Ken Blackwell On DOJ Heller Brief: Et tu, Brute? In the waning days of
the Bush Administration, Justice Department lawyers have filed a curious
amicus brief in the DC gun ban case before the US Supreme Court. The
attorneys took a middle-of-the-road approach to Second Amendment
freedoms. They argued that gun ownership is not a "fundamental" right.
Instead, they say, it is a right deserving only an "intermediate" level
of protection. The brief is a disappointing about face for a Justice
Department once lauded for its ardent defense of Second Amendment
rights. Attorney General Michael Mukasey owes gun owners an explanation
for this late betrayal.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/01/17/late_betrayal_on_gun_rights
---
Mukasey Promises Mexico Crackdown On Guns: Attorney General Michael B.
Mukasey, in his first official trip outside the United States, announced
a crackdown on the illegal flow of firearms from the United States to
Mexico. He said that more special agents and investigators would be
deployed along the Southwest border and that new tracing technology
would be set up in American consulates throughout Mexico in an attempt
to quell the drug-related gun violence in Mexico. He referred to
Mexico's narcotics dealers as "drug terrorists" because of a rash of
police shootings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/world/americas/17fbriefs-USVOWSTOUGHE_BRF.html?ref=world
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South Carolina Voters Can Make RKBA Election Issue: With a divided GOP
field going into South Carolina, voters have a chance to make the Second
Amendment an issue in this election. And they should...Anyone who's ever
campaigned in South Carolina will tell you that it's worlds apart from
many other parts of the country. And while Second Amendment rights are a
sizeable factor in many states' elections, in South Carolina you cannot
win a general election if you're seen as hostile to firearm freedoms.
That's in general elections. In the GOP primary, you don't even want to
show your face in a crowd of Republicans if you aren't ready to protect
their gun rights.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59726
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Pennsylvania Republicans Offer Alternative To More "Gun Control": Citing
rising crime statistics in cities from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh,
Republican state Rep. John Perzel today urged his Democratic colleagues
to debate his bill to add 10,000 police officers throughout the state.
The measure, known as the Commonwealth Officers Act, has been stuck in
the House Appropriations Committee since October, said Perzel, who
blamed the "shifting priorities" of his Democratic colleagues for the
delay...Republicans held the bill up as an alternative to several
gun-control measures that some Democrats - led by those from
Philadelphia and its suburbs - have been pushing. Two of those measures,
including one that would have limited gun purchases to one a month, are
effectively dead.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080116_Perzel_pushes_bill_to_hire_10_000_cops.html
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Virginia Senate Candidate Opposes Gun-Show Bill: Former Virginia
Governor, and current candidate for U.S. Senate Jim Gilmore fires back
at a plan to require instant background checks at gun shows. Current
Governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat, proposed a bill in the General Assembly
that would close what he calls the "Gun Show Loophole" that allows
private gun collectors to sell to others without having to perform a
background check on the buyer first.
http://www.wsls.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSLS%2FMGArticle%2FSLS_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354241163&path=!news!localnews
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Amended Park-Lot-Storage Bill Clears Georgia Senate Committee: Georgia
gun owners would be able to leave their firearm in their locked car at
work. But only if they had a concealed weapon permit, and only if the
owner of the workplace property said it was OK... The bill voted out of
the Senate Rules Committee on Tuesday stipulates that the protection
applies only to the roughly 300,0000 Georgians who hold concealed
weapons permits. And if an employer bans guns in its publicly accessible
parking lot for customers, it can prohibit them for employees as well.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=109601
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Kentucky University Parking-Lot-Storage Bill: State Rep. Bob Damron,
D-Nicholasville, signed up 44 co-sponsors Tuesday for his bill that
would allow people who park on public university property to keep a
legally registered gun in their vehicle. Currently, this can be
prohibited by weapons policies set by the state universities. "All this
bill does is say you're going to be treated like everyone else," Damron
said. "Anywhere else you can have a gun in your car."
http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/287756.html
---
Oregon Teacher Appeals Campus-Carry Ruling: A Medford English teacher
has appealed a court decision blocking her from carrying a gun at
school. Shirley Katz, who teaches at South Medford High School, is
seeking to overturn last year's Circuit Court ruling upholding a school
district policy that forbids employees from carrying guns on campus...
Katz claims the district policy conflicted with a state law that
prohibits local governments from restricting the public's use of
firearms. Jackson County Circuit Judge G. Philip Arnold ruled that the
law did not govern school district employment policies. A member of the
public with a concealed handgun permit can carry a gun into a public school.
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/120036030652730.xml&coll=7
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Oops, Wrong House: A Cross Hill (SC) woman returned home to find an
intruder inside, and then shot and killed him. The incident happened
about 8pm this evening on Pineland Shores Road. Laurens County Sheriff
Ricky Chastain tells News Channel 7 that the woman heard someone in the
home, grabbed a weapon, and saw him hiding in one of the rooms. She
then shot him. It was not until after she shot him that she realized
she knew him. Chastain says robbery appears to be the motive.
http://www.wspa.com/midatlantic/spa/news.apx.-content-articles-SPA-2008-01-15-0040.html
---
Elderly Man Gets Life Sentence For Killing Jewelry Thief: Barry Mason, a
71-year-old theft victim who retaliated by shooting his assailant seven
times in the head and upper body at close range, has been convicted of
first-degree murder, a verdict his attorney intends to appeal...Jamil
Burton of South Philadelphia was 19 when, in August 2006, he snatched
from Mason's neck a gold chain that held an $18,000 diamond ring and
rode off on his bicycle. Mason, who had been driving his car and had
been stopped at a light, then followed Burton to Louis I. Kahn Memorial
Park in Center City and killed him with a .380-caliber pistol he was
licensed to carry. (Many years ago my father asked me if I'd like to
inherit his gold watch. When I declined, he asked why. I told him I'd
never wear it because I considered it mugger bait.)
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20080116_Man_who_killed_jewelry_thief_gets_life_term_without_parole.html
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Texas Shooting Still Awaits Grand-Jury Hearing: Quiet streets in the
Houston suburb of Pasadena filled with hundreds of gun supporters and
civil- rights activists after homeowner Joe Horn shot two men who broke
into his neighbor's house... The Texas penal code allows the use of
deadly force to protect property, including a third party's, under
certain conditions. Lynne Parsons, an assistant district attorney in
Harris County, declined to say when the case will be presented to a
grand jury.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aSgPkeOqf314&refer=home
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
