Wallet Holsters, One More Comment: Another list member shares this: Having been a Class 3 dealer/manufacturer since 1987, I remember when the ATF changed the definition of an "any other weapon" to include wallet guns and operational briefcases that Ingrams and Uzis could be fired from. Before that change, you could own both, but not combine them. After the change, the wallets/briefcases and guns could not be owned by the same person or company without registration... --- Daley Blinks on Handgun Ban: Mayor Daley on Friday cracked the door open to abandoning the costly fight to uphold Chicago's 1982 handgun freeze - if he can fashion a replacement ordinance that protects the safety of first-responders. Until now, Daley had promised to defend Chicago's ordinance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, despite what he called the dangerous precedent set by the court...Wilmette and Morton Grove preemptively repealed their bans. Now that both suburbs have thrown in the towel, and newspaper editorials have urged Daley to do the same to save millions in legal costs on a fight he can't win, he appears to be having second thoughts. (I will defer to the attorneys on this but my gut feeling is that I'd rather see this go to the Supreme Court and gamble that the Supremes will incorporate the Second Amendment.) http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1087669,CST-NWS-guns02.article Related Commentary: http://citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880801029 --- DC Requires Literacy Test to Register Handgun: ...Apart from the District's arrogance, what I find most surprising is the absolute silence of the ACLU and NAACP. D.C.'s new registration scheme requires citizens to take a written exam in order to register a gun. Back when those groups actually cared about the civil rights of African-Americans, they objected vociferously to literacy tests designed to keep Blacks, especially in Southern States (run by Democrats) from voting... (There is no doubt that the entire thrust of the DC gun ban and its successor ordinance is to keep working-class blacks unarmed. Polyglot California has also required testing for the purchase [and automatic registration] of a handgun and no one appears to have challenged the fact that the test is offered only in English. On the other hand, the last sample ballot I received in Los Angeles County was printed in seven languages.) http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0808/0808dcguns.htm --- A Liberal Re-Evaluates Heller: ... Suddenly, however, I had an inspired revelation. All these many years, I have been woefully misguided in my gun-fearing liberal blinders. I had an awesome vision: the well-armed liberal. This vision opened a host of questions resulting in new insights. Why should conservatives have almost all the guns? How about history? The Second Amendment itself provided for the arming not of conservatives but, believe it or not, the liberals of their day. The militias and minutemen were more than liberals, they became radical revolutionaries. The Second Amendment says arm them. The conservatives of that time were Tories loyal to a right-wing monarch who sought to suppress these enflamed liberals. So, our very revolutionary origins depended upon well-armed liberals fighting against the forces of conservatism... (Unfortunately, the concept of liberalism has been reversed since the days of independence and the early Republic.) http://www.pennlive.com/patriotnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/columnists/121763228459170.xml&coll=1 --- Connecticut Police Seize Firearms: Using a unique state law, police in Connecticut have disarmed dozens of gun owners based on suspicions that they might harm themselves or others. The state's gun seizure law is considered the first and only law in the country that allows the confiscation of a gun before the owner commits an act of violence. Police and state prosecutors can obtain seizure warrants based on concerns about someone's intentions. State police and 53 police departments have seized more than 1,700 guns since the law took effect in October 1999, according to a new report to the legislature. There are nearly 900,000 privately owned firearms in Connecticut today... http://www.rep-am.com/News/357596.txt --- Meanwhile, in Arizona...: Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman has neither been charged with nor convicted of any crime; yet a few days ago he was stripped of his Second Amendment rights. Ditto for Steve Berman Jr. The mayor obeyed a Maricopa County Superior Court order and turned his guns over to the Gilbert Police Department. A court officer ordered father and son to relinquish their guns in issuing an order of protection that was requested by Berman's wife, Michelle...The issue has never made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. But in light of the high court's landmark affirmation this summer of Second Amendment firearm possession rights, it should. http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/122229 --- Sounds Like a Challenge to Me: U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle said early on that he thought Florida's new take-your-gun-to-work law was "stupid." So is his ruling partially upholding the law. Not that it's Judge Hinkle's fault. Even the National Rifle Association admits that the law was sloppily written. But not every law that's stupid also is unconstitutional. Sometimes, stupidity stands...The Legislature has been eager to give the NRA everything it wants. Marion Hammer, an NRA lobbyist who pushed for the law, called Judge Hinkle's ruling "a huge win for the people. This bill is about protecting the sanctity of every working man and woman's fundamental right to self-defense." Of course, the bill does no such thing. It wouldn't be surprising to see the NRA demand that legislators expand the law to cover more workers and customers. Such a law might be better written. It wouldn't be any smarter. (I believe that the Florida state constitution invests the legislature with the authority to create laws, not the press. Let's hope that the legislature does clean up the sloppy compromises in this important law.) http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/08/04/a12a_leadedit_gunsatwork_0804.html --- SCCC Conference Reviewed: State legislators and students supporting legislation to allow concealed firearms on college campuses aimed to debunk the notion that "traditional" aged college students are too reckless to own and possess firearms during a recent public forum held in Washington, D.C. During its first national meeting, "Supporting Self-Defense on Campus," Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) along with The Second Amendment Federation (SAF), hosted a six-part forum on Aug. 1 at the National Press Club in an attempt to gain support for legislation allowing concealed guns on college campuses nationwide. The group advocates that licensed individuals at least 21 years old with substantial training and background checks should be allowed to carry concealed firearms on campus... http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_11495.shtml --- CHL Applications Increase in El Paso County: Uncertainty over potential policy changes after the 2008 presidential election, violence in Mexico and general safety concerns are prompting more El Pasoans to apply for concealed handgun licenses from the Texas Department of Public Safety, experts say. "We saw increases in students taking the (required) concealed handgun course after 9/11, but it's mushroomed more since then," said Kathy Hubert, a state-authorized instructor with the El Paso Shooters Academy... (Too bad that Mr. Guillen has to violate Rule Three in front of his students and the camera - that finger should be out of the trigger guard!) http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_10087609 --- NSSF, BATFE Join Forces in Border Cities: Hundreds of radio and television commercials urging citizens not to agree to be middle men in illegal firearms purchases are expected to hit Rio Grande Valley airwaves this month. The aggressive media blitz dubbed "Don't Lie for the Other Guy" is locally targeted to curb the flow of guns across the Rio Grande to Mexico's violent cartels. The syndicates routinely pay locals with clean records to purchase firearms they in turn smuggle to Mexico. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a group that represents gun dealers, is launching the campaign with a grant from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The foundation expects to run 240 television and radio announcements, 10 posters and two billboards to stem so-called "straw purchases" - a federal offense that can lead to 10 years in jail with a conviction... http://www.themonitor.com/news/mexico_15473___article.html/firearms_purchases.html --- NRA Joins Forces with MoveOn.org?: How can the National Rifle Association say with a straight face that it is looking out for the interests of gun owners if it backs a candidate who is also endorsed by MoveOn.org ("NRA endorses Altmire in race against Hart," July 25 and PghTrib.com)? The NRA's recent endorsement of Jason Altmire is further proof that the NRA's "incumbent rule" needs to change. Its guiding principle is that if the incumbent has not done anything to go against the Second Amendment, then he has the NRA's support...Altmire, on the other hand, has shown nothing but disrespect toward the Second Amendment. One of his first votes in the House was to elect Nancy Pelosi as speaker. This one vote alone ensures that not a single piece of pro-gun legislation will ever make it to the House floor... http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_580038.html --- Oops, Wrong ATM: A bank customer shot a robber after an armed confrontation in a Kansas City parking lot Saturday. The robber was wounded in the head and was in stable condition at a hospital, police said...They were robbed at gunpoint, but as the gunman walked away, the man in the car got out armed with his own gun, said Sgt. Chris Lantz of the department's robbery unit. The man yelled for the robber to stop. When the robber turned around and pointed his gun, the man fired at him, hitting him in the head, Lantz said... (This one may be a bit tricky since the robbery was apparently over when the victim challenged the robber. It may well hinge on what Kansas law says about the use of force to prevent the flight of a felon.) http://www.kansascity.com/115/story/731604.html --- Oops, Wrong Store: ...Police say as many as four armed men broke into the northeast Houston business, just before 8am. The owner, Sergio Rodriguez Senior, lives on the property, and was quick to defend himself. "The business owner was shot by the suspect. He gets a weapon of his own from his office and starts to return fire and hits one of the suspects before they get off the property - who died on the property," said Detective Fil Waters with the Houston Police Department. Rodriguez was hit three times, but will recover. A second suspect was injured and taken into custody. One, or possibly two other suspects are still on the loose. (Mr. Rodriguez understood the crucial principle that just because you've been shot does not mean that you're out of the fight.) http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6304175 --- Starting Off Young: Tavion Jolivet, 12, fired his first gun Saturday. In fact, he fired his first two guns, a .22-caliber bolt-action rifle and a 9 mm pistol. All the while, his pastor was standing right beside him. Jolivet dreams of being a sniper in the U.S. Army after killing terrorists with a controller in the "SOCOM" and "Call of Duty" video game series. The Rev. Sean Mohair has been shooting guns for 30 years after his father taught him when he was 9. He wanted to give Jolivet the chance to experience firing a gun and to learn the respect that comes with it. His first opportunity came Saturday at Youth Shoot 2008 at Stan's Shooting Range in Florence... (It's worth noting that this article is from Killeen TX, the site of the Army's Fort Hood - I suspect that Tavion may be an "Army brat.") http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=26984 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .