Texas Stand-Your-Ground Bill Clears House Committee: A bill designed to protect citizens' rights to self-defense has passed out of committee and is headed to the floor of the Texas House. The bill, authored by Rep. Joe Driver (R), chair of the House Law Enforcement committee, removes the current requirement to retreat in the face of a threat. http://lonestartimes.com/2007/02/28/common-sense-gun-law-out-of-committee/ --- Maryland "AWB" Given Poor Chance For Passage: Despite renewed efforts to ban assault weapons in Maryland and the support of top state leaders, a tougher gun control bill may not even make it to the floor of the Senate this year...Because there is no House version of the bill, it could die in the Senate panel, mirroring the destiny of similar measures in the last three years. http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2007/02_28-39/GOV --- Utah Campus-Carry Bill Watered Down: Concealed weapons won't face any new restrictions on university campuses in Utah, although students can now request not to live with permit holders. A bill that passed in the waning hours of this year's legislative session ended up as a watered down version of an original bill that would have prohibited concealed weapons in certain faculty offices. http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660199756,00.html --- Washington Gun-Show Restriction Bill Clears Committee: Controversial legislation that tightens regulations on firearm sales at gun shows passed out of a state Senate committee today. Senate Bill 5197 would expand background check requirements to include guns sold at shows by unlicensed gun sellers. Currently, only licensed dealers have to screen customers for felonies, age requirements and mental illness. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2003592482_webgunloop27.html --- Minnesota City Bans Airsoft Guns: Realistic-looking replica guns will be banned in St. Paul under an ordinance the City Council unanimously approved today. The ban does not cover water pistols and other obvious toys. But the popularity of real-looking guns that shoot pellets and are used in war games, known generally as Airsoft guns, is on the rise. http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/breaking_news/16804073.htm --- Meanwhile, In California...: An Inland lawmaker's bill to punish people who threaten peace officers with imitation firearms passed its first committee hearing Tuesday. The measure by Assemblyman Bill Emmerson, R-Redlands, calls for a minimum 90-day jail sentence for anyone convicted of threatening a peace officer with a look-alike weapon... http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_region28.42f3135.html --- Local CCW Restriction Meets Resistance In Kansas: Bonner Springs City Manager Jack Helin may have believed a common-sense-sounding ordinance he brought to the City Council would meet with little discussion Monday night...What Helin hadn't contended with in assuming a breezy passage of the ordinance were the libertarian leanings and the skepticism of some Council members. (Two pending bills would limit the ability of cities and counties to regulate conceal-carry handguns beyond what the state law already has in effect.) http://www.bonnersprings.com/section/frontpagelead/story/10019 --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: Nineteen people have been charged in a gunrunning scheme in which "straw buyers" purchased weapons in Mississippi that were later sold to street gangs in Chicago, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. Participants in the interstate firearms trafficking conspiracy shipped more than 100 guns between August 1999 and April 2005, according to the U.S. attorney's office for the northern district of Illinois. Most of the guns have not been recovered, authorities said. http://www.azstarnet.com/news/171439 --- No Peephole?: A Tennessee man, who answered a knock on the door with pistol in hand, was attacked by two intruders as soon as he opened the door and was stabbed by one of them. He appears to have driven them off with shots that failed to find their targets. (There is a significant loss in tactical advantage once the door is opened. Sighted fire at targets does not prepare you for arm's length confrontations.) http://www.timesnews.net/article.php?id=9000908 --- Why Californians Are Losing The Gun Wars: Commentator lists various factors that have contributed to the moribund status of the RKBA in California and concludes, "We have abdicated our responsibilities as citizens and decided to write checks to state and national gun rights organizations thinking that they alone can do what we will not...We all have to engage our neighbors, friends, relatives and do those little things like fax your assemblyman with our views, put up the yard sign, register conservatives to vote, phone bank and precinct walk for that pro gun city council hopeful..." http://www.gunnewsdaily.com/news730.html --- Rule Three Reminder: A security guard at the federal courthouse in downtown Richmond VA was slightly wounded this morning when a handgun he was handling accidentally discharged. The guard was grazed in the right upper thigh area by a lone bullet fired from a .40-caliber Glock 23 pistol as he was placing the pistol in his holster. (Rule Three: Keep your finger out of the trigger guard, up on the frame, until your sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire.) http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1149193439505 --- Rule Four Reminder: An Arizona police lieutenant said he is dismayed about the Pinal County Attorney's Office offering a plea agreement that could mean no jail time for the two men accused of shooting him Aug. 19 while he was mountain biking with friends. The two men arrested in the case told investigators they were target shooting in the area when Lane was hit. (Rule Four: Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/43302.php --- Zumbo Apologizes Again: "The Second Amendment, which guarantees us the right to keep and bear arms, has nothing to do with hunting, but everything to do with gun ownership. During the ensuing controversy surrounding my blog, some people have taken me to task for abandoning the Second Amendment. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If I ever, in my wildest dreams, thought the words I had written would bring the validity of the Second Amendment into question, I assure you I never would have touched my fingers to the keypad." http://www.codyenterprise.com/articles/2007/02/28/news/news3.txt --- British Prohibitionist Admits Failure Of Ban: Ian Bell worked long and hard to make sure the ban passed a decade ago. But writing in Scotland's Sunday Herald, he says, "My idea didn't work... guns have become commonplace, so commonplace that every would-be terrorist worth his salt must be armed to the teeth. Bans have failed utterly." http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=170 -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .