A Point Of Clarification: The announcement of the final Alert of the
year in yesterday's mailing was from Chris Cox, not from me. I refer to
my mailings as mailings, not alerts, I put such notices at the
beginnings of the mailings and I separate items with three dashes, not a
row of asterisks.
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A Correction: Regarding whether the HK USP pistol involved in the
unintentional shooting in Tualatin OR could have been single-action, a
list member points out: "Variant 9 USPs can be carried hammer cocked
with safety on, like a 1911. Single action pull is very light." (I will
confess to being more knowledgeable about double-action revolvers than
bottom-feeding pistols.)
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From GOA: Gun Owners of America and its supporters took a knife in the
back yesterday, as Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) out-smarted his
congressional opposition into agreeing on a so-called "compromise" on HR
2640 - a bill which now goes to the President's desk. The bill - known
as the Veterans Disarmament Act to its opponents - is being praised by
the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign. The Brady Bunch
crowed "Victory! U.S. Congress Strengthens Brady Background Check
System." The NRA stated that last minute changes to the McCarthy bill
made a "good bill even better [and that] the end product is a win for
American gun owners." But Gun Owners of America has issued public
statements decrying this legislation...
http://www.gunowners.org/a122007.htm
The View From The Left: ...The bill would resuscitate a failed
government program that spent millions of dollars annually to allow
persons prohibited from buying guns to regain the ability to legally
acquire firearms. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would be
required to establish a "relief from disability" program to allow
persons now prohibited from possessing a firearm because they have "been
adjudicated as a mental defective" or "committed to a mental
institution" to apply to have their bar on firearms possession removed.
As a result of the bill, more than 116,000 individuals would be eligible
to apply. States would also be required to establish such "relief"
programs to restore the gun privileges of those with mental health
disabilities in order to be eligible for potential grant money to
upgrade records submitted to the NICS...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-sugarmann/trojan-horse-gun-control_b_77754.html
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=/Culture/archive/200712/CUL20071221c.html
A View From Oklahoma: ...It took just three minutes for him to be
approved to buy a gun. Although this new legislation will make the
process take a little longer, gun stores say it'll be a lot safer for us
all. The bill is supposed to prevent anything like the Virginia Tech
massacre from ever happening again. Local gun store owner Jon Ax says
the National Instant Criminal Background Check System - or NICS
Improvement Act of 2007 is something we need. "Anything that would help
eliminate people like the Virginia Tech shooter from getting a gun, I'm
for it," he says. And it's why legislators wrote the bill...
http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=7526612
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New Jersey In For More Infringements: Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy
testified Monday before the state Senate Law and Public Safety Committee
on several bills aimed at curbing gun violence. Healy spoke in support
of three bills: One that would restrict the sale of ammunition to those
who are licensed to sell, purchase or carry a firearm, one that would
toughen the penalties for carrying a prohibited gun in a public place,
and one that would require a lost or stolen gun to be reported within 36
hours of it being discovered missing.
http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1198134692103140.xml&coll=3
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Hang Together Or Hang Separately: Those of us who enjoy firearms for
both self-defense and hunting are a little frustrated. What we are
frustrated about is the attitude among some firearms enthusiasts that,
"As long as the anti-gunners aren't clamoring to take away my (insert
gun of choice), I don't care if they ban (insert boogeyman - .50cal,
'assault' weapons, etc)". Well, now the chickens have come home to
roost. I have seen an increase in both tone and substance in "banning
firearms that can penetrate body armor". We know that that includes most
deer rifles...The hunting community needs to wake up. What you call your
Granddad's deer rifle, the Violence Policy Center calls an "intermediate
sniper rifle" and of course wants to ban them. What is an intermediate
sniper rifle, you ask? By their definition, any rifle with an optical
sight allowing the user to shoot at distances of 100 meters or greater.
Which is pretty much any rifle used to hunt varmints and big game in the
United States...
http://www.ohioccw.org/content/view/3926/83/
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Oops, Wrong House: One man is dead, and another seriously wounded after
a Milledgeville home invasion Tuesday night...He says two men assaulted
Ken Foshee outside his home, shot him in the hand, and pushed him
inside, demanding money. Massee says the grandson slipped out of the
home, and ran up the street to get Foshee's son. The son shot intruder
27 year-old Alonzo Mosley, he was pronounced dead at the scene..."We
feel that no charges will be brought against the son, basically what he
was doing was defending the lives of his mother and father, in his
home.. so we feel like these are family rights, property rights, and we
found nothing inappropriate in his actions."
http://www.13wmaz.com/news/local_story.aspx?storyid=46906
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Strange Story: An Arivaca woman on Wednesday pleaded guilty to
manslaughter for killing a man who approached her while carrying an
ax...Attorney Richard Loungee says his client had been lying in bed when
Bobby Lee Gaitlin returned to the compound from a bar where he had been
drinking. Gaitlin was carrying an ax. Loungee says Bartlett grabbed an
AK-47 rifle she had found in the desert, possibly left behind by a
smuggler, and shot Gaitlin "many, many times." (So much for background
checks, "assault weapon" bans, etc.)
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2007/12/20/news/state/20071220_arizona_news_71.txt
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Rule Five Reminder: A Capitol police officer is out of a job after
telling investigators he hired a prostitute who then stole his gun.
Joseph Kelly, 56, turned in his badge Monday...Cara Liddick, of
Carlisle, was arrested Sunday on theft charges, but those charges were
later dropped when the gun was recovered. (Rule Five: Maintain control
of your firearm.)
http://www.wgal.com/news/14890667/detail.html
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Colt M4 Places Last In Army Test: Ya' know that Colt M4 Carbine vs.
Heckler & Koch (HK) HK416 vs. FN MK16 SCAR-Light (SCAR-L) vs. HK XM8 LAR
extreme dust conditions reliability test that the U.S. Army Test and
Evaluation Center (ATEC) at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Md. was
conducting? No? Well, we'll tell ya'. The U.S. Army just got done
conducting a test on all four weapons, and the results are in. Before we
go through them, we'll cut right to the chase: The Colt M4 Carbine came
in dead last, with 882 stoppages over 60,000 rounds between ten (10)
guns. Not great. But, more on that in a minute...
http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1077
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Tempest In A British Teapot: A nine-year-old boy was granted a shotgun
licence by police who claimed he was "responsible enough" to own the
weapon. Shocked anti-gun campaigners have branded the decision allowing
the boy to fire the deadly weapon as "totally absurd". The boy can
legally shoot at targets, as well as game and vermin...The licence was
granted by Norfolk Police in August 2006, but has only just come to
light after a journalist sought the information under the Freedom of
Information Act.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=503624&in_page_id=1770
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Brits Duped Over Home-Defense Rights: Labour has been accused of making
"hollow promises" to prevent home owners being dragged through the
courts for using force against burglars. A review of the law was
promised by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, at the party's conference
in September. His speech prompted headlines that householders defending
themselves would have greater protection from prosecution. But proposals
published last night go no further than the existing law, which already
allows people to use reasonable force to defend themselves and others...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/20/nburgle120.xml
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
