The Sky Is Falling!: Confusion over gun control laws in national parks
may mean some attending U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration
will bring weapons, officials say. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C.,
and gun control groups say they're worried that because the Bush
administration has changed federal regulations to allow people with
permits to carry concealed firearms while in national parks, some people
coming to the Jan. 20 inauguration outside the Capitol will be packing
heat, the Washington publication The Hill reported Saturday. The rule,
however, forbids bringing guns into national parks located within
districts that ban concealed weapons, which Washington does. But Norton,
a longtime gun control supporter, said confusion about the rule change
could make for trouble... (This strikes me as a ploy to get Big Brother
to rescind the recent NPS rule change. As much as I'd like to be able to
carry firearms legally into Arizona's several national parks and
NPS-administered national monuments, I'd be willing to sacrifice this
recent victory, in the early days of the new administration, in order to
show the voting public that the RKBA community was not crying wolf about
Big Brother's hostility to the RKBA. If this becomes apparent in the
first year or so of the new regime, we may be able to stage a repeat of
1994 and shift the balance in Congress in 2010.)
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/27/Parks_gun_rule_prompts_inauguration_fears/UPI-92151230393162/
---
Will the "Santa" Shootings Trigger New Infringements?: In response to a
man dressed in a Santa suit opening fire at a home in Colvino [sic],
California, shooting an eight-year-old girl in the face, her 16-year-old
sister in the back, then killing eight others and himself, Paul Helmke,
President of the Brady Campaign, issued the following statement:
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and community touched by
this terrible tragedy. It is profoundly sad that a distraught man would
take up arms to kill his family and others. In this season of hope,
however, we should not despair and say this kind of violence is
inevitable. We should not tolerate the steady drumbeat of gun deaths and
injuries that tears our families and communities apart. We can and
should do all that is within our power to find solutions to gun
violence. In the New Year, we hope that our nation's leaders have the
courage and conviction to take steps that will help protect our families
and communities from gun violence."
http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/12-26-2008/0004946980&EDATE=
---
The Beat Goes On: The Saturday after Barack Obama was elected president,
people jammed Cook's Gun Shop in Biloxi, eager to purchase the guns they
believe might be off-limits beginning next year. Manager Michael Creel
said sales began to increase last year, but really ramped up after the
election. ''It started about a year ago when the election started to
heat up,'' he said. "People were afraid that if the Democrats won they
would institute more control on guns. It kept building, and the Saturday
after the election it was pandemonium in here." Gun shop owners and
managers throughout South Mississippi are reporting similar trends,
which also are reflected across the country...
http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/news/2008/dec/27/gun-ownership-continues-rise-mississippi/
---
A Different Look at the "Gun-Show Loophole": A week before Minnesota's
firearm deer season I visited my 86-year-old father. He regaled me with
an entertaining stream of tales from his 70 years as a deer hunter in
the north woods. He lamented his failing eyesight and then rose from his
ancient recliner and went to the closet where he keeps his guns. He took
out a battered old case and handed it me. "I want you to have this." I
knew what was inside. A Savage model 219 single-shot 30-30 rifle. My
father bought it in 1944 for $12. It's well worn after more than 60
years of hard use. It was an honor to be given such an heirloom. Over
the past few years my father has passed on most of his modest collection
of firearms to his children and grandchildren. It is his way of passing
on our family's heritage. However, if some people had their way, my
father would be a felon the next time he passed on a firearm to a family
member. These people complain about a so-called "gun show loophole,"
which, if you were to accept the rhetoric of firearm prohibitionists, is
responsible for an endless stream of death and carnage...
http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/108236/
Tangentially Related: Despite the rise of DNA fingerprinting and other
"CSI"-style crime-fighting wizardry, more people in this country are
getting away with murder. FBI figures show that the homicide clearance
rate, as detectives call it, dropped from 91 percent in 1963 - the first
year records were kept in the manner they are now - to 61 percent in
2007. Law enforcement officials say the chief reason is a rise in drug-
and gang-related killings, which are often impersonal and anonymous and
thus harder to solve than slayings among family members or friends. As a
result, police departments are carrying an ever-growing number of "cold
case" homicides on their books... (So, it would appear the rise in the
homicide rate in the US is not really a product of so many Americans
keeping firearms in the home.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/27/AR2008122701145.html?hpid=sec-nation
---
Ohio Teen Credited with Expansion of RKBA for Service Members: Not many
teenagers can claim they were the impetus behind a congressional [sic]
bill. Nineteen-year-old Norwalk resident Scott Gerken can boast just
that. If he hadn't voiced his displeasure that members of the U.S.
Military younger then 21 could not purchase a handgun, Ohio HB 450 might
have never seen daylight. When he was 17, Gerken, after joining the NRA
and reading up on issues, wrote a letter to then State Rep. Matthew
Barrett, proposing a change in the law. Gerken said Barrett told him he
would have his aides compose a draft. Barrett showed Gerken the written
draft, the teenager approved it and the proposed bill started going
through the proper channels... (Note that this is actually an Ohio bill,
not a federal one. I believe that federal law would still prevent a
service member under that age of 21 from purchasing a handgun from a
licensed dealer. However, the state bill would apparently allow a
private-party purchase, previously illegal in Ohio.)
http://www.norwalkreflector.com/articles/2008/12/26/front/iq_650165.txt
---
It Look Like the Rumor Mill Was Right: The reappearance, on Federal's
website, of the fabled 125 gr. Nyclad standard-pressure .38 Special
"Chief Special load" seems to confirm rumors that it will be
reintroduced at the 2009 SHOT Show. I have a hoard of this load, for my
own use, if I ever need to drop one of my Airweight Centennials into a
jacket pocket. I have tested this load in a slaughterhouse and it
mushroomed well in the brains of both a cow and a pig, after punching
through hide and skull. The former "FBI load," the 158 gr. +P lead SWCHP
that used to be offered by all three major manufacturers, would likely
have embedded itself in the back side of the skull. This milder load
caromed of the back of the skull, down the foramen magnum, with enough
energy to embed itself in the "spongy" area of the first cervical
vertebra. I recommend it for Airweight and "ultralight" small-frame
revolvers (although I discourage use of the latter) and for anyone who
is unusually shy of recoil in a small steel-frame revolver. Is it
superior to Hornady's new standard-pressure 110 gr. Critical Defense
load? I don't know but I have seen the Chief Special load perform as
advertised in living tissue.
http://www.federalpremium.com/products/details/handgun.aspx?id=828
---
From John Farnam:
23 Dec 08
Anti-Gun Editorial from Today's NY Times
No surprises here:
In all-too-typical anti-gun/anti-freedom hysteria, editors at the NY
Times today cite a "study" by the rabidly-partisan, anti-gun "Mayors
Against Illegal Guns," a bigoted conspiracy, headed by the current NYC
Mayor.
Dogma emanating from this crew is highly predictable!
This hand-wringing editorial laments "weak" gun-laws and champions
"strong" ones. Of course "strong-gun-laws" is their venal code-phrase for:
"The all-inclusive elimination of the private ownership of guns in
America."
Anti-gun editorials like this unfailingly share three fatal errors:
(1) From the beginning, they get their conclusions mixed in with their
suppositions. First, they spell out the party-line. Then, they tell
you that you better agree, if you know what's good for you!
(2) They tirelessly avoid getting specific, as that would require
intellectual honesty. They'll never tell you, for example, what their
real goal is (see above).
(3) They assiduously ignore embarrassing facts that don't fit with
pre-arranged "conclusions."
The fact that Mayors promoting gun-confiscations/prohibitions
(masquerading as "strong gun-laws") all enjoy heavily-armed bodyguard
contingents. Guns that guard them are apparently okay! After all,
politicians "need" armed protection. Conversely, we peons are
apparently expendable!
The fact that clod-infested states, like mine, with "weak" gun-laws
that, for example, permit citizens to carry concealed, all curiously
have significantly lower levels of violent crime that do states where
legal concealed-carry is impossible. Imagine that!
The fact that "gun-free zones," like London, Moscow, and Tokyo, where
the private possession of guns is absolutely prohibited, and has been
for decades, are currently awash with violent crime, most of it
involving (you guessed it!), guns. "Tough gun-laws" apparently haven't
helped in those places. Have they?
Duplicitous, dogma-driven editorial writers, like these, are academic
hypocrites and journalistic frauds, a disgrace to their profession.
No apology here!
/John
(The editorial:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/opinion/23tue2.html?_r=1)
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
