Heller Sues Again: The plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that struck down Washington, D.C.'s 32-year-old handgun ban filed a new federal lawsuit Monday, alleging the city's new gun regulations still violate an individual's right to own a gun for self-defense. Dick Heller and two other plaintiffs argue that the city's regulations are "highly unusual and unreasonable" in the complaint filed in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit claims the District of Columbia continues to violate the intent of the Supreme Court's June 26 decision by prohibiting the ownership of most semiautomatic weapons, requiring an "arbitrary" fee to register a firearm and establishing rules that make it all but impossible for residents to keep a gun in the home for immediate self-defense... http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202423333307&rss=newswire http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/jul/29/heller-others-challenge-semi-automatic-ban/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/07/28/ST2008072801464.html http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/washington_gun_ban/2008/07/28/117034.html http://reason.com/blog/show/127785.html The Filing: http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/0728heller.pdf --- From GOA: In open defiance of the Supreme Court's decision striking down the Washington D.C. gun control law, the City Council passed an "emergency" law that keeps in place almost all of the law that was ruled unconstitutional. For example, though the Court ruled specifically that the city's ban on handguns violated the Second Amendment, most handguns still cannot be registered because D.C. bureaucrats classify semi-automatic pistols as "machine guns." Even Dick Heller, who brought the case against Washington's gun ban, was rejected when he tried to register his handgun because any "bottom loading" firearm is a "machine gun" according to the D.C. police...Congress needs to repeal the District's gun control law to ensure that the Supreme Court decision is not a hollow victory... http://www.gunowners.org/a072808.htm --- The Morton Grove Ban Is Dead: Morton Grove's landmark handgun ban, imposed 27 years ago, died quietly Monday night, as the suburb's Village Board bowed to a new legal reality and repealed the ordinance. The board's 5-1 vote came in response to last month's ruling by a divided U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a similar ban. The high court ruled that the 2nd Amendment protects a person's right to own a firearm for self-defense. Fighting in court to try to keep the law would cost money the village does not have, officials said...Morton Grove adopted the nation's first ordinance banning the possession of handguns in 1981, triggering a storm of publicity and a nationwide debate over the merits of using local ordinances to control gun ownership. The ordinance was upheld in 1984 by the Illinois Supreme Court... http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-morton-grove-guns-both-29jul29,0,5742213.story --- Obama Stimulates Texas Gun Sales: Austin-area firearms dealers may have the Democrats to thank for brisk sales this summer. The prospect that the next presidential administration might favor new gun-control laws has gun enthusiasts bringing dollars and concerns to local firearms stores ahead of the November election. Some Central Texans have been talking about laws from the 1990s - passed under a Democratic president and Congress - that restricted semiautomatic rifles, governed the sale of high-capacity magazines and mandated waiting periods before customers could receive handguns. Their worries have translated into higher sales at local gun stores, store owners say... http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/07/29/0729guns.html --- Montana Group Splits with NRA over Endorsement: An outspoken Montana gun group is endorsing Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Brown, splitting from the National Rifle Association, which endorsed Gov. Brian Schweitzer. The Montana Shooting Sports Association says Schweitzer did not fill out its questionnaire on gun issues. Association president Gary Marbut says the NRA got the endorsement wrong and says NRA endorsements have very little value. The NRA endorsed Schweitzer in May, although it had in the past also given Brown "A" ratings in his role as state legislator. The NRA says that in races with multiple gun-friendly candidates, its endorsement goes to the incumbent. http://www.kxmb.com/News/259998.asp --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: A Japanese woman went on a stabbing rampage at a crowded train station, wounding seven men after failing to slash her own wrist, police said Tuesday. The woman attempted to cut her wrist with an army knife at a shopping mall Monday night near the train station in Hiratsuka, 43 miles southwest of Tokyo, but someone bumped into her and she became angry, said police official Hidetoshi Yukitake...The stabbing was the latest in a spate of similar attacks in Japan. Seven people were killed in Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district on June 8 when a man slammed a truck into a crowd of people, jumped out and began stabbing passers-by at random. http://www.azstarnet.com/news/250270 --- Tangentially Related: This is an interesting article about developing and maintaining hand strength. This is a particularly crucial issue for women who shoot, particularly as they go through middle age. (I have some related comments at http://www.spw-duf.info/emperor.html#strength but they do not fully address the issue of extension of the hand.) http://www.lawofficer.com/news-and-articles/columns/Wills/you_never_think_about_us.html --- From JPFO: Do you shoot at a public range? Can your neighbors and others hear you shooting? If so, then you must read this alert and take action today! By now you will have heard about David Olofson, who loaned his semiautomatic AR15 rifle to an unsavory character working with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, a runaway rogue agency the very existence of which is a violation of the Constitution... Here is what you need to do - at minimum - today! Purchase, borrow, or rent a video camera and make a recording of the operation of each weapon you own that might be reengineered to fire more than once with a single pull of the trigger. You probably don't need to worry about single-shot shotguns, rifles, or pistols. Slide-action or bolt-action rifles and shotguns are probably okay, as well... http://www.jpfo.org/alerts02/alert20080728.htm --- From SAF: The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), in cooperation with Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), is hosting a forum "Supporting Concealed Carry on Campus" on Friday, Aug. 1 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., 1-5 p.m. This event will feature a Gun Free Zones debate between Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and John Lott, senior research scientist at the University of Maryland. The debate will be moderated by SCCC President Michael Guzman... http://www.saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=273 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .