Gun Control" Is Based on False Premises: A year has passed since the
tragic events at Virginia Tech, and there are some assumptions upon
which gun control is based that require investigation. Chief among them
is the misplaced feeling that banning firearms somehow eradicates them.
When examining this notion, we can look for another example of a ban to
give us a sense of the difference between banning and eradication. There
are people in America known as illegal immigrants who are banned from
being here. If the state cannot keep a person from coming into the
country illegally, what possible hope does it have in banning a gun?
What is to stop the illegal immigrant from bringing guns with him?
(Bradford Wiles is the student who was ridiculed by an administrator,
prior to the massacre at Virginia Tech, for calling for a relaxation on
the school's ban on licensed CCW.)
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/160922
---
Make National-Park Carry Permanent: The Bush administration, after more
than seven years, has finally issued regulations permitting the carrying
of firearms in national parks. Gun owners will soon be able to carry
firearms according to the laws of the state in which the park is
located. While not perfect, the proposed regulations, which are likely
to take effect at the end of June 2008, represent a sharp contrast with
the steadfast refusal to allow for self-defense in national parks...In
the House, there are now three bills that would open national parks to
carrying firearms as regulated by the state in which the park is located...
http://www.gunowners.org/a050608.htm
---
Texas Caught Off Guard by Surge in CHL Applications: Demand for
concealed handgun licenses has risen nearly 40 percent in Texas in a
year, an increase being attributed to many factors, even presidential
politics. Though the exact cause may be unclear, what's certain is that
the spike in applications has caught the Department of Public Safety
unprepared. The state is taking a month longer than the 60 days allowed
by law to process original applications and 80 days longer on renewals,
which are supposed to be handled within 45 days.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5762984.html
---
McCain to Address NRA Convention: Presumptive Republican presidential
nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain is slated to speak at the National Rifle
Associations' annual meeting in Louisville on May 16, an NRA official
confirmed to the Herald-Leader. McCain is penciled in to participate in
the NRA's Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum on the first
day of the pro-gun organization's annual gathering from May 16 to May 18
at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville... McCain will make the
appearance in Kentucky the Friday before the state's voters head to the
polls for the May 20 primary. He visited Inez Kentucky on April 23.
http://www.kentucky.com/779/story/396632.html
GOA's Analysis of McCain:
http://www.gunowners.org/mccaintb.htm
---
Philadelphia Officials Call for Ban on Cosmetically Impaired Firearms:
The assassination of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski is reigniting a variety of
political efforts to ban semiautomatic assault weapons, including the
SKS rifle used in the killing. Gov. Rendell, Mayor Nutter and other
elected officials were expected at a news conference today in City Hall
to ask the federal government to officially get involved and take
action. (No doubt, Sgt. Libczinski would be less dead if he had been
shot with a slightly more powerful but more traditional lever-action
30-30 deer rifle.)
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/local/20080508_In_wake_of_Liczbinski_slaying__a_push_for_assault-weapon_ban.html
---
Do as I Say, Not as I Do: The (DC) Metropolitan Police Department has
joined other major U.S. cities in arming patrol officers with assault
rifles to protect them against criminals with high-powered weapons,
weeks after being released from a federal program that monitors the use
of excessive force. "We want to be as accurate as possible and have more
stopping power," Assistant Chief Patrick Burke said yesterday. The
department already has 500 semiautomatic AR-15 rifles, which were
converted from fully automatic rifles, and has trained 340 officers to
use them.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/METRO/970320295/1001
---
Ordinance Would Nix Illegal Gun Ban in Nevada County: An ordinance to
repeal a section of the Storey County Code dealing with guns has been
proposed to the Storey County Commission. The ordinance would repeal
section 9.16.020 of the Storey County Code, established in 1987 to
regulate the carrying of firearms within the limits of Virginia City,
Gold Hill and other congested areas. The ordinance states that under NRS
244.364 the state Legislature reserved for itself the right to regulate
the transfer, sale, purchase, possession, ownership, transportation,
registration and licensing of firearms and ammunition in Nevada, and the
Storey County commission did not have the power to usurp the state's
power to regulate firearms.
http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20080508/NEWS/874565379/-1/NEWS
---
Why Liberals Should Love the Second Amendment: ...When it comes to
discussing the Second Amendment, liberals check at the door their
ability to think rationally. In discussing the importance of any other
portion of the Bill of Rights, liberals can quote legal precedent, news
reports, and exhaustive studies. They can talk about the intentions of
the Founding Fathers. And they will, almost without exception, conclude
the necessity of respecting, and not restricting, civil liberties. So
why do liberals have such a problem with the Second Amendment? Why do
they lump all gun owners in the category of "gun nuts"? Why do they
complain about the "radical extremist agenda of the NRA"? Why do they
argue for greater restrictions? (An excellent essay is even more
noteworthy by its posting in Daily Kos.)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/21/19133/5152/392/496931
---
Gun-Trafficking Arrests in Arizona: Federal and state officials said
they broke up a Phoenix-based firearms trafficking operation on Tuesday
that provided violent Mexican drug cartels with hundreds of weapons. The
owner of a gun shop called X Calibur Guns, George Iknadosian, 46,
knowingly sold at least 650 firearms to drug cartels, according to
officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives. The firearms ranged from high-end semiautomatic pistols to
assault-style rifles.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/84498.php
---
California Rancher to Stand Trial for Restricted Firearms: A judge
Monday ordered millionaire buffalo rancher Dale Buller to stand trial on
nine weapons charges, including charges that a machine gun and illegal
assault weapons were among the 609 guns seized in January at Buller's
home between Glencoe and Rail Road Flat. Judge Duane Martin ordered
Buller held over for trial after a preliminary hearing in which the
defense and prosecution clashed over whether Buller's guns were
antiques. Buller, 79, attended the hearing in a wheelchair pushed by his
wife, Delores. Unlike at his bail hearing, when he raised his voice and
argued with Martin, Buller was largely silent, communicating only in a
low voice with his attorney, Ken Foley of San Andreas. (It sounds as
though Buller was a real threat to public safety, tooling around in his
wheelchair, up there in California's Mother Lode country.)
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080506/A_NEWS/805060313/-1/A_NEWS02
---
Oops, Wrong Store: A man's attempted armed robbery of a central Mesa
store was foiled Sunday when the clerk fought back with a Taser, his
fists and a handgun, police said. The 30-year-old suspect, shot several
times by a clerk at Mesa Mart, 1510 S. Country Club Drive, was listed in
critical condition at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn, police spokeswoman
Detective Chris Arvayo said. Although the 55-year-old clerk had been
assaulted with a pipe, he did not require extensive medical
attention...The incident began about 8 a.m., when the suspect entered
the store near U.S. 60. He then demanded money while striking the clerk
with a pipe. The clerk first used a Taser, but it did not stop the
robber. Police said the clerk then shot the suspect. (It's not clear if
the clerk used a real Taser or a direct-contact stun gun but it's worth
noting that the electronic-restraint device failed to do the job.)
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/115530
---
Oops, Wrong Jewelry Salesman: ...About 12:45 p.m. Wednesday, not long
after Rozio parked his red Ford Explorer outside St. Moritz Jewelers at
21310 St. Andrews Blvd., four men screamed up behind him in a silver
car, boxing him in. They surrounded the Explorer, smashing windows and
snatching a duffel bag with jewelry inside, witnesses said. Rozio
retrieved his pistol and started firing. He emptied three or four rounds
into the robbers' Silver Saturn Vue, which was outfitted with a Kansas
license plate obscuring a Florida tag, aiming for the tires and the
driver's side window. One of the robbers was struck and killed...Rozio's
attorney, Bill Matthewman, said his client will not face charges.
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/south/epaper/2008/05/07/0507brshoot.html
---
Rule Two, Rule Three Reminder: A nine-year veteran of the Portland
Police Department is dead after his handgun discharged in what police
are calling a tragic accident. Investigators said Sgt. Robert Johnsey
was apparently preparing his duty weapon for his next shift when it
discharged late Monday night at his home in Westbrook. He died a short
time later at Maine Medical Center. (Rule Two: Don't let the muzzle
cross anything you're not prepared to shoot. Rule Three: Keep your
finger [and other objects] out of the trigger guard until your sights
are on the target and you're prepared to fire.)
http://www.wmtw.com/news/16174607/detail.html
---
Rule Four Reminder: When Minnesota authorities arrived at the scene,
they found Anthony Klaseus covered in blood and extremely distraught. "I
just shot my boy," Klaseus said, according to police. "How could I shoot
and kill my son? I told him to stay put while I tried to get closer to
the turkeys." On Monday, two weeks later, Sibley County prosecutors
charged Klaseus, 39, with second-degree manslaughter in the April 19
homicide of his 8-year-old son. (Rule Four: Always be sure of your
target and what's beyond it. I don't hunt but I took a hunter-education
course nearly nine years ago. One of the things I recall is to avoid
wearing red, white or blue in the woods during turkey season as turkeys
rarely expose themselves fully but do have portions of those distinctive
colors.)
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4796252&page=1
---
The Plot Thickens: The police chief who shot himself in the ankle was
waving a loaded pistol and being careless, according to two students who
were attending his class to qualify for a concealed-weapons permit. "We
were told the gun is the chief's personal sidearm, but it looked to me
like he didn't know anything about the gun," Lewis Walker said. Bart
Ulm, another student seeking certification to carry a concealed weapon,
said he was surprised Chief Dave Hansen was using a loaded gun to show
how it worked... Ebert said the findings of an internal investigation
would be announced Wednesday. He declined to offer specifics but
disputed the accounts of Ulm and Walker, describing the pair as
"disgruntled."
http://wral.com/news/strange/story/2840665/
---
Eleven Years of NYPD Gunfire: New York City police officers fire their
weapons far less often than they did a decade ago, a statistic that has
dropped along with the crime rate. But when they do fire, even at an
armed suspect, there is often no one returning fire at the officers.
Officers hit their targets roughly 34 percent of the time. When they
fire at dogs, roughly 55 percent of shots hit home. Most of their
targets are pit bulls, with a smattering of Rottweilers and German
shepherds. Officers' guns go off unintentionally or by accident for a
variety of reasons: wrestling with suspects, cleaning the weapons,
leaning on holsters - even once, in 1996, when a gun was put in an oven
for safekeeping.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/nyregion/08nypd.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all
---
M16 Myths Busted: Dick Fairburn, an officer known for his writings on
the use of rifles in law enforcement, tackles some myths about the
M16/AR-15 family of rifles. Note that the context is law-enforcement
use, which often overlaps the defensive needs private citizens, not
military use.
http://www.policeone.com/police-products/firearms/precision-rifles/articles/1693062-M16-myths/
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
