The Brady Bunch's New Math: Howard Nemerov challenges the recent claim of Brady Bunch president Paul Helmke that licensed CCW results in higher rates of violent crime. http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=26101&catcode=13 --- A Leopard Changes His Spots?: The National Shooting Sports Foundation is touting a visit to the SHOT Show by prospective Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (What did Romney ever do, as governor of Massachusetts, to stop that state's onslaught of infringements on the RKBA?) http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/01-12-2007/0004505032&EDATE=FRI+Jan+12+2007,+07:06+AM --- Connecticut Democrats Prepare Anti-RKBA Bills: The measures would require private gun owners and licensed dealers to report lost or stolen firearms; limit purchases to one handgun per month; require presentation of a handgun permit to purchase or possess ammunition; prohibit private sales of ammunition by requiring a license to sell; and punish legal buyers of ammunition who then sell it illegally. http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-a1guns.1.12chjan12,0,6699717.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines --- Virginia Bill Would Require Background Checks: A Virginia state senator has introduced a bill to require background checks for all gun-show transfers. Given poor chance for passage, she has attempted to make it more attractive by adding a provision to provide immunity from prosecution to all sellers who conduct the checks. (Allegedly, the latter provision was inspired by the NYC lawsuits against three licensed Virginia dealers. However, they have been sued, not prosecuted, and that action is in federal court.) http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=75867&paper=73&cat=104 --- Colorado Bill Would Impose Residency Requirement For CCW Reciprocity: "Clarifies that a person cannot use a permit to carry a concealed handgun that is issued by another state if the person does not reside in the issuing state." http://www.leg.state.co.us/Clics/Clics2007A/csl.nsf/fsbillcont3/2FF2281D159DF18087257251007C51CE?Open&file=034_01.pdf --- Does Wisconsin Have An Exceptional Rate Of Mental Illness?: The Wisconsin State Journal editorializes, " Wisconsin remains a holdout in the nationwide trend to allow people to carry concealed guns. The Legislature should keep it that way." (What makes Wisconsin residents less competent than those in most other states to responsibly carry the means to defend themselves?) http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/opinion/index.php?ntid=114621&ntpid=1 --- Gottlieb CCW Op-Ed Published In Wisconsin Paper: The Sheboygan Press gives Alan Gottlieb, of SAF and CCRKBA, the opportunity to counter the prohibitionist campaign against licensed CCW. http://www.sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070112/SHE06/701120527/1109/SHEopinion --- Utah Campus Carry Debated: The Daily Herald offers opposing views on whether firearms should be banned on Utah's university and college campuses. The pro-freedom side is argued by instructor and RKBA activist Clark Aposhian. http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/206374/3/ --- Utah Company Boasts Largest Gun Shows: Article discusses the Crossroads of the West gun shows, held in five western states, including California, whose ten-day waiting period makes it particularly unfriendly to gun-show transactions. (I thought Tulsa OK held the largest gun show in the country.) http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650221580,00.html --- Conviction In Arkansas Militia Case: It took a jury just under five hours to find Hollis Wayne Fincher guilty of owning illegal machine guns and a sawed-off shotgun. http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/01/12/news/011207fincherguilty.txt Judge Refused To Allow Defendant To Testify: http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2007/01/12/news/011207fzfincher.txt --- Oops, Wrong House: Two brothers were shot when they broke into a Louisiana home. The older brother died of a single shot to the head; the younger one is hospitalized with two bullet wounds in each leg and two in the side. http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070112/NEWS03/701120337/1002/NEWS --- Close Call: A home-invader in Tennessee is in critical condition after being shot twice in the head by an 84-year-old homeowner whose sons had recently tried to take his pistol from him. http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=5933859 --- Meanwhile, In Texas...: A 22-year-old man with a significant criminal record broke into the home of his former girlfriend. He eventually died, after fleeing the scene, of a gunshot to the chest, fired by the woman's current boyfriend, as he forced his way into their bedroom. http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/16444594.htm --- British Police Target Replica Firearms: Sinister images of hooded men posing with lethal Mach 10 pistols prompted armed police to carry out an early morning raid. (By my calculation, Mach 10 is about 11,280 fps or 7,700 mph.) http://www.thisischeshire.co.uk/display.var.1117493.0.if_you_carry_fake_guns_we_will_treat_them_as_real.php --- Safety Tips For Overseas Travel: Bruce Mandelblit offers some guidelines for reducing the risks of overseas travel. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/12/91909.shtml?s=os --- From Alan Korwin: Gun Law Update 1/11/07 >From Alan Korwin, Author The Gun Owner's Guide Series Gun Laws of America Supreme Court Gun Cases FOR STARTERS: 1. To my Texas Friends: I'll be signing books in Mesquite, Texas, at the Texas State Rifle Association annual meeting and sportsman's show! Stop by on February 2 thru 4, 2007, Mesquite Convention Center, call 972-889-8772 for info on this tremendous event! http://www.tsra.com 2. In Arizona, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (nssf.org) has a new program that introduces novices to target practice and wholesome American shooting sports, with classroom and range time. Arizona will feature the "First Shots" program at the world-class Ben Avery Range on Friday, February 9th, at 5:00 pm, Saturday, February 10th sessions at 8:00 am 1:00 pm, and Sunday, February 11th sessions at 8:00 am and 1:00 pm. Click here for locations elsewhere -- http://www.nssf.org/share/BP2/2006/041006.htm?AoI=generic 3. Total NICS FBI background checks (a rough estimate of gun sales): 2002: 8,454,322 2003: 8,481,588 2004: 8,687,671 2005: 8,952,945 Increase in four years: 5.9% Jan. to Aug. 2006 increase is 12.1% ahead of same period in 2005 Total background checks since startup in 1998: 67,900,000. 4. Brand new 2007 "Traveler's Guide to the Gun Laws of the 50 States" now available! Just came out -- 18 states have changes plus updates to the front and back sections, reciprocity lists, more, still only $12.95 plus S&H. http://www.gunlaws.com/travel.htm 5. "Knife Laws of the 50 States!" Perfect for everyone who carries a self defense blade, just released, we've got it in stock. http://www.gunlaws.com/KnifeLawsof50States.htm AND THE NEWS: The Senate: The two most anti-gun Republicans in the Senate were replaced by two anti-gun Democrats; good riddance, no net loss. Two solid pro-gun Republicans were replaced by proven pro-gun Democrats, no net gain. And one pro-gun Republican lost to an anti-gun Democrat. Bottom line; we had 54 to 55 fairly reliable votes out of 100 before the election and should still have 53 to 54 reliable votes in the new Senate. The House: Several of the gun-rights movement's most reliable allies fell victim to the vote on November 7th, but many of their replacements have decent gun rights records. The final numbers in the House sort out something like this: Reliable votes: Before - 230; Now - 224 Fence sitters: Before - 45; Now - 38 Anti-gunners: Before - 160; Now - 175 Where we have enjoyed a pretty solid 25 to 30 vote majority, we must now get by with a somewhat less reliable 11 to 16 vote advantage -- keeping in mind that we're talking about politicians so they're unpredictable and require constant supervision. The Committees: The chairs of all the key gun-bill committees are now ruled by the worst anti-gun-rights members of Congress, e.g. F-rated John Conyers, who advocates a total handgun ban, House judiciary committee, and F-rated Pat Leahy, Senate judiciary committee. In the Senate, F-rated Harry Reid runs the show, and who doesn't already know that FFF-rated Nancy Pelosi rules the roost in the House. These details are courtesy of the excellent Firearms Coalition Hard Corps Report, founded by the late great Neal Knox, sign up for direct eblasts: http://www.nealknox.com The anti-gun-rights Brady Campaign has announced its four main objectives for the new Democrat Congress: restore the so-called assault weapon ban, strengthen the Brady law (no details provided), restrict gun shows, and curb illegal gun sales. Bill drafts are in the works, and will be analyzed and posted at gunlaws.com. http://www.gunlaws.com Protect the Right to Keep and Bear Arms: Join a rights group or two RIGHT NOW to help over the next two years: NATIONAL: http://www.gunlaws.com/links/us_gunlaw_groups.html LOCAL: http://www.gunlaws.com/links/index.htm SCOREBOARD: In six years of Republican control we saw few significant federal gun laws passed, and virtually nothing for private citizens on a day-to-day basis. The three statutes were the gun-industry protection bill (larded with anti-gun measures), the natural disaster no-gun-confiscation bill (thanks to Hurricane Katrina and rogue Louisiana cops), and a bookkeeping improvement for gunsmiths who work on less than 50 guns a year (plus, ex-police got the power to carry nationwide that the rest of us do not have). That's it. These will be posted as updates to my unabridged federal guide very soon, maybe even by the end of the tomorrow. Some politicians will claim credit for the non-assault weapon non-ban that expired as scheduled in 2004, but Bill Clinton passed that bill, so Republicans taking credit is slightly unfair. Gun Laws of America http://www.gunlaws.com/gloa.htm Gun Laws of America updates section http://www.gunlaws.com/gloaup.htm A new Page Nine report from the Uninvited Ombudsman is coming soon. Alan. -------------------- WE'VE MOVED -- JAN. 1, 2007!! Alan Korwin Bloomfield Press "We publish the gun laws." 4848 E. Cactus, #505-440 <-- NEW STREET ADDRESS Scottsdale, AZ 85254 <-- NEW STREET ADDRESS 602-996-4020 Phone 602-494-0679 Fax 1-800-707-4020 Orders http://www.gunlaws.com alan@gunlaws.com Call, write, fax or click for free full-color catalog If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you're reading this in English, thank a veteran. "No one could make a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little." --Edmund Burke -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .