Preemption Battle Shapes Up in Washington State: ...In a state where
more than 239,000 residents have permits to carry concealed weapons -
and many consider a gun in their pocket a better deterrent to street
crime than any law the mayor may think up - the proposal appears almost
certain to become a local gun control battle in a year when the courts
and possibly the administration of President-elect Barack Obama are set
to redefine the national debate... In Seattle, the battle will be over a
Washington state law that specifically reserves the "entire field of
firearms regulation" to the state. Last month, the state attorney
general's office issued an opinion that Nickels could not legally
preempt state law with the handgun ban...
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guns25-2008nov25,0,2650424,full.story
From CCRKBA:
Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has launched an attack on law-abiding gun
owners who either live in the city, or visit there, by forging ahead
with a plan to ban all firearms, including those legally carried by
law-abiding citizens. He is doing this in defiance of an opinion from
Attorney General Rob McKenna that such a ban would be illegal under
Washington State's model preemption statute.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms encourages
Washington State residents, and citizens from across the country who
regularly visit Seattle, to submit comments to the city via its website:
www.seattle.gov/firearmsrule
On December 15, 2008, a public hearing will be held in the Bertha Knight
Landes room at Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Avenue, with sign-in
beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Mayor Nickels' proposed plan would impair the rights of citizens to bear
arms, as affirmed by Article 1, Section 24 of the Washington State
Constitution. He would prevent citizens licensed to carry firearms in
public places from exercising that right on city-owned property,
including city parks and the Seattle Center.
Citizens may also e-mail Mayor Nickels directly:
seattle.gov/mayor/citizen_response.htm
You may also call the Mayor's office: (206) 684-4000.
---
Surge in Washington CPL's: A combination of political and economic
reasons have people reaching for their guns on a scale that has not been
seen since September 11th of 2001. As the 2008 year comes to a close,
hundreds of people are applying for concealed weapons permits. While
most of us are cutting back on the things we buy, guns or gun permits
are not one of them... People with previous felonies, mental problems,
or domestic violence can't get one. Despite the $55 price tag, the
number of applicants has jumped from 25 a week in September to 50 per
week in October. The week Barack Obama was elected, 133 people asked for
a license to carry a concealed handgun...
http://www.kxly.com/Global/story.asp?S=9409673&nav=menu683_2_6
---
Minnesota CCW Five Years Later: Gun enthusiasts said it would deter
crime. Gun-control advocates said the measure would increase it,
spawning needless deaths. But Minnesota's permit-to-carry handgun law
appears to have done neither, according to an analysis of state crime
statistics. Instead, it has accomplished something else entirely in the
five years since it was enacted: It's kept clerks at sheriffs' offices
hopping busy with paperwork. In anticipation of the five-year renewal
deadline, the Dakota County sheriff's office added a second clerk to
handle permit applications and background checks for residents who wish
to carry their guns in public. But the rush hasn't been as heavy as
expected...
http://www.twincities.com/ci_11059018?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com
---
Soccer Mom Sues Sheriff Who Revoked CWP: A Pennsylvania woman sued a
sheriff Monday who revoked her concealed-weapons permit after she upset
fellow parents by wearing her holstered pistol to her 5-year-old
daughter's soccer game. Meleanie Hain alleges in the federal lawsuit
that Lebanon County Sheriff Michael DeLeo violated her Second Amendment
rights and prosecuted her maliciously when he took away her permit in
September. Hain, 30, successfully appealed the revocation last month,
although the judge who restored her permit questioned her judgment and
said she "scared the devil" out of others who attended the Sept. 11
soccer game...
http://www.newsmax.com/us/soccer_mom_gun/2008/11/24/154833.html
---
23 Other States Now Recognize West Virginia CWP: Louisiana is the latest
state to honor a concealed weapons reciprocity agreement with West
Virginia. Twenty-two other states also allow West Virginians with valid
concealed weapons permits to legally carry hidden handguns in their
states. The West Virginia Legislature directed the state Attorney
General's office last year to work out agreements with other states.
Attorney General Darrell McGraw says negotiations with other states are
ongoing.
http://www.dailymail.com/News/200811240667
Press Release Lists Reciprocal States:
http://www.wvago.gov/press.cfm?ID=455&fx=more
---
Oops, Wrong House, Arkansas Version: Little Rock Police are
investigating an apparent home break-in turned shooting that left one of
two intruders dead. It happened this morning just after midnight in the
Broadmoor neighborhood off South University. Police were called to a
home on Rosemont Drive where they say the homeowner had shot Roderick
Jacobs, 19, of Little Rock. He died after being taken to the hospital.
The homeowner told police he opened fire after Jacobs and another man
broke into his home through the kitchen door.
http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/news/?cid=154661
---
Oops, Wrong House, California Version: A 60-year-old man armed himself
with a handgun and shot at someone who had broken into his home Sunday
morning, the Stockton Police Department reported. The man and his
57-year-old wife were asleep inside their home on the 2300 block of Lido
Circle about 4:50 a.m. Sunday when they heard a window break. The man
got a handgun, confronted the burglar and ordered him to get down on the
ground, according to police. The burglar refused and pointed another
handgun at the 60-year-old victim. The victim then fired several times.
The suspect escaped out a window and fled south toward March Lane,
police reported...
http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081124/A_NEWS02/81123003/-1/A_NEWS
---
Oops, Wrong House, Indiana Version: An unidentified man was shot in the
face early Monday after a Glen Ryan resident confronted him during a
break-in, police said. The 20-year-old resident told Detective Cpl. Dan
Callahan he heard noise and breaking glass about 12:25 a.m. and went to
the porch, where he saw the would-be burglar. Callahan said the victim
shouted at the intruder to leave, but instead the man turned and started
walking toward him. Police did not learn the identity of the shooting
victim, who was flown to a Chicago hospital where he is being treated
for the gunshot wound...
http://www.post-trib.com/news/lake/1297668,gcops.article
---
Oops, Wrong House, Ohio Version: A 15-year-old shot a burglar late
Friday night after the burglar and two cohorts broke into the teen's
West Side home, police said Monday. The teenager and his 14-year-old
brother were home alone when three men came to the house, police said.
The teens recognized two out three of the men, according to their
mother, who spoke with the Star Beacon Monday... When the boys refused
to let the men in the house, one of the men took the butt of a shotgun
and smashed the window out of the front door, police said. That's when
the older boy ran upstairs to retrieve his father's handgun, his mother
said...
http://www.starbeacon.com/local/local_story_329230719.html
---
Oops, Wrong House, Tennessee Version: Metro police said the victim of a
home invasion turned the tides on his intruder. Rather than running, the
homeowner shot the burglar. John Lewis is sick and tired of being the
victim. He said burglars have broken into his home four times this year.
Lewis said it was about time the suspect got the raw end of the deal.
"You got to be able to protect yourself," he said. To a thief, Lewis
may look like an easy target. On Sunday, the 69-year-old Air Force
veteran shot a hole through that reputation. "I mean I'm not going to
sit here and let somebody rob me over and over and over again," he
said... (Hmm. Cocked hammer, hair trigger, .357 Magnum - do I smell a
lawsuit?)
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=9409212
---
Oops, Wrong House, Texas Version: ...Guzman kept peering out his
windows, and that's when he saw 18-year-old Adrian Hardaway walk towards
his backyard. Out of fear Guzman grabbed his gun. "I opened up the door
and yelled at him and I just told him to get away. I looked and he was
pointing his gun at me and I had mine and I warned him to get away. I
looked again and that's when he had his gun and I thought he was going
to shoot me - so I shot him," said Guzman...
http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=9408092&nav=menu69_2_9
---
While in DC...: Tiffany Gates was so afraid for her life that she began
making her own funeral arrangements. The 33-year-old had been stalked by
her former boyfriend, who relatives said abused her for at least a year.
In August, he set her Southeast Washington apartment on fire. On Friday,
authorities said, he stabbed her to death after she dialed family
members and 911. Gates was on the phone with a federal marshal as she
was being attacked. "He is here and kicking my door in," she told him.
The marshal called for backup, but by the time he and D.C. police
entered the building a short time later, Gates lay dying...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/24/AR2008112402763.html?hpid=moreheadlines
---
Rule Five Reminder: Shannon McRae went out for her Saturday morning run
and found a weapon in the road - a rifle, property of the Salt Lake
County Sheriff Office's SWAT team. "This is something that is
devastating to us in law enforcement," said Levi Hughes of the Sheriff's
Office. Hughes said M4 assault rifle was left in the road last night
after the swat team was called out on a standoff in White City. The
standoff ended peacefully, but somehow, just a few houses down the
street where the swat team was breaking down their gear, one of the
veteran team members forgot his own rifle... (Rule Five: Maintain
control of your firearm.)
http://www.abc4.com/content/news/top%20stories/story.aspx?content_id=bcb1bd45-2ca5-42ce-8510-a099a1549218
---
Chicago Teens Protest Police Rifles: Nearly 100 teens marched outside
Chicago police headquarters Thursday night to protest the department's
plans to equip officers with semi-automatic rifles, saying the weapons
could make the streets more dangerous... "The only people who need these
guns are in Iraq," said Arthur McGraw, 19, an organizer with the
nonprofit Southwest Youth Collaborative, which organized the rally.
"It'll shoot through brick, car doors. Say your family is in the house
eating and there's some gang violence. When they shoot these [the
bullets] can come into your house and shoot your kids." ... (Where have
I heard that line about these rifles only belonging in Iraq before?)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-assault-rifles-copsnov21,0,6943772.story
---
When Guns Are Outlawed...: The blanket ban on handguns following the
massacre of 16 children in Dunblane in 1996 means Britain has some of
the toughest controls yet street gun crime has risen inexorably. If you
get shot today in London, Manchester or Liverpool, chances the weapon
will be a converted handgun. The conviction of a 13 year-old boy in
south London last week for possession of a converted Russian CS gas
pistol, highlighted the pervasive use of these weapons and underlined
the government's failure to check Britain's growing gun culture...
http://www.newstatesman.com/law-and-reform/2008/11/converted-weapons-britain-gun
---
Three Agencies Switch to S&W M&P Pistols: Smith & Wesson Holding
Corporation (Nasdaq: SWHC), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., the
legendary 156-year old company in the global business of safety,
security, protection and sport, announced today that it has recently
filled orders from three state agencies for duty firearms for its
Military & Police (M&P) Pistol Series. Smith & Wesson has filled an
order from the Washington Department of Corrections for 500 M&P pistols
chambered in 9mm. In addition, the company also recently shipped 555
M&P357 pistols to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Services, as
well as 100 M&P45 pistols to the Wisconsin Department of Criminal
Investigations. Each of the three agencies converted to the M&P pistols
from non-Smith & Wesson firearms...
http://www.sunherald.com/448/story/976353.html
---
Ultralight Caution: Was speaking with my long distance shooting/ loading
partner. He had recently purchased a M327 nominally used, but looking
unfired. He broke in the bbl carefully ( too much time on his hands, but
he wanted to), then was testing various loads that showed no pressure
signs at all in his M28. After about 300 rds started to FTF . He sent to
S&W . He was told the frame was stretched, and needed replacement . He
was told they would replace the frame THIS TIME, but didn't want to hear
about it again. The S&W rep said there lots of M327's coming back for
same thing. Jess thought the rep wanted to say more, but couldn't. The
rep then commented that it would be a good thing to speak with Sierra .
Jess then called the Sierra Ballistican, and got an earfull. Seems the
Sc framed .357s are definately carry a lot, shoot little, barely able to
contain new wave 35,000 psi. The Sierra man said he would only
personally use .38 level loads in one...
http://www.stoppingpower.net/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=16148
---
Tangentially Related: Anti-democratic judicial activists who place a
premium on abstract notions of "human rights" at the expense of what
constitutional texts actually say are spreading abroad at a time when
U.S. courts have begun to re-discover "orginalism," Supreme Court
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said in a speech Saturday... In the
case of District of Colombia v. Heller, where the Supreme Court, in a
5-4 decision, ruled that the Second Amendment protected the right of an
individual to maintain possession of a firearm for private use, both the
majority and dissenting opinions incorporated an "originalist" approach
to interpretation, said Scalia. "So maybe the original meaning of the
Constitution is back," he said. "You can disagree on what the original
meaning is, of course. But we ought to have a system in which we all
agree upon what we are looking for, what the interpreted text is. It's
not an area where you want to let a thousand flowers bloom."
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=39918
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
