Obama Not Right for Montana: When Sen. Obama spoke with reporters in
Montana earlier this month, he falsely claimed himself a defender of the
Second Amendment. I say falsely, because his record clearly demonstrates
his opposition to gun rights on multiple occasions and that he harbors
views contrary to the Montana Constitution as well as the United States
Constitution. Montana's gun laws, and especially our concealed carry
laws, are some of the most pro-Second Amendment laws in the nation. Yet
just this month Sen. Obama said: "I am not in favor of concealed weapons
.. I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent
people could [get shot during] altercations." His mindset on guns is
pretty clear - arm the criminals and prevent law abiding citizens from
defending themselves...
http://www.helenair.com/articles/2008/04/17/opinions/iverson_080417.txt
Obama's Prohibitionist Past Recalled: Some Illinois gun control
advocates recall Senator Obama as a "friend" who represented a "solid
vote" in favor of increased restrictions on firearm sales, but they said
he was never forced to vote on an all-out ban on handguns as a member of
the state Senate. Mr. Obama's position on guns is drawing renewed
scrutiny following Wednesday night's Democratic debate, when the
Illinois senator said he never favored a handgun ban, even though a 1996
questionnaire in his name indicated he did...
http://www2.nysun.com/article/74947
---
Judge Blocks Philadelphia's Infringements: A judge on Thursday
temporarily blocked the city from enforcing five gun-control ordinances
pending a challenge from the National Rifle Association. The NRA argues
that state law prevents Pennsylvania municipalities from regulating
guns, a view that even the city's crime-weary district attorney shares.
"The city has no basis to pass any of these gun-control ordinances and
they know it," lawyer C. Scott Shields argued on the NRA's behalf. City
lawyers contend that Philadelphia can pass gun-control ordinances if the
laws are outside the scope of state measures. As an example, lawyer Mark
Zecca told the judge that one Pennsylvania county had banned guns at its
courthouse.
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Apr17/0,4670,PhiladelphiaGunLaws,00.html
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20080417_Judge_blocks_citys_new_gun_laws.html
---
Virginians Stick to Their Guns: ...Take a tour of Virginia a year after
the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. You'll find little has
changed. The state remains draped in memorial ribbons, bumper stickers
and Tech flags, and the debate over firearms rages on. Was the easy
availability of guns to blame for what happened on that campus? Should
the students have been allowed to carry firearms so they could have
protected themselves? Did gun laws have anything to do with it at all?
http://www.washingtontimes.com/article/20080418/METRO/567246176/1004
---
Kerry Challenger Supports Campus Carry: A U.S. Senate candidate
supported some Framingham State College students who said yesterday, on
the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings, that they want the
ability to protect themselves. Jeff Beatty, a Republican from Harwich
who is vying for the Senate seat held by John Kerry, appeared at a forum
yesterday hosted by students at the campus. Members of the college's
conservative group have said students should have the option to carry a
weapon on campus for protection. The school also is considering whether
to issue guns to its police force. Beatty signed a petition circulated
around the campus by school's conservative students group that calls for
legislation to allow students to carry "lawful defense tools" while on
campus. The group said 225 people have signed the petition.
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x2103872126
---
Michigan Handgun Bills Clear Committee: Michigan House Bills 4490 and
4491 passed out of the Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Committee by a
vote of 8 - 1. The Bills were sent to the full House April 16th. These
bills would (1) eliminate the current requirement in the Michigan
handgun licensure law that pistol owners obtain safety inspection
certificates; (2) require that all existing records of inspection
certificates maintained by local and state law enforcement officials be
destroyed; and (3) eliminate the misdemeanor crime of failing to have
one's pistol inspected.
http://www.mcrgo.org/mcrgo/view/news.asp?articleid=3160&zoneid=6
---
Less Guns, Less Crime?: ...Back in the 1920s and 1930s, the
forward-thinking German "Weimar" republic effectively banned firearms
possession by just about anyone but the military, the government police,
and the ruling "Junker" class, members of whom were allowed to keep
their fancy hunting rifles. The ban was particularly effective among the
ethnic minorities, such as the Jews. Was this effective in keeping the
Jews from killing each other with handguns? Yes! Later, when millions of
Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps including Auschwitz
and Buchenwald to be exterminated - despite the fact that on some
mornings the other prisoners were each given water and a piece of bread,
while the Jewish prisoners were not allowed to either eat or drink - did
the Jews kill anyone with a handgun in order to get some food or water
to keep themselves or their loved ones from starving. No! They couldn't,
because they had no handguns! You see how well that works?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/suprynowicz/suprynowicz79.html
---
View from the Left: ...But what the founders really had in mind,
according to some constitutional law scholars, was a musket in the hands
of a slave owner: these scholars believe the founders enshrined the
right to bear arms in the Constitution in part to enforce tyranny, not
fight it..."That the Second Amendment was the last bulwark against the
tyranny of the federal government is false," he said. Instead, the
"well-regulated militias" cited in the Constitution almost certainly
referred to state militias that were used to suppress slave
insurrections. Payton explained that the Founders added the Second
Amendment in part to reassure southern states, such as Virginia, that
the federal government wouldn't use its new power to disarm state
militias as a backdoor way of abolishing slavery...
http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2008/04/17/ESSAY-2ndAmendment-A.aspx
---
Pilot Will Be Fired for Negligent Discharge: An US Airways pilot who
aviation officials say accidentally fired his handgun in the cockpit
during a flight will be fired, a spokesman for a flight officers group
said. The airline has begun the termination process for Capt. James
Langenhahn, said Mike Karn, vice president of the Federal Flight Deck
Officers Association. Langenhahn told police that he was stowing his gun
in the cockpit of a jet preparing to land in Charlotte, North Carolina,
last month when it accidentally fired. The federal Transportation
Security Administration is investigating the incident. (This incident
appears to have occurred because of highly restrictive TSA rules that
require pilots to lock their pistols into their holsters before exiting
the cockpit. The firing appears to be a message from the airline that
they would rather not have armed pilots.)
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/17/pilot.gun/index.html
---
Oops, Wrong House: A homeowner who chased off two burglars and shot at
one of them might have provided the clue that led Wright County deputies
to the suspects. The homeowner awoke about 5:50 a.m. Tuesday to find two
thieves in his Victor Township house. He grabbed his gun and fired as he
chased one of them down the stairs and into the yard. The suspect got in
a Chevy Tahoe that had been reported stolen and took off, the sheriff
said...That night, deputies investigating a call about a car prowler in
Cokato found and arrested a 20-year-old man from Blaine on outstanding
warrants. He provided information tied to the home invasion, the sheriff
said...
http://www.startribune.com/local/17854149.html
---
Head Shots Don't Always Work: Doctors say it's amazing that a
41-year-old Tampa-area woman survived after someone shot her right
between the eyes while she was riding in her boyfriend's pickup truck.
Doctors think she was hit with a .44-caliber bullet that broke in two
pieces, each traveling under her skin and exiting behind her ears last
weekend. She was released from the hospital hours later with just
stitches. The woman says two cars started following their truck Saturday
night and the occupants began yelling at them. At a traffic light,
someone in one of the cars stood up in the sunroof and started shooting
back at the truck. Part of the bullet that hit the woman exited her
head, went through the back window of the truck and hit a Jeep driving
behind it. (It's not clear if the bullet might have gone though the
windshield before striking the woman.)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351472,00.html
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
