Correction: It has been brought to my attention that, while the article
about the out-of-uniform campus police officer pointing a handgun at a
professor's head as part of a "security drill" was published in a
Virginia newspaper, the college itself is actually located in North
Carolina.
---
Debate Continues Over National-Park Carry: Visitors to some national
parks would be able to start packing heat along with their tents and
picnic baskets under a proposal being considered by the Interior
Department that would ease restrictions on loaded firearms in the
parks...The most recent revision of the rules came in 1983, but parks
advocates say the restrictions date at least to the 1930s and mainly
were designed to prevent poaching. The NRA praised Kempthorne's move,
noting that 48 states now have processes that allow people to legally
carry firearms for self-defense, compared with six states in 1982.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022703131.html?hpid=sec-nation
---
Obama's Second Amendment Limited To Hunting, Target Shooting: ...Obama
evidently considers that de facto prohibition a "common-sense
regulation," since he recently cited Washington's law as an example of
constitutionally permissible gun control. "The notion that somehow local
jurisdictions can't initiate gun safety laws to deal with gangbangers
and random shootings on the street isn't borne out by our Constitution,"
he said...It's not surprising that Obama sees nothing unconstitutional
about this situation, since he does not acknowledge that the Second
Amendment has anything to do with self-defense. "As a former
constitutional law professor, Barack Obama understands and believes in
the constitutional right of Americans to bear arms," his website claims.
"He will protect the rights of hunters and other law-abiding Americans
to purchase, own, transport, and use guns for the purposes of hunting
and target shooting" (emphasis added)...
http://reason.com/news/show/125180.html
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Most Americans Believe Second Amendment Protects Individual RKBA:
..Nearly three out of four Americans - 73% - believe the Second
Amendment spells out an individual right to own a firearm, according to
a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,016 adults taken Feb. 8-10. Yet for
decades, federal judges have seen the Constitution differently, allowing
a range of gun-control measures imposed by governments seeking to curb
gun violence... (Seemingly good poll results but 1,016 seems like a
fairly small sample.)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-02-26-guns-cover_N.htm
---
Poll Claims Few Arizonans Support Campus Carry: Arizonans are
overwhelmingly against a measure that would allow licensed, concealed
handguns in schools, according to a Cronkite-Eight Poll released
Tuesday. Seventy-three percent of those polled said they oppose SB 1214,
sponsored by Sen. Karen Johnson, R-Mesa, which won endorsement Monday
from a Senate committee on a 4-3 party-line vote. Twenty percent
supported the idea, and 7 percent were unsure. The bill originally would
have applied to all schools but was amended to cover only community
colleges and state universities. That change occurred after the poll was
conducted, but Bruce Merrill, a retired Arizona State University
professor who directs the poll, said he doesn't think that change would
have affected the results much. (I suspect that this poll is more a part
of the media campaign against that bill than a result.)
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/78038.php
Related Commentary: List member Charles Heller responds to one of the
diatribes against SB 1214.
http://www.libertywatchradio.com/blog
---
Campus-Carry Campaign Grows: Since the tragic string of college campus
shootings across the country, students have organized a national
campaign to allow handguns in classrooms. Students for Concealed Carry
on Campus, an Internet-based organization, is claiming to have over
15,000 members nationwide. The group has already staged "empty-holster"
protests in several states, and 14 Ohio campuses have established their
own chapters. Stephen J. Feltoon, a University of Miami graduate and
psychology major, is the Midwest regional director of the student group.
"The group started about two days after the Virginia Tech shootings,"
said Feltoon. "We were just trying to gather like-minded individuals and
it just blossomed into the national campaign."
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/08/02/27/campus.guns.html
---
Maryland Ammo-Serialization Bill Opposed: A crime-fighting plan to
require serial numbers on all ammunition sold in Maryland was denounced
Tuesday by gun supporters, including the president of a Washington
County sportsmen's group. Ammunition would be tracked through a state
police database, paid for by a tax of 5 cents per round, starting Jan.
1, 2009. "This gives law enforcement the DNA trail of the bullet,"
giving police a jump on investigations otherwise bogged down by
lab-testing delays, Russell Ford said. (It's actually one more step to
make firearms and ammunition too costly for the average citizen.)
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=187133&format=html
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"Gun Control" Non Sequiturs: ...The NIU murderer, Steven Kazmierczak,
legally purchased the shotgun and three handguns he used, which did not
qualify as "assault weapons," from a licensed dealer on three trips over
seven months, and there does not seem to have been anything about his
background that disqualified him from owning firearms. So the only
possibly relevant suggestion offered by Helmke is to reimpose a 10-round
federal limit on the size of magazines. But considering that Kazmierczak
fired the shotgun six times and the handguns 48 times; that it takes
just a few seconds to switch magazines; and that police arrived about
six minutes after the attack started, by which time Kazmierczak already
had killed himself, it is doubtful that the death toll was any higher
than it would have been had he been carrying 10-round magazines. In
fact, I cannot recall reading an account of a mass murder in the U.S.
where "high capacity" magazines made a demonstrable difference...
http://reason.com/blog/show/125190.html
---
"Gun Control" Claims More Victims: ...The problem at Virginia Tech was
not that there were guns on campus - only the campus police and gunman
were armed - but that it was a "gun-free zone." As a result, there were
not enough people carrying guns to neutralize the gunman once he began
his rampage. He should have been outgunned after his first shots. To a
criminal or deranged person bent on killing, a gun-free zone is a
free-fire zone. As is obvious from all such incidents, the police arrive
too late to prevent multiple killings...Consider that in all such
incidents, the shooters are not so deranged as to attack police
stations, shooting ranges, or gun shows. They have enough presence of
mind to assail unarmed people in gun-free zones because they will
encounter no effective resistance. (The one incident in which an
individual was foolish enough to threaten to kill hostages where guns
were prevalent was at a shooting club in California in July 1999. The
gunman was promptly shot by an employee, without harm to the hostages.)
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig6/larosa4.html
---
Massachusetts Disarms Toll Collectors: Gun-toting toll collectors have
been stripped of their sidearms by Mass Pike brass after secretly
carrying them for decades without formal training, the Herald has
learned...But union officials said they are going to fight to allow the
toll collectors to keep their weapons, even though a Pike review found
the guns were not being properly maintained, with firing pins misaligned
and other problems. LeBovidge said he forced 16 Turnpike toll collectors
and couriers to turn in their firearms after finding that the only
instruction they received was target practice at a private firing range
in Dorchester. He said the employees were carrying .38-caliber handguns
to protect themselves while transporting cash from toll booths to a
central holding facility. (I sympathize with these guys, who could be
targeted for robbery, but, deep down, feel that in a state that seeks to
disarm its populace, the fewer armed state employees, the better.)
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1076234&srvc=home&position=also
---
Iraqi Army Convert To M16's: In a move that could be the most enduring
imprint of U.S. influence in the Arab world, American military officials
in Baghdad have begun a crash program to outfit the entire Iraqi army
with M-16 rifles. The initiative marks a sharp break for a culture
steeped in the traditions of the Soviet-era AK-47 Kalashnikov assault
rifle, a symbol of revolutionary zeal and third-world simplicity that is
ubiquitous among the militaries of the Middle East. (Of note, despite
Israel having developed an excellent Kalashnikov derivative, the Galil,
most Israeli troops carry M16's, which I assume are furnished on Uncle
Sam's dime.)
http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,162878,00.html?ESRC=eb.nl
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
