Heller and the Election: The two red-hot issues fused by the Heller case
- guns and judges - are two of the most divisive in American politics.
The fact is most conservatives support firearms and our heritage of
hunting and self-defense, and want judges to interpret the law instead
of invent it. Many liberals (though not all) hate guns and think
ordinary people are too careless or irresponsible to be trusted with
firearms. They think courts should play a leading role in declaring
human rights and changing social policy. All this leads to the two
different "obvious" answers to the question presented in Heller.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58715
Alternate Version:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/03/13/the_roe_v_wade_of_gun_rights
Part 1 of Alternate Version:
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/03/06/judging_gun_rights_are_they_inalienable
---
Bush and Heller: ...The government position filed with the Supreme Court
by U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement stunned gun advocates by opposing
the breadth of an appellate court affirmation of individual ownership
rights. The Justice Department, not the vice president, is out of order.
But if Bush agrees with Cheney, why did the president not simply order
Clement to revise his brief? The answers: disorganization and weakness
in the eighth year of his presidency... The president and his senior
staff were stunned to learn, on the day it was issued, that Clement's
petition called on the high court to return the case to the appeals
court. The solicitor general argued that Silberman's opinion supporting
individual gun rights was so broad that it would endanger existing
federal gun control laws such as the bar on owning machine guns. The
president could have ordered a revised brief by Clement. But under
congressional Democratic pressure to keep hands off the Justice
Department, Bush did not act...
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RobertDNovak/2008/03/13/ws_gun_battle
---
Students to Hold Moot Court on Heller: Langley High School seniors will
hold the school's annual Case Day on Friday, March 14, with a moot court
of the controversial Supreme Court case, the District of Columbia vs.
Heller. The case questions whether the District of Columbia's law that
permits ownership of rifles and shotguns but bans handguns infringes on
the right to keep and bear arms as outlined in the Second Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution. Langley students taking Advanced Placement (AP)
government will argue the case.
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/news/2008/mar/12/langley-hs-annual-case-day/
---
Principal Charged for Gun at School: Police accuse him of bringing a gun
to school and we aren't talking about a student. We are talking about
the principal of Wirt County Middle School. Danny Hoover, Junior was
arrested and charged back in October with two counts of unlawfully
possessing deadly weapons on school property. Tuesday lawyers tried to
get the charges against him dismissed. A judge will rule in the case at
the end of the month.
http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/16582751.html
---
Alabama Campus-Carry Bill Does Not Go Far Enough: The problem with Hank
Erwin's bill seeking to arm academics and ROTC students on Alabama
campuses isn't that it goes too far. It doesn't go far enough, and it
fails to ask the fundamental question: Why do we allow boards of
trustees in state-funded institutions to violate the constitutional
rights of its students? Every eligible student who can obtain a
concealed carry permit in the state of Alabama should be able to carry
on campus, without exception, and without harassment by their
educational institution.
http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20080312/NEWS/803120312/1044/OPINION
---
Philadelphia Prohibitionists Seek Overturn of Preemption: City council
members asked a court Wednesday to let them adopt local gun-control
measures because they say loose state firearms laws are wreaking havoc
on Philadelphia streets. They accuse state lawmakers - who were given
the sole power to regulate Pennsylvania gun sales in a 1974 law - of
abdicating their responsibility to protect the public..."It's clear that
they are not going to pass any laws," Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller
said of state lawmakers. "We have been elected to protect the City of
Philadelphia and we are prepared to do that. ... Every day, we wake up
and people are dying."
http://cbs3.com/topstories/Philadelphia.City.Council.2.675701.html
---
Florida Parking-Lot-Storage Bill Clears Committee: It was lawyers, guns
and money as a House committee Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a
bill forcing businesses to allow employees to leave guns in their cars
at work. Lawmakers have rejected similar measures in the past, but the
bill, backed by the National Rifle Association, this year was watered
down to appease businesses. It didn't work. In a room packed with
lawyers representing businesses such as Publix, lobbyists testified
about how the bill pits two constitutional endowments - gun rights and
private property rights. Despite business objections, the House
Environmental and Natural Resource Council voted 11-6 to approve the
bill (HB 503). The bill as it was approved on Wednesday would restrict
carrying guns to workplaces and leaving them in vehicles to gun owners
who possess a concealed weapons permit.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2008/03/13/a14a_xgr_guns_0313.html
---
Ammo-Serialization Bill Dies in Illinois Committee: An Illinois House
committee on Wednesday rejected the idea of requiring gun owners to use
special ammunition imprinted with codes to help police track bullets
found at crime scenes. Two other gun-control measures won approval from
the Executive Committee. One allows revocation of gun permits for owners
who fail to keep their weapons away from children or people with a
serious mental illness. The other tightens rules on providing trigger
locks as part of gun sales. The ammunition measure would require all
bullets made or sold in Illinois to have a laser coding by 2010. The
bill also says any ammunition used in the state would need the coding by
2011.
http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/03/12/news/state/doc47d8a4e0ace74615005611.txt
---
NRA Compromises in Nebraska: The Nebraska Unicameral has given
first-round approval to gun-control legislation after a major
compromise. The amended proposal does away with the requirement of
getting a permit from a local law enforcement agency to purchase guns,
replacing it with instant federal background checks. The amendment
changed the stance of the National Rifle Association, which has now
dropped its opposition to the bill. The bill would also establish a
statewide hotline to report stolen or missing guns and would require the
state crime commission to study the issue of gun violence. (So what's
the primary intent of the bill?)
http://www.ketv.com/news/15579781/detail.html
---
Video Examines Second Amendment: In this week's News You Choose, a local
film director is getting national attention for his recently released
documentary on the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms. "We're just
trying to give people both sides of the argument - instead of the one
side of the argument you get from the national media," said Ashley
Stinnett. Stinnett says his newly-completed documentary, Our Second
Amendment - A Guarantee of Freedom, is designed to inform folks who live
in the Appalachia region about proposed and future changes to gun owners
rights.
The documentary showcases political leaders from West Virginia from both
the Republican and Democratic sides. Stinnett says the 30 minute film
deals with the true issues at hand, staying away from misleading
stereotypes that other documentaries showcase.
http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=35924
---
Time to Recall Old Attitudes About Guns: ...Where schools once sponsored
competitive rifle teams there are now "zero-tolerance" policies that
have gone beyond ludicrous. The parents of a student in Lancaster County
are suing their son's school because school officials felt the the
T-shirt the boy was wearing, a gift from his uncle in the Army, had a
gun on it. In Arizona, a 13-year-old was suspended from school for
drawing a picture that resembled a gun, which, school officials said,
was "absolutely considered a threat." Another student was threatened
with a three-day suspension after a teacher noticed the pen the student
was using bore the logo of Glock firearms. That suspension was
overturned when the boy's father, a law-enforcement official who had
given him the pen, suggested that school officials might re-think their
decision. A student at Hamline University, after raising a question
about the school's ban on concealed weapons, was suspended and ordered
to undergo a mental health evaluation...
http://www.ldnews.com/columns/ci_8552846
---
From The Firearms Coalition:
GunVoter.org Needs Your Help
We don't want to pick your pocket. We just want to pick your brain. We
have created a new forum site called www.GunVoter.org to serve as a
central clearinghouse for information about the fight for gun rights,
particularly regarding candidates and elections, but including
legislation too. We need you to register at www.GunVoter.org (it must
be .org as the guy who controls .com is demanding $10,000 for rights to
the site,) and then post information about what's going on in your state.
Without your input, the site is just an empty shell.
With your help it can become the most comprehensive collection of
grassroots gun rights information anywhere.
Please go to www.GunVoter.org, register, and post information. The
information can be an alert from a grassroots group, an article from a
newsletter or blog (with permission and proper credit,) or just your own
opinion about the situation in your state. We'd also like to hear from
you in the "General Comments/Suggestions" area to let us know what you
think of the site, things we could do to make it better, and your
thoughts on general topics.
Please take a moment to visit the site and post a message just to let us
and others know you were there. We're also looking for people who would
be interested in helping to moderate the site - keep porn and spam out
and the discussions civil, etc. If you're interested in participating
in that way, please drop me a note through a Private Message.
We've also put up a "GunVoter Gear" store with hats, T-shirts, etc. to
help you tell the world where you stand. We're working on new designs
and better graphics and are open to suggestions there as well.
We've built this site for you. We think it can be a great resource, but
only if you make it so. Please stop by www.GunVoter.org and
participate. We've gotten the ball rolling; now it's up to you to build
the momentum and roll it right over the antigun politicians in DC and
the state capitols.
Please share this alert with your friends and other gun rights
supporters in your circle, especially club leaders and local activists.
Thank you for your commitment to the Second Amendment and the
fundamental human right of self-defense. And thank you in advance for
participating in this exciting new venue.
Yours for the Second Amendment,
Jeff Knox
Director of Operations
Neal Knox Associates - The Firearms Coalition
www.GunVoter.org
P.S. The value of the GunVoter project depends on your participation.
We can't do it without you. We're not asking for your money, just your
knowledge and opinions. Please visit www.GunVoter.org and throw your
two cents in.
---
From AzCDL:
HB 2389, an AzCDL requested bill decriminalizing carrying weapons in
vehicles without a CCW permit, passed the House Third Read on Tuesday,
March 11, 2008 by a vote of 37-22, with one member not voting. To see
how your Representative voted, go here:
http://tinyurl.com/2m284h .
Current law (ARS 13-3102.F) states that, without a concealed weapons
(CCW) permit, it is permissible to carry a weapon or weapons "...in a
case, holster, scabbard, pack or luggage that is carried within a means
of transportation or within a storage compartment, map pocket, trunk or
glove compartment of a means of transportation."
Unfortunately, in 1994 an Arizona Appellate court decision (State v.
Adams, 189 Ariz. 235, 941 P.2d) determined that "within a means of
transportation" meant it must be obvious under ordinary observation to
someone outside the vehicle that there is a weapon inside the vehicle.
This created conflicts interpreting the statute. As a result:
� Wearing a holstered firearm within a vehicle = concealed carry,
requiring a CCW permit. But, that same holstered firearm in a trunk,
map pocket or glove compartment, accessible by a vehicle's occupants,
does not require a CCW permit.
� Possessing a concealed weapons permit and a concealed weapon
puts other occupants in the vehicle, who do not possess a CCW permit, at
risk of arrest because of their proximity to your firearm. Yet, if that
same weapon were in a trunk, map pocket or glove compartment accessible
by all the vehicle's occupants, no crime is committed.
The proposed language clarifies that it permissible to carry a weapon,
without a CCW permit, visibly or concealed, anywhere within a means of
transportation, excluding public transit.
From here, HB 2389 will be transmitted to the Senate where we will
continue to fight for its passage.
Also in the House, HB 2629, an AzCDL requested bill that clarifies when
a defensive display of a firearm is justified, is on the agenda for the
House Committee of the Whole (COW) for Thursday, March 13, 2008. Please
take the time to send a polite note to your Representative urging them
to vote for the passage of HB 2629 in the House COW and Third Read. You
can find your Representative here:
http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp
On the Senate side, two CCW reform bills passed out of the Senate COW on
Thursday, March 11, 2008.
SB 1070 is an AzCDL requested bill that proposes changes to ARS 13-3112
regarding the process for obtaining a concealed weapons (CCW) permit.
The proposed legislation makes it easier for lawful gun owners who have
satisfactorily completed training to obtain a permit, or renew an
expired one. It also assists those wishing to obtain a permit by
removing the statutory barrier requiring instructors to create a
training organization, and expands the pool of available instructors to
automatically include certain NRA certified instructors passing the
required background investigation.
SB 1106, Senator Chuck Gray's bill that provides for an optional
lifetime CCW permit, is now scheduled for a vote in the Senate Third
Read on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.
Please take the time to send a polite note to your Senator urging them
to vote for the passage of SB 1070 and SB 1106 during Third Read. You
can find your Senator here:
http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp
Information on these bills and other legislation that AzCDL is tracking
can be found at:
http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html .
As legislation progresses, we will keep you up to date via these Alerts
and at our website.
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 � 2008 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights
reserved.
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
