Governor Signs Texas Castle-Doctrine Bill: Governor Rick Perry's office said on Tuesday that he had signed a new law that expands Texans' existing right to use deadly force to defend themselves "without retreat" in their homes, cars and workplaces. http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/3/27/213247.shtml?s=us --- Bill Would Block Access To Texas CHL Records: A renewed attempt to block the public's access to concealed handgun permit records has emerged this legislative session in a bill by Rep. Patrick Rose, a Dripping Springs Democrat. Similar legislation failed in previous years. "The bill is important because the steps that law-abiding Texans take to protect themselves and their families should be issues of private concern," Rose said. http://www.elpasotimes.com/election/ci_5527531 --- AFL-CIO Backs NRA On Florida Parking-Lot Bill: The issue was whether employees have the right to keep guns in their cars at work, and the National Rifle Association got help from an unexpected ally at a committee hearing Tuesday: the AFL-CIO labor union. The business community strongly opposes the new NRA-supported legislation, but that's no surprise, said AFL-CIO spokesman Rich Templin, who said big business wants sweeping new property rights. http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBTU5T5TZE.html --- It Can't Happen Here...: A Memphis newspaper uses some vague logic to oppose a bill that would ban confiscation of legally possessed firearms during declared emergencies. If the legislation is merely superfluous, as implied, no harm would accrue from its passage and the governor should not veto it. http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/editorials/article/0,2845,MCA_25348_5444142,00.html --- California Poised To Ban Lead Bullets For Hunting: ... Last month, the California Department of Fish and Game staff recommended that hunting with lead bullets be banned everywhere in the California condor range, a vast area of about 20 counties that extends from the Bay Area to Los Angeles and takes in parts of the Tehachapi Mountains... http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_5537685 --- Webb Denies He "Gave" Aide His Pistol: "I have never carried a gun in the Capitol complex and I did not give the weapon to Phillip Thompson, and that's all that I think I'll say," Webb told reporters. "Everyone here knows that I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, that I have had a permit to carry a weapon in Virginia for a long time, and I believe that it's important - its important for me, personally, and for a lot of people in the situation that I'm in, to be able to defend myself and my family." http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/webb-says-he-did-not-give-aide-his-gun-2007-03-27.html http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/3/27/213407.shtml?s=ic http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/27/AR2007032701179.html --- Oops, Wrong Body Shop: Burglars who crashed through the garage door of a body shop in Texas erred in opening fire on the owner, who had arrived to check why the alarm had gone off. One of the intruders was shot in the head. Police said he remained in "very, very critical condition" at Baylor University Medical Center at midday Tuesday. (Dallas police no longer respond to burglar alarms.) http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/news8/stories/wfaa070327_wz_burglarshot.6585b54.html --- Interview With Clayton Cramer: The Washington Times interviews Clayton Cramer, who initiated the fight to expose the fallacy of the Bellesiles book Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture and has countered it with a truly researched book of his own, Armed America: The Story of How and Why Guns Became as American as Apple Pie . http://www.washingtontimes.com/culture/20070326-103034-4965r.htm --- Order In The Court!: It sounds as though attorneys in a Florida courtroom had to go home to change their underwear after the judge drew his handgun when the father of a child victim suddenly attacked a handcuffed defendant. http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/032707/met_8885782.shtml http://www.news4jax.com/news/11401426/detail.html --- More Details On "Gun-Cleaning" Death: The chief said McGillis had a single gunshot wound to the upper left chest and was pronounced dead at the scene... The firearm that caused the fatal wound was a .40 caliber Glock semiautomatic handgun recently given McGillis by the Roselle Police Department, where he is a special police officer. http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/news-3/117497492799530.xml&coll=3 --- From AzCDL: SB 1629, which reduces the penalty for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit for otherwise law-abiding citizens, passed in the House Homeland Security and Property rights (HSPR) committee on Monday, March 26, 2007 by a vote of 6-4. The bill was amended to make the first offense for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit a petty offense. Any subsequent violations would be a class 3 misdemeanor, unless you are committing, or attempting to commit, a serious or violent crime, in which case it would remain a class 1 misdemeanor. Currently all violations are class 1 misdemeanors. SB 1629 was previously heard in the HSPR committee on Monday, March 19, 2007, but because of a tie vote (5-5) cast by Representative Barto, it looked like the bill was effectively killed for the session. When word got out, many of you contacted Rep. Barto expressing your disappointment with her for voting against SB 1629. At the same time, Dave Kopp and John Wentling, AzCDL's president and vice-president, met with Rep. Barto and the House leadership to address her concerns about SB 1629. The end result is that Rep. Barto asked the committee to reconsider SB 1629 where she voted for passage on March 26th. We will keep you informed on the progress of SB 1629 and other important legislation. Information on this and other bills can be found at the AzCDL website: http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today! AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html Copyright © 2007 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. HB 2469, which reduces the penalty for a concealed weapon permit holder failing to have their permit in their possession while carrying concealed, is headed for a vote by the full Senate - probably this week. Under current law (ARS 13-3112.D), a person is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor offense if they fail to present a concealed weapons permit upon the request of a law enforcement officer. The language of the current law does not clarify that a person must be a concealed weapons permit holder, or in possession of a weapon, or even if a weapon must be concealed. However, if they produce a legible permit that was valid at the time of the violation when they go to court, "they shall not be convicted." Meanwhile, they have been subjected to possible arrest and confiscation of their weapon prior to appearing in court. Furthermore, their concealed weapon permit information was available to the arresting officer, via a records search, at the time of the encounter. The proposed language in HB 2469: · Restricts the application of the law to concealed weapons permit holders. · Reduces the penalty to a petty offense. · Clarifies that a permit holder can only be charged if they are carrying a concealed weapon when they fail to present their permit at the request of a law enforcement officer. Please take the time to send a polite note to the Senators and let them know that you want them to vote for HB 2469. You can also use the cut-and-paste message provided below. Following the message are the email addresses of the Senate in both semi-colon and comma separation formats. Use the list that is compatible with your email software. Subject: Support HB 2469. Dear Senator: The Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL) has informed me that HB 2469 will soon be considered by the full Senate. I urge you to vote for HB 2469. Under the current provisions of ARS 13-3112.D, I am subject to a class 2 misdemeanor if I am unable to present a concealed weapons permit upon the request of a law enforcement officer. The language of the current law does not clarify that I must even be a concealed weapons permit holder or in possession of a weapon or even if a weapon must be concealed. Furthermore, the law says I "shall not be convicted" if I produce a valid permit to the court. HB 2469 clarifies that ARS 13-3112.D applies only to concealed weapons permit holders who are in possession of a concealed weapon. The penalty is reduced to a petty offense while the "shall not convict" language is retained for those producing a valid permit to the court. This allows honest mistakes by law-abiding citizens to be handled quickly, allowing scarce law enforcement and court resources to be focused on more important issues. Again, I urge to vote for the passage of HB 2469. Sincerely, (Your Name) (Street Address) (City, State, Zip) Senate members in comma format: paboud@azleg.gov, aaguirre@azleg.gov, callen@azleg.gov, marzberger@azleg.gov, tbee@azleg.gov, rblendu@azleg.gov, rburns@azleg.gov, mburtoncahill@azleg.gov, kcheuvront@azleg.gov, jflake@azleg.gov, jgarcia@azleg.gov, pgorman@azleg.gov, rgould@azleg.gov, cgray@azleg.gov, lgray@azleg.gov, ahale@azleg.gov, jharper@azleg.gov, jhuppenthal@azleg.gov, kjohnson@azleg.gov, llandrumtaylor@azleg.gov, bleff@azleg.gov, dmccunedavis@azleg.gov, rmiranda@azleg.gov, to'halleran@azleg.gov, cpesquiera@azleg.gov, rrios@azleg.gov, vsoltero@azleg.gov, jtibshraeny@azleg.gov, tverschoor@azleg.gov, jwaring@azleg.gov Information on HB 2469 and other bills can be found at the AzCDL website: http://www.azcdl.org/html/legislation.html As legislation progresses, we will keep you up to date via these Alerts and at our website. These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Join today! AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html Copyright © 2007 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .