Heller Sues Again: The plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that struck
down Washington, D.C.'s 32-year-old handgun ban filed a new federal
lawsuit Monday, alleging the city's new gun regulations still violate an
individual's right to own a gun for self-defense. Dick Heller and two
other plaintiffs argue that the city's regulations are "highly unusual
and unreasonable" in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court. The
lawsuit claims the District of Columbia continues to violate the intent
of the Supreme Court's June 26 decision by prohibiting the ownership of
most semiautomatic weapons, requiring an "arbitrary" fee to register a
firearm and establishing rules that make it all but impossible for
residents to keep a gun in the home for immediate self-defense...

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202423333307&rss=newswire
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/29/heller-others-challenge-semi-automatic-ban/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/28/ST2008072801464.html
http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/washington_gun_ban/2008/07/28/117034.html
http://reason.com/blog/show/127785.html

The Filing:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/0728heller.pdf
---

From GOA: In open defiance of the Supreme Court's decision striking
down the Washington D.C. gun control law, the City Council passed an
"emergency" law that keeps in place almost all of the law that was ruled
unconstitutional. For example, though the Court ruled specifically that
the city's ban on handguns violated the Second Amendment, most handguns
still cannot be registered because D.C. bureaucrats classify
semi-automatic pistols as "machine guns." Even Dick Heller, who brought
the case against Washington's gun ban, was rejected when he tried to
register his handgun because any "bottom loading" firearm is a "machine
gun" according to the D.C. police...Congress needs to repeal the
District's gun control law to ensure that the Supreme Court decision is
not a hollow victory...

http://www.gunowners.org/a072808.htm
---

The Morton Grove Ban Is Dead: Morton Grove's landmark handgun ban,
imposed 27 years ago, died quietly Monday night, as the suburb's Village
Board bowed to a new legal reality and repealed the ordinance. The
board's 5-1 vote came in response to last month's ruling by a divided
U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a similar ban. The high court ruled
that the 2nd Amendment protects a person's right to own a firearm for
self-defense. Fighting in court to try to keep the law would cost money
the village does not have, officials said...Morton Grove adopted the
nation's first ordinance banning the possession of handguns in 1981,
triggering a storm of publicity and a nationwide debate over the merits
of using local ordinances to control gun ownership. The ordinance was
upheld in 1984 by the Illinois Supreme Court...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-morton-grove-guns-both-29jul29,0,5742213.story
---

Obama Stimulates Texas Gun Sales: Austin-area firearms dealers may have
the Democrats to thank for brisk sales this summer. The prospect that
the next presidential administration might favor new gun-control laws
has gun enthusiasts bringing dollars and concerns to local firearms
stores ahead of the November election. Some Central Texans have been
talking about laws from the 1990s - passed under a Democratic president
and Congress - that restricted semiautomatic rifles, governed the sale
of high-capacity magazines and mandated waiting periods before customers
could receive handguns. Their worries have translated into higher sales
at local gun stores, store owners say...

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/29/0729guns.html
---

Montana Group Splits with NRA over Endorsement: An outspoken Montana gun
group is endorsing Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown,
splitting from the National Rifle Association, which endorsed Gov. Brian
Schweitzer. The Montana Shooting Sports Association says Schweitzer did
not fill out its questionnaire on gun issues. Association president Gary
Marbut says the NRA got the endorsement wrong and says NRA endorsements
have very little value. The NRA endorsed Schweitzer in May, although it
had in the past also given Brown "A" ratings in his role as state
legislator. The NRA says that in races with multiple gun-friendly
candidates, its endorsement goes to the incumbent.

http://www.kxmb.com/News/259998.asp
---

When Guns Are Outlawed...:  A Japanese woman went on a stabbing rampage
at a crowded train station, wounding seven men after failing to slash
her own wrist, police said Tuesday. The woman attempted to cut her wrist
with an army knife at a shopping mall Monday night near the train
station in Hiratsuka, 43 miles southwest of Tokyo, but someone bumped
into her and she became angry, said police official Hidetoshi
Yukitake...The stabbing was the latest in a spate of similar attacks in
Japan.
Seven people were killed in Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district on June
8 when a man slammed a truck into a crowd of people, jumped out and
began stabbing passers-by at random.

http://www.azstarnet.com/news/250270
---

Tangentially Related: This is an interesting article about developing
and maintaining hand strength. This is a particularly crucial issue for
women who shoot, particularly as they go through middle age. (I have
some related comments at http://www.spw-duf.info/emperor.html#strength
but they do not fully address the issue of extension of the hand.)

http://www.lawofficer.com/news-and-articles/columns/Wills/you_never_think_about_us.html
---

From JPFO: Do you shoot at a public range? Can your neighbors and
others hear you shooting? If so, then you must read this alert and take
action today! By now you will have heard about David Olofson, who loaned
his semiautomatic AR15 rifle to an unsavory character working with the
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, a runaway
rogue agency the very existence of which is a violation of the
Constitution... Here is what you need to do - at minimum - today!
Purchase, borrow, or rent a video camera and make a recording of the
operation of each weapon you own that might be reengineered to fire more
than once with a single pull of the trigger. You probably don't need to
worry about single-shot shotguns, rifles, or pistols. Slide-action or
bolt-action rifles and shotguns are probably okay, as well...

http://www.jpfo.org/alerts02/alert20080728.htm
---

From SAF: The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), in cooperation with
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), is hosting a forum
"Supporting Concealed Carry on Campus" on Friday, Aug. 1 at the National
Press Club in Washington, D.C., 1-5 p.m. This event will feature a Gun
Free Zones debate between Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign
to Prevent Gun Violence, and John Lott, senior research scientist at the
University of Maryland. The debate will be moderated by SCCC President
Michael Guzman...

http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=273

--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY

Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.

http://www.spw-duf.info