OSHA Backs Off From Ammo Regulation: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced it will significantly revise a recent proposal for new "explosives safety" regulations that caused serious concern among gun owners. OSHA had originally set out to update workplace safety regulations, but the proposed rules included restrictions that very few gun shops, sporting goods stores, shippers, or ammunition dealers could comply with. http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=3162 --- DC To Appeal Parker: District of Columbia officials said Monday they will ask the Supreme Court to preserve the city's 30-year-old ban on private ownership of handguns that was struck down by a lower court earlier this year. If it chooses to take the case, the high court could end its long silence on the scope of individual gun rights under the Second Amendment, a prospect welcomed by both sides of the gun debate. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8QDV2EG1&show_article=1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071600626.html http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/us/17guns.html?ref=us http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletype/archives/2007/07/second_amendmen.html City Discusses Tactics, Plans: http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070717/METRO/107170041/1004 --- Guns Don't Kill People, Philadelphia Does: ... But if the cause of more murders in Philadelphia is the lack of yet more gun control, why isn't murder increasing in the rest of Pennsylvania? Pittsburgh saw just a 7 percent increase...It would appear that Philadelphia's problems have something to do with Philadelphia, not the lack of more gun control coming out of Washington or Harrisburg... http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/8545697.html --- Obama Calls For Permanent Ban On "Assault Weapons": Standing before a church congregation that has witnessed inner-city violence firsthand, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Sunday that more must be done to end a social ill that is "sickening the soul of this nation..." He said the government needs to permanently reinstate an assault weapons ban and close regulatory loopholes that protect unscrupulous gun dealers. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289373,00.html --- The Wrong War: NRA's Wayne LaPierre takes on the mayor of Boston for failing to address negligent parenting in the recent firearm-related death of a seven-year-old child. http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=272 --- Gas-Station Clerk May Be Charged For Killing Robber: Surveillance tapes of the Saturday night incident at a BP service station on Saw Mill Run Boulevard in Beechview appear to show that clerk Walter C. Wetzel Jr., 58, of Mt. Washington, acted in self-defense when he shot Raymond Crawford, 30, of Northview Heights, Pittsburgh police said. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_517593.html http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07198/802273-53.stm --- Father Shoots Son, Authorities Weigh Charges: Prosecutors and law enforcement officials meet Monday to discuss whether a St. Augustine father accused of fatally shooting his son during an argument Saturday afternoon should be charged with a crime. http://www.news4jax.com/news/13688824/detail.html --- From JPFO: ...Despite optimism from pro-gun circles, it doesn't look good. As the article states, "The ruling - in Parker v. District of Columbia - marked the first time a gun law has been found unconstitutional based on the Second Amendment, and it set up a direct conflict among the circuits. Nine federal appeals courts around the nation have adopted the view that the amendment guarantees only the collective right of organized state militias to bear arms, not an individual's right. (A 5th Circuit panel found that individuals have gun rights but upheld the regulation in question, so both sides claim that ruling as a victory.)" http://www.jpfo.org/alert20070716.htm --- From The Firearms Coalition: D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty is announcing that the District is going forward with an appeal to the Supreme Court in the Parker case. The announcement puts to rest rumors and concerns that DC would simply make minor adjustments to their oppressive gun restrictions to feign compliance with the Federal Circuit Court's decision stating that the Second Amendment refers to an individual right. The next step in the process is for the Supreme Court to decide whether they will hear the case or not. If they do not choose to hear it, the court ruling stands and its decision carries a bit more weight than it would have had if it had never been appealed to the SCOTUS, but it would still not be a binding precedent for all federal courts. If the Supreme Court does choose to hear the case it will be almost impossible for them to reach a decision without a clear statement of whether the Second Amendment applies to only state militias such as the National Guard or whether it is an individual right. Please spread this news and start writing letters to the editor; the anti-gunners will be mounting massive media campaigns in attempts to convince the Court that the American people no longer believe in the Second Amendment. It is up to us - you and me - to diffuse that nonsense and make it clear that the majority of Americans recognize the right to arms as a basic human right. We will keep you posted as the issue develops and we will present more in-depth analysis in "The Knox Report" and in the Blogs on our newly revamped website - www.FirearmsCoalition.org. Yours for the Second Amendment, Jeff Jeff Knox The Firearms Coalition -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .