Illogic In DC: "It is eminently reasonable to permit private ownership
of other types of weapons, including shotguns and rifles, but ban the
easily concealed and uniquely dangerous modern handgun....Whatever right
the Second Amendment guarantees, it does not require the District to
stand by while its citizens die." There are two problems with this
argument. First, D.C. not only bans handgun ownership by anyone who
isn't a current or former law enforcement officer; it also requires that
long guns be kept locked or unloaded and disassembled, which makes using
them against home invaders impractical. The law effectively prohibits
armed self-defense, which is hard to reconcile with "the right to keep
and bear arms."
http://reason.com/blog/show/122363.html
---
NYC "Time To Crime" For Guns Rises To 12 Years: Ilegal weapons are
getting harder to come by - taking longer to land on New York streets
and be used to commit crimes, according to the latest federal
statistics. Guns traced last year took 12 years to go from a gun store
to a crime scene in the city, according to a survey released yesterday
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In 2002, it
took nine years for guns to make the same deadly trek. ATF officials
said the increase - or "time-to-crime index" - showed it was more
difficult to acquire illegal weapons.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime_file/2007/09/07/2007-09-07_federal_statistics_show_illegal_weapons_.html
---
We're From The Government. We're Here To Help You: BATFE presents an
amazing set of online documents to provide guidance for those seeking to
comply with federal laws and regulations regarding firearms.
http://www.atf.gov/atf-gd.htm
---
Handgun Sales Surge In Missouri After New Law: A new Missouri law that
eliminated a time-consuming permit process has fueled a surge in handgun
sales across the St. Louis area. Gun shop owners and salespeople say
business is up at least 20 percent since the Aug. 28 change. No longer
do buyers have to seek permission from their county sheriff before
buying a handgun. Also gone is the $10 fee paid for each permit.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/stories.nsf/story/D199787657A6109C8625734E000715E2?OpenDocument
---
Pennsylvania Gun-Purchase Pause Shorter Than Expected: ...He said his
store wasn't even open Sunday or Monday, so he didn't lose any sales
when the Pennsylvania Instant Check System, a computerized system of
criminal conviction data, went offline Sunday at 6 p.m. It was down all
day Monday, but because of unexpectedly quick work by state police and
their computer operator it was back in operation at 8 a.m.
yesterday...Originally state police thought it would be necessary to
shut the system down for nearly five days, from Sunday evening until
Thursday noon, but police and their computer experts worked faster than
expected.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07248/814621-85.stm
---
Rule Five Reminder: Lowell MA police are asking for the public's help in
locating a missing - and most likely unloaded - .40-caliber Beretta
after a veteran officer apparently misplaced the handgun over the
weekend...The officer last saw his weapon after he finished working a
private detail last Friday. The officer did not work a regular shift
that day. (Rule Five: Maintain Control of your firearm.)
http://www.lowellsun.com/front/ci_6807087
---
Mixing Gunpowder And Alcohol: A Massachusetts woman was sitting in a
lounge chair in the living room of her Oak Street home, watching
television, when the round ripped through a screen on an open bathroom
window, rattling off walls and doors and hitting about 4 feet over her
head, showering her with pieces of plasterboard as she ducked in
fear...Police say those shots came from a nearby house, at 800 Main St.,
where two law-enforcement officers were allegedly drinking.
http://www.lowellsun.com//ci_6698282?IADID=Search-www.lowellsun.com-www.lowellsun.com
---
Oops, Wrong Victim: A 49-year-old retired police officer shot a man who
he said tried to rob him early yesterday as he was out walking, police
said. The retired California Highway Patrol officer was near Country
Club Lane and Capistrano Glen about 1:50 a.m. when someone pointed a gun
at him and demanded money, police Lt. Bob Benton said.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/northcounty/20070906-9999-1mi6excop.html
---
Kentucky Students Seek Campus CCW: Steven Davis owns a gun, and he has a
permit to carry a concealed weapon. But when he steps onto Eastern's
campus, he has to leave his gun behind. Davis and about 30 other people
at Eastern want to change that. Davis is a member of Students for
Concealed Carry on Campus, an anti-gun-control group at Eastern that
advocates allowing people with concealed carry permits to bring their
guns on campus with them.
http://media.www.easternprogress.com/media/storage/paper419/news/2007/09/06/News/Guns-Friends.Of.Foes-2953274.shtml
---
Irresponsibly Gun Shy: ...So the Virginia Tech panel's report to the
governor, months after the rampage, is a necessary step, a document that
state lawmakers should be able to look to for advice...But regarding
guns, the panel shirked its responsibilities. The report pronounces on
policies that had nothing to do with the massacre, wildly speculates
about what would have happened had given factors been different, and
ignores entire bodies of evidence.
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=11984
---
Common Sense From Britain: Despite the recent spate of shootings on our
streets, we pride ourselves on our strict gun laws. Every time an
American gunman goes on a killing spree, we shake our heads in righteous
disbelief at our poor benighted colonial cousins. Why is it, even after
the Virginia Tech massacre, that Americans still resist calls for more
gun controls? The short answer is that "gun controls" do not work: they
are indeed generally perverse in their effects. Virginia Tech, where 32
students were shot in April, had a strict gun ban policy and only last
year successfully resisted a legal challenge that would have allowed the
carrying of licensed defensive weapons on campus...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2409817.ece
---
From SAF: Yesterday's release of aggregate gun trace data in the New
York City region by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) once again puts the lie to long-standing claims by
Mayor Michael Bloomberg that this data is not available to law
enforcement, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-07-2007/0004658643&EDATE=
---
From CCRKBA: The arrests Thursday of 11 public officials, including
state lawmakers, mayors and city councilmen, in communities across New
Jersey shows why anti-gun politicians in the Garden State don't want
citizens to have firearms rights, the Citizens Committee for the Right
to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-07-2007/0004658614&EDATE=
---
Also From CCRKBA:
URGENT ACTION: TELL GOV. SCHWARZENEGGER TO VETO A.B. 821
California gun owners should immediately call Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger's office and urge him to veto Assembly Bill 821, which
would ban the use of lead in ammunition in areas identified as
California condor habitat. The bill has been sent to the governor after
amendments were approved by the Assembly earlier this week.
If signed, this legislation could literally ban hunting and recreational
shooting in large areas of the state.
Likewise, gun owners should also respectfully urge Gov. Schwarzenegger
to veto Assembly Bill 1471, the so-called "Micro-stamping" bill. This
legislation would require handguns sold after a certain date in
California to be microstamped with identifying information so that this
micro-stamp is transferred to the surface of a cartridge case when it is
fired.
To contact Gov. Schwarzenegger, call (916) 445-2841, or fax him a
message at (916) 445-4633. You may also reach his office via e-mail at:
http://gov.ca.gov/interact#email.
---
From GOA: Senator David Vitter (R-LA) pushed a pro-gun amendment
through the U.S. Senate last night on an 81-10 vote. GOA worked closely
with Vitter in getting the language just right, as Senate rules make it
difficult to attach certain amendments to spending bills. The Vitter
provision stipulates that no U.S. funds can be used by the United
Nations - or organizations affiliated with the UN - to restrict or tax
our gun rights. Hence, the amendment would give a mildly pro-gun
administration the excuse to stop sending US taxpayer funds to the
United Nations as soon as they adopt any policy to restrict the Second
Amendment rights of Americans. (The Vitter amendment was added to HR
2764, the Department of State appropriations bill.)
http://www.gunowners.org/a090707.htm
---
NRA-ILA Alerts: Alerts for the various states are posted on the NRA-ILA
website.
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/State/
--
Stephen P. Wenger
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
