Reuters Recognizes Role Of Firearms Post-Katrina: Article describes the militia-like activities of Algiers residents in the aftermath of the hurricane in a manner that I would not have expected from Reuters. http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2005-09-21T153501Z_01_N21232017_RTRIDST_0_KATRINA-BATTLE-PICTURE.XML --- Gun Maker Protection In Danger: Editorial cautions about the risks created by the amendments to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. http://www.dakotavoice.com/200509/20050920_4.asp --- S&W Lands Contract For Sigma Pistols: While the purchase is being made by a command of the US Army, the 12,000 pistols are slated for the Afghanistan Border Patrol. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050921/law091.html?.v=22 --- Rule Five Reminder: A Kentucky man spotted a holstered pistol lying in the middle of the road. Investigation shoed that it was the privately owned pistol of a deputy sheriff, who couldn't account for how it ended up there. (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.) http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050921/NEWS0102/509210478/1008/NEWS01 --- Oops, Wrong House: Two cousins were shot while breaking into a home in Henderson NV. Several shots are reported to have been fired. NFD (no further details) on the shooting but police seem to believe that the homeowner acted in self-defense. http://www.krnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3876712&nav=8faO --- Meanwhile, In South Dakota: Two teenagers were shot with a shotgun blast as they broke into a home. Article discusses the legal ambiguity of such shootings in that state. http://www.in-forum.com/articles/index.cfm?id=103582§ion=News --- Interesting Story, Right Conclusion: A trucker describes nearly getting shot in a road-rage incident and how he mastered his knee-jerk reaction about the shooter's right to own firearms. http://www.theconservativevoice.com/articles/article.html?id=8441 --- Firearms Missing From Museum?: An auditor claims that as many as 6,000 firearms may be missing from a state-owned museum in Oklahoma. http://www.kfor.com/Global/story.asp?S=3879189&nav=6uy6 --- Save An M14, Help Reduce The Deficit: Petition the government to sell surplus firearms through the CMP, rather than destroy them. (Because the M14 is classified as a machine gun, a conversion program is proposed.) http://www.petitiononline.com/M14CMP03/ --- From Neal Boortz, 09-21-05: TAKING THE LAW INTO YOUR OWN HANDS Shawn Roberts... Hero Dangerous vigilante Now here's another phrase that twists my short hairs. We had an incident in Atlanta last week where a civilian, Shawn Roberts, saw a crime being committed, and took action . Roberts was driving down a suburban Atlanta street when he saw a black male beating a white woman and trying to force her into a car. Roberts turned around to see the car driving off with the predator behind the wheel and the woman fighting for her life in the passenger seat. Roberts continued to follow the car as the female continued to fight her abductor. The car swerved into the path of a cement truck. The resulting accident killed the woman, but the bastard who had carjacked and kidnapped her was unhurt. He jumped out of the car and ran .... Shaw Roberts was right behind him. The perp had a gun and pointed it at Roberts. Roberts had a gun and used it to blow the worthless POS away. Oh .. and by the way, the perp had raped and beaten a woman in the Atlanta the week before. He'll never do it again, and the Georgia taxpayers will never have to pay to feed the SOB in jail. OK .. on with the "taking the law into our own hands" bit. Here's a link to a conversation thread. Warning -- the participants in this thread are car nuts who post pictures of their cars with their comments. If you'll read through these links you will soon run across a character who says that Shawn Roberts should be charged with manslaughter ... that he "took the law into his own hands." Nonsense. Those of you who didn't attend government schools may already understand this ... but the law IS in our hands. Law enforcement is not something citizens seize from police officers, it is a function that citizens delegate to police officers. The responsibility is ours, and we can chose to hire people to perform that function for us. If the people we hire to perform that job are either unwilling or unable to perform that function there is no law or standard that says we cannot perform that function for ourselves. Take New Orleans as an example. After the levee broke, and after many New Orleans police officers fled, residents were left to fend for themselves. Looters were on the rampage .. stealing and killing with impunity. Would these "you can't take the law into your own hands" types tell you that under those circumstances you are simply not allowed to do anything to defend yourself or your neighbor? Would you buy the idea that you just have to sit there and let the plunderers have their way because there is no police officer handy to come to your rescue? That's nonsense, and you know it ... and it's nonsense to suggest that Shawn Roberts should have simply taken down a license plate number and allow this predator to drive off with this young woman in the car. --- From Keep And Bear Arms: SAF, NRA ASK FEDERAL COURT TO HALT NEW ORLEANS GUN SEIZURES BATON ROUGE, LA (Sept. 22) - The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and National Rifle Association (NRA) joined with individual gun owners in Louisiana Thursday morning, filing a motion in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana seeking a temporary restraining order to stop authorities in and around the City of New Orleans from seizing firearms from private citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Click here to make a contribution to help fund this lawsuit. Arbitrary gun seizures, without warrant or probable cause, have been reported during the past three weeks since the Crescent City was devastated by the hurricane. In cases reported to SAF, police refused to give citizens receipts for their seized firearms. Earlier, SAF insisted that police account for all seized firearms, disclose their whereabouts, and explain how they will be returned to their rightful owners. Authorities have not responded. Gun confiscations have been highly publicized since the New York Times quoted New Orleans Police Superintendent P. Edwin Compass III, who said, "Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons," and ABC News quoted Deputy Police Chief Warren Riley stating, "No one will be able to be armed. We are going to take all the weapons." For example, a San Francisco, CA camera crew from KTVU filmed one incident in which visiting California Highway Patrol officers tackled an elderly woman identified as Patricia Konie, to seize her pistol and forcibly remove her from her home. An ABC news crew accompanying an Oklahoma National Guard unit filmed another incident in which homeowners were handcuffed and disarmed, then released but without their firearms. "We are delighted to work jointly with the NRA in an effort to bring these outrageous gun seizures to a halt," said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb. "Our inquiries about these confiscations were cavalierly ignored, as were our demands for a public explanation from the police and city officials about why citizens were being unlawfully disarmed, leaving them defenseless against lingering bands of looters and thugs. "New Orleans officials left us with no recourse," Gottlieb observed. "It was bad enough that Big Easy residents were victims of the worst natural disaster in the nation's history. That they would be subsequently victimized by their own local government, taking their personal property without warrant, is unconscionable. These illegal gun seizures must be stopped, now." PS Click here to make a contribution to help fund this lawsuit. -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .