More on U.S v. Hayes: ...Although the case has become a part of the
national debate on the 2nd Amendment, Hayes never meant to become a
standard bearer for gun rights, said Giatras, who has been practicing
law since 1990. "His one goal is that he'd like to go hunting again with
his sons," he said. "He didn't set out to somehow change the world.
Nobody did here. All we were trying to do was get [the case] reviewed
for Randy, and we ended up in the Supreme Court." Because it was the
government's appeal, Nicole A. Saharsky, assistant to the Solicitor
General, went first. After about 25 minutes, it was Giatras' turn...
According to a 64-page transcript of Monday's arguments, Giatras
completed three sentences before Justice Antonin Scalia interjected...
From that point on, the justices peppered Giatras with questions, many
concerning the grammar of the federal law. "The grammar issues were
significant because this particular bill, what was introduced was not
what was passed," Giatras said...
http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200811100610
Did the Justices Tip Their Hand?: Thousands of former gun owners who
have a misdemeanor conviction for assaulting or threatening a spouse or
girlfriend could have their gun rights restored because of a flaw in
federal law. That prospect grew more likely yesterday after the Supreme
Court gave a skeptical hearing to a government lawyer who argued that a
crime of domestic violence should result in a loss of gun rights... But
last year, a U.S. appeals court in Virginia cast doubt on the reach of
the law. Its judges decided that the federal gun ban did not cover
misdemeanor convictions involving assault or battery at home. Instead,
it said the federal ban applied only to persons who were convicted under
a state's domestic violence law... Justice Antonin Scalia was unswayed
by that argument. "People are governed by the law that is passed, not by
the law that Congress intended to pass," he said. He and Chief Justice
John G. Roberts Jr. said the law as written appeared to apply only to
domestic violence measures, not the more common assault-and-battery laws...
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08316/927017-84.stm
---
Pennsylvania City Passes Stolen-Gun Ordinance: Gun owners take note: The
Pottsville City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday making
failure to report a stolen firearm a crime. Under the new ordinance, gun
owners have 24 hours to report a missing weapon, under penalty of a $500
fine. Second-time offenders face a $1,000 fine and up to 90 days in
jail... One of those in opposition is Scott Thomas, who serves on the
Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania. Thomas believes it's
unconstitutional for Pottsville to pass any gun law...
http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2008/11/11/news/local_news/pr_republican.20081111.a.pg3.pr11pvilleguns_s1.2080248_loc.txt
---
Wishful Thinking in New Jersey: The press has been full of reports in
recent days of gun shop owners across the country claiming sales have
climbed dramatically since last Tuesday's election. Said owners
attribute this supposed spike to Barack Obama's election as, per the
quoted remarks of a Seattle gun shop owner: "He wants to take our guns
from us and create a socialist society policed by his own police force."
..Overlooking the craziness of this gun retailer's sentiment, I am
highly skeptical of the sales claims. Note that gun dealers are the ones
making them. I've seen this happen numerous times over the years. Gun
dealers have long believed it will gain them more sales if they rouse
the press by claiming a huge spike in sales due to some major event
(9/11, Katrina, Pelosi's ascension as Speaker of the House, Britney and
Justin's break up). And, of course, if you're in a declining industry
and dependent upon lethality for sales and profits, best to try and
scare folks. But, the news is that it's a mainly just a sales technique.
Nothing for the non-gun owning majority of us to be concerned about...
(That's why shelves are empty and NICS has reported an increase in
background checks. However, the increase in legal sales is certainly
nothing that should concern non-gun-owners.)
http://blog.nj.com/njv_bryan_miller/2008/11/postelection_spike_in_gun_sale.html
Related Article:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/11/barack-obama-ha.html
---
California Sheriff Under Fire for CWP Policy: In her first five months
in office, newly appointed Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has
brought in a new management team, fired deputies accused of misconduct
and tried to distance the department from the legacy of her indicted
predecessor, Michael S. Carona. But the most controversy she has
generated has been her decision to review the concealed weapons permits
issued by Carona. Hutchens said she was concerned that more than 1,100
people held concealed carry permits issued by the former sheriff -
nearly three times the number of permits issued in Los Angeles County.
She assigned a lieutenant to review each concealed weapons permit to
determine whether the holder had a valid reason for carrying a weapon in
public and whether these were people whose safety was at risk... (L.A.
County is virtually non-issue for anyone not connected with law
enforcement.)
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gunpermits12-2008nov12,0,2397334.story
---
L.A. Sheriff to Ban Off-Duty Carry When Drinking: The sheriff of Los
Angeles County plans to prohibit his off-duty deputies from carrying
their guns while drinking because several have been accused in recent
years of firing weapons while intoxicated. Sheriff Lee Baca said there
has been a disturbing rise in alcohol-fueled misbehavior among his
deputies. Since 2004, more than a dozen deputies have been accused of
brandishing or shooting a gun while under the influence of alcohol. More
than 60 have been arrested this year on alcohol-related charges, most
for driving under the influence and most of them armed at the time. The
deputies' union opposes the restriction. Union leader Steve Remige said
it would let criminals know that deputies who had put them away would at
times be unarmed.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27658642/
To celebrate his return from a tour of duty in Iraq, Los Angeles County
Sheriff's Deputy Chris Sullivan did what many young Marines do: He went
out with a buddy to have a few drinks. A few, however, became a few too
many. By the end of the evening, after consuming at least 11 drinks,
Sullivan placed his loaded 9-millimeter Beretta into his longtime
friend's mouth and pulled the trigger, prosecutors allege. Sullivan
insists that they were horsing around and that the gun accidentally went
off when the other man grabbed his arm. Regardless of how the gun was
fired, Sullivan's friend was dead and his once promising law enforcement
career was over. As Sheriff Lee Baca looked back on the 2006 shooting,
he said the main culprit was alcohol...
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-influence11-2008nov11,0,50777,full.story
---
Texas Woman Wins New Trial in Self-Defense Claim: For seven years Naomi
Johnson has tried to prove she killed Terry Boulwen in self defense, and
the Ninth District appeals court in Beaumont will let her keep trying.
On Nov. 5 Chief Justice Steve McKeithen and Justice Charles Kreger
awarded a new trial to Johnson, who faced 35 years in prison on a murder
conviction. McKeithen and Kreger held that Jefferson County District
Judge Layne Walker improperly withheld from the jury an instruction on
self defense. Walker "prevented the jury from giving consideration to
acquitting appellant by reason of her immediate need to defend herself
from what she reasonably perceived to be an attempt by T. L. B. to cause
her serious bodily injury or death," Kreger wrote...
http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/215845-appeals-court-jury-not-trial-judge-gets-to-decide-credibility-of-evidence
---
Toy Gun Nets Kindergartner One-Year Suspension: A kindergarten student
with a toy gun in Tennessee has been lumped together with a high
schooler who allegedly assaulted a classmate, a fifth-grader who was
accused of writing a "hit list" of potential victims and another high
schooler who brought a loaded gun clip to school - and all have been
expelled... The offending toy weapon violated the school's
zero-tolerance rules and resulted in a mandatory year-long suspension,
the report said. The report did not reveal the name of the Andersonville
Elementary School kindergarten student, who brought a toy gun in his
backpack on a Thursday, and was expelled on Friday. "There's no
tolerance for kids with weapons of any kind," school spokeswoman Karen
Bridgeman told the newspaper... (I didn't realize that a toy gun was an
actual wepaon.)
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80747
---
Oops, Wrong ATM Patron: Two teens shot during a robbery attempt Friday
apparently followed their victim to his home after seeing him withdraw
money from an ATM miles away, police said. Seventeen-year-old Antonio
Austin was killed in the confrontation. Nineteen-year-old Robert Howez
was shot in the back and taken to the University of South Alabama
Medical Center, where he was listed in fair condition Monday... Barber
declined to identify the 60-year-old man who was the alleged robbery
target, saying the man does not currently face criminal charges in the
shooting, which has been characterized by Mobile County District
Attorney John Tyson Jr. as a case of self-defense...
http://www.al.com/news/press-register/metro.ssf?/base/news/1225793752299790.xml&coll=3
---
Bringing a Smelly Cheese to a Gunfight: A German supermarket cashier
foiled three armed robbers by pelting them with cheese. The masked men
demanded the store's daily takings at gunpoint in Berlin-Wilmersdorf,
but cashier Martina Bolle, 50, refused to hand them over. Instead they
fled when she grabbed packs of cheese from the deli counter and began
bombarding the hapless gunmen with them. "She hit one of them smack in
the face with a very ripe gorgonzola which must have been like getting a
dose of natural CS gas," said one shopper.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3082138.html?menu=news.quirkies
---
Rule Three Reminder: "There was an incident this morning at Ben Gurion
airport when one of [Tony] Blair's bodyguards' guns accidentally went
off," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "An investigation was
opened," he said. Airport authorities said the incident occurred as Mr
Blair was about to board a plane at the international airport near Tel
Aviv with the British guard... The incident will be embarrassing to the
police team guarding Mr Blair after a former member of the security
detail left her gun in a Starbucks lavatory in September. (Rule Three:
Keep your finger out of the trigger guard, up on the frame, until your
sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire. We see one more
example of the effects of Britain's anti-gun culture; reportedly, cops
who show too much enthusiasm for firearms training are removed from the
armed squads.)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/3440304/Tony-Blairs-bodyguard-fires-gun-in-airport.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1084842/Tony-Blairs-bodyguard-triggers-Israeli-airport-panic-gun-goes-off.html
---
As Big Brother Prepares to Assume Command...: Northcom has announced
that two more U.S. military units will be assigned for domestic homeland
security missions, bringing the total number of combat ready service
members operating inside the U.S. to around 4,700, as fears grow about
the increasing militarization of law enforcement. The announcement
follows the controversy surrounding a September 8 Army Times report
(revised on September 30), which revealed that the 3rd Infantry
Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, fresh from combat duties in Iraq,
would be operating inside America for tasks including "civil unrest and
crowd control," a detail that was later denied by Northcom despite the
concession that forces would be armed with both non-lethal and lethal
weapons as well as having access to tanks...
http://ignoranceisfutile.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/two-more-us-military-units-assigned-for-homeland-security/
---
When Guns Are Outlawed...: China's weapons laws are among the world's
toughest. Its blanket ban on private ownership of rifles, pistols and
even gun replicas is a core tenet of social policy. Still, a gun culture
is taking hold. China may be freer from gun crime than many nations, and
official statistics show overall crime on a continuous down trend. Yet,
these days, reports about gun crimes turn up as often as several times a
week even in the tightly controlled state-run media. The reports are
often brief, without much follow-up as cases progress. Still, the
splashy gunfights, murders, gun-factory raids and smuggling busts that
get reported contrast with China's zero-tolerance stance on guns, and
point to changes in criminals' behavior. But the trend is about more
than crime. Guns are now fashionable in paintings and movies, while
Chinese-language Web sites and glossy magazines cater to gun buffs. And
legal shooting clubs in cities let customers fire away at targets for a
fee. Bored with golfing, some affluent businessmen slip into the
countryside for hunts...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122394012224530655.html
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
