Bloomberg versus the NRA: They've got 4 million followers. He's got 16
billion simoleons. This could get verrrrry interesting. This being the
stare-down between the National Rifle Association and Michael Bloomberg.
Behemoth vs. behemoth. Since the Reagan revolution, few lobbies have
been mightier than the NRA. The Second Amendment defenders rarely lose
on Capitol Hill, but lose they did just a few days ago, falling short in
a sit-up-and-take-notice squeaker of a Senate vote on an amendment that
would have let gun owners carry concealed weapons across most state
lines. Score one for Bloomie and 450 of his closest mayor buddies (they
call themselves Mayors Against Illegal Guns) . . . and their D.C.
lobbyists and their consultants and their ad people. Score one against
the NRA and the amendment's sponsor, that rising GOP star Sen. John
Thune of South Dakota... (Note the $1.1 million dollar contribution by
the Joyce Foundation, which Big Brother served as a director for eight
years.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/04/AR2009080403132.html
---
Tangentially Related: The Senate is gearing up for a vote that will
almost certainly lead to the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Sonia
Sotomayor on Thursday or Friday. But a key Republican member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee thinks that the strategies employed by his
party during the hearings were effective in taking a stand against a
larger principle of constitutional impartiality on the Court. "I don't
believe that we should confirm anyone to the court who is not faithfully
committed to follow the law whether they like it or not," said Sen. Jeff
Sessions, (R-Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
"If they feel empowered to avoid doing that when they don't like the law
then they weaken all laws and they weaken the Constitution." ...
http://townhall.com/columnists/JillianBandes/2009/08/05/key_senator_thinks_sotomayor_vote_represents_crossroads?page=full
---
The Hoplophobia Quiz: ...Hoplophobia should not be mistaken for outright
social bigotry against firearms and the people who own them. One often
leads to the other, but they are not the same thing. The social bigot
believes himself or herself to be superior to the firearms owner in any
number of arenas, including education and salary, whereas the hoplophobe
is genuinely fearful of firearms. So I've cooked up a little quiz that
may help people determine if they are suffering from hoplophobia. Give
it a go and see where you stand. Results are not scientific....
http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m8d3-Are-you-a-hoplophobe
---
Open-Carry Musings: My friend Jubal and I often open carry together,
especially when we go out of town to shop. It's an exercise of our
sovereign responsibility for our own lives and safety, as well as an
opportunity to educate others. It should be a given that we are also
ready and able to help others in the event of an attack or other
emergency. Unfortunately, that's not how some people see us at all.
Having been conditioned to believe that the guns themselves are "evil"
in the hands of ordinary people, and that anyone who is not a cop just
might well be up to no good if they've got a gun... Perfectly legal open
carry of a firearm can be mighty inconvenient, and in many places put
one in grave danger from the police themselves. Most of the time we
don't encounter these folks, but sometimes it happens. That's when the
education often starts... (A guy showed up at the local dog park a few
times, wearing an empty holster. I asked him why he bothered and he told
me a few stories about experiences he has had carrying openly in the
local forest; these have led him to be more discriminating about
carrying openly. My comments included [a] Why wear the holster if you
don't wear the gun? [b] Why not use a holster, such as a Serpa, for
better retention, if you carry openly? [c] Why not carry concealed if
you have had these confrontations while carrying openly? In one of the
confrontations he feared that the three other hikers were going to try
to take his gun.)
http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/09/08/03/editor.html
---
Tennessee County Likely to Ban Park Carry: The guns in parks debate will
soon fire in front of Knox County Commission. The Knox County Parks and
Recreation Advisory Board has recommended banning guns in all the 42
parks. The board makes its recommendation to Knox County Mayor's Office,
which then pitches a recommendation to commission. Knox County already
has a ban on guns in parks; however, a new state law will wipe out that
come September. The law allows local city and county governments to opt
out by passing a new ban.... Parks and Rec Director Doug Bataille said
26 parks contain ball fields, and some worried about putting a gun in
between heated parents, coaches, and referees. "Guns would probably not
be a good addition in that situation," Bataille said. The ban includes
the county's greenways. Bataille said the board considered allowing guns
on them. "[But] so many of those greenways are connected to either a
school or a library; so then we had a real enforcement issue," Bataille
said. Bataille said a uniform ban county-wide would be easier to enforce
and easier for citizens to understand...
http://www.volunteertv.com/home/headlines/52398797.html
---
Georgia RKBA Convention a Success: Guns, gambling, and alcohol were all
present when the state right-to-bear-arms group GeorgiaCarry.Org held
its first annual convention this weekend at the posh Renaissance Waverly
hotel in Cobb County. Politicians and hundreds of armed Georgians
showed up for the two day event, including gubernatorial candidates from
the Democrat, Libertarian, and Republican parties and the state's
Attorney General. The group hosted a social mixer on Friday night with
dinner, followed by a poker tournament (for fun) that lasted several
hours. This is probably the first time in more than a century that any
location has hosted so many people paying cards while carrying pistols
openly. Saturday was full of workshops on such diverse items as a two
hour "grassroots lobbying" seminar taught by two real, professional
lobbyists, a women's self defense seminar, and a class on assemblying
your own AR-15 semiautomatic rifle from parts. During the day,
attendees could browse a vendor forum in which merchants were selling
everything from laser grips to .50 BMG rifles. In the afternoon, a
panel including four candidates for Governor and several members of
Georgia's General Assembly debated gun laws in Georgia and candidly
answered specific questions from audience members, who approached the
microphone wearing holstered pistols in the open...
http://www.examiner.com/x-5619-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m8d3-Georgia-Right-to-Bear-Arms-Convention-a-Success
---
California City Targets Gun-Show Signs: In a departure from its
long-time complacence over illegal signs, the city recently fined a gun
show promoter $4,600 for illegally tacking more than 40 posters around
town. The move spurred complaints of selective and politically motivated
enforcement, but city staff said it was just part of a new, "stepped up"
effort. Gilroy's zoning laws bar "any off-site advertising signs" that
are not on the same physical site as the business they are advertising.
This includes those ubiquitous, rectangular, neon green, orange and red
signs stapled to phone poles, fences and facades, often on properties
lacking on-site supervision. The small, eye-grabbing signs advertise
tattoo expos, gun shows, and reptile and bird exhibits, but they
typically stay up after events and frustrate residents who have been
complaining about the mess to Gilroy Code Enforcement Officer Scott
Barron... (Some list members will recognize the name Nordyke from a
recent Ninth Circuit case, pending en banc review, that incorporated the
Second Amendment against the states.)
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/news/258132-a-sign-of-the-fines
---
Rule One, Rule Five Reminder: It was supposed to be a fun family event
and a time for the Polk County Sheriff's Office to interact with the
public. The fun quickly came to a halt when a 12-year-old boy fired a
deputy's shotgun and injured a 3-year-old girl. The Sheriff's Office
said the deputy's gun was not supposed to be loaded. It happened at
Union Park in Des Moines at the annual Clowns at the Carousel Party. The
12-year-old boy who fired the gun ran away. The 3-year-old girl who was
injured is recovering at Mercy Medical Center. The Polk County Sheriff's
office had a couple deputies there giving tours to children of their
patrol cars. Deputy Keith Onley was in the middle of a tour when his
shotgun went off. The Sheriff's Office said Onley and the 3-year-old
girl were standing outside the patrol car. Several other children were
inside it, including a 12-year-old boy in the front seat... (Rule One:
All firearms are always loaded. Rule Five: Maintain control of your
firearm. Police shotguns, which normally lack firing-pin safeties, are
typically carried in vehicles in "cruiser ready" condition, with the
hammer down over an empty chamber. In this procedure, the final step in
"readying" the shotgun involves pressing the trigger, to leave the slide
free to cycle. This has resulted in an occasional surprise when it
proved that there was actually a round in the chamber.)
http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=47787
---
Neal Knox - The Gun Rights War: Most readers of this column knew my late
father, Neal Knox, as a Washington lobbyist and gun-rights hard-liner.
And most of you also know that his family - particularly my brother Jeff
and I, along with our mother Jay - continue the work he started with The
Firearms Coalition. But in my travels, I've been dismayed to discover
that many of "our guys" - from shooters at the range to industry types
at the trade shows - don't really know or understand who Neal Knox was
and what a significant impact he had on their rights. More importantly,
they don't know or understand the history of the fight which has brought
us where we are today. Imagine a west-bound wagon train with no one
among them who had ever forded a river with a wagon or crossed a
difficult mountain pass. Neal Knox - The Gun Rights War is the journal
of an experienced guide and wagon master. He wasn't perfect and he
wasn't always right, but he had a good compass and was always trying to
move in the right direction....
http://www.ohioccw.org/200908044573/history-matters-neal-knox-the-gun-rights-war-is-history.html
--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY
Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.
http://www.spw-duf.info
