Public Support For "Gun Control" Wanes: The other day, when two armored car guards were gunned down in Philadelphia by attackers who never even bothered to stop and say, "This is a stick-up,'' the chief of police lamented that it's time that the candidates for president of the United States start spotlighting the question of gun control...Public support for stricter gun control has reached a low ebb in modern times, according to a new report of the Gallup Poll. Just 51 percent of Americans believe that laws governing the sale of firearms should be made more strict. Those saying laws ought be kept the same or made more lenient are running at a comparable 47 percent in the early-October survey. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/10/support_for_gun_control_dwindl.html --- The Buyback Boondoggle: D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has a great idea. She wants to spend $50 million of taxpayer money... your money... to fund "gun buybacks" nationwide. But there's a big problem with that old idea: The federal government already tried subsidizing gun buybacks during the Clinton administration. And in 2001, they stopped funding gun buybacks because "the results of gun buybacks are minimal." That's what the Department of Housing and Urban Development said, not me. They don't work. http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=316 --- How Can Universities Teach When They Will Not Learn?: We will never stop the next school shooter - or any school or workplace shooters - by psychoanalyzing or profiling them, giving them time and opportunity, but by better preparing the target to respond immediately. Disarming students means waiting for someone to arrive. It means waiting for someone else to protect you or get kicked out of school. All the profiling is nothing more than a stalling tactic to avoid the obvious: arming students and workers as they choose in order that they operate on their citizen authority when facing grave danger in the absence of first responders. http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/10/11/school-shootings-how-do-universities-teach-when-they-will-not-learn-basics/ --- Another One Who Will Not Learn: ...Katz, an Oregon high school teacher, says she wants to have her pistol at school to defend herself from her disgruntled ex-husband or to prevent a school shooting. This seems like a bit of a stretch - arming teachers can not be the best way to solve these problems. First of all, plenty of teachers and school faculty have problems with ex-spouses. This does not entitle them to carry a gun on campus. There are already safety mechanisms in place at high schools, and teachers carrying pistols would just undermine them. Many high schools have law enforcement on campus. They are trained to deal with threats to teachers and students alike. Police are the only people who need to be carrying guns on a high school campus, not teachers. http://media.www.thebatt.com/media/storage/paper657/news/2007/10/11/Opinion/Armed.And.Educating-3025887.shtml --- More On Student Suspended For Advocating Campus Carry: Hamline University prides itself on its commitment to diversity. Its website boasts that "Hamline's five schools have more than 4,500 students, and each one of these students is different ...Hamline isn't a place where you 'fit in,' conforming to the Hamline mold. Rather, Hamline 'fits in' you, welcoming your unique contributions and valuing who you are." "Unless you're an advocate for gun rights," Hamline administrators might have added. Hamline suspended graduate student Troy Scheffler shortly after he sent two emails to school officials deriding the university's ban on concealed weapons and suggesting that lifting the ban would help deter school shootings. In order to be considered for re-admission, Scheffler has been required to undergo a psychological evaluation. http://thephoenix.com/TheFreeForAll/PermaLink,guid,f73ff297-ff00-4c9f-91a0-396f165e7af4.aspx http://www.thefire.org/index.php/torch/#8480 --- Empty-Holster Protest Scheduled In Connecticut: When students wear holsters on their belts next month, they will be protesting the law, not breaking it. It's part of the "Empty Holster Protest," organized by the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) chapter at UConn, which aims to call attention to the 'gun-free-zone' around campus. Chris Kopencey, a 3rd-semester political science major, and Andrew Dodson, a part-time student majoring in electrical engineering, have helped organize the protest to push for students already licensed in the state to be allowed to carry concealed weapons on campus. "Every school is a gun-free-zone, but it does not stop them [criminals] from bringing a gun on campus," said Kopencey. Students will wear empty pistol holsters on their belts but will otherwise go to class as normal. http://media.www.dailycampus.com/media/storage/paper340/news/2007/10/11/News/ProGun.Protests.Take.Aim-3026998.shtml --- John Lott On Kids And Guns: ...Convincing patients not to own guns or to at least lock them up will cost more lives than it will save. It also gives a misleading impression of what poses the greatest dangers to children. Accidental gun deaths among children are fortunately much rarer than most people believe. Consider the following numbers. In 2003, for the United States, the Centers for Disease Control reports that 28 children under age 10 died from accidental shots. With some 90 million gun owners and about 40 million children under 10, it is hard to find any item as commonly owned in American homes, as potentially as lethal, that has as low of an accidental death rate. http://www.lewrockwell.com/lott/lott57.html --- ABC Pushes Bloomberg Line: The burden of gun violence has largely fallen to the big-city mayors, some of whom are taking steps to keep illegal firearms from entering their borders. Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and Mayor Jerramiah Healy of Jersey City are among those who have moved most aggressively to combat gun trafficking even though their cities are in states with strict illegal gun laws. It's difficult to obtain a permit to own a gun and even harder to legally carry a gun in New York and New Jersey, but that hasn't stopped the sale and use of illegal weapons. That's because guns laws are regulated by the individual states and weapons tend to enter the states with tough control laws from nearby states with weak laws. http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3704240&page=1 --- Another Warning-Shot Incident: A motorist who shot and wounded a belligerent hitchhiker Wednesday at a highway rest area acted in self-defense, police say...Shaw told deputies he pointed the gun at Kneer and fired when Kneer did not back off, telling them he meant it as a warning shot. But the shot struck Kneer in the head. Harum said it appeared to be a clear case of self-defense and he does not expect the motorist to be charged with any crime. "He was pretty upset, and from what the deputies tell me, remorseful," Harum said. "It's pretty sad." (If you're not prepared. legally and emotionally, to shoot someone, don't introduce a firearm to a conflict.) http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/335144_hitchhiker12.html?source=mypi --- New Submachine Gun Called "Revolutionary": Industry experts say the weapons are unlike any other now on the market and could shake up the firearms world. What makes the weapons special, company and industry officials say, is a new patented operating system that substantially reduces recoil and muzzle climb when fired. The recoil, or kick, of a conventional weapon is directed backward into a shooter's shoulder, causing the gun to rise off target. TDI's "Super V" bolt-and-slide mechanism directs the energy downward in front of the trigger. http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=134495&ran=238163&lpos=spot3&lid=homePO -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .