Heller and the Election: The two red-hot issues fused by the Heller case - guns and judges - are two of the most divisive in American politics. The fact is most conservatives support firearms and our heritage of hunting and self-defense, and want judges to interpret the law instead of invent it. Many liberals (though not all) hate guns and think ordinary people are too careless or irresponsible to be trusted with firearms. They think courts should play a leading role in declaring human rights and changing social policy. All this leads to the two different "obvious" answers to the question presented in Heller. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58715 Alternate Version: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/03/13/the_roe_v_wade_of_gun_rights Part 1 of Alternate Version: http://www.townhall.com/columnists/KenBlackwell/2008/03/06/judging_gun_rights_are_they_inalienable --- Bush and Heller: ...The government position filed with the Supreme Court by U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement stunned gun advocates by opposing the breadth of an appellate court affirmation of individual ownership rights. The Justice Department, not the vice president, is out of order. But if Bush agrees with Cheney, why did the president not simply order Clement to revise his brief? The answers: disorganization and weakness in the eighth year of his presidency... The president and his senior staff were stunned to learn, on the day it was issued, that Clement's petition called on the high court to return the case to the appeals court. The solicitor general argued that Silberman's opinion supporting individual gun rights was so broad that it would endanger existing federal gun control laws such as the bar on owning machine guns. The president could have ordered a revised brief by Clement. But under congressional Democratic pressure to keep hands off the Justice Department, Bush did not act... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RobertDNovak/2008/03/13/ws_gun_battle --- Students to Hold Moot Court on Heller: Langley High School seniors will hold the school's annual Case Day on Friday, March 14, with a moot court of the controversial Supreme Court case, the District of Columbia vs. Heller. The case questions whether the District of Columbia's law that permits ownership of rifles and shotguns but bans handguns infringes on the right to keep and bear arms as outlined in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Langley students taking Advanced Placement (AP) government will argue the case. http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/news/2008/mar/12/langley-hs-annual-case-day/ --- Principal Charged for Gun at School: Police accuse him of bringing a gun to school and we aren't talking about a student. We are talking about the principal of Wirt County Middle School. Danny Hoover, Junior was arrested and charged back in October with two counts of unlawfully possessing deadly weapons on school property. Tuesday lawyers tried to get the charges against him dismissed. A judge will rule in the case at the end of the month. http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines/16582751.html --- Alabama Campus-Carry Bill Does Not Go Far Enough: The problem with Hank Erwin's bill seeking to arm academics and ROTC students on Alabama campuses isn't that it goes too far. It doesn't go far enough, and it fails to ask the fundamental question: Why do we allow boards of trustees in state-funded institutions to violate the constitutional rights of its students? Every eligible student who can obtain a concealed carry permit in the state of Alabama should be able to carry on campus, without exception, and without harassment by their educational institution. http://www.gadsdentimes.com/article/20080312/NEWS/803120312/1044/OPINION --- Philadelphia Prohibitionists Seek Overturn of Preemption: City council members asked a court Wednesday to let them adopt local gun-control measures because they say loose state firearms laws are wreaking havoc on Philadelphia streets. They accuse state lawmakers - who were given the sole power to regulate Pennsylvania gun sales in a 1974 law - of abdicating their responsibility to protect the public..."It's clear that they are not going to pass any laws," Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller said of state lawmakers. "We have been elected to protect the City of Philadelphia and we are prepared to do that. ... Every day, we wake up and people are dying." http://cbs3.com/topstories/Philadelphia.City.Council.2.675701.html --- Florida Parking-Lot-Storage Bill Clears Committee: It was lawyers, guns and money as a House committee Wednesday gave preliminary approval to a bill forcing businesses to allow employees to leave guns in their cars at work. Lawmakers have rejected similar measures in the past, but the bill, backed by the National Rifle Association, this year was watered down to appease businesses. It didn't work. In a room packed with lawyers representing businesses such as Publix, lobbyists testified about how the bill pits two constitutional endowments - gun rights and private property rights. Despite business objections, the House Environmental and Natural Resource Council voted 11-6 to approve the bill (HB 503). The bill as it was approved on Wednesday would restrict carrying guns to workplaces and leaving them in vehicles to gun owners who possess a concealed weapons permit. http://www.palmbeachpost.com/politics/content/state/epaper/2008/03/13/a14a_xgr_guns_0313.html --- Ammo-Serialization Bill Dies in Illinois Committee: An Illinois House committee on Wednesday rejected the idea of requiring gun owners to use special ammunition imprinted with codes to help police track bullets found at crime scenes. Two other gun-control measures won approval from the Executive Committee. One allows revocation of gun permits for owners who fail to keep their weapons away from children or people with a serious mental illness. The other tightens rules on providing trigger locks as part of gun sales. The ammunition measure would require all bullets made or sold in Illinois to have a laser coding by 2010. The bill also says any ammunition used in the state would need the coding by 2011. http://www.nwherald.com/articles/2008/03/12/news/state/doc47d8a4e0ace74615005611.txt --- NRA Compromises in Nebraska: The Nebraska Unicameral has given first-round approval to gun-control legislation after a major compromise. The amended proposal does away with the requirement of getting a permit from a local law enforcement agency to purchase guns, replacing it with instant federal background checks. The amendment changed the stance of the National Rifle Association, which has now dropped its opposition to the bill. The bill would also establish a statewide hotline to report stolen or missing guns and would require the state crime commission to study the issue of gun violence. (So what's the primary intent of the bill?) http://www.ketv.com/news/15579781/detail.html --- Video Examines Second Amendment: In this week's News You Choose, a local film director is getting national attention for his recently released documentary on the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms. "We're just trying to give people both sides of the argument - instead of the one side of the argument you get from the national media," said Ashley Stinnett. Stinnett says his newly-completed documentary, Our Second Amendment - A Guarantee of Freedom, is designed to inform folks who live in the Appalachia region about proposed and future changes to gun owners rights. The documentary showcases political leaders from West Virginia from both the Republican and Democratic sides. Stinnett says the 30 minute film deals with the true issues at hand, staying away from misleading stereotypes that other documentaries showcase. http://wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=35924 --- Time to Recall Old Attitudes About Guns: ...Where schools once sponsored competitive rifle teams there are now "zero-tolerance" policies that have gone beyond ludicrous. The parents of a student in Lancaster County are suing their son's school because school officials felt the the T-shirt the boy was wearing, a gift from his uncle in the Army, had a gun on it. In Arizona, a 13-year-old was suspended from school for drawing a picture that resembled a gun, which, school officials said, was "absolutely considered a threat." Another student was threatened with a three-day suspension after a teacher noticed the pen the student was using bore the logo of Glock firearms. That suspension was overturned when the boy's father, a law-enforcement official who had given him the pen, suggested that school officials might re-think their decision. A student at Hamline University, after raising a question about the school's ban on concealed weapons, was suspended and ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation... http://www.ldnews.com/columns/ci_8552846 --- From The Firearms Coalition: GunVoter.org Needs Your Help We don't want to pick your pocket. We just want to pick your brain. We have created a new forum site called www.GunVoter.org to serve as a central clearinghouse for information about the fight for gun rights, particularly regarding candidates and elections, but including legislation too. We need you to register at www.GunVoter.org (it must be .org as the guy who controls .com is demanding $10,000 for rights to the site,) and then post information about what's going on in your state. Without your input, the site is just an empty shell. With your help it can become the most comprehensive collection of grassroots gun rights information anywhere. Please go to www.GunVoter.org, register, and post information. The information can be an alert from a grassroots group, an article from a newsletter or blog (with permission and proper credit,) or just your own opinion about the situation in your state. We'd also like to hear from you in the "General Comments/Suggestions" area to let us know what you think of the site, things we could do to make it better, and your thoughts on general topics. Please take a moment to visit the site and post a message just to let us and others know you were there. We're also looking for people who would be interested in helping to moderate the site - keep porn and spam out and the discussions civil, etc. If you're interested in participating in that way, please drop me a note through a Private Message. We've also put up a "GunVoter Gear" store with hats, T-shirts, etc. to help you tell the world where you stand. We're working on new designs and better graphics and are open to suggestions there as well. We've built this site for you. We think it can be a great resource, but only if you make it so. Please stop by www.GunVoter.org and participate. We've gotten the ball rolling; now it's up to you to build the momentum and roll it right over the antigun politicians in DC and the state capitols. Please share this alert with your friends and other gun rights supporters in your circle, especially club leaders and local activists. Thank you for your commitment to the Second Amendment and the fundamental human right of self-defense. And thank you in advance for participating in this exciting new venue. Yours for the Second Amendment, Jeff Knox Director of Operations Neal Knox Associates - The Firearms Coalition www.GunVoter.org P.S. The value of the GunVoter project depends on your participation. We can't do it without you. We're not asking for your money, just your knowledge and opinions. Please visit www.GunVoter.org and throw your two cents in. --- From AzCDL: HB 2389, an AzCDL requested bill decriminalizing carrying weapons in vehicles without a CCW permit, passed the House Third Read on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by a vote of 37-22, with one member not voting. To see how your Representative voted, go here: http://tinyurl.com/2m284h . Current law (ARS 13-3102.F) states that, without a concealed weapons (CCW) permit, it is permissible to carry a weapon or weapons "...in a case, holster, scabbard, pack or luggage that is carried within a means of transportation or within a storage compartment, map pocket, trunk or glove compartment of a means of transportation." Unfortunately, in 1994 an Arizona Appellate court decision (State v. Adams, 189 Ariz. 235, 941 P.2d) determined that "within a means of transportation" meant it must be obvious under ordinary observation to someone outside the vehicle that there is a weapon inside the vehicle. This created conflicts interpreting the statute. As a result: · Wearing a holstered firearm within a vehicle = concealed carry, requiring a CCW permit. But, that same holstered firearm in a trunk, map pocket or glove compartment, accessible by a vehicle's occupants, does not require a CCW permit. · Possessing a concealed weapons permit and a concealed weapon puts other occupants in the vehicle, who do not possess a CCW permit, at risk of arrest because of their proximity to your firearm. Yet, if that same weapon were in a trunk, map pocket or glove compartment accessible by all the vehicle's occupants, no crime is committed. The proposed language clarifies that it permissible to carry a weapon, without a CCW permit, visibly or concealed, anywhere within a means of transportation, excluding public transit. From here, HB 2389 will be transmitted to the Senate where we will continue to fight for its passage. Also in the House, HB 2629, an AzCDL requested bill that clarifies when a defensive display of a firearm is justified, is on the agenda for the House Committee of the Whole (COW) for Thursday, March 13, 2008. Please take the time to send a polite note to your Representative urging them to vote for the passage of HB 2629 in the House COW and Third Read. You can find your Representative here: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp On the Senate side, two CCW reform bills passed out of the Senate COW on Thursday, March 11, 2008. SB 1070 is an AzCDL requested bill that proposes changes to ARS 13-3112 regarding the process for obtaining a concealed weapons (CCW) permit. The proposed legislation makes it easier for lawful gun owners who have satisfactorily completed training to obtain a permit, or renew an expired one. It also assists those wishing to obtain a permit by removing the statutory barrier requiring instructors to create a training organization, and expands the pool of available instructors to automatically include certain NRA certified instructors passing the required background investigation. SB 1106, Senator Chuck Gray's bill that provides for an optional lifetime CCW permit, is now scheduled for a vote in the Senate Third Read on Wednesday, March 12, 2008. Please take the time to send a polite note to your Senator urging them to vote for the passage of SB 1070 and SB 1106 during Third Read. You can find your Senator here: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp Information on these bills and other legislation that AzCDL is tracking can be found at: 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 © 2008 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .