DC Rules Show Battle Is Far from Over: The Supreme Court may have
endorsed an individual right under the Second Amendment to bear arms.
But the District of Columbia certainly isn't leaping to implement that
right. After its defeat in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the
D.C. Council responded by adopting new gun-control regulations that are
only marginally less restrictive than the ones invalidated in Heller.
Undoubtedly, the new regulations - and similar ones in other
jurisdictions - will be challenged in court. It is the outcome of these
future cases that will determine whether Heller has any truly
significant impact. History shows that mere judicial recognition of a
right doesn't guarantee that the right will get meaningful protection.
It is especially unlikely if the right is supported by jurists on only
one side of the political spectrum. Judicially recognized rights also
can get short shrift if the Supreme Court defines their scope narrowly...
http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/PubArticleDC.jsp?id=1202423169218
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Prohibitionists Fight for Gun-Free Zones: Following the U.S. Supreme
Court decision striking down a ban on handguns, gun opponents are
fighting to preserve or expand gun-free zones, igniting battles over
whether civilians should be allowed to carry loaded weapons to places
such as airports, public parks and even the Magic Kingdom...The Supreme
Court ruled last month that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual's
right to own firearms for self-protection, fueling efforts by gun
advocates to overturn gun bans in cities such as Chicago. But some law
professionals said the ruling didn't specifically address how laws
should be applied in particular venues, thus leaving it to lower courts
to decide...
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-gunlaws_bdjul27,0,5208778.story
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Gun Owners Lukewarm to McCain: ...Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg
said the gun lobby's ability to spend huge sums of money could boost
turnout for GOP contender John McCain, who has yet to generate
enthusiasm among many conservatives...Paul Helmke, president of the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a group advocating gun control
measures, said that McCain has in some ways done more than Obama for gun
control. Unlike Obama, Helmke said, McCain has introduced legislation
and done television ads promoting a crackdown on the gun show
loophole... (Perhaps that's only because Obama has not done much about
anything - he certainly has made enough statements about destroying the
RKBA.)
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/5909551.html
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New Anti-RKBA Push in New Jersey: New Jersey's Assembly has
twice-approved legislation limiting people to buying one handgun per
month, but the Senate has never followed suit. Now a state senator and
urban mayors are vowing to push hard to get final approval for the
legislation. "Handgun violence is on the rise, but taking guns off the
streets will help to stop the senseless slaughter of our citizens," said
Sen. Sandra Bolden Cunningham, D-Hudson. "It's common sense." (New
Jersey already has one of the nation's most cumbersome systems to
purchase a handgun legally. I see no common sense in believing that this
restriction will "take guns off the streets.")
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj-xgr--legislativepr0727jul27,0,6777974.story
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Throwing Good Money after Bad: State Police Sgt. Dennis Lyons hunched
over the computer as images of two different handgun shell casings
appeared on a monitor...He placed part of one image atop the other,
showing how he concluded police needed to track down the gun whose shell
casing matched the one from the Utica case. Lyons was using a
computerized gun casing database run by the federal government known as
NIBIN, short for National Integrated Ballistics Information Network.
It's one of two ballistics networks New York police officers use. The
other is the Combined Ballistics Information System, called CoBIS. Now
the state is moving to create another firearms database, using a process
known as microstamping, in which handgun firing pins are affixed with
serial numbers that imprint on each round fired...
http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/07/26/news/local/13761668.txt
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Demand Rises for Guns, Training in Fayeteville: The recent murders of
two Fort Bragg soldiers and a Cary woman have caught the attention of
many people across North Carolina. And in particular, it seems they've
caught the interest of women who fear for their own safety...Weapons
instructor Geary Chlebus used to teach a self-defense class at Jim's
Pawn Shop once a month, but he said now it's in much higher demand.
"Today I had a full class," he said Saturday. "I've had to turn people
away. We are now contemplating having classes twice a week - Saturdays
and Sundays." And he said half of the students he teaches are women. But
these women are doing more than just learning self-defense. They're also
buying more guns...
http://news14.com/content/headlines/597755/self-defense-methods-in-high-demand/Default.aspx
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Ohio Man Charged for Shooting Charging Bear: An eastern Ohio man says he
killed a black bear in self defense because the animal charged at him -
but he's been charged with shooting an endangered animal. John Tanksley
says his dog tried to chase the bear away from his property at
Newcomerstown in Coshocton County but the animal kept coming back. He
says that when he and his girlfriend tried to get the dog back in the
house on Wednesday the bear charged at them. State wildlife officer
Garth Goodyear describes the bear as "man-size" and weighing 165 pounds.
If Tanksley is convicted of the misdemeanor offense he could get up to
one year behind bars and be fined $1,000.
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/homepage/x437282814/-Self-defense-says-Ohio-man-who-killed-black-bear
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
