LED's vs. Smoke and Fog: A list member has confirmed my suspicion of why "white" LED lights seem to fail to penetrate smoke and fog: The same reason that the sky is blue, and traditional automobile fog lights are yellow. Water droplets, dust or whatever, scatter short wavelengths (blue) more than they scatter long wavelengths (red). If this is a critical problem, LED's can be made in Red or other desired color. --- Awaiting the Heller Decision: ...So I await the Court's decision not anxiously, but with a yawn. If the DC law is struck down it will be one small step in the direction of sanity. If it is upheld it will be just another day at the office - another day that leaves law-abiding citizens defenseless while any thug who wants to do you in can get a Tech-9. In closing, let me leave you with the sage observation of Archie Bunker. In an argument with his liberal daughter, Gloria, she yelled, "Daddy, did you know that last year alone in this country over 5,000 people were killed by handguns?!" To which Archie calmly replied, "Would youse be happier little goil if dey'd all been t'rown outta winders?" http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=25873 --- Obama's Gun Dance: ... Obama, disagreeing with the D.C. government and gun control advocates, declares the Second Amendment's "right of the people to keep and bear arms" applies to individuals, not just the "well-regulated militia" cited in the amendment. In the next breath, he asserts this constitutional guarantee does not preclude local "common sense" restrictions on firearms. Does the Draconian prohibition for Washington, D.C., fit that description? My attempts to get an answer have proved unavailing. The front-running Democratic presidential candidate is doing the gun dance... http://www.townhall.com/columnists/RobertDNovak/2008/04/07/obamas_gun_dance --- Obama Aims for Pro-Gun Vote: Barack Obama did not hunt or fish as a child. He lives in a big city. And as an Illinois state legislator and a U.S. senator, he consistently backed gun control legislation. But he is nevertheless making a play for pro-gun voters in rural Pennsylvania. By highlighting his background in constitutional law and downplaying his voting record, Obama is engaging in a quiet but targeted drive to win over an important constituency that on the surface might seem hostile to his views...Obama has long backed gun-control measures, including a ban on semiautomatic weapons and concealed weapons, and a limit on handgun purchases to one a month. He has declined to take a stance on the legality of the handgun prohibition in Washington, D.C., which the U.S. Supreme Court is reviewing, although Obama has voiced support for the right of state and local governments to regulate guns... http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9398.html --- Firearms Confiscated During Kansas Tornado: ...Guns and ammunition that were collected were taken to a trailer and an ATF agent manned the trailer. When people first came to collect their guns they were asked for proof of ownership such as receipts and serial number lists and they had to fill out a 4473 and get a NICS approval before they could claim their guns. No one had paperwork, receipts, or lists of serial numbers because it had all blown away. Later into the process they quit demanding these items and asked only for a list with make, model and description of the firearm. In one case, in the collection trailer, a gun case was claimed by one man who had a very nice trap shotgun in it and when he opened the undamaged and closed case, he found not his nice BT99 but another damaged gun that did not belong to him. That $1500.00 BT99 has never turned up. One comment made by all sources is that many "nice" guns were never recovered. Every source has reported that little to no care was taken with any of the firearms retrieved and taken into protective custody and they were not catalogued in any fashion. One resident said "they were just thrown in there in piles"... http://www.ksccw.com/site/showthread.php?t=6209 --- New York Newspaper Balks: Apparently The Post-Star has decided that while the public may have a right to know the names and addresses of pistol permit holders in Warren County, they aren't going to be the ones to tell them. After months of wrangling with the county for the release of the names and addresses of concealed carry permit holders, The Post-Star has apparently abandoned its quest. (The North County Gazette has done a commendable job in opposing the efforts of The Post-Star to "out" area pistol owners.) http://www.northcountrygazette.org/2008/04/04/post_star_guns/ --- Idaho Gun Dealer Confident of Victory: Ryan Horsley seems confident that he will triumph over a government shakedown that has cost his family business about $200,000 in legal fees, as he fights to keep Red's Trading Post, a fourth-generation firearms store, in operation...So, why did the BATFE bring what appears to be a weak case to court? Horsley's view is that the agency cannot very well spend $3 million just on its case against Red's - to try to revoke an FFL that cost the store just $300 every three years to maintain - and then drop the matter. "If they just back off, they would have nothing to show for it," Horsley said, as he struggled to comprehend why $3 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent on a case where no evidence has been found to suggest that Red's has knowingly put guns into the hands of criminals or committed some other serious act... http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/batfe_spends131.html --- JROTC Range Contested: Perhaps it's just the idea of a shooting range at a school that raises eyebrows. Or the association of the two words, "guns" and "schools," that prompts questions. Harry Hobbs at Columbia High School said he's heard concern about the school's new shooting range for student cadets in the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps. But don't worry, said Hobbs, a retired Army chief warrant officer and the school's JROTC chief. Safety is paramount at school shooting ranges, he said...First, to dispel one possible fear, local JROTC programs use single-shot, .177-caliber air rifles, not high-powered rifles. Students use flat-headed pellets, not bullets. Linda Haynes of the North Alabama Peace Network isn't convinced school ranges are safe. "We need to be teaching conflict resolution skills rather than teaching (students) a violent skill, giving them something to commit violence," Haynes said. http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1207473340153250.xml&coll=1&thispage=1 --- Michigan Youngsters Learn Safety, Marksmanship: In the basement of Gaylord's Northland Sportsmen's Club, young shooters learn the fundamentals of firearms safety and marksmanship while aiming for National Rifle Association (NRA) honors. Every Wednesday night between October and March, area youth gather at the basement indoor range, don safety goggles, earmuffs and shooting jackets, and participate in the club's Junior Civilian Marksmanship Program... http://www.gaylordheraldtimes.com/articles/2008/04/05/features/doc47f645cc91a44740271082.txt --- Oops, Wrong House: A homeowner shot and killed a teenager breaking into his home in Bowling Green. Bowling Green police said the unidentified homeowner called 911 to say he had been asleep and heard someone breaking in the back door. The man told the 911 operator he shot the suspect during the confrontation. Bowling Green Police later identified the victim as a 15-year-old juvenile. http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=8120385 --- Ohio Guardsman Honored: In more than four years as a military police officer at the Springfield Air National Guard Base, Robert Bragg has never had to pull a gun on anybody. But for pulling his personal 9mm on a pair of gunmen in Dayton last summer, he was awarded the Ohio Guard's highest honor...Off duty at the time, Bragg was sitting on his Dayton porch last August when he heard shots fired, then saw two men in ski masks emerge from the Covault Market and Coin Laundry. Roger Covault, 70, and Robert T. Harris, 53, were shot and killed during the robbery. Armed with courage and, as wing commander Col. Mike Roberts put it Sunday, "the hardware guaranteed by the Second Amendment," Bragg went into action... http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2008/04/06/ddn040608braggweb.html --- Rule Five Reminder: Detroit police say a 3-year-old girl found a gun in a bedroom of her home and shot herself in the head. Her condition wasn't immediately known. One of the girl's parents apparently owned the gun with which she shot herself Sunday afternoon. At least one parent was home at the time. The Detroit Free Press says police questioned the parents and took the gun. The girl was taken to Sinai Grace Hospital, then transferred to Detroit Children's Hospital. The Detroit News reported she was in critical condition. (Small children may shoo themselves in the head when they turn the gun to gain leverage by placing the thumb on the trigger. Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.) http://www.azstarnet.com/news/233213 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .