Obama Shoots from Both Sides of His Mouth: ...In a statement last week
on the Heller case verdict Sen. Barack Obama said "the D.C. gun ban went
too far." Obama went on to say in his post-Heller statement, "Today's
ruling, the first clear statement on this issue in 127 years, will
provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country.
As President, I will uphold the constitutional rights of law-abiding
gun-owners, hunters, and sportsmen." However, it was only last February
that Obama told ABC's Leon Harris that he supported the gun ban and
agreed that it was constitutional... (The "guidance" he cites would
appear to include bans on carry outside the home as well as on private
ownership of firearms not commonly owned due to the existence, for 74
years, of the National Firearms Act.)
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27299
---
Levy Comments on Heller: ...Heller is merely the opening salvo in a
series of litigations that will ultimately resolve what weapons and
persons can be regulated and what restrictions are permissible. Near
term, the court will also have to decide whether Second Amendment rights
can be enforced against state and local governments. Despite those
remaining hurdles, it's fair to say the court's blockbuster decision
makes the prospects for reviving the original meaning of the Second
Amendment substantially brighter. And given the unfolding presidential
contest, it's also fair to say that the court's razor-thin majority
conveys a crucial message: Judicial nominations matter.
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/03/second-amendment-aftermath/
---
Why We Keep and Bear Arms (Part 1): A prominent 20th-century Democrat
made the following statement about the purpose of the Second Amendment:
"Certainly one of the chief guarantees of freedom under any government,
no matter how popular and respected, is the right of citizens to keep
and bear arms. ... The right of citizens to bear arms is just one
guarantee against arbitrary government, one more safeguard, against the
tyranny which now appears remote in America but which historically has
proven to be always possible." ...The Founding Fathers assumed that any
government, including the one they established, could grow into a
monster. They argued that only "the people" with a right "to keep and
bear arms" could prevent such a tyranny...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68603
---
Schedule Uncertain for DC Gun Law: The chairman of the D.C. Council's
public safety committee said Wednesday he is still uncertain whether to
address the District's ban on handguns with emergency legislation,
despite growing pressure from groups on both sides of the issue. Council
member Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, said D.C. Interim Attorney
General Peter J. Nickles has yet to say what he thinks the city should
do regarding the Supreme Court decision last week that the District's
32-year-old handgun ban is unconstitutional...Mr. Mendelson introduced a
bare-bones bill Tuesday that would allow residents to register handguns
and remove home storage provisions that require guns to be disassembled
or have trigger locks, the two main issues affected by the ruling...
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/03/prospects-for-emergency-gun-bill-uncertain/
Another View: A D.C. Council hearing on the Supreme Court's historic
rejection of the 32-year-old District handgun ban drew relatively few
witnesses yesterday but generated plenty of questions about what it
means and how the city will comply with it. How does a trigger lock
work? Does it take three seconds to prepare a gun to fire or 30 minutes?
And what is the definition of "immediate self-defense"? The high court
ruled, 5 to 4, that requiring gun owners to keep their weapons unloaded
and disassembled or disabled by a trigger lock violates the Second
Amendment because a firearm is not at the ready for immediate
self-defense... (Note the proposal for a California-style training
requirement.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/02/AR2008070203417.html
---
Heller Has Little Effect in New York: ...Everything is still the same
regarding handgun ownership. In New York you may pay $125.25 to apply
for a pistol permit through the permit clerk at your county's sheriff's
office and if you are approved you will be granted a restricted permit
(usually just for hunting and target shooting). If, at that point, you'd
like to apply for an unrestricted permit, some county judges are
reviewing those applications after completion of a specific training
course. Some aren't even doing that. In New York, a pistol permit is a
state license administered at the county level. Issuance is totally at
the discretion of the county judge. In Broome County, the Binghamton
Police Bureau is conducting a $250 course that is required before you
can apply for an unrestricted license. A crew of instructors from the
Sheriff's Department and an independent instructor from Rochester
Personal Defense have applied to Judge Joe Cawley for similar
certification, but have not yet been approved... (In New York
"unrestricted" means you can actually carry the gun.)
http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807020301
---
Chicago Suburb Weighs Repeal of Handgun Ban: Wilmette trustees on
Tuesday will consider a proposed ordinance to repeal the village's
19-year-old handgun ban in the wake of a recent U.S. Supreme Court
decision that appears to strike down such laws. The June 26 ruling
overturned a Washington, D.C., law barring handgun possession, and many
legal analysts say it's unlikely that similar laws in other major
cities, including Chicago and its suburbs, will be able to stand. By the
end of last week, gun rights organizations had filed lawsuits against
Chicago, Evanston and Oak Park challenging handgun bans in those cities.
Wilmette has not been targeted so far, possibly because the village
announced plans to suspend enforcement of its ordinance, which levies
fines of up to $750 per violation...
http://www.pioneerlocal.com/wilmette/news/1035832,wi-handgunban-070308-s1.article
---
California Targets Ammunition: A bill in California's State Senate would
prohibit the private transfer of more than 50 rounds of ammunition per
month between individuals, even friends or family. I suspect we'll see
more attacks on the Second Amendment using the back door of ammunition
registration, purchase limits, and even serialization in the months
ahead...Bills like this don't do anything to reduce violent crime, but
they most certainly will add to the size of government and send yet
another message to the law-abiding gun owners of California: you're not
welcome here. Isn't it time the criminals got that message instead of
us? (Remember that while the Americans are estimated to have about a
100-year supply of firearms, at any time there is only a one- to
two-year supply of ammunition in the country.)
http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=413
---
California Cop Cautions on Shooting Looters: Police Lt. Al Billington is
concerned that residents evacuated from their homes during recent fires
may be getting the wrong message about how to deal with possible
looting. An Enterprise-Record article June 17 showed a sign former
Paradise mayor Ray Dalton posted on his property stating looters on his
street, where homes were lost in the Humboldt Fire, would be shot
without warning. Billington told the E-R Dalton had a right to post the
sign, but said it would be illegal for him to shoot anyone, unless he
was defending his life, or the life of another...
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_9761701
---
Texas May See CCW Reform: In Texas, the state constitution always has
provided "every citizen the right to keep and bear arms," but the U.S.
Supreme Court's ruling gave hope to those who want greater freedom to
carry guns. Currently, the state allows private businesses to ban
weapons on their premises, and guns are prohibited in certain places,
such as government buildings and college campuses. Gun proponents hope
to see those with concealed-weapon licenses given the right to carry
their guns on campuses and to secured areas at the workplace... Several
thousand Texans have signed a petition demanding the right to wear guns
openly in public. Open-carry laws have caught on in some places, but Mr.
Driver predicted that it's an idea unlikely to gain much traction in the
Texas Legislature, which reconvenes in January. "We'll look at whatever
comes before us," he said. "But I kinda like the idea of criminals not
knowing who has a gun."
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/062708dnpolgunstexas.40b7070.html
http://snipurl.com/2t8nj
---
West Virginia Gun Owners Thank City Council: At least four people
carried exposed handguns into a Ranson City Council meeting Tuesday
night when a group of gun rights advocates showed up to thank council
members for dropping a proposed law that would prohibit guns at city
recreation areas. At least one other member of the group was carrying a
concealed gun under a permit that allowed him to do so. Ranson Police
Chief Bill Roper, who appeared obviously tense, stood up when several
gun rights advocates - one of them armed - approached council members to
speak...
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=197708&format=html
---
Olofson Begins 30-Month Term: A Wisconsin man today surrendered to
federal authorities to begin serving a 30-month prison term for having a
broken rifle, prompting the Gun Owners of America to issue a warning
about the owner's liability should any semi-automatic weapon ever
misfire. "A gun that malfunctions is not a machine gun," Larry Pratt,
executive director of GOA, said. "What the [federal Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] has done in the [David] Olofson case
has set a precedent that could make any of the millions of Americans
that own semi-automatic firearms suddenly the owner [of] an unregistered
machine gun at the moment the gun malfunctions."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=68590
---
CCRKBA on NYPD Gun "Mystery": Anti-gun New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
should "mind his own store before telling others how to operate theirs,"
said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, after
an audit found that the New York Police Department lost track of dozens
of guns in its own storage lockers. "While this guy has been bullying
gun dealers around the country about so-called 'slip-shod' operations,"
chuckled CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "his own police department seems
to be slipping quite a bit on its own. Bloomberg needs to back off, shut
up and get his own house in order before telling others how to operate."
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/while-bloomberg-frets-about-our,455585.shtml
---
From Gun Week:
Jay Wallace, 51, owner of Adventure Outdoors, a Smyrna, GA, sporting
goods store that was one of 27 targeted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's
illegal gun campaign, said he will now take the case to appeals court
since he didn't think he could get a fair trial before Judge Jack B.
Weinstein.
"This court has already made up its mind," said Wallace in a news
conference outside the courthouse, according to Newsday.
Wallace's lawyer, John Renzulli, of White Plains, NY, said the federal
appeals court will get to decide whether Weinstein has jurisdiction over
the case.
"There was no chance for a fair trial here," said Renzulli, looking back
over the history of the gun case.
The city had sued a number of gun dealers--mostly in Southern states--on
the grounds that they let guns get into the hands of criminals who later
used them to commit crimes in New York City. All of the dealers but
Wallace had decided to settle the case and consented to have a special
master look over their business dealings.
Meanwhile, Wallace had filed a separate libel against Bloomberg in a
Georgia state court, and that case is still ongoing, despite attempts by
Bloomberg's lawyers to get it moved to Weinstein's federal court in
Brooklyn.
In mid-May, Weinstein had nixed a plan to have Bloomberg testify at the
Adventure Outdoors trial, which was to have taken place with an advisory
jury in front of Weinstein.
"This is an important victory for New Yorkers--as good as a win at
trial--and a validation of our innovative efforts to hold gun dealers
accountable for following federal laws," Bloomberg said.
Six days before the trial was to begin, Weinstein announced that he
would employ the unusual advisory jury arrangement by which, Renzulli
explained, the judge had the power to determine not only the law but
also the facts, either in accordance with or in spite of the jury verdict.
Doubtful of an unbiased ruling by Weinstein, Renzulli and Wallace
countered with an unusual move of their own. With his client's
permission, Renzulli on June 2 said he was backing out of the case,
effectively surrendering Wallace's position in hopes of challenging
Weinstein's decision in the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Wallace said by phone from New York to The Daily Report a day later,
"We've known from the beginning we're going into a court that is not
friendly to the firearms industry. ... The shining light was that we
would have a jury of our peers. I was willing to come to New York and
plead our case. I felt it was so obvious we were right."
But when he found out his jury could only recommend a verdict to
Weinstein, Wallace rethought his position.
"When you take what the judge has written in the past in other cases,
that he feels that the firearms industry is a nuisance to the city of
New York, you can see where this is going," Wallace explained. "Going
through the proceedings of this court was going to cost me $400,000. If
I know I am not going to have a fair trial, I can't afford to spend that
money and end up with the same thing I have today at the appellate level."
This article is provided free by GunWeek.com.
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--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
