Mea Culpa: Several list members have pointed out that I erred yesterday
in my comment about obtaining a non-resident New Hampshire Pistol and
Revolver License. The requirement that you have a permit/license from
your home state was apparently amended in 2004. You must have a
permit/license from some other state in order to obtain the non-resident
New Hampshire license. New Hampshire still requires that a permit be
issued by your home state for reciprocal recognition.
http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/nhsp/ssb/permitslicensing/plupr.html
---
House Passes HR 6691: The House moved Wednesday to compel the nation's
capital to broaden the rights of its residents to buy and own firearms,
including semiautomatic weapons. Critics, led by the District of
Columbia's sole delegate to Congress, decried the action. They said the
vote tramples on the District's rights to govern itself and could
endanger both residents and political dignitaries who so often travel
across the city. But the National Rifle Association-backed bill passed
easily, 266-152, with supporters saying they were determined to give
D.C. residents the same Second Amendment right of self-defense that has
been available to other Americans...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,423962,00.html
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/18/house-democrats-push-through-pro-gun-bill/
http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=11548
An Interesting Angle: The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly
yesterday to legalize semiautomatic rifles in the District and repeal
its gun registration laws, but the bill's future appeared in doubt as a
prominent senator announced she would try to block it... He noted that
the vote came hours after Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) signed emergency
legislation that allows city residents to own semiautomatic pistols, the
most common type of handgun. The law still would ban semiautomatic rifles...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091701314.html
Related Editorial:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/17/slow-learners-work-harder/
From SAF: "What did the council expect," observed SAF founder Alan
Gottlieb. "The city has stonewalled, delayed and done everything in its
power to make it difficult for citizens to register legal handguns, and
the House justifiably voted to put an end to that nonsense. The city
council's vote to amend its own restrictive gun registration
requirements was a pitifully transparent attempt to avoid having
Congress take over, and it was too little, too late. Now the House has
rightfully assumed responsibility for enforcing the Second Amendment in
our nation's capitol city...Those Democrats are fully aware that chances
of this bill getting through the Senate during this session of Congress
are virtually nil," Gottlieb added, "but this issue gave them a chance
to cast a pro-gun vote they can brag about on the campaign trail over
the next seven weeks. You can bet your gun collection that Democrat
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will block a vote on this measure."
http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=274
From GOA: ...Today, the U.S. House of Representatives opted to pass
Representative Childers' D.C. gun ban repeal instead of the anti-gun
bill sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton - which would have allowed
D.C. to continue enacting gun control. The bill now goes to the Senate,
but unless there is a ton of pressure put on Majority Leader Harry Reid
(D-NV), the bill will languish in committee. Thankfully, Sen. Kay Bailey
Hutchison (R-TX) is spearheading an effort to get a vote on the
House-passed bill. She is asking her fellow Senators to cosponsor a
letter which she will then deliver to Sen. Reid...
http://www.gunowners.org/a091708.htm
From CCRKBA: When the House of Representatives adopted legislation
Wednesday to force the District of Columbia to abide by a U.S. Supreme
Court ruling on the Second Amendment earlier this year, five Washington
State Democrats turned their backs on their colleagues who supported
this important civil rights measure. The Bellevue-based Citizens
Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said Evergreen State
voters deserve to know why. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb suggested that
voters in the state's First, Second, Sixth, Seventh and Ninth
congressional districts ask Reps. Jay Inslee, Rick Larsen, Norm Dicks,
Jim McDermott and Adam Smith why they have a problem with District of
Columbia residents exercising their right to keep a firearm in their
home for personal protection...
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ccrkba-asks-wa-democrats-why/story.aspx?guid={AD96AA1D-B392-4D93-9350-82D29903D924}&dist=hppr
From the Brady Bunch: "This legislation will endanger public safety in
a city that is already a target for terrorists. It will allow dangerous
people to stockpile dangerous weapons and it will make it harder for the
people of D.C. to combat gun violence in their community. At a time when
we should be taking common sense steps to protect Americans and their
families from gun violence, this is a step in the opposite direction.
The United States Senate should not allow this dangerous bill to move
forward. Instead of allowing the gun lobby to weaken gun laws in our
Nation's Capital, Congress should be strengthening our woefully
inadequate Federal gun laws by requiring background checks for all gun
sales, including at gun shows; closing the gap that gives known or
suspected terrorists an opening to buy guns; and giving law enforcement
more tools to fight illegal gun trafficking."
http://www.bradycampaign.org/media/release.php?release=1010
---
Post-Heller Junk Science: The recent Supreme Court decision concerning
the Washington, D.C. handgun ban, District of Columbia v. Heller, is a
big win for American gun owners because simply banning firearms is no
longer an option. Now that an individual right to arms has been
confirmed by the Supreme Court, firearm prohibitionists can only
accomplish their goal of civilian disarmament by regulating the Second
Amendment out of existence. In order to do this, they must frighten the
public into demanding such strict regulation that possessing firearms,
legally, becomes onerous. This fear can be created by emphasizing the
costs to society of private firearm ownership, while hiding the benefit.
Biased research has been, and now will continue to be, a favorite tactic
that will permit gun-banners to chip away at our Second Amendment rights
by showing the need for one new "reasonable" regulation after another...
http://www.i2i.org/main/article.php?article_id=1515
---
RKBA Emerges as Election Issue: Gun control has suddenly emerged as the
toxic issue of the 2008 presidential campaign, endangering Barack
Obama's appeal among Democratic blue-collar and labor union households.
The freshman Illinois senator has a long record of favoring gun bans in
Chicago and Washington, D.C., and a raft of other gun control bills that
are anathema to gun owners, hunters and sportsmen alike... NRA officials
told me this week they are mounting the biggest anti-gun control
offensive in their history to make sure every gun owner in the country
knows that deep down Mr. Obama does not believe people should own guns...
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/18/gun-control-target-practice/
---
Obama, McCain Interviewed in Field & Stream: Presidential candidates
John McCain and Barack Obama go head-to-head in the October issue of
Field & Stream as they compete for the decisive sportsmen's vote in the
upcoming election. With over 38 million Americans identifying themselves
as outdoorsmen, issues such as conservation, Second Amendment rights,
and the candidates' personal histories as hunters and fishermen will
play a pivotal role in shaping the minds of voters this November.
Historically, sportsmen tend to vote more based on the issues, rather
than party affiliation, making it a critical demographic in this
contested presidential election...
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/senators-mccain-obama-vie-sportsman/story.aspx?guid={5B289DB9-4FD5-47A3-A385-9A23DAB9F8BB}&dist=hppr
---
People Who Live in Glass Houses...: The ATF lost 76 weapons and hundreds
of laptops over five years, the Justice Department reported Wednesday,
blaming carelessness and sloppy record-keeping. Thirty-five of the
missing handguns, rifles, Tasers and other weapons were stolen, as were
50 laptops, the internal audit found. Two of the stolen weapons were
used in crimes. The audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn
A. Fine found "inadequate" oversight of weapons and laptops resulted in
"significant rates of losses" at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives... (It would now seem appropriate for BATFE to
"lose its license" and be forced out of business for improper
record-keeping, as it has done to so many FFL's, for much less serious
lapses.)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080917/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/lost_weapons
---
Oops, Wrong Store, California Version: The owner of A&L Posters had been
the victim of several violent robberies at his store, and reached for a
gun beneath the counter when two would-be thieves tried to take over his
business on Tuesday night. Two armed men burst into the store around 5
p.m. and the owner, whose name was withheld by police, fired at the one
who vaulted over the counter, according to Lt. Mark Foisie. The
intruder, still not identified, died at the scene. His accomplice fled.
The one customer in the store at the time was not hurt. Foisie said the
store had been robbed several times, and on one occasion the owner was
shot at and beaten. (In most jurisdictions, theft is taking something
that does not belong to you, with no intent of returning it. Robbery is
doing so by force or threat of force. The intruders were robbers, not
thieves.)
http://www.kcbs.com/Robbery-Suspect-Killed-by-San-Pablo-Store-Owner/2983146
---
Oops, Wrong Store, Florida Version: Noel Nagi says he was ready to give
the gun-toting would-be robber the cash - about $150. "Just don't do
anything crazy. There's a baby." Around the counter-top corner, Nagi's
7-month-old grandson was perched on his father's knee. His mother,
Nagi's daughter, stood nearby... The father, Yamen Abdelfattah, handed
off the infant to its mother. She rushed him to the closed office in two
steps. The gunman's attention and weapon then returned to Nagi, the
store's owner. And the babe's father, a gun-carrying veteran of the
check-cashing business, pulled his weapon, rounded the corner and fired.
"Five, six times, I don't know. I've never shot someone," 29-year-old
Abdelfattah said, retelling the story Monday morning from the very chair
he and his son were in last night at the shop in suburban Lake Worth at
3747 Military Trail just south of 10th Avenue North...
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/search/content/local_news/epaper/2008/09/15/0915fatalrob.html
---
Oops, Wrong House: A man was fatally shot Tuesday morning after he
reportedly broke into the Big Canoe home of his female business partner.
Dawson County Sheriff's Lt. Tony Wooten said reports indicate that the
man brandished a knife after getting into a fight with the woman, and
that her husband intervened. "The husband...observed the physical
altercation going on," Wooten said. "At that point the male homeowner
fired and fatally wounded the male subject." The name of the victim has
not been released.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=213349&c=10
---
South Dakota Dismisses Felony Charge Against Seattle Officer:
Prosecutors in South Dakota have dismissed a felony assault charge
against a Seattle police detective who shot a member of the Hells Angels
motorcycle club last month during a bar fight. Meade County State
Attorney Jesse Sondreal said Monday that an aggravated-assault charge
against Detective Ron Smith has been dropped because "the investigation
that I have reviewed indicates he was assaulted and it was
premeditated." Earlier this month, Sondreal dropped a felony perjury
charge against Smith in connection with the same incident. Smith still
faces a misdemeanor charge stemming from the shooting of Joseph McGuire
on Aug. 9... (It would seem that Smith does not fall under the
provisions of LEOSA because he was consuming alcohol while carrying a
concealed firearm.)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008182110_sturgis16m0.html
---
Olympian's Shotgun Stolen: The prized shotgun used by an Olympic
champion to win four medals has been stolen from her car, authorities
said... Rhode was shopping for her wedding at a Lake Elsinore outlet
center about 1 p.m. when the theft occurred, said Deputy Herlinda
Valenzuela. When Rhode returned to the parking lot about 2:30 p.m., she
discovered that one of the truck's window was shattered and her shotgun,
locked in a case, had been taken from the back seat, Valenzuela said...
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-olympian13-2008sep13,0,6552651.story
---
Annie, Get Your Gun: Carol Ruh cried the first time that she held a gun.
Visiting a shooting range in Arizona while on holiday with her husband,
her anti-firearms views made the trip an upsetting experience. But after
she told the staff of her discomfort, she underwent an epiphany... Since
that day, Carol's attitudes have changed completely. Having moved to
Phoenix permanently, she now runs classes teaching other female shooters
how to hone their skills and heads a group called the Arizona Women's
Shooting Association. Every time she leaves the house she reaches for
her handbag, her keys and her gun...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/annie_get_your_gun.html
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
