Tennessee DPS Blocked in Handgun-Registration Scheme: On December 10,
2008, the Tennessee Department of Safety issued a letter to the state's
civilian firearms training schools that it regulates notifying them that
it was going to require them to immediately start reporting to the
Department "rosters" of all individuals taking handgun training classes.
The form for these rosters intentionally included information on the
handgun(s) used in the training course, the owner of the handgun and its
serial number. This information, once available to the Department, could
have been included in a gun owner database (which the state denies was
the intent) and could have been available under freedom of information
act requests. On December 17, 2008, when the letters started being
received by training schools, TFA sent out an alert to its members and
members immediately started contacting the Department and the members'
individual legislators. In less than 12 hours, the Department announced
that it was immediately revising its new policy and amending the form to
remove the requirement that specific weapon information be reported to
the state. On December 18, 2008, the Department contacted TFA leadership
and advised that a written notice of policy change had been issued.
Quick action by TFA members across the state shows the power of
grassroots activity!
http://www.tfaonline.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1665
http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2008/12/18/none-of-your-business-gun-update/
http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2008/12/18/department-of-safety-communicating-intentions-not-to-require-firearm-serial-number-used-in-safety-classes/
---
County Supervisors, California Sheriff Split Over CWP's: Orange County
supervisors this week abandoned their traditionally cautious approach
and formally urged Sheriff Sandra Hutchens not to revoke any concealed
gun permits. Hutchens' response: "I think we're going to get to a point
where we have to respectfully agree to disagree." The fledgling sheriff
triggered a firestorm earlier this year from gun activists when she
announced that the sheriff's department would adopt a stricter approach
toward handing out concealed weapons permits and would reevaluate the
existing 1,100 licenses held across the county. Nearly 100 activists,
including National Rifle Association attorneys, showed up last month at
a county supervisors meeting, threatening to politically oppose Hutchens
and any supervisors who backed her gun policies... (California law
provides for discretionary issue by the sheriff or police chief of the
applicant's county or city of residence. It sets no standard as to what
constitutes "good casue.")
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/gun-permits-hutchens-2260539-carona-county
---
Settlement Reached in Raid on Wrong House: The city of Minneapolis will
pay $800,000 as part of a settlement with an innocent family whose house
was raided a year ago by police given wrong information... The mother,
Yee Moua, called 911 when she heard intruders breaking into her house
the week before Christmas last year. Her husband, Vang Khang, picked up
his shotgun to defend his family. It turned out, the "intruders" were
not criminals but members of the Minneapolis Police Department SWAT sent
their by another unit, based on bad information. They were looking for
guns belonging to a street gang. Khang and the officers exchanged
gunfire. Three officers were hit during the shootings but their body
armor protected them from being hurt... "This warrant was the result of
a flawed investigation done by the Minneapolis Police Violent Offender
Task Force," he said. "Shots missed Yee and Vang by less than a foot." ...
http://wcco.com/crime/settlement.swat.raid.2.886163.html
---
Bloomberg Libel Suit Ordered Back to State Court: The federal appeals
court in Atlanta has ordered a lawsuit claiming New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg libeled a Georgia sporting goods store by calling it 1 of
several "rogue gun dealers" to be returned to the state court where it
originated... Former U.S. Rep. Bob Barr, representing Adventure Outdoor
Sports in Smyrna, Ga., argued before the appeals court in September that
the suit should be returned to state Superior Court. Bloomberg's lawyers
wanted the suit to be dismissed or remain in federal court, because it
applies to whether the gun stores
http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=9557334
---
Meanderings from a Texas Democrat: Sales of guns and ammunition are
soaring. It's the hottest retail sector now and the main reason is the
election of president-elect Obama. Gun owners are convinced that Obama
plans to put a 500 percent tax on ammunition and ban all semi-automatic
weapons. I believe these fears to be exaggerated, but I have to admit
that Obama hasn't provided much assurance to the contrary. I understand
that when he says he only wants "common sense gun safety and anti-crime
laws," gun-owners hear that phrase as code for any restriction gun
controllers can pass. However, the gun control debate is not strictly a
Republican vs. Democrat fight. In Congress, four Republicans (from
Delaware, New Jersey, Florida and Connecticut) have introduced H.R.
6257, a bill to re-instate the so-called "Assault Weapon Ban." Here in
Texas, the state's Democratic Party platform does not contain a single
word in favor of gun control. I suggest that the divide is more urban
vs. rural than partisan...
http://www.boernestar.com/articles/2008/12/19/opinion/editorials/doc494aba5ad9ed3485348989.txt
---
Michigan Student Advocates Campus Carry: An armed man walks around a
college campus. A college student - legally carrying a concealed weapon
- confronts him, restraining the would-be shooter until police arrive.
That's the scenario Grand Rapids Community College student Josh Eberly,
25, imagines possible if licensed students were allowed to carry their
concealed weapons on campus... This fall Eberly started the first West
Michigan charter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, a nationwide
group formed the day after the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting that left 33
people dead... (The photo shows two poor choices. Carrying a handgun
directly over the spine invites serious injury if the carrier falls on
his back or is slammed into a wall. The holster pictured uses a clip
that it longer than the width of the apparently flimsy belt, allowing
the holster to shift easily and possibly pull free of the belt during
the draw stroke.)
http://www.mlive.com/grpress/news/index.ssf/2008/12/grand_rapids_an_armed.html
---
Meanwhile, in Colorado...: Gay, bisexual and transgendered students
gathered with other supporters earlier this month to celebrate diversity
on the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus. At the "Safety
is a Human Right" rally, many of the speakers complained of harassment
and threats against gay students at UCCS... The Pink Pistols, a group of
gay firearm advocates with a local chapter, has a plan for this. It's
summed up nicely on the organization's Web site, www.pinkpistols.org:
"Armed gays don't get bashed." ...
http://www.pntonline.com/opinion/colorado_15760___article.html/supporters_gun.html
---
Dealer Offers Discounts to Burglary-Plagued Town: ...Charlotte-based
Hyatt Guns announced Thursday that it will give township residents a 15
percent discount on new firearms purchased through its Web site. The
store made a similar offer earlier this month to residents of St. Louis
after a city alderman urged his constituents to buy guns in response to
a spate of murders. But this is the first time Hyatt is making such an
offer to a small town, said spokesman Robert Ross... But Ross said that
local gun shops could also benefit from their promotion, because any gun
ordered off their Web site must be shipped to a federally licensed
firearms dealer, who would file the paperwork and conduct the background
check. That would bring people into the stores, to buy ammunition and
accessories, Ross said. (The offer seems to presume that the cost of
shipping and the local FFL's transfer fee would be less than the 15%
discount.)
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b1_5gunoffer1.67139491dec19,0,235697.story
---
Oops, Wrong Garage: Fred Gardner, of Choctaw, Okla., said that he heard
someone in his garage and found two men trying to take his belongings
when he went outside. One man got away but the other alleged burglar is
in custody at the Oklahoma County Jail. Gardner said strange noises
tipped him off that something was going on. "I asked him what the hell
he was doing and he said, 'Cleaning the garage,'" Gardner said. The
homeowner said that he knew the man was trying to clean him out of all
his property. That's when Gardner went back into his house and got out
his 9 mm handgun... (Again we see the folly of going to investigate
"strange noises" without taking the gun along.)
http://www.koco.com/news/18313548/detail.html
---
Rule Two, Rule Three Reminder: A New York City police officer
accidentally shot his wife in the groin last night, police said. There
was no apparent argument, Capt. Joseph Schaller said this morning. The
off-duty cop, Humberto Arboleda, 38, was "fooling around with his gun"
in their apartment when it went off accidentally, Schaller said. The
wife was shot in the groin area and middle finger of her left hand
around 10:25 p.m. She was taken to Sound Shore Medical Center. Police
said her injuries were not believed to be life threatening. Arboleda was
charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault in New Rochelle. Schaller
said the charge arises, despite the alleged accidental nature of the
shooting, because "you are not supposed to be fooling around with the
gun." ... (Rule Two: Don't let the muzzle cross anything you're not
prepared to shoot. 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.)
http://www.lohud.com/article/20081219/NEWS02/812190404
---
Get Real: Powerful new handguns called "big boomers" by the gun industry
are a growing threat to the nation's law enforcement officers, a new
36-page study released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC)
reveals. (See
http://www.vpc.org/studies/bigboomers.pdf for a copy of
the study, see
http://www.vpc.org/studies/boomerskeyfindings.pdf for a
summary presenting the key findings of the study.) Body armor used by
police has been able to stop handgun rounds and saved thousands of lives
over the last three decades, the study states, but standard body armor
cannot stop rifle rounds. "Big Boomers"--Rifle Power Designed Into
Handguns warns that the gun industry is aggressively marketing a growing
number of new handguns designed to fire bullets with rifle power. The
rounds these guns fire can penetrate all but the most resistant body
armor (such as that used in raids by many SWAT teams)... (I can just see
gangbangers running around with S&W .500 Magnum revolvers or, better
yet, Thompson-Center single-shot pistols in rifle calibers.)
http://www.vpc.org/press/0812boom.htm
---
Industrialist Who Revived Colt Dies: David I. Margolis, an industrialist
who revived Colt Industries, became a close adviser to former Mayor
Edward I. Koch and was a member of the financial board that helped steer
New York City out of its fiscal crisis in the 1970s, died Dec. 13 in
Manhattan. He was 78 and lived in Manhattan... Mr. Margolis was
president of Colt Industries (now Coltec) from 1962 to 1995 and its
chairman from 1984 to 1995. Colt, the firearms company founded in 1836
by Samuel Colt after he patented the revolver, was in financial
difficulty when Mr. Margolis took over. Under his leadership, it
expanded into the production of machinery for the aerospace, automobile,
chemical and petroleum industries. By 1988, it had annual revenue of
$1.6 billion...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/business/20margolis.html?_r=1&ref=obituaries
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
