"Progressives" Attack Another McCain Aide: In 2007, Sen. Frank
Lautenberg (D-NJ) introduced legislation giving the Justice Department
the discretion to prohibit gun sales to terror suspects. The legislation
was supported by gun-control groups as well as the Bush administration.
Siding with the gun industry in opposing closing this "terror gap" was
Randy Scheunemann, now Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) top foreign policy
adviser. Newsweek reports that Scheunemann lobbied against the bill on
behalf of the National Shooting Sports Foundation... (The last I heard,
suspicion differs legally from a conviction.)
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/08/25/mccain-scheunemann-guns/
---
A New "Progressive" Tack: ...Trafficking should be redefined as selling
out of a home, car, street, or park multiple guns that have two or more
of the following characteristics: obliterated serial numbers, are
stolen, are new in the box, are sold to underage buyers or people with
felony records. This would still allow individuals to sell firearms
privately to people they know or trust, and it would put the onus on
sellers to demand a background check for those they don't
know...Finally, we need to close the gun-show loophole. It is no
coincidence that 13 of the top 14 crime-gun-exporting states do not
require background checks for sales at shows. This loophole is exploited
by buyers who obtain used guns to resell on the streets... (I thought
NYC's Mayor Bloomberg said it was licensed dealers in those states that
supply the guns that get resold on the street.)
http://www.utne.com/2008-09-01/Politics/Shooting-Blanks.aspx
---
Howard University Notes Heller Ruling: According to the Supreme Court,
Americans have the right to own firearms for hunting as well as for
self-defense. On June 26, the court case, District of Columbia vs.
Heller, eliminated D.C.'s 32-year ban of handguns. The ban, which took
effect in 1976 in a city struggling with violence, outlawed private
ownership of firearms. Although the ban was lifted, this 5-4 court
ruling does not guarantee every D.C. resident ownership of a
handgun...Sawed-off shotguns, short-barreled rifles and machine guns are
still prohibited. The firearms in the owners' homes must be stored
unloaded, disassembled with either the trigger lock or gun safe
secured... (Ms. Montgomery fails to note that DC considers virtually all
autoloading pistols to be machine guns.)
http://media.www.thehilltoponline.com/media/storage/paper590/news/2008/08/26/Metro/Landmark.Handgun.Ruling.Lifts.Firearms.Ban-3404136.shtml
---
Georgia Gun Law Has Racist Past: Guns-rights advocates want to change a
state firearms law that they say has a racist past. But black lawmakers
say those advocates are using the story of a Reconstruction-era massacre
of African-Americans to justify letting Georgians tote weapons in
churches and other public places. Next month is the 140th anniversary of
the Camilla Massacre, when a group largely made up of blacks heading to
a Southwest Georgia Republican political rally were shot up by white
locals after being warned not to bring guns to town. Gun-rights
advocates say the September 1868 massacre, in which at least nine
freedmen were killed and up to 25-30 were wounded, led the General
Assembly to ban citizens from carrying firearms at political rallies and
other "public gatherings." The aim, they say, was to keep guns away from
blacks. "It was entirely about race," said Ed Stone, president of
GeorgiaCarry.org...
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/08/22/guns_ban.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
---
A Call for Campus Carry in New Mexico: ...I have a concealed-carry
license for New Mexico, yet I am helpless nine hours a day at my own
work. I am a UNM alumna as well, and I know what it is like to walk the
campus during the winter when it is dark after 5 p.m. - it's scary. I
was so terrified, I usually ran to my dorm. Stand together women, and
demand your right to level the playing field, to have that edge when
your life is at stake. Get your concealed-carry license and have a
fighting chance. I implore President David Schmidly to research the
success rates of self-defense with a handgun and allow staff members,
professors, students and security to conceal and carry a weapon at UNM
to level the playing field against violent and arrogant criminals and to
stand a chance for once. The other way is not working.
http://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2008/08/25/Opinion/Concealed.Weapons.Should.Be.Allowed.On.Unm.Campus-3403052.shtml
---
Nevada May Consider Castle Doctrine: There's a popular phrase that says
"A man's home is his castle." One Valley lawmaker is trying to get a new
law passed that goes even further to protect homes and homeowners'
rights. It's called the Castle Doctrine, and it's been passed in more
than a dozen states, but not without some controversy. The law would
allow homeowners to use deadly force on a home intruder, with no regard
to whether he or she's retreating. "I keep a gun in my house. It's close
at hand. My children are gone, so it's ready ... Not cocked, but it's
ready," said assemblyman Harry Mortenson, D-Nev...
http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/17295874/detail.html#-
---
Poll Claims Decreased Concern Over RKBA: The never-ending battle between
gun control supporters and Second Amendment advocates has nearly fallen
off the charts as a significant issue either in Nevada or the West, a
Review-Journal poll says. Water issues, immigration and climate change
all rate much higher as concerns for residents of Nevada, as well as
neighboring Western states including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah
and Wyoming, according to the poll by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon
Polling & Research Inc...The Nevada poll results show that 14 percent
believe current state gun control laws are too strict, with 41 percent
saying not restrictive enough and 38 percent viewing them as adequate.
The remainder are not sure...
http://www.lvrj.com/news/27343744.html
---
Western Democrats Claim to Support RKBA: "...We understand the realities
of gun ownership and the rights under the Second Amendment, and we
always have," the senator said. "We grew up around guns. It's something
I support and Western Democrats support. So then, the question becomes,
'What are the real issues that people are struggling with?' We have to
turn your attention to huge issues as health care and energy and the
cost of higher education. That's where most of the people are struggling
today..." (As the prospect of serving as Obama's attorney general shines
on the horizon, Arizona's Governor Napolitano seems to have given up any
pretense of supporting the RKBA.)
http://www.chieftain.com/articles/2008/08/26/news/local/doc48b3a3c0d1b90403128513.txt
---
Oops, Wrong Driver: Two assailants picked on the wrong guy when they
confronted a man exiting his car in his driveway in West Hempstead on
Monday night, police said. The 35-year-old homeowner was armed -
carrying his licensed Glock 9-mm pistol. When one of the assailants
fired at the man, he fired back. No one was hit by the gunfire on
Oakford Street before the pair fled. Nassau County police said one of
the attackers, Jose D. Celis, 30, of Woodfield Rd., West Hempstead, was
arrested on nearby Elm Street after a search by Bureau of Special
Operations officers. Police are still searching for the second attacker
in the incident. The attack occurred at 9:25 p.m. Monday as the
homeowner exited his car and was confronted by the two men, police
said... (As John Farnam has pointed out, parking lots and driveways are
among the most common locations for attacks.)
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/ny-lishot0827,0,6328301.story
---
With Friends Like These...: CBS4 has learned at least four people are
under arrest in connection with a possible plot to kill Barack Obama at
his Thursday night acceptance speech in Denver. All are being held on
either drug or weapons charges. CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass reported
one of the suspects told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama
from a high vantage point using a ... rifle ... sighted at 750 yards."
Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one of the suspects "was
directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in
the affirmative." (History has shown that this sort of action is
precisely what is need by the left to usher in more infringements on the
RKBA.)
http://cbs4denver.com/investigates/assisination.plot.obama.2.802827.html
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
