Coming on Tuesday...: State and local gun laws are in the crosshairs as
the Supreme Court prepares for a historic oral argument Tuesday. The
conservative majority that struck down Washington, D.C.'s, handgun ban
in 2008 appears poised to stretch the Second Amendment further. The
hourlong session Tuesday will let justices test-fire arguments in a case
in which the reasoning could be as intriguing as the outcome. For gun
owners and lawmakers, the case called McDonald v. City of Chicago
presents one bottom line: If the court agrees that the Second Amendment
covers state and local governments, as seems likely, some but not all
gun restrictions will be blown away. For constitutional scholars, the
court's means may be as important as its ends. In order to eliminate
Chicago's gun ban, court conservatives could end up overturning a
137-year-old precedent that's hindered the expansion of new rights...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/02/26/88829/supreme-court-to-scrutinize-state.html

Et Tu, CAC?: When the constitutional accountability Center launched in
2008, it looked like just another liberal legal-advocacy group,
dedicated to "fulfilling the progressive promise of our Constitution's
text and history." The causes it has backed run the standard liberal
gamut: among other things, the group supports California's efforts to
regulate carbon emissions and pushes for "robust due-process protections
for immigrant criminal defendants." So if you were told that the CAC had
filed an amicus brief in McDonald v. Chicago, a case about gun control
to be argued before the Supreme Court this week, you might think it was
siding with Chicago, whose restrictions on gun ownership are being
challenged. You would be wrong. For decades, liberals have opposed gun
rights on the grounds that the Second Amendment is limited to the
establishment of state militias. But some liberal dissenters from this
view now say that is too narrow a reading of the Constitution. They
contend that it fails to take into account the historical record and
contradicts liberals' own reading of the Constitution's protection of
individual rights...

http://www.newsweek.com/id/234185

Et Tu, Amil?: ...Consider this: Among the legal experts lining up in
support of overturning Slaughterhouse and reviving the Privileges or
Immunities Clause is liberal law professor Akhil Amar of Yale
University. Nobody's idea of a gun nut, Amar is a supporter of
progressive politics. And in his opinion, so were the authors of the
Privileges or Immunities Clause. "The framers of the 14th Amendment were
radical redistributionists," Amar told The Wall Street Journal. "The
13th Amendment frees the slaves and there's no compensation. It's the
biggest redistribution of property in history." Under this
interpretation, the privileges or immunities of citizenship might
include the right to health care, to a living wage, or to some other
welfare right fancied by today's progressive activists.

http://reason.com/archives/2010/02/26/getting-the-14th-amendment-rig

Cornell Re-Emerges: ...Gun-rights advocates have peddled three dubious
claims to the Court. First, they argue that, by the time of the 14th
Amendment, the militia purpose of the Second Amendment had disappeared.
Second, gun-rights advocates claim that the Republican supporters of the
14th Amendment were pro-gun zealots who opposed robust gun regulation.
Finally, they claim that there was a general consensus on the idea of
Second Amendment incorporation at the time, a notion that they claim is
supported by modern scholarship. To resolve these issues, the Supreme
Court must choose between genuine history, supported by the best current
scholarship, and a gun-rights fantasy masquerading as history... (Under
the guise of the Second Amendment Research Center, Cornell ginned out
phony historical attacks on the RKBA at Ohio State University. My
recollection is that he packed his tent and moved to Fordham after the
Heller decision was announced.)

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202444559455&Getting_gun_history_right&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1

Another Militia Argument: ... The digital searches lend support to
Chicago, which is defending its handgun ban. The issue at stake in the
constitutional debates was preservation of the state power by preserving
the militias. The Supreme Court has held that the Second Amendment
serves individual rights, but the Second Amendment also serves states'
rights. The word "militia," the digital searches show, meant the state
army. To the extent that it is a state's right that is being served by
the amendment, it is a state decision, for example, whether the militia
may take home their muskets after a muster or must leave them in the
armory. To the extent that preservation of the state militia is an
important historical purpose, the Second Amendment has no power to tell
Virginia, Georgia or Chicago (an entity within Illinois) what to do...
(From my reading, the militia implications of the Second Amendment were
that Congress should not be able to restrict each state's ability to
raise its own militia by such means as dictating its armament.)

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202444658426&Guns_virtuous_history_and_Internet_searches

Brady Chimes In: ... As intriguing as the incorporation issue is as a
matter of constitutional law, the ultimate significance of McDonald to
ordinary Americans may turn on a different issue, not formally posed by
the case but difficult to avoid as the Court considers the reach of the
Heller right. The "hidden" issue in McDonald is this: To what extent is
the right to keep and bear arms different in nature from the other
guarantees in the Bill of Rights? ... There is at least one respect in
which the new right to have guns is vastly different than other rights.
A wealth of empirical evidence shows that the exercise of the right to
possess guns increases the risk of harm to individuals exercising the
right, to their families and to the community at large. However the
Court decides the incorporation question, its discussion of Second
Amendment issues in McDonald and its future Second Amendment
jurisprudence must recognize that the Second Amendment is, indisputably,
the most dangerous right... (So, the RKBA is actually a new right and,
not only is it not equal to the other enumerated rights, it is a lesser
right? Clearly, Henigan rejects the ancient concept that self-defense is
Nature's first law.)

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202444545808&The_most_dangerous_right

Slaughterhouse Reviewed: One of the biggest cases the U.S. Supreme Court
will decide this year involves the right to bear arms. But in the long
run, its decision in McDonald v. Chicago may be far more important to
America's entrepreneurs. It all depends on whether the justices decide
to revive a constitutional provision it has neglected for more than a
century. When it was ratified in 1868, the 14th Amendment added several
revolutionary new provisions to the Constitution, barring states from
violating the "privileges or immunities" of citizens, or taking anyone's
life, liberty or property without "due process of law," or depriving
people of the "equal protection of the laws." But the first time it
heard a case under that amendment - in the 1873 Slaughterhouse Cases -
the Supreme Court basically erased the privileges or immunities clause,
dramatically limiting the way the federal government would protect
people against wrongful acts by state officials...

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202444559409&Revive_privileges_or_immunities&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1
---

Goodwin Liu on the Second Amendment: Boalt Hall Associate Dean Goodwin
H. Liu has been nominated to serve on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Some readers and Senators may be interested in his viewpoint on Second
Amendment and other constitutional issues related to firearms policy. So
here's an excerpt from his article Separation Anxiety: Congress, The
Courts, And The Constitution, 91 Georgetown Law Journal 439 (Jan. 2003).
Liu's co-author on the article is Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. The
article is based on a 2002 speech that Senator Clinton presented at
Georgetown, sponsored by the American Constitution Society. Senator
Clinton and Professor Liu criticize recent Supreme Court decisions
declaring two federal gun control laws unconstitutional...

http://volokh.com/2010/02/25/goodwin-liu-on-the-second-amendment/
---

Once Again, "Gun Control" Didn't Work: Friday morning's slaying of
Tacoma school teacher Jennifer Paulson and the subsequent fatal shooting
of her suspected killer, Jed R. Waits of Ellensburg, is a stark reminder
that sometimes bad things happen to incredibly good people. This
despicable crime also brings out the best and worst in people, as
demonstrated by the comments left by readers on feedback forums at the
SeattleTimes, Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Tacoma News Tribune. Almost
as if by reflex, gun prohibitionists were screaming that this would not
have happened if guns were restricted or banned, while firearms owners
retorted that this happened in a place where guns aren't supposed to be
allowed... This is an appropriate moment to remind ourselves that laws
passed to prevent this sort of thing, including the gun-free school
zones act and laws regarding harassment orders have once again proven
absolutely worthless. The law against murder did not stop Maurice
Clemmons from gunning down four Lakewood police officers last November,
and obviously did not stop Miss Paulson's killer...

http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m2d26-Slaying-of-Tacoma-teacher-brings-out-best-worst-in-people-and-proves-gun-laws-dont-work
---

Wyoming Senate Committee Kills Permit-Optional CCW: A state legislative
committee on Friday shot down legislation that would make Wyoming the
third state to allow residents to carry concealed weapons without a
permit. The Senate Judiciary Committee declined to take up the proposal
as at least three of the five committee members were opposed to the
bill. Under legislative rules, any piece of legislation that didn't pass
out of committee by Friday was automatically killed. Under the bill,
anyone who met the current requirements to obtain a concealed-weapons
permit from the state would be allowed to carry a concealed weapon -
except that proof of firearms training would no longer be required.
Vermont and Alaska are the only two states not to require a
conceal-carry permit. The legislation easily passed the state House on
Monday, and lawmakers have been bombarded with hundreds of e-mails in
support of the proposal during the past two weeks. But some law
enforcement officials expressed concern that no longer requiring a
permit to carry a concealed weapon would make police officers less safe...

http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/article_ae5f7596-2364-11df-8cb6-001cc4c002e0.html
---

Demand Remains High for Ohio CHL's: Ohio Attorney General Richard
Cordray (D) has released the concealed handgun license (CHL) statistics
for the fourth quarter of 2009 and the year-end report, Ohio Concealed
Handguns Law - 2009 Annual Report. There were 10,687 concealed handgun
licenses (CHL's) issued for the period of October through December 2009,
falling just one short of the record set for the same quarter the year
before. For the year, new records were set for initial licenses issued,
temporary emergency licenses and total licenses issued. The fourth
quarter has generally been a good quarter for licenses issued, and 2009
was no exception. The demand for licenses to carry concealed handguns
remained strong through the entire year. During the final quarter, Ohio
sheriffs issued 10,687 CHL's, 15 temporary emergency licenses (TEL's)
and processed another 3,112 renewals. The waning months of 2008 were
stronger than anyone expected. The 10,688 regular licenses issued was an
unprecedented 111% increase over the same period a year earlier. The
fact that we have matched that same total a year later is a clear
indication that the surge in gun ownership is not some temporary
anomaly. Gun owners and concealed carry license holders are growing in
numbers and becoming more active...

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/7138

Ohio issued a record 56,691 concealed handgun licenses in 2009,
shattering the previous one-year high of 45,497 set in 2004, according
to the state attorney general's office. That means Ohio is now
approaching 200,000 concealed permits issued since 2004, when the state
started handing out licenses to qualified people. And those for and
against tougher gun control laws agree the smoking gun for the 2009
spike in licenses is President Barack Obama, who took office 13 months
ago crusading for tougher firearms restrictions... (The 2008 population
estimate for Ohio was 11,485,910.)

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2010/02/ohio_concealed_gun_licenses_sh.html
---

Elitism or HUA?: Imagine my surprise on the very day after I received my
CCW (concealed carry weapon) permit from the Arizona Department of
Public Safety when I read that Sen. Pierce was proposing abolishing the
requirement of obtaining the CCW permit. I recently attended the CCW
Firearm Safety Course at Gunsite in Paulden. In eight short hours, I
learned more about the legal requirements, marksmanship, safe gun
handling and situational avoidance than I had in over 50 years of owning
and shooting firearms. Allowing anyone to conceal and carry a weapon
without a minimum amount of training is foolish and dangerous. All it
takes is a little effort and a small amount of money to obtain a CCW
permit. The instructors at Gunsite are extremely knowledgeable and
competent. Passing a background check is simple if you are a good guy.
If you are a bad guy, you can legally conceal and carry if Sen. Pierce's
proposal becomes law. For the record, I have been a fervent Second
Amendment supporter and NRA member for more than 30 years... (I saw the
same sort of elitism from students at the now-defunct Lethal Force
Institute - if they took that costly training, it should be required for
others as well. Mr. Boyer ignores the fact that bad guys cannot legally
carry concealed or even legally possess firearms if they have already
been convicted of a felony and will not be able to do so under
constitutional carry. Further, they will face an additional charge if
they carry concealed while committing a violent crime or serious
offense. Mr. Boyer further confuses the bill's sponsor, Russell Pearce,
with Steve Pierce, one of three Republicans in the state senate who
voted for an amendment that mandates a citizenship check by private
parties selling firearms at gun shows. "HUA" refers to a very difficult
contortion that places the head in a location that impedes vision.)

http://www.dcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=36&SubsectionID=1119&ArticleID=78145
---

Handgun Derangement Syndrome Hits Arizona Restaurants: "Honest adults
with licensed guns, go away. Lawbreakers looking for sitting ducks, step
right in." Actually, the sign at the entrance to the Phoenix, Arizona
restaurant simply read, "No Firearms." I returned to my car and left. A
wave of constipated thinking has afflicted some Arizonans after
legislators passed a law allowing licensed concealed handguns to be
carried into businesses that serve alcohol as long as the licensees
consume none. Proprietors have the option to post the "No Firearms"
sign, and many have done so... To anti-gunners who embrace false
security, what's important is how it feels, not what's real. By not
having concealed weapons in the same building with their food,
restaurant patrons can savor "the sign" just before the killer who
laughed at the sign swings into action. Diners would surely feel awful
witnessing a gal with a gun stop a guy with a gun who was only crying
for attention... (Arizona does not license firearms, it licenses
citizens to carry them concealed. As of February 21, there are 150,718
valid Arizona CWP's but Arizona also recognize the permits from all
other states so these establishments are also rejecting the patronage of
a lot of tourists.)

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/handgun_derangement_syndrome_g.html
---

The Great Registration Myth: I have just released our latest map over at
OpenCarry.org. It categorizes all 50 states based upon the kinds of
firearms registration laws (if any) that the state has implemented. This
is a resource that we should have developed long ago because
registration is one of the great myths and misconceptions about firearms
in America. I have been teaching firearm safety and carry permit classes
for almost a decade now and this is a topic that I have to cover in
every single class. And it never ceases to amaze me how gun owners who
are otherwise incredibly well informed about the laws regarding firearms
will blithely tell me that their guns are "registered." At the heart of
this misunderstanding lies the background check required for all
purchases from a federally licensed firearms dealer. Faced with the
bureaucratic detail of the BATFE 4473 form, many gun owners mistakenly
think that the firearm is being "registered" at the same time that the
background check is being conducted... (There is certainly room to
debate whether the 4473 is a form of registration. Those gun owners who
have seen the film Red Dawn vividly recall the scene where the commander
of the invading Cuban paratrooper battalion sends a subordinate to the
local hardware store to check those forms to identify the small
community's gun owners. This is precisely why the prohibitionists have
such a hatred for private-party transfers, particularly at gun shows.)

http://www.examiner.com/x-3253-Minneapolis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2010m2d26-The-great-registration-myth
---

Utah Governor Signs Firearms Freedom Act: Gov. Gary Herbert signed a
controversial message bill about guns Friday after raising questions
just a day before about its cost. His Democratic opponent calls it a
mistake that could cost the state millions. It's called Senate Bill 11.
It would exempt Utah from any federal regulations on firearms made and
sold within the state. Thursday, the governor hinted he might veto the
bill, due to questions about its constitutionality and the costs of
potentially lengthy court fight. "I don't mind the message. I just don't
want to end up having a million dollar cost attached to it, where we
have slim chance of winning," Herbert said. "I think we have a slim
chance of even getting to the Supreme Court, which is the intent of that
particular piece of legislation." Friday, Herbert signed the bill,
saying: "There are times when the state needs to push back against
continued encroachment from the federal government." He said he signed
the law because it furthers the dialogue without "unduly burdening Utah
taxpayers." ... (Herbert was hit with lots of phone calls, e-mails and
letters urging him to sign this bill. Since Montana took the lead in
this field, with a suit filed the day its law took effect, it's hard to
see how the states that follow Montana's lead will bear the costs of
litigation. At most, I can see them filing amicus briefs in the Montana
case, not a very costly process.)

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9824672
---

West Virginia House Approves Tax Holiday: West Virginia would suspend
sales taxes on gun purchases during the first weekend of October under
legislation that unanimously passed the state House of Delegates Friday.
The Second Amendment Appreciation Act would mandate that the first
weekend of every October become a sales tax holiday for gun purchases.
The lead sponsor, Delegate Scott Varner, D-Marshall, said the holiday
could actually bring in increased tax revenues, given that
bargain-hunting shoppers likely will buy other things that are not
taxed. "The idea is to get them in to purchase the firearm and, along
with that, you get all the ancillary benefits," he said. Other states
have approved sales tax holidays for gun sales. South Carolina and
Louisiana both exempt firearms sales from state sales taxes for at least
two days out of the year. Lawmakers in Mississippi and Oklahoma are
considering adopting their own...

http://www.wtrf.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=75883
---

Tangentially Related: Smart people should make smart decisions. So why
do the best and the brightest always seem to create more problems than
they solve? This is not just an academic question, precisely because
academics dominate the Obama administration and its approach to such key
issues as health care and Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons. Renowned
economist Thomas Sowell argues that intellectuals have strong incentives
to step out of their area of expertise and "off a cliff." Ultimately,
everyday people pay the price when intellectuals and abstract concepts
trump real-world specifics. Sowell explores these topics and more in a
wide-ranging IBD interview regarding his latest book, "Intellectuals and
Society." ... (I believe that I have mentioned before that I am
currently reading Intellectuals and Society and that I wish it had been
available and required reading when I started college. So far, I have
found in it two significant discussions touching upon the RKBA.)

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=522457
---

From AzCDL:

In March, AzCDL is working five events in Phoenix, Sierra Vista, Sonoita
and Tucson.
Three of them are on the same day!

If you interested in volunteering, please contact John or Tom to get on
the schedule.
Volunteers who contact us first get first choice on scheduling.
Phoenix - contact [email protected] .
Sierra Vista, Sonoita & Tucson - contact [email protected] .

March 6 is the Sierra Vista Freedom Rally at Veterans Memorial Park
between 2 PM and 6 PM:
http://arizonateaparty.ning.com/events/march-the-sixth-freedom-rally .
Lots of political candidates will be there including AzCDL Director Duke
Schechter.  If you live in the area, come on down and help out at the
AzCDL table.  Please contact [email protected] to volunteer.

March 20 & 21 is the Crossroads gun show at the Pima County Fairgrounds
in Tucson.
Please contact [email protected] to volunteer.

March 26 through 28 is the Arizona Game and Fish Department's annual
Outdoor Expo at Ben Avery:
http://www.azgfd.gov/outdoor_recreation/showcase.shtml .
Their 2009 event had over 35,000 visitors, so we're expecting huge
crowds.  This event is an outstanding opportunity to introduce AzCDL to
literally tens of thousands of prospective members.  That means we'll
need a full compliment of eager-to-work volunteers.  If you would like
to help, please contact [email protected].

That same weekend (March 27 & 28) is the McMann's Roadrunner gun show at
the Tucson Expo Center (free parking!).  Tucson volunteers, please
contact [email protected] .

And, to top it off, on March 27th, between 11 AM and 3 PM, the
Sonoita/Elgin Tea Party is hosting an event, at the Santa Cruz Fair and
Rodeo grounds in Sonoita:
http://www.sonoitateaparty.org/sonoitateaparty_events.html .
AzCDL has reserved table space and we need volunteers.
To help us out, please contact [email protected] .

If you can spare a few hours we would deeply appreciate your help.
AzCDL's phenomenal growth is primarily because of the hard work of our
volunteers.  These events provide a great opportunity to educate other
gun owners about our hard won successes
(http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html) and the legislation in
the works this year (http://www.azcdl.org/html/2010_bills.html) that
needs their support.

If your AzCDL membership is coming up for renewal, you'll save $10 if
you renew at any event!  It's like getting paid to attend!  Sustaining
memberships also get a FREE AzCDL t-shirt.  Not a member?  Not a
problem!  You can join AzCDL at these events and still get the $10 discount.

A complete listing of Arizona gun shows can be found at:
http://www.americangunshows.com/GunShows/AZ-GunShows.htm .

These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League
(AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots
organization.  Renew today!  http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html .

You can also follow AzCDL on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AzCDL_Alerts
and Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDL .

AzCDL's Political Action Committee (PAC) is also on Facebook:
http://tinyurl.com/FacebookAzCDLPAC .

AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom
http://www.azcdl.org/html/accomplishments.html

Copyright � 2010 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights
reserved.

--
Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY

Firearm safety - It's a matter
for education, not legislation.

The tactics and skills to use a firearm
in self-defense don't come naturally
with the right to keep and bear arms.

http://www.spw-duf.info

You are viewing proxied material from pongonova.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.