The Second Amendment and Personal Preference: ...Unfortunately, a 5-4
ruling on the foundational question of whether the Second Amendment
confers an individual right to own guns, unconnected to service in a
state militia, would likely expose the Court to criticism that the
justices have voted to vindicate their own personal preferences about
the outcome of the case. For that reason, I hope that the Court will
somehow manage to assemble more than a five-justice majority in favor of
a decision about whether or not the Second Amendment guarantees an
individual or only a collective right to bear arms...

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1206040373690
---

There Will Be Guns: One thing seemed clear from Tuesday's Supreme Court
oral arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller: The justices are
poised to recognize that the Second Amendment confers on individual
Americans the right to own guns. The court's conservatives - save
Justice Clarence Thomas, who maintained his customary silence at
arguments - evinced little doubt of this proposition. And even Justice
Stephen Breyer seemed open to the possibility that the amendment's right
to "keep and bear arms" isn't just about militias--though he's inclined
to uphold the D.C. handgun ban anyway. After more than two centuries of
judicial negligence and intellectual head-scratching, the Second
Amendment seems preponderantly likely to mean something. All of which
makes Heller a kind of watershed in the making. Or maybe not...

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=63611d39-9661-44b7-b55c-4e9563189d7f
---

Gun Bans Should Be History: This is a great year for gun owners. No
fewer than three major restrictions on gun ownership are being
reconsidered: the ban on campuses, the ban on federal lands and the ban
in D.C. The usual arguments against individual gun ownership are as
follows: The Second Amendment refers only to state-run militias, the
government reserves the right to reasonably restrict gun ownership, and,
that times have changed....

http://www.asuwebdevil.com/issues/2008/03/20/opinions/704212
---

Expanded-Carry Bills Killed in Tennessee: House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh
made an unusual visit Wednesday to a subcommittee hearing to cast votes
that killed several handgun bills, including one that would have allowed
diners to carry guns into restaurants...The votes killed a bill that
would have permitted faculty and staff at public schools to carry
handguns, one that would have allowed handguns in state parks and one
that would have allowed people voluntarily committed to mental hospitals
to get handgun licenses. The fourth bill would have allowed guns in
restaurants. The sponsor, Rep. Curry Todd, a Collierville Republican,
said he was disappointed the bill died, and promised to bring it back
next year. A similar bill, which has passed in the Senate and was
recently the subject of a humorous spot on a late night comedy show, was
deferred for two weeks. After the bills were voted down, Republicans
criticized Naifeh, D-Covington, in a press release, saying that the
committee was "stacked" for the vote and accusing him of "brazenly
political efforts to scuttle commonsense rights for gun owners."

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080320/NEWS0201/803200389/1009/NEWS02
---

Oops, Wrong House: A Peoria (AZ) homeowner shot a burglary suspect
inside his home early Thursday morning, according to police. The
62-year-old homeowner, John Kallas, said he saw a suspicious person
outside one of his windows and heard him get in through the back door.
When the burglar got inside the home near 83rd Avenue and Cactus, police
said he started to move toward Kallas who had gotten his gun. "He seemed
to do everything right," said Peoria Police Spokesperson Mike Tellef.
"He told the man to stop a couple times and when he didn't, he (Kallas)
defended himself." The burglar was shot in the upper chest.  Police say
the injury is not life threatening. Its the second time this week that a
would-be criminal has been shot during a robbery or burglary attempt...

http://www.abc15.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=97af2ccb-25ed-49ac-bf15-de02c980e4ca
---

Dial 911 and Die: A woman made a 911 call from her suburban mansion to
report an attempted break-in, but her pleas were interrupted by
gunshots, then silence: She had been shot to death. The woman told the
dispatcher late Wednesday morning that someone was trying to break into
her home in upscale West Covina, Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Dan
Rosenberg said. (When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
Dial 911 and Die is the title of a book published by an affiliate of JPFO.)

http://www.newsmax.com/us/911_killing/2008/03/20/82024.html
http://www.nbc10.com/news/15655537/detail.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-call21mar21,1,2346547.story
---

Why Shotguns Are Not Good Within Grappling Distance: Two men fought off
armed suspects during an attempted robbery, and it was all caught on
tape..."As soon as they got to the door, they just clicked the shotgun.
It was like click-click...that got all of our attention," said Bohran
Ali, the store owner. The two bandits walked in with masks on, one
pointing a shotgun. Bruce, without hesitation, stunned the bandits by
grabbing the shotgun and wrestling them out the door. "They did come
around here, and then it was, 'Everyone on the floor, everyone on the
floor!'  But, while they were saying that, Bruce was just walking
towards them.  It was like it didn't phase him," said Ali...

http://www.wivb.com/global/story.asp?S=8041983
---

NYC Man Arrested for Purchasing Handguns with C&R FFL: A Staten Island
man was arrested Wednesday, March 19, 2008, by members of a federal gun
task force for using a restricted federal firearms license (FFL) to
illegally obtain handguns in New York City. Julius Bowens, age 37 of 75
Kimberly Lane, Staten Island was arrested by members of the ATF Joint
Firearms Task Force after the Task Force executed a controlled delivery
of two (2) handguns at Bowens' residence...Bowens was issued his FFL as
a "Collector of Curios and Relics" (C&R license) in March 2007. This
license entitled him to only collect specific firearms which are of
special interest to collectors by reason of some
quality other than is associated with firearms intended for sporting use
or as offensive or defensive weapons...

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-20-2008/0004778071&EDATE=
---

This Is My Rifle, This Is My Gun...: A scheme that trades one male
status symbol for another has achieved a large rise in the number of men
undergoing vasectomies in a bandit-ridden region of central India.
Shivpuri district in the state of Madhya Pradesh, an overpopulated area
renowned for its machismo culture, has started to offer fast-tracked gun
licences for those who agree to be sterilised..."It also has a low level
of vasectomies because of a perceived notion of manliness. I decided to
match that with a bigger symbol of manliness - a gun licence. It has
been a success."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3593874.ece
---

From AzCDL:

We were expecting SB 1214, an AzCDL requested bill that would allow
adults with Concealed Weapons (CCW) permits to carry concealed firearms
on public college and university property, to be debated in the Senate
Committee of the Whole (COW) this week.  But, now we're learning that
some Republican Senators are refusing to support SB 1214.  Without their
support, SB 1214 has no chance for passage.  The following Republican
Senators appear to have aligned themselves with the Democrats in the
Senate, who are more concerned about the media and certain special
interest groups than they are about the safety of students:

Senator Carolyn Allen
[email protected]
Room 303
602-926-4480 (phone)
602-417-3155 (Fax)

Senator John Huppenthal (Majority Whip)
[email protected]
Room 212
602-926-5261 (phone)
602-417-3157 (Fax)

Senator Tom O'Halleran
[email protected]
Room 303A
602-926-5584 (phone)
602-417-3101 (Fax)

Senator Jay Tibshraeny
[email protected]
Room 306
602-926-4481 (phone)
602-417-3252 (Fax)

We strongly encourage you to contact these Senators, along with your own
Senator, and let them know you expect them to vote for SB 1214 in the
Senate COW and during Third Read.  The Senate mailing address is 1700 W.
Washington, Phoenix, AZ 85007.  You can find your Senator here:
http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp .

If Senators Allen, Huppenthal, O'Halleran or Tibshraeny represent your
district, be sure to remind them how their abandonment of SB 1214 will
affect your vote when they are up for reelection.

The Senate has already been deluged with cut-and-paste letters on SB
1214.  This is the time to use personalized letters.  In addition to the
language we provided in prior alerts, we recommend you read the
arguments supporting SB 1214, by AzCDL member Joe Walker, in his
outstanding opinion piece in the Sierra Vista Herald dated March 16,
2008:  http://tinyurl.com/37k7qg .

This is where the rubber meets the road.  If we can't convince at least
one of these Senators to support SB 1214, the bill is dead.  Your
letters have changed minds and votes in the past.  There is every reason
to believe that together we can do it again.  The time for action is now!

Stay tuned!  As relevant legislation is introduced and progresses, we
will keep you up to date via these Alerts:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AZCDL_Alerts/

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.

Information on these bills and other legislation that AzCDL is tracking
can be found at: http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html .

A couple of AzCDL requested bills have made it half way through the
legislature, passed over to the other chamber, and are now scheduled for
new committee hearings.  It's time to let these committee members know
that you want them to pass these bills out of committee.

HB 2630 is on the Senate Judiciary Committee agenda for Monday, March
24, 2008.  If you are not committing, or attempting to commit, a serious
or violent crime, HB 2630 reclassifies carrying a concealed weapon
without a permit as a petty offense.  Under current law, if you have not
been issued a concealed weapons (CCW) permit, it is a class 1
misdemeanor to carry a concealed weapon.  Everyone is treated like a
hardened criminal.  Sadly, because of a couple of 1994 Appellate Court
decisions:

�       If a casual observer cannot easily see your firearm, you are
carrying concealed and could be arrested.

�       Wearing a gun in a vehicle = concealed carry.  Without a permit
you are subject to arrest.

�       Having a CCW permit and wearing a gun in a vehicle puts your
non-CCW permit passengers at risk for being arrested for carrying
concealed without a permit.

SB 1070 is on the House Natural Resources and Public Safety Committee
agenda for Wednesday, March 26, 2008.  SB 1070 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.

Please take the time to send a polite note to the respective committee
members urging them to vote for HB 2630 and SB 1070.  Below are the
email addresses of the committee members in both semi-colon and comma
separation formats, along with a simple list of email addresses for
those who encounter email address formatting problems.  Use the list
that is compatible with your email software.

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Semi-colon format:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Comma format:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

List of members' email addresses:
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES AND PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

Semi-colon format:
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected];
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Comma format:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected],
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
[email protected]

Stay tuned!  As relevant legislation progresses, we will keep you up to
date via these Alerts: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AZCDL_Alerts/ .

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