A Right to Carry Guns in Public: In keeping one's eye on the ferment in
lower courts on gun issues post-Heller, Eugene Volokh at the Volokh
Conspiracy finds an interesting footnote in a U.S District Court for
Utah memorandum opinion and order... "By itself, mere possession of a
firearm in public is not unlawful and may well represent the exercise of
a fundamental constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment to
the United States Constitution..... See District of Columbia v. Heller,
128 S. Ct. 2783, 2799 (2008)..."
http://reason.com/blog/show/130508.html
---
Meanwhile, in Georgia...: GCO settled the federal lawsuit in Richmond
County involving Staff Sergeant Zachary Mead, who had his firearm seized
while carrying it openly outside Kroger. Richmond County consented to an
Order declaring the seizure to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment,
paying damages, court costs, and attorney fees. More importantly,
Richmond County has assured GCO that it has no policy of detaining
Georgians merely for carrying a firearm...
http://www.georgiacarry.org/cms/2008/12/10/gco-settles-man-with-a-gun-lawsuit/
---
Campus-Carry Bill Expected in Texas: Last June, when the U.S. Supreme
Court struck down a Washington, D.C., ban on handguns, some state
legislators and legal experts thought the high court's ruling affirmed
Americans' right to own firearms and saw no need for any gun legislation
in next year's session of the Texas Legislature. But Sen. Jeff
Wentworth, author of last year's castle doctrine law - which gives
Texans the right to attack an intruder if they feel threatened at their
home, business or car - says Texas needs at least one more gun law, and
he is planning to author it. The San Antonio Republican is drafting a
bill that, if the Legislature approves and Gov. Rick Perry signs into
law, would allow Texans with concealed gun permits to carry their
weapons on college campuses, where concealed weapons are now prohibited...
http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/120808/loc_364957324.shtml
---
Colorado Students to Sue for Campus Carry: Representatives from Students
for Concealed Carry on Campus said they will file a lawsuit Thursday
asking the court to strike down the University of Colorado's concealed
carry ban. The Colorado Springs chapter of the Students for Concealed
Carry on Campus has argued before, to the school's regents, that
gun-free zones on college campuses translate into a ban on self-defense.
Members want the university to loosen gun-control rules and allow those
with handgun permits to pack heat on campus. The group, represented by
Mountain States Legal Foundation, said it will file the lawsuit in El
Paso County District Court...
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/dec/10/group-file-lawsuit-challenging-cus-gun-laws/
---
More Missourians Seek Carry Permits: Missourians are doing more to
protect themselves from burglaries and other crimes. They're carrying
concealed weapons, legally... It's 40 days until Barack Obama's
administration, and many Missourians are applying for a conceal and
carry permit. "Based on voting record and past statements, a lot of
people feel that President-elect Obama is going to interfere with our
gun rights," Oliver said. Since the fall there's been an increase in
these Conceal and Carry courses. Oliver has doubled the amount of
classes he offers, and in those classes, the amount of students has also
doubled. About one in 20 Missourians have Conceal and Carry permits,
which doesn't bother Columbia's top cop. "That's not something that is
counterproductive to us," Capt. Tom Dresner of the Columbia Police
Department said... (As I recall, many Missouri residents have preferred
to carry on permits from other dates, such as Florida.)
http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/ba8a4513-c0a8-2f11-0063-9bd94c70b769/241740ce-80ce-0971-00ea-3681cfaef78e
---
Gun Shop Sued for Ammunition Sale: An Overland Park gun shop is being
sued for it's possible role in the 2007 Ward Parkway shootings that left
three people dead. The shooting rampage ended at the Ward Parkway
Shopping Center in April 2007. In the end, three people were killed and
several others were injured including a cop... In a wrongful death
lawsuit, the plaintiff claims the Bullet Hole Gun Shop negligently sold
Logsdon the cartridges used to fire the gun with a stolen credit card.
Police reports show the credit card belonged to Patricia Reed. "And,
here you have a man who is not Patricia Reed using this credit car
obviously not the card holder," said James... (By this logic, gas
stations should be liable for selling gasoline to drunk drivers.)
http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=D133F47C6F1B7BB75607B9B27831C35E?contentId=8035357&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=1.1.1&sflg=1
---
Pro-RKBA Police Chief at Center of Case: A longtime advocate of people
learning how to shoot guns, Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury has been
publicly critical in the past of laws that seemed aimed at restricting
citizens from possessing them. Now, he is at the center of a case that
could lead to changes in state law following his indictment last week on
an involuntary manslaughter charge in connection with the death of an
8-year-old boy at a Westfield gun fair...
http://www.amherstbulletin.com/story/id/121020/
---
Oops, Wrong House: Residents of Gilbert's Country Shadows community are
amping up security in their homes in the wake of a neighbor's shooting
of a suspected burglar earlier this week. Until the shooting, Country
Shadows, near Val Vista Drive and Riggs Road, had been the kind of
neighborhood where you could leave garage doors open, neighbors said.
That won't be the case any longer, said Crystal Taylor, who lives down
the street from the shooting scene. She said she's going to start making
sure to close the garage door after getting home... On Tuesday, a
resident of a house on the 3000 block of East Ravenswood Drive shot the
suspected burglar twice after the suspect forced his way into the house,
police said. They withheld the resident's name...
http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/articles/2008/12/11/20081211gr-shootingreaction1212.html
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/132122
---
More Warning Shots: A Dupo resident fought back and made a citizen's
arrest when a man attempted to rob his home in the middle of the day...
When the homeowner, whose name was not released by the St. Clair County
Sheriff's Department, retrieved his gun and returned to the door his
dogs started barking. That's when he noticed Kirk and the van were gone.
He then saw the van backed up to his garage and Kirk using a crow bar to
try to open the homeowner's garage door. The homeowner called 911 to
report the crime in progress and then fired two rounds into the ground
near Kirk... (While "warning shots" into the ground are probably safer
than those fired into the air, bullets can definitely ricochet off dirt
surfaces if they strike at narrow angles.)
http://www.bnd.com/breaking_news/story/575306.html
---
Meet the New California Rifle and Pistol Association: Founded way back
in 1875, the California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA) is an
organization of sportsmen dedicated to the preservation of our American
heritage. In this age of constant political attacks on the rights of
law-abiding citizens to own and use firearms for legitimate purposes,
the CRPA is the state organization dedicated to protecting firearm
freedoms and promoting shooting sports solely in the State of
California... (As a life member of CRPA, I fail to find anything in this
news release identifying what's new about the CRPA. I have to wonder if
this is an attempt to head off the formation of a California Citizens
Defense League. The Virginia Citizens Defense League and Arizona
Citizens Defense League have supplanted the NRA affiliates as the
primary RKBA lobbyists in their respective states.)
http://www.pr.com/press-release/121555
---
Phony Gun Group in Oregon: Oregon Firearms Federation supporters have
received, or soon will receive, a Political Action Committee mailing
from us urging them to take advantage of Oregon's PAC tax credit law to
support gun rights at no cost to them. Many will also be receiving a
letter asking for donations to the political action committee of a group
called "Oregon Gun Owners." "Oregon Gun Owners" is not affiliated in any
way with OFF. "Oregon Gun Owners" is the organization that helped write
HB2535 in 1999. This bill was intended to end private sales at gun shows
and require that your firearms be kept locked up. When OFF killed that
bill in the 1999 session, "Oregon Gun Owners" attempted to place a
measure on the 2000 ballot to achieve similar ends, but failed to
collect enough signatures. A similar measure authored by Ginny Burdick
made the ballot and was passed into law as Ballot Measure 5...
http://oregonfirearms.org/alertspage/12.10.08%20Alert.html
---
From GOA-PVF:
Gun Owners of America Political Victory Fund E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Pl Suite 102
Springfield VA 22151
(703) 321-8585
http://www.goapvf.org
Thursday, December 11, 2008
With many gun owners and sportsmen focused on the presidential election
results -- and for good reason, as the Obama presidency promises to be
the most anti-gun in history -- it is easy to overlook the few but
significant victories gun owners and sportsmen won in the
2008 elections.
In December, gun owners scored two important wins.
Most recently, John Fleming won a December 6 runoff election by a razor
thin margin in Louisiana's Fourth Congressional District.
Fleming, a member of Gun Owners of America, is a 100% gun rights
supporter. His opponent also claimed to be pro-gun, but refused to
respond to the GOA questionnaire and had the support of the extreme
anti-gun wing of the Congressional leadership.
Also in December, Gun Owners of America supported Sen. Saxby Chambliss
in a race that could have tipped the balance of power even more in favor
of anti-gun Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
A loss in Georgia would have put the Democrat majority at 59 votes, just
one shy of the number needed to overcome a Senate filibuster. Because a
Senate seat is still up in the air in Minnesota, Reid held out hope that
he could have complete dominance over the Senate. The Senate leadership
is squarely in the anti-Second Amendment camp, so
pro-gun Senators will likely be forced to resort to filibusters as a way
to stop the Obama-Reid gun control agenda.
Though gun owners took it on the chin in the November elections at the
Presidential and U.S. Senate levels, Second Amendment supporters did
gain several new friends in important races for seats in the House of
Representatives.
In California, State Senator and long-time conservative leader Tom
McClintock won his race by less than one half of one percent. The Fourth
District seat, based in Sacramento, was one of the top targets of the
liberal, anti-gun establishment.
Also in California, the 52nd District went to Duncan Hunter (Captain,
USMC Res) a strong Second Amendment advocate who respects the Founding
Fathers and their pledges of lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.
Another military veteran who takes seriously his oath to protect and
defend the Constitution won a seat in Florida's 16th District. Tom
Rooney, a U.S. Army Veteran and current Army Inactive Ready Reservist,
defeated an incumbent Second Amendment compromiser, making this a double
victory.
There's even some good news coming out of Illinois. Aaron Schock, who at
27 years-old will be the youngest Member of Congress, is also a staunch
Second Amendment supporter willing to take on the anti-gun establishment.
After a shooting earlier this year at Northern Illinois University, when
many lawmakers were pushing for more gun restrictions, Aaron Schock
argued that allowing decent citizens to carry firearms could help
prevent such tragedies.
"The perpetrator might have thought twice before [he] went into a
situation like that and opened fire had our citizens had the right to
have a concealed weapon," said Schock, who was the prime sponsor of a
state concealed carry bill and will now represent the state's
Eighteenth District.
Wyoming's lone House seat went to Cynthia Lummis, who compiled a perfect
pro-gun voting record during fourteen years in the state senate.
Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-9) and Erik Paulsen (MN-3) are additional pro-gun
former state legislators who will join the 111th Congress.
All of these outstanding candidates were supported by Gun Owners of
America Political Victory Fund.
Anti-gun House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will return to Congress in January
with an even greater majority, and it will fall upon these newly-elected
members, along with our existing friends in the House, to stem the tidal
wave of gun control that is certain to follow the swearing-in of the new
President.
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
