To Those Who Have Expressed Concern: With my having turned 60 earlier
this year, this year's annual physical resulted in more extensive poking
and probing than usual. A couple of the ensuing procedures involved
biopsies and, as of yesterday, all of the biopsy results have come back
benign. Thanks for all of your favorable thoughts and prayers.
---

Second Amendment Revolution: Here is a remarkable development. Just
twenty-five years ago, there was a strong consensus, among judges and
academics, that the Second Amendment did not create an individual right.
No federal court had invalidated a restriction on guns on Second
Amendment grounds (ever). As recently as 1992, Chief Justice Warren
Burger, a conservative Republican appointee, rejected the individual
rights view in public...In a short period, the consensus has shattered.
There is a strong possibility that the Supreme Court will accept a view
that seemed utterly implausible in the relatively recent past. Here is
the question: What has happened? (Note the source!)

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/open_university/archive/2007/12/05/the-second-amendment-revolution.aspx
---

Brady Bunch Brays On: Today I post the fifth and final installment of
the Brady Center Legal Action Project's thorough criticism of the
appeals court decision in the DC gun case. Titled, Wishful Thinking: How
the Parker Court Twisted and Misrepresented the Holdings of Supreme
Court and State Cases, it explains - in one case after another - how the
many decisions that the lower-court opinion cites (including the
infamous Dred Scott decision) offer little or no support for its
mistaken conclusions.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-helmke/the-second-amendment-why_b_75532.html
---

Missouri AG To Join In Heller Brief: Attorney General Jay Nixon
announced today that he will work with attorneys general from other
states to file a brief with the United States Supreme Court in support
of an individual's right to keep and bear arms under the Second
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution..."This case represents the first
time in nearly 70 years that the Court will directly examine the Second
Amendment," Nixon said. "We have an opportunity here to get a court
decision solidifying what most Americans already believe: that the
Second Amendment guarantees individuals the right to keep and bear arms."

http://ago.mo.gov/newsreleases/2007/120407b.htm
---

The RKBA Is Not About Hunting: Fred Thompson has made a point of
visiting gun shops and gun shows while hitting the campaign trail in New
Hampshire and South Carolina, usually with camera crews in tow. But
Thompson said Wednesday he does not have a hunting license, nor has be
been hunting recently. "It's been too long, it's been too long,"
Thompson told CNN Wednesday. Asked if he has a hunting license, Thompson
said he currently does not. (While I took a Hunter Education course on
my retrun to Arizona, I have never bought a hunting license.)

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/05/thompson-does-not-have-hunting-license/
---

Pennsylvania Black Caucus Threatens Boycott: Black lawmakers in the
Pennsylvania House walked off the floor Wednesday to force action on
gun-control legislation, and some threatened to boycott the remainder of
the year's session. At least 12 of the 17 members of the Legislative
Black Caucus, all Democrats, suddenly asked to be put on leave at the
start of a debate over an open records bill. The walkout was a powerful
gesture in a chamber where the two parties are separated by a single vote.

http://cbs3.com/local/Lawmakers.Gun.Control.2.603246.html
http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Gun_Control.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=1&cxcat=0
---

Mass Shooting Nebraska "No Guns" Zone: A man dressed in camouflage and
armed with a rifle opened fire among holiday shoppers in an Omaha
department store Wednesday, killing eight people, wounding at least five
others and sending hundreds into terrified panic. The 19-year-old
shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His body was found on
the third floor of the Von Maur at Westroads Mall.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10202217

Related Commentary:

http://joemerchant24.blogspot.com/2007/12/omaha-mall-shooting.html
---

Arizona Residents Arm Selves In Response To Crime: Jim Ross lifted his
coat slightly behind the restaurant counter, revealing a 9mm Smith &
Wesson pistol in a holster. "I'm not going to be a victim without
somebody having a bullet in their (rear)," said the owner of Coyote
Flats Cafe on U.S. 60. "We're going to take this town back." Jim and his
wife, Dorene, are not the only folks packing heat in this backwater
community 25 miles west of Wickenburg.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1206aguila1206.html
---

Attention Arizonans:

Would you like your opinion on legislation to be read at a committee
hearing?  Then RTS is for you!

RTS is the Arizona Legislature's "Request To Speak" system.  RTS users
can state their position on legislation to the committee chairperson
either via a kiosk at the Capitol or online.  RTS is required to be used
for those wishing to testify at a hearing, but can also be used by those
who want to express their opinion on a bill but are not available to
testify.

Committee chairpersons have electronic access to listings of everyone
signed up to speak or expressing their opinion via RTS.  They will know
in advance who is for or against a particular bill.  RTS opinions are
often read by the committee chairperson at a hearing and may also appear
in summaries of bills as they progress through the Legislature.  Imagine
what the impact would be if all of you on the AzCDL Alerts list were
using RTS to express their position on a bill!

As a registered user, you can log into RTS from the comfort of your
home: http://alistrack.azleg.state.az.us/rts/Login.asp
However, the only way to become an RTS user is to sign-up using one of
the many RTS kiosks at the Capitol.

If you are interested in becoming an RTS user, send a message to
[email protected], and we'll do all we can to help you set up an RTS
account.

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League
(AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots
organization.  Join today!

AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html

Copyright � 2007 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights
reserved.

--
Stephen P. Wenger

Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.

http://www.spw-duf.info