TSA Considers Broad Airport Gun Ban: The Transportation Security Administration may allow airports to ban firearms from terminals, parking lots, roads and other airport areas where many states currently allow passengers to carry lethal weapons. Airport officials and lawmakers are watching closely as the TSA weighs a request by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to modify its security program to impose an airportwide ban on guns. It is the first such request to TSA from an airport. "Any decisions we make that affect (Atlanta) could affect every other airport in the country," TSA spokesman Christopher White said Thursday. Federal law bars passengers from bringing weapons to or past airport checkpoints. But in many airports, state law allows passengers to carry guns and knives in unsecured areas such as a main terminal - often to airport officials' dismay... http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/nationworld/93155.php --- Michigan Law Does Preempt Local Regulation of Handgun Carry: At issue in this case is whether local units of government are precluded from enacting and enforcing ordinances that make local public buildings gun-free zones. We hold that MCL 123.1102 preempts local regulation of this kind, and contrary to defendants city of Ferndale and city clerk Karen Pedro's argument, MCL 28.425c does not return to local units of government the authority to regulate in this area. Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court's order granting summary disposition in favor of defendants, and upholding the validity of defendants' ordinance prohibiting the possession or concealment of firearms in municipal buildings... http://courtofappeals.mijud.net/documents/OPINIONS/FINAL/COA/20030429_C242237_47_85O.242237.OPN.COA.PDF --- Illinois County Board to Vote on CCW Resolution: Richard Peddicord, a retired law enforcement agent from Marseilles, said he's waited a long time for legislators to tackle a possible concealed carry law in Illinois - one of only two states without such legislation. "I've waited 66 years to see this come to Illinois," Peddicord said. The County Board will have the final say Thursday, Aug. 14, on whether county voters will have a chance to tell Illinois legislators - through an advisory referendum - whether the state should enact a concealed carry law. If Wednesday's joint committee meeting regarding the advisory referendum is any indication of the full board's future vote, it appears the question will appear on the Tuesday, Nov. 4, ballot... http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=364627 --- Prohibitionists Get Free Billboards in Philadelphia: In April, Moms Against Guns had a humble request: one affordable billboard advertising its petition for stricter gun laws. Flash forward three months, and the Philadelphia-based advocacy group now has 27 billboards citywide, with at least six more on the way. The billboards will stay up through November's elections - just long enough, the group says, for voters to elect candidates willing to crack down on illegal guns. It's all part of what founder Lynne Honickman called a viral campaign... http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20080719_Moms_Against_Guns_given_free_billboards.html --- Lautenberg Queries NRA on Mole Accusation: ... "I write regarding Mother Jones' recent expose of a reported National Rifle Association (NRA) operative who infiltrated a number of gun violence prevention organizations. This story contains serious allegations and I urge you to address them quickly. According to Mother Jones, Mary McFate spent more than a decade rising through the ranks at several gun violence prevention organizations, including CeaseFire PA, Freedom States Alliance and States United to Prevent Gun VIolence. At the same time, however, McFate - going by the name Mary Lou Sapone - reportedly was a paid "research consultant" for the NRA. As a result, McFate/Sapone was in a position to learn about, and to report back to the NRA on, the concerns, plans and strategies of various gun violence prevention groups..." http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/08/9211_lautenberg_presses_nra_on_sapone_mcfate.html --- Oops, Wrong Trailer: A man was shot and killed early yesterday morning in central Goochland County after he allegedly entered an unlocked mobile home and tussled with the owner, authorities said. Adam Stone, the homeowner, called the Goochland Sheriff's Office just after 3 a.m. to report that he'd shot a man with a 12-gauge shotgun. Sheriff's deputies responded to the 2300 block of Grape Ridge Court off Dogtown Road, where Stone told investigators the intruder had entered the bedroom where he and his girlfriend were sleeping before the struggle took place. When deputies arrived, they found the body of Joseph Clifford Johnson, 36, of the 900 block of North 30th Street in Richmond, inside the bedroom with a fatal gunshot wound to the neck... http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-07-26-0080.html --- Bad Move: In a span of two days, Brett Nichols went from being accused of attempted murder to becoming the victim in the same incident. The 48-year-old Phillips Ranch resident was arrested Monday morning on suspicion of attempted murder. Police said he had shot a man and dumped the body in the hills near his home. But Nichols was released from jail Wednesday afternoon after police determined he was acting in self-defense when he shot David Rotela, a 22-year-old Rosemead resident who survived the ordeal, authorities said. "It was a dumb move for me to do that, to dump his body, but I didn't know what to do," said Nichols outside his Edgebrook Drive home...Nichols, with a felony drug conviction from the 1990s and no license for the gun, said, "I thought, `A felon with a gun, this isn't good..."' http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_10050854 --- Rule One Reminder, Rule Five Reminder: ...Thinking the gun is empty is the most common mistake in most fatal gun accidents. And for the two cases here in Lubbock, the accident happens after teenagers find a gun and start messing around. Now, we do have the right to bear arms, but gun vendors say having a gun around the house without prior lessons in safety is very dangerous. Keeping it properly stored may save someone's life. A simple device that slips in to the trigger area is not only cheap, but easy to use. Gun vendors say because of that fact, there really is just no excuse not to keep one on your gun. Marshall Holmes, Gebo's Gun Supply: "We always mention gun safety every time we're selling a gun, or even showing a gun. Guns are not toys. Guns are you know, guns are very dangerous. They need to be treated with respect. And always treat them as if they're loaded." Holmes also suggests for extra protection that you keep your ammunition separate from your guns, that way if someone young gets a hold of one they won't have access to the other. (Rule One: All firearms are always loaded. Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. Distinguish those firearms in current use for self-defense from those in "long-term" storage and don't insert foreign objects into trigger guards - run a cable lock through the open action if you must disable a firearm.) http://everythinglubbock.com/content/fulltext/?cid=11471c --- Rule Three Reminder: ...As the driver backed up the Mustang, it hit the officer, who was standing behind it. His gun then went off, Chief Collins said. Even though he had been hit, the driver sped down Remsen Avenue, coming to a stop after slamming into a nail salon several blocks away. The 18-year-old passenger hopped out of the car and ran, the police said; he was captured a short time later. The 14-year-old remained in the car, the police said. Both were taken into custody. The driver was taken to Kings County Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead. Chief Collins said the officer who was hit by the car and who fired the fatal shot was taken to the hospital and treated for minor injuries... (Rule Three: Keep your finger out of the trigger guard, up on the frame, until your sights are on the target and you're prepared to fire.) http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/nyregion/08copshoot.html?ref=nyregion --- Right Gun, Wrong Ammo: Dean Speir shares some graphic evidence of what can happen if the wrong ammunition is fired in a high-power rifle. http://www.eotacforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=57090 --- Brits Develop New Ammo-Tagging System: The tiny tags - just 30 microns in diameter and invisible to the naked eye - are designed to be coated onto gun cartridges. They then attach themselves to the hands or gloves of anyone handling the cartridge and are very difficult to wash off completely. Crucially, some of these 'nanotags' also remain on the cartridge even after it has been fired. This should make it possible to establish a robust forensic link between a cartridge fired during a crime and whoever handled it. To date it has been extremely hard to establish such a link because of the difficulty in retrieving fingerprints or significant amounts of DNA from cartridge surfaces, which are shiny and smooth. The nanotags, which are quite unlike anything previously used in the fight against gun crime, could therefore lead to a significant increase in successful convictions... http://www.physorg.com/news136808322.html --- The Effects of South Africa's Firearms Control Act: The South African Firearms Control Act, or FCA, became law on July 1, 2004, and the chaos that ensued was unbelievable. Although the government was warned extensively about the implications of such poor ideological legislation, what remains in summation is that the FCA supports and enables criminals to ply their trade with impunity...Worst of all, the crime wave goes on. Fewer firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens just make emboldened criminals. The only other time that disarming of the public was done with greater success was by Hitler and his Nazi's before the Second World War. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=71717 --- From AzCDL: We recently mailed questionnaires to all State legislature candidates. Results will be posted on our website after they start coming in. We will notify you with a link to the new web-page when it's completed. AzCDL's questionnaire fit on a postcard and we provided return postage. We asked every candidate to respond "Yes" or "No" to each of the following statements: * Law-abiding citizens have the right to carry a weapon, with or without a government issued permit, in any place that they have a right to be. * Trained, law-abiding adult citizens have the right to carry their weapons onto the grounds of schools, colleges and universities in order to be able to protect themselves and others from criminals. * Law-abiding citizens have the right to carry a weapon into a restaurant with them while they dine, whether or not the establishment happens to serve alcohol for consumption on the premises. * Article 2, Section 26 of the Arizona Constitution means what it says. Our right to bear arms must not be subject to local laws. * Law-abiding citizens who are forced to use a weapon in self-defense should be presumed innocent of any wrongdoing unless proven otherwise by the state, and should also be free from any retaliatory civil suits by the criminal or his family/estate. In our cover letter to all candidates, we told them that they could send us an expanded response, but that anything other than a "Yes" was a "No", and anything perceived as a "Yes but..." will be posted as a "No." Unchecked boxes will also be treated as a "No." We are updating out website to accommodate the questionnaire results, and to show the legislator voting records from the recent legislative session. We will "Alert" you when we have made the changes and the data is available. 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/accomplishments.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 .