Hurdles Remain for DC Gun Purchasers: District residents who want to
purchase a handgun and legally bring it into the city will have to wait
at least several more weeks while a dealer gets his federal license
renewed, officials said Friday...Because there are no gun shops in the
city, residents seeking to buy a handgun have to travel elsewhere, such
as Maryland or Virginia. Under federal law, people can arrange to
purchase a gun out of state, but the weapon has to be shipped to a
licensed dealer in their home jurisdiction, where the buyer can arrange
to receive it. Charles Sykes Jr. is the only gun dealer in the District
who has expressed interest so far in handling such transactions, said
Mike Campbell, a spokesman for the D.C. field division of the federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. But Mr. Sykes does
not have an active license because his business recently changed
locations...Officer Geri Mack, a Metropolitan Police Department
spokeswoman, said Friday that 195 people have picked up firearms
application packets since the city began registering handguns last week.
Three people have completed the registration process and 12 others are
waiting for final approval. (I find this frighteningly reminiscent of
the 1993 settlement that led the City of Los Angeles to issue a grand
total of about 60 CWP's, most of which were not renewed when a new
police chief took office.)
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/26/hurdles-remain-for-gun-owners/
---
Meanwhile, in Chicago...: Chicago Police will continue to enforce the
city's handgun ban and firearm registration laws while lawyers fight the
pro-gun lobby in federal court. The National Rifle Association and the
Illinois State Rifle Association filed federal lawsuits to shoot down
Chicago's gun laws after the U.S. Supreme Court voided the District of
Columbia's handgun ban last month. City Corporation Counsel Mara Georges
told a City Council committee Thursday that she's prepared to fight
those lawsuits all the way to the Supreme Court...
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1074188,CST-NWS-guns25.article
Scholars Predict Supremes Would Incorporate Second Amendment: ...Georges
says the city is likely to argue that the court's decision applies only
in Washington, a federal territory, and not to the states..."If I were
making policy recommendations to the City of Chicago, it would be back
off this real fast, and just get rid of it before it gets into court,"
says Harry Wilson, a political science professor at Roanoke College in
Virginia, and author of Guns, Gun Control and Elections. Wilson says if
the city followed that path, officials could replace the current
comprehensive ban with limited gun restrictions that would pass muster
in court...University of Chicago law professor Geoffrey Stone also says
the city's argument may run into trouble. "It's more likely than not
that the Court will end up saying that the Second Amendment governs the
states," he says...
http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago_news/Chicago_lays_out_handgun_legal_strategy,15284
---
While in New York City...: ...In the city, owning a rifle in one's home
requires a license costing over $234, six months of background checks
and other bureaucratic hurdles. The licensing process has grown so
burdensome that not only are would-be gun owners forgoing the process,
but even the NYPD has decided to ignore the rifle/shotgun permit when
training new recruits. No other United States locality has such a
difficult process. Chicago, a notoriously anti-gun city, charges only
$10 for a license issued within 30 days or less. The New York City
pistol licensing process is more onerous. There are not enough pages in
this newspaper to fully describe it...Lawsuits are being planned. These
challenges, however, are not a threat to public safety. Overhauling the
city's licensing scheme would allow and encourage New Yorkers to
register their guns and create the accountability gun control advocates
have long sought. After all, most of the illegal guns in the city are
not owned by violent criminals, but honest citizens who do not have the
time, money or legal expertise to navigate successfully through the
city's firearm licensing process.
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2008/07/25/forest_hills_ledger/news/letters/forest_hills_ledger_news_letterscitysgunli07242008.txt
..Unlike Washington, DC, New York does not have a law banning the issue
of permits for individuals to keep a handgun for use in their home or
place of business. The city's dual permitting system allows for more
stringent requirements and higher fees for individuals seeking to apply
for a carry permit. At a recent police ceremony Commissioner Raymond
Kelly stated that the NYPD's corporation counsel was currently
proceeding with an interpretation and analysis of the decision before
making any changes in crime prevention strategies...The number of
concealed carry permits issued for New York City dropped nearly fifty
percent between 2006 and 2004, though 2516 carry permits were issued in
2007. Six times as many permits (14,985) were issued to New Yorkers who
keep guns in their homes. An NRA spokesman criticized the drop in gun
permits in recent years due to higher fees, though Borough President
Marty Markowitz applauded Mayor Michael Bloomberg's variety of
strategies employed in reducing the number of illegal guns available on
the borough's streets.
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2008/07/22/bay_ridge_courier/news/bay_ridge_courier_newslocalreact07172008.txt
---
Open-Carry March in Michigan: Most of us probably don't know it, but
Michigan is among the 44 states where it's legal to carry a gun in
public without a permit. To make that point, about 40 gun advocates
walked out of Richie's Koffee Shop Inc. late Thursday afternoon with
handguns holstered at their sides, part of a small but growing national
movement to stand up for the constitutional right to bear arms. They
strolled down this tidy west Michigan town's main street, barely causing
a stir among passing motorists and pedestrians...Organizers said they
were defying Hastings Police Chief Jerry Sarver, whom they say wants to
stifle their gun rights. Sarver, who's running for Barry County sheriff,
denies that he wants to step on anyone's rights and acknowledged that
Michigan law allows people to carry their handguns in a holster...
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080725/NEWS06/807250352/1008
---
Open-Carry Movement Grows in Texas: Imagine walking down the street and
next to someone with a gun strapped to their hip. It's an image a group
of Texans are hoping to turn into reality and they're gaining support by
the thousands every day. "This is a basic right," said former state
Legislator, Suzanna Hupp. In Texas you can fire a gun, you can buy a
gun, and you can walk around with a gun, but only if you have a
concealed carry permit and the gun is out of sight... Hupp helped pass
the current concealed carry law in the mid 90's. "It wasn't blood and
chaos in the streets when we enacted the concealed carry," said Hupp.
Now she wants more. "We should allow people to carry. That means in
their pocket, in their purse, on their forehead, on their hip. I don't
care how they carry. If they can legally own a gun I think they should
be able to carry it in public," said Hupp...
http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories/072408kvueopencarry-sb.8aaac2f3.html
---
Oops, Wrong House, Alaska Version: A Juneau man shot and injured a bear
who he says had entered his residence. Local police haven't identified
him. They say the man shot the bear in the face with a .45 semiautomatic
handgun. Officers have been unable to locate the injured bear. Sergeant
Chris Burke says the man reported being woken up by a noise in his
residence. The man told authorities that when he got out of bed the bear
was about four feet into the home. The bear turned and ran back toward
the porch. When the man yelled at the bear to encourage it to leave, the
bear turned around and lunged and that's when the man shot it. Sergeant
Burke says officers tracked a blood trail for the bear, but haven't
found it.
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=8729227
---
Oops, Wrong Store, NYC Version: Some storeowners in Brooklyn who were
fed up with thieves took matters into their own hands. The episode of
vigilante justice was caught on tape, as two brothers used machetes and
large knives to fend off three criminals, who also had weapons of their
own. As the camera rolled, the lines between good and evil were drawn....
http://wcbstv.com/cbs2crew/vigilante.justice.nyc.2.779774.html
---
Robberies in Gun-Free Zones: Two more businesses where legal concealed
carry is banned were robbed last week in Ohio. A BMV office on the east
side of Columbus (a victim zone by statute) was robbed on the same day
as a branch of Fifth Third Bank, which is a "gun free" zone due to the
company's private policy. Clearly, it doesn't matter why concealed carry
is forbidden at a location, because the results are usually the same.
Only the criminal will be armed despite the signs or laws that ban
ownership of firearms to people with a felony conviction. In both of
these cases the patrons were left at the whim of a street thug because
honest people follow the law and criminals don't... (I assume that "BMV"
is Bureau of Motor Vehicles.)
http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/5849
---
Indiana Woman Indicted in Road-Rage Shooting: Yalanda Parrish, of
Jeffersonville, was indicted Monday for her involvement in a June 17
road-rage incident. The grand jury charged the 39-year-old Parrish with
aggravated battery, a class B felony, and criminal recklessness, a class
C felony. Parrish admitted to shooting Wesley Mosier Jr., 52, of Corydon
after he got off his motorcycle and approached her SUV at 10th Street
and Allison Lane in Jeffersonville...
http://www.newsandtribune.com/clarkcounty/local_story_204115204.html?keyword=topstory
---
Chattanooga Police Get Bushmaster Rifles: ..."(Columbine) caused a
dramatic shift in deployment of officers on active shootings," he said.
"Officers are trained that, as soon as they get a sufficient number for
an approach, they're to form a team, enter and engage those people."
Officers cannot, however, respond to those scenes armed only with
handguns, which are no match for shooters with high-powered weapons,
Chief Rawlston said...To prepare for such situations, the Chattanooga
department is outfitting each patrol officer and patrol sergeant with an
urban assault rifle. "It allows us to get our officers on an even
footing with the people they deal with on the streets," Chief Rawlston
said. "I do not want to ask my officers to go into an active shooter
situation and take on a person armed with an assault rifle and my
officers have a handgun. I don't want my officers to be at a disadvantage."
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jul/23/chattanooga-police-unveil-new-assault-rifles/?local
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jul/24/chattanooga-police-officers-training-new-assault-r/?local
---
Innovative Cleaning Method: Vietnam veteran Bob Rieser raised the rifle
and fired three blank rounds into the air outside the Veterans of
Foreign Wars post in Cape Coral. Then, he walked back inside. Before
long, the place was surrounded by more than a dozen police cars...Rieser
said he was loading seven rifles with blanks Tuesday. The rifles were to
be used by an honor guard Wednesday during a funeral service for an Army
veteran. The seventh rifle jammed, so he went outside and fired it to
clear the chamber, Rieser said. "I've been doing the same thing for two
years," he said...Rieser said police advised him to call them first
before he again tries to fire blanks...
http://news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080724/NEWS0101/807240352
---
NRA-ILA Alerts: Alerts for the week are posted on the NRA-ILA website.
http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx
---
From AzCDL:
As most of you have probably heard by now, Arizona has become the scene
of yet another campus shooting. On Thursday, July 24, a 22 year old
opened fire on the campus of South Mountain Community College in
Phoenix, in what police are describing as a continuation of an argument
with another person in a classroom on the campus. Thankfully, none were
killed, although three people were wounded. Though firearms are banned
on campuses throughout the state in accordance with the policies of the
Arizona Board of Regents, in yet another stunning example of the
obvious, only the law-abiding are adhering to these rules.
During the last session of the legislature, AzCDL attempted to get SB
1214 to the Senate floor for a debate and vote. As you may recall, this
was Sen. Karen Johnson's bill that would have allowed law-abiding
citizens with CCW permits to carry concealed weapons on college and
university campuses. Unfortunately, due to staunch opposition from
anti-rights groups, certain law enforcement associations, and the
administrative officers of several of the universities, all of the
Democratic Senators, and several of the so-called "moderate"
Republicans, lined up against the bill, so the Senate leadership refused
to bring it to a vote.
Had this bill successfully passed the legislature, and somehow avoided
the veto pen of our Governor, perhaps there might have been some
deterrent effect in place for a young man whose only apparent desire was
to continue an argument. Unfortunately, given the existing situation, he
was able to escalate that argument to an extreme level, largely because
he knew that no one would be around who was able to properly resist
him. Even had he not been deterred by the likelihood of armed
resistance, at least someone with proper training might have been able
fight back and subdue him. As it was, he escaped long before police
arrived on the scene, and was only apprehended later.
We believe that it's far past time to take our schools back. We
wholeheartedly agree with the opponents of SB 1214 that our schools and
universities should be safe havens, free from the scourge of violence
and lawlessness. Where our views diverge is how to get there from
here. Putting up a sign that says "Gun Free Zone" has had the perverse
effect of increasing school shootings, which should surprise no one.
After all, criminals don't obey laws. That's why we call them
criminals. The sign may as well read "Disarmed Victim Zone". If the
opponents of SB 1214 truly believe that removing guns from the hands of
the law-abiding makes people safer, than we'll expect them to promote a
bill that takes guns away from policemen. We won't be holding our breaths.
Given these realities, we ask you to please stand ready to support our
"school carry" initiative during the next legislative session. We told
them last year that we weren't going away, and we meant it!
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.
The Shooting:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,390984,00.html
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/91950.php
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/07/26/20080726shootingfolo0726.html
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
