuit challenging a California state law and regulatory scheme that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of “certified” handguns approved by the State. This case parallels a similar case filed in Washington, DC, Hanson v. District of Columbia.
California uses this list despite a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer that protects handguns that ordinary people traditionally use for self-defense, and a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. The California scheme will eventually ban the purchase of almost all new handguns.
...
“The Glock-21 is the handgun I would choose for home defense, but California has decided the version I need is unacceptable. I was born without a right arm below my elbow and therefore the new ambidextrous version of the Glock-21 is the safest one for me. The identical model designed for right hand use is available in California, but I can’t use it,” said plaintiff Roy Vargas.
Added SAF founder Alan Gottlieb, “The Supreme Court’s decision is crystal clear: Handguns that are used by people for self-defense and other lawful purposes cannot be banned, whether the State likes it or not. California needs to accept the Second Amendment reality.”
Co-counsel Jason Davis remarked, “The California Handgun Roster has always been about making the possession of handguns for self defense more difficult by imposing arbitrary and unconstitutional restrictions that limit choice and increase the cost of exercising a fundamental right.”
Joining plaintiffs Peña and Vargas are Doña Croston and Brett Thomas. Doña Croston’s handgun would be allowed if it were black, green, or brown, but her bi-tone version is supposedly ‘unsafe’ merely based on color. “I didn’t realize that my constitutional rights depended on color. What is it about two colors that makes the gun I want to purchase ‘unsafe’?”
Brett Thomas seeks to own the same model of handgun that the Supreme Court ordered District of Columbia officials to register for Dick Heller. However, that particular model is no longer manufactured, and its maker is no longer available to process the handgun’s certification through the bureaucracy.
“There is only one model of handgun that the Supreme Court has explicitly ruled is protected by the Second Amendment and yet California will not allow me to purchase that gun,” said Mr. Thomas. ...
When Nampa gun store owner Roberta Regnier offered a chance to win an AR-15 rifle for anyone who brought in two cans of food, she got 7,000 entries and collected 10 tons of food for the Boise Rescue Mission.
The winning ticket was drawn on April 15.
The raffle piqued so much interest that Regnier's Alpha Omega Services is doing another one - the shop's third - this time for a new, 1927-style Tommy gun.
Other businesses are catching on.
Sheepdog Ammo in New Plymouth donated 1,000 rounds of ammunition to Regnier's raffle. ...
CLAYTON, Mo. - A run on ammunition helped trigger record quarterly earnings for its Winchester Division in East Alton, Olin Corp. said Tuesday.
Olin's overall first-quarter 2009 net income was $46.7 million, or 60 cents per share, which compares to $37.3 million, or 50 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2008. Sales in the first quarter of 2009 were $400.6 million, compared to $399.1 million in the first quarter of 2008.
Winchester first-quarter 2009 sales were $132.9 million, compared to $110.8 million in the first quarter of 2008.
"Winchester achieved the highest level of quarterly earnings in its history, reflecting the continuation of the stronger-than-normal demand that began in the fourth quarter of 2008," Joseph D. Rupp, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in a conference call with investors. ...
Fox News reporter Greta Van Susteren recently interviewed ATF agents about the surging violence in Mexico. The ATF is partially repsonsible for enforcing America's gun laws, and recently much of their work has been devoted to stopping the flow of illegal weapons into Mexico. According to the ATF spokesperson interviewed, while the military-grade machine guns used by Mexican drug cartels are being imported from Central America, "the predominate amount of weapons we see are being purchased here [the U.S.] and being traffic to Mexico." [emphasis added] ...
The Obama administration won’t challenge a court ruling that prohibits visitors at some national parks to carry loaded concealed firearms, satisfying gun control groups.
The Interior Department said in a court filing yesterday that it will uphold a U.S. District Judge’s decision to reinstate 26-year-old restrictions on loaded guns in national parks and will conduct a full environmental review of a Bush administration regulation allowing the weapons.
“We are pleased that loaded, concealed guns will continue to be prohibited in our national parks,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, in a statement yesterday. “Semiautomatic weapons have no place in the valleys of Yellowstone, on the cliffs of Yosemite, or under the torch of the Statue of Liberty.” ...
... In the liberal circles of the mainstream media and the current administration, not to be redundant, the example du jour was in the Post's coverage Thursday of President Obama's visit to Mexico.
Post reporter Spencer Hsu told us that Mexico "has seized more than 35,000 firearms since December 2006, and both governments say 90% of the weapons originated in the U.S."
The only truth here is that both governments have repeated this falsehood as truth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it to reporters on a flight to Mexico City. Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in an interview with NBC's Andrea Mitchell that "most of the weapons, almost 16,000, are assault weapons and 90% of those were sold in the United States."
...
Do the math and you find that only 17% of the guns confiscated were actually traced to the U.S. So why are so few guns sent here for tracing? Because, as Matt Allen, a special agent with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, points out, weapons known not to be of American origin are not sent to the U.S. for tracing. Duh.
Allen said that "not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market."
Many weapons have been legitimately shipped to Mexico from the U.S. as part of our effort to assist the Mexican military and police in the drug war. About 150,000 Mexican soldiers have deserted in the past six years, taking their weapons with them. ...
... In a speech in Mexico last week, President Obama -- who on the campaign trail called for the ban, which expired in 2004, to be reinstated -- said the prohibition made sense but the country should focus on enforcing existing laws for now.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said the administration will "monitor" the issue, which is complicated by opposition from dozens of moderate Democrats.
"If there's a consensus, we'll move on it," Mr. Axelrod said on the program. "We're faced with an enormous array of challenges, and we need to make some choices as to which to pursue first."
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, called on Congress to reinstate the prohibition after three Pittsburgh policemen recently were killed by a man with an AK-47. He said he understands Mr. Obama's decision not to raise the matter now, with other major issues such as the economy and health care on the table.
"But I think it has to be brought up in the near future, because every police organization in this country supports -- virtually everyone supports banning assault weapons," he said, appearling alongside Mr. LaPierre. [emphasis added] ...
White House senior adviser David Axelrod said on Sunday that a new ban on assault-style weapons is not “dead,” but now is not the time to push it in Congress. [emphasis added]
“The question is is there the consensus and the ability, given the rules of Congress and the realities of Congress, to move that in the midst of everything else that we have to do. Is that something that you want to embark on now?” he said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Asked bluntly by host Harry Smith whether the White House was afraid of the National Rifle Association, Axelrod responded, “Not at all.” ...
The "liar, liar pants on fire" argument usually isn't the most effective. But when it comes to guns, President Obama is lying through his teeth.
On Thursday, while on a visit to Mexico, the president continued his Blame America First tour. "This war is being waged with guns purchased not here but in the United States," he said, referring to the drug wars that are tearing apart our neighbor to the south. "More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that lay in our shared border."
It is completely untrue that 90 percent of guns recovered in Mexico are from America. The Mexican government separates guns it confiscates that were made in the United States and sends them here to be traced. U.S. weapons are easy to identify because of clear markings. ...
An escalating arms race among Mexico's drug cartels casts doubt on whether Mexico or the U.S. can stop the flow of weaponry, despite renewed vows last week from presidents of both countries.
Stockpiles captured by Mexican soldiers show that warring traffickers are now obtaining military-grade weaponry such as grenades, launchers, machine guns, mortars and anti-tank rockets. [emphasis added]
Some drug gangs have even sought explosive material that some experts worry could be used in car bombs and improvised explosive devices of the kind used in Iraq and Afghanistan. Soldiers found 14 sticks of TNT among an arsenal of hundreds of rifles and grenades seized in November from a house in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas. ...
Last Monday, the morning after "60 Minutes" ran a feature on the nationwide trend that shows a dramatic increase in the sales of guns and ammunition, a young man walked into the Trading Post in Quechee.
"He was the first customer I had," said Wayne Barrows, the owner of the sporting goods shop. "He buys $1,100 worth of guns - a rifle, a shotgun and a handgun - because '60 Minutes' ... made him afraid. He watched that show."
The next day, a customer stopped by at the New England Outdoorsman in Rutland, looking to purchase some ammunition from Mike Pratico, the owner of the shop.
"He told me he has 17,000 rounds of 7.62 ammo and he wanted more," Pratico said. "He said he was afraid that it would become so expensive he wouldn't be able to buy it in the future."
Pratico couldn't help the man.
"I said I didn't have any. I was out," Pratico said. ...
... Tim McCarthy was with his son last weekend at Bass Pro Shops in the Fingerlakes Mall near Auburn when he saw it firsthand at the store's gun counter.
"We were trying to buy reloading equipment (for bullets)," he said. "The powder and other gun supplies were practically sold out. We spoke to a salesman and he said it's been happening for months since Obama's administration (came in)."
The salesman told McCarthy and his son that there are rumors about sweeping gun-control legislation going before Congress. He said people are worried and flocking to their local stores and buying handguns and long guns and all the ammunition that goes with them.
The story is the same at Gander Mountain, Dick's Sporting Goods, Ra-Lin, Tim's Guns and Shooting Supplies in Camillus -- anywhere guns and ammunition are sold in Central New York. ...
There's been a record-breaking run on concealed weapons permits in the state in what gun store owners and activists say is fueled by political and economic uncertainty.
Utah issued 15,389 concealed weapons permits in the first three months of the year, shattering the previous record of 11,996, which was set in the second quarter of 2008.
Traditionally, slightly more permits have gone out of state than to Utah residents. But in the most recent quarter, permits going to Utahns edged out those going to non-residents, said Lt. Doug Anderson, Bureau of Criminal Identification manager.
...
Gun dealers are scrambling to keep up with purchases.
"Supply is not necessarily meeting demand right now," said Oly Mann, general manager of Fuzzy Bunny Movie Guns. "There's still a big surge. Supply is down and it's getting worse."
Demand for all types of guns has increased, he said, and the concealed carry classes the store offers are consistently full. He says many people buying firearms are first-time gun owners.
"The general public is more concerned about safety issues nowadays," he said. "I even know people that swore up and down they would never buy or own one, and now they're buying guns." ...
New York Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are calling for the repeal of federal policy requiring records of gun background checks be destroyed after 24 hours.
The Democratic lawmakers say the Tiahrt Amendment restricts police from using gun trace information.
They say such information is crucial to cracking down on illegal gun trafficking and reducing gun violence. ...
... I long ago discovered that when you read one person's accusations against another, you often learn far more about the accuser than the accused.
That is precisely the case with the April 7 Department of Homeland Security intelligence assessment -- sent to local police agencies around the country -- warning of the danger posed by so-called paranoid right-wing extremists who might be capable of launching violent attacks against the federal government. The report offers little, if any, insight into the minds of right-wingers, but speaks volumes about the mind-set and current capabilities of our domestic "intelligence" resources.
The nine-page document is a pastiche of presumptions, speculations, arbitrary conclusions, discriminations and gross stereotyping of all those xenophobic rubes out there in flyover country, clinging desperately to their Bibles and their guns.
The report opens with the outright admission that the agency "has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence." That would be a pretty good stopping point for an honest assessment.
But no.
Without so much as a shred of evidence or a single example supporting its phenomenal mind-reading capabilities, the writers tell us right-wing extremists "may be" recruiting new adherents by "playing on their fears."
"The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment," local law enforcement agencies are solemnly warned. The document uses some form of the word radical more than a dozen times and four times diagnoses right-wingers as paranoid.
At this point it might be helpful to know just who are these radical right-wing extremist paranoids that police are supposed to be on the alert for.
The report provides a helpful footnote: There are the "hate-oriented" right-wing extremists who dislike various religious and ethnic groups. Then there are the single-issue right-wing extremists who aren't too fond of abortion or immigration (makes no distinction between legal or illegal). And then there are the anti-government right-wing extremists who irrationally reject "federal authority in favor of state and local authority" -- in other words, Republicans.
This would no doubt include the founder of the party, Thomas Jefferson, whose notorious hate speech included the claim that people have the right and duty to overthrow their legitimate government, even at the point of a gun. He and his fellow conspirators were also a bit paranoid about the possibility of being hanged as traitors. ...
Author Charl Van Wyk, who shot back at terrorists attacking a church meeting, will be touring the U.S. with tales of his African ministry, including his first-hand experience with Christian churches that aren't prepared to defend themselves.
Van Wyk's story of shooting back on July 25, 1993, when terrorists attacked and killed 11 people and injured another five dozen at a South African church, has been chronicled in "Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defense."
But police later told him the terrorists confessed their plan was to kill everyone in the church, possibly 1,000 people or more, and his armed response is credited with saving many lives that day. ...
Philip Axelrod and Sara Adler say they don't want to be defenseless targets.
"There are people out there who are off-balance and who shoot up schools," Axelrod, 20, said. "I don't want to be caught up in a situation where I have to lay down and die."
Axelrod, a University of Connecticut student, and Adler, who attends Central Connecticut State University, are leading "empty holster" protests next week at both schools to lobby for the right to carry concealed handguns on campus. Although state law permits eligible people 21 and older to carry handguns, student conduct codes at both universities prohibit possession of firearms on campus.
The weeklong protest — which launches Monday, the 10th anniversary of the mass killings at Columbine High School in Colorado — is being held to raise awareness about a national organization, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus [ www.concealedcampus.org]. The group advocates self-defense and seeks to form a front line against another slaughter like the one at Virginia Tech in 2007. ...
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