Otra Vez: Mexico's police are overwhelmed in part because drug
traffickers have them outgunned. Mexico's Attorney General Eduardo
Medina-Mora is helping lead the effort to break up the cartels. "Half of
what we seize, 55 percent are assault rifles. And this is what gives
these groups this intimidation power. Over 17,000 assault rifles,
throughout the last two years. Two thousand and 200 grenades, missile
and rocket launchers. Fifty caliber sniper rifles," the attorney general
explained. It might surprise you to learn where all these guns are
coming from. It turns out 90 percent of them are purchased in the US.
"The Second Amendment was never designed to arm criminal groups, and
especially not foreign criminal groups as it is today," Medina-Mora
said... (No doubt all those grenades and rocket launchers were purchased
in border-state gun shops.)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/26/60minutes/main4831806_page2.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
---
Now It's Jamaica: Ships from Miami steam into Jamaica's main harbor
loaded with TV sets and blue jeans. But some of the most popular U.S.
imports never appear on the manifests: handguns, rifles and bullets that
stoke one of the world's highest murder rates. The volume is much less
than the flow of U.S. guns into Mexico that end up in the hands of drug
cartels - Jamaican authorities recover fewer than 1,000 firearms a year.
But of those whose origin can be traced, 80 percent come from the U.S.,
Jamaican law enforcement officials have said in interviews with The
Associated Press. And as the Obama administration cracks down on
smuggling into Mexico, Jamaicans fear even more firearms will reach the
gangs whose turf wars plague the island of 2.8 million people... Unlike
in Mexico, the vast majority of Jamaican guns seized are submitted for
tracing. Jamaica and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives find most of the seized weapons come from three Florida
counties - Orange, Dade and Broward - all with large Jamaican
populations, according to Shields. X-ray scanners were installed two
years ago at Jamaican ports, but the gangs use bribery and intimidation
to get their shipments past inspectors... (Jamaica's experience with gun
courts and secret gun trials is discussed in David Kopel's book The
Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy.)
http://www.newsmax.com/international/cb_jamaica_gun_smuggling/2009/06/21/227507.html
---
Lautenberg Bill Would Ban Guns for over One Million: New Jersey Democrat
senator Frank R. Lautenberg plans to introduce legislation designed to
cancel the Second Amend rights of well over a million U.S. citizens this
coming week, according to the New York Times. "Mr. Lautenberg plans to
introduce legislation on Monday that would give the attorney general the
discretion to block gun sales to people on terror watch lists," the
newspaper reports... The Inspector General of the Justice Department
reported that the Terrorist Screening Center - the FBI-administered
organization that consolidates terrorist watch list information in the
United States - had over 700,000 names in its database as of April 2007
and that the list was growing by an average of over 20,000 records per
month, according to the ACLU. In March of this year the list hit the one
million mark, a 32% increase from 2007. The actual number may far exceed
one million entries. The FBI says the number of names on its terrorist
watch list is classified. In addition to the National Counterterrorism
Center watch list, the FBI keeps a list of persons said to be domestic
terrorists, according to ABC News...
http://www.infowars.com/proposed-law-allows-ag-holder-to-block-gun-sales-to-over-a-million-americans/
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/06/21/terrorists-buying-guns
---
Another Look at Incorporation: When the U.S. Supreme Court convenes for
its next term in October, it will have an opportunity to correct one of
the most glaring examples of judicial activism in our nation's history -
when justices placed their personal preferences above the law.
Specifically, the Court will have the chance to reconsider an 1873
decision that is as ugly in name as it is in effect. The Slaughter
House Cases essentially deleted from the Constitution a key bulwark of
liberty and helped create the conditions for the modern welfare state...
Meanwhile, there is increasing support for the Supreme Court to correct
its error in Slaughter House by taking a fresh look at the meaning of
"privileges or immunities." And because the right to keep and bear arms
remains a nearly blank slate - including whether it should be enforced
against state and local governments - there has never been a better
opportunity to do that than in the post-Heller gun cases now before the
Court...
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32391
---
F Troop Harasses Border-State Gun Owners: NRA-ILA has recently received
several calls from NRA members in border states who have been visited or
called by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives. In some cases, agents have asked to enter these people's
homes, and requested serial numbers of all firearms the members
possess. In each case, the agents were making inquiries based on the
number of firearms these NRA members had recently bought, and in some
cases the agents said they were asking because the members had bought
types of guns that are frequently recovered in Mexico. This kind of
questioning may or may not be part of a legitimate criminal
investigation. For example, when BATFE traces a gun seized after use in
a crime, manufacturers' and dealers' records will normally lead to the
first retail buyer of that gun, and investigators will have to interview
the buyer to find out how the gun ended up in criminal hands. But in
other cases, the questioning may simply be based on information in
dealers' records, with agents trying to "profile" potentially suspicious
purchases...
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=4990
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m6d21-Is-ATF-using-heavy-handed-tactics-on-border-state-gun-owners
---
Registration Leads to Confiscation - and Worse: ...A year or two later,
the blitzkrieg rolled across the Low Countries. One day not long after,
the war arrived in Charley's town. A squad of German SS troops banged on
the door of a house that Charley knew well. The family had twin sons
about Charley's age. The twins were his best friends. The officer
displayed a paper describing a Luger pistol, a relic of the Great War,
and ordered the father to produce it. That old gun had been lost,
stolen, or misplaced sometime after it had been registered, the father
explained. He did not know where it was. The officer told the father
that he had exactly fifteen minutes to produce the weapon. The family
turned their home upside down. No pistol. They returned to the SS
officer empty-handed. The officer gave an order and soldiers herded the
family outside while other troops called the entire town out into the
square. There on the town square the SS machine-gunned the entire family
- father, mother, Charley's two friends, their older brother and a baby
sister...
http://www.examiner.com/x-2698-Charlotte-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m6d21-Dangers-of-gun-registration-The-Belgian-Corporal
---
Microstamping Does Not Work: A lot of opinions and misinformation has
been published concerning microstamping and the advantages it can give
to law enforcement engaged in criminal investigations. I want to take
this opportunity to separate fact from fiction. In short, microstamping
is a concept where a manufacturer incorporates the firearm serial number
onto the firing pin of the firearm such that the serial number is
imprinted on the cartridge when it is fired. The objective is to aid law
enforcement in investigations to trace firearms used by criminals.
Simply put, microstamping does not work. Microstamping is an idea put
forth by those who wish to legislate burdensome, unreliable and unproven
controls on an industry to drive up costs, increase burdens and force
manufacturers out of business. They do this under the guise that this
will help solve crimes...
http://www.uticaod.com/guest/x737336266/Guest-view-Microstamping-gun-firing-pins-is-unproven-technology
---
The Rest of the Story, Part 1: ...On Friday the Massachusetts Supreme
Court has decided to hear an appeal (SJC will review gun lock ruling,
Law at odds with US high court) of a case that may have only short-term
implications and yet the complexity and implications are lost on the
general public, and the so called experts at the Boston Globe, and the
Boston Herald... The ruling by the Supreme Court concerning firearm
storage became an immediate issue in Massachusetts when Lt. Richard
Bolduc of the Massachusetts State Police used the D.C. v. Heller case as
his defense in a case involving his 12-year old son. One day before the
Supreme Court decision, Bolduc's 12-year-old son took the unloaded
weapon - a Sig Sauer P226 .40-caliber handgun - from an unlocked bureau,
brought it outside in his Sandwich neighborhood, pointed the gun at a
5-year-old girl and pulled the trigger... In my former role as the
Norfolk County League of Sportsmen's Clubs President I wrote that while
I was glad the court upheld Heller, I was concerned that this was a case
of special treatment and we would see what happened when an average
citizen was found guilty of similar charges. Well, we didn't have to
wait too long as another case was already in progress...
http://www.examiner.com/x-7133-Boston-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m6d21-Do-Massachusetts-Gun-Laws-apply-to-all-Part-I
---
Hiding behind the Power of the State: [Arizona] Restaurant and bar
owners are up in arms - so to speak - over a bill that would allow those
carrying concealed weapons to enter restaurants that serve alcohol.
Opponents say the measure, Senate Bill 1113, would make bars and
restaurants more dangerous, place undue burden on restaurant owners and
result in a negative image for the local and state tourism industry.
"People realize alcohol and guns don't mix," said Al McCarthy, owner of
Duke's Sports Bar & Grill in Scottsdale. "This is going back to the
Wyatt Earp days of the Wild Wild West." McCarthy, who has been in the
restaurant industry for 18 years, insisted that bars and restaurants
were probably "one of the safest commercial places in your
neighborhoods." If passed, the legislation would allow people to carry
guns in bars and restaurants that serve alcohol. If owners don't want
guns on the property, they can post a sign indicating they are not
allowed. The distinction has rankled owners who say the onus should not
be on them to protect their own establishments... (I thought that one of
the big issues with the Earp brothers in Arizona is that they would not
allow firearms to be carried in Tombstone. Most states do not ban
firearms in restaurants where alcohol is served and several do not even
ban them in bars. The Arizona bill only allows firearms in restaurants
and only if the permittee does not consume alcohol while carrying.)
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2009/06/22/20090622guns0622.html
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/298031.php
---
"AWB" Resolution Killed by Louisiana Panel: Legislation urging the New
Orleans City Council to enact a citywide ban on assault weapons was shot
down by a Senate committee Tuesday. The Judiciary B Committee failed to
muster a single vote for House Concurrent Resolution 150 by Rep. Cedric
Richmond, D-New Orleans, killing it unanimously. The non-binding measure
is an expression of the feelings of the Legislature on an issue and
would have called on council members, but not required them, to act. The
council can enact a ban on the assault weapons on its own. Richmond
filed the resolution and steered it through an inattentive House without
attracting much attention to it May 26. A week earlier, a House
committee killed a Richmond bill that would have placed a statewide ban
on assault weapons or required a police background check for ownership...
http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/06/new_orleans_assault_weapons_ba.html
---
What Happens When You Buy a Gun?: ...What happens to you when you buy a
gun? My own experience and conversations with others have convinced me
that buying a gun solidifies in your own mind the previously gauzy
perception that the government can't do everything for you. The most
basic thing is your personal safety, the safety of your family and your
home. Buying a gun is your decision to rely on yourself. If buying a
gun has any influence, I think it is that you become "One of Them".
You perhaps see more clearly that the gun is a tool like a stapler. It
has no spirit of its own. You begin to see that gun owners are just
regular folks, as you yourself are. You know yourself pretty well. You
know that you would not trade your present life for years in jail in
order to kill a person who cut you off in traffic, or cheated you on a
basement remodel. I am comfortable with the notion that anybody at
random walking the streets with me might be legally carrying a gun. I
believe that, like me, they will do everything possible to avoid pulling
their weapon or firing it...
http://www.examiner.com/x-2944-Denver-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m6d20-What-happens-to-you-when-you-buy-a-gun
---
Oops, Wrong Apartment: Vernon Allen was watching "NCIS" early Saturday
morning when an unknown male barged into his Moorhead apartment.
Unbeknownst to Allen, the 17-year-old Moorhead teen already had walked
into at least two other unlocked apartments. Allen said he got up to
confront the teen and asked if he needed help. The intruder mumbled
something and brought his fist up ready to strike. Allen, 47, backed up
toward his bedroom, telling the intruder to get out or he would grab the
12-gauge shotgun next to his dresser. The teen ignored Allen, who then
grabbed his gun. But the intruder stepped closer and grabbed the barrel
of the gun, holding it to his chest. "I wasn't gonna let him have it ...
it was either him or me," Allen told The Forum in an interview Saturday
about an hour after police released him after questioning him about the
incident. "When he grabbed the barrel of that shotgun I had to make a
choice ... so I pulled the trigger on him." ... (Note the unlocked doors
and the ease with which an assailant can grab the muzzle of a long gun
at close range. All's well that ends well but it sounds as though Allen
took another big gamble in submitting to questioning without legal counsel.)
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/244445/
---
Oops, Wrong Estranged Wife: A Prince George's County woman fatally shot
her husband in an apparent act of self-defense Saturday after he
attacked her at the Capitol Heights duplex where the pair lived in
separate units, according to police and neighbors. Just after 8 a.m.,
authorities said, police were called to the home in the 700 block of
Capitol Heights Boulevard on a report of a domestic dispute. In front of
the house, they found Richard Marcellous Wilson, 30, with a gunshot
wound. He was taken to a hospital, where he died. Police said Wilson's
wife fired the fatal shot. The circumstances of the incident are
unclear, but police think that the shooting "appears to have been in
self-defense," said Cpl. Mike Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Prince
George's police department. Wilson, police said, had violated an active
protective order when he attacked his wife... (Good thing she didn't
live in DC.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/21/AR2009062101921.html?hpid=sec-metro
---
From AzCDL:
There is still time to sign-up for the fourth annual AzCDL Independence
Day Action Rifle Match on July 4th, hosted by the Phoenix Rod and Gun
Club (
http://www.phoenixrodandgun.org/ ). Celebrate Independence Day
in a way that would make our Forefathers proud!
The match is limited to 60 shooters but there is still time to make a
reservation if you act now.
Entry fee is $40 and includes a free AzCDL Basic Annual membership. If
you are already an AzCDL member, you membership will be renewed. All
proceeds (minus range and target expenses) will be donated to AzCDL.
Spend the day like a true patriot exercising your rights, supporting a
good cause, and having FUN!
Match rules and applications can be found at AzCDL's website:
http://www.azcdl.org/html/rifle_match.html .
There will be 4 stages this year. At least half the match will be long
range oriented (100-400 yards).
Sign in will start at 6:30 AM.
Shooter's meeting will be held at 7:00 AM.
Range goes "hot" by 7:30 AM.
All shooting is finished by 1:00 PM
Awards will be handed out and a Prize Raffle conducted following range
clean up and tear down.
All questions should be directed to Russell Phagan (
[email protected] )
As in past years, this year's primary sponsor is Cavalry Arms (
http://www.cavalryarms.com/ ).
Want to see how much fun this will be? Check out the pictures from last
year's match:
http://www.cavalryarms.com/ID4/2008pics/2008-ID4-1.html .
These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League
(AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots
organization.
AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html
Copyright � 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved.
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
