Legal Guns Sales Begin in DC: Tuesday marked the first day of legal gun sales in the District of Columbia, but on Capitol Hill, lawmakers were debating a bill that would radically change the city's gun laws. At Atlantic Guns in Silver Spring, ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 reporter met a man who denied he was Charles Sykes, the only man licensed to sell firearms in D.C. The man denied he was Sykes. He even denied that the box of guns he was carrying - which was labeled "District of Columbia Transfer" - was for the District. Bu the Owner of Atlantic Guns, disagreed. He said the man was Sykes and the guns were destined for D.C. Steve Schneider said he hadn't received many orders, however... http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0908/551969.html --- Heller Being Used Against Us: ... In the months since the US Supreme Court's landmark decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, there have been over a dozen rulings by judges referencing the case and virtually all of them used Heller to support limitations on firearms rights. The degree to which they used the opinion ranged from simply rebutting an appellant's erroneous claim that Heller nullifies the law under which they were convicted, to actually using the language in the Heller opinion to support restrictions as constitutional. In U.S. v. Gilbert, the Federal Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit did both... http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NmE1ZTRmMDQxMDQ0ZmVmNWVkOTk5MmM5YTQ4NmFhZjg= --- Colorado Senate Candidates Debate Second Amendment: Colorado's U.S. Senate candidates, in their first foray into a 21st century debate format, took time to explain their thoughts to Internet savvy voters about an 18th century matter: the Second Amendment. "The differences between Udall and me on this topic couldn't be clearer, couldn't be more distinct," Republican candidate Bob Schaffer said during the YouTube debate. Schaffer said the Second Amendment does not just award gun rights to a select few. "It's a matter of historic fact," Schaffer said. "The Second Amendment is not about hunting; it's not about sports ... it is about the power and importance of the individual..." http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2008/09/09/091008_3a_Online_debate.html --- New Brady Mantra: ... "Joan Buchanan recognizes that protecting California's children and families from gun violence is a top priority," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "She is a committed advocate, and she'll help keep dangerous weapons away from dangerous people." ... "Gary Nowak recognizes that Illinois is facing a gun violence epidemic," said Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "He is a banker and former U.S. Marine who served his country honorably. He brings a problem-solving approach to issues, and he'll work hard to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of dangerous people." http://www.bradycampaign.org/media/release.php?release=1007 http://www.bradycampaign.org/media/release.php?release=1006 --- Another Grant for "Smart Gun" Research: The Department of Justice has awarded a $254,889 federal grant to the New Jersey Institute of Technology so the Newark university can continue developing its child-proof "smart gun" technology, members of New Jersey's congressional delegation announced today. NJIT has spent the last nine years on a "dynamic grip recognition" technology that can identify gun owners based on how they squeeze the trigger. The technology uses sensors located in the gun to identify unconscious, reflexive actions unique to each person and then decides whether the gunman is authorized to fire the weapon... http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/njit_gets_250k_to_keep_develop.html --- VCDL Helps Snuff Local Shooting Ban: More than a dozen members of the Virginia Citizen Defense League, a Fairfax County-based guns rights group, showed up at Tuesday's Culpeper Town Council meeting packing pistols and rival opinions about the police chief's proposal to do away with varmint shooting in town. In the end, after about 30 minutes of civil public comment on the issue, Town Council voted 6-2 to not change the local gun ordinance, as recommended by Police Chief Scott Barlow, and to continue to allow people to obtain special permits to discharge guns within the corporate limits for the purpose of killing garden pests like groundhogs... http://www.starexponent.com/cse/news/local/article/town_gun_law_change_shot_down/20980/ --- Non Sequitur in New Jersey: Jersey City officials yesterday displayed 28 deadly and illegal firearms seized at a city man's home last week - and used the bust to underscore Mayor Jerramiah Healy's push for laws to stem the tide of illegal guns coming into the city... Every gun was purchased illegally in North Carolina or South Carolina by Wise using fake names and phony Social Security numbers. As many as 10,000 rounds of ammunition were found... "This is why we have created legislation on the local level to prevent straw purchasers from distributing caches of handguns bought out of state on the streets of Jersey City," Healy said. (Wise is alleged to have illegally purchased the guns himself, not via a straw man; there is no allegation that he purchased them for resale.) http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/jerseycity/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1221027936308070.xml&coll=3 --- Washingtonians Debate Shotgun Safety: ... Lined up at the far edge of a gun range Thursday morning, the sheriff, along with the former sheriff, two state representatives, a city councilman and several political candidates waited for trigger men to fire shotguns toward them. They were there to discover how far the pellets from the guns would travel; did they stay on the range itself, or did they fall as far as the BNSF tracks at the far end of the field, through a thicket of trees? The question, which was meant to address the last objection to the use of the shooting range by the forest service, concerned about liability should something happen to a train due to an activity permitted on forest service land, was never answered. Because before the pellets could fly, a lone protester appeared and lay down in the center of the firing range, holding signs suggesting that the range is not safe and is too noisy... http://www.monroemonitor.com/Issues/090908issue/story1.html --- Oops, Wrong House, Update: He told police there were only moments to decide. Several people - at least one with a gun - were breaking through the front door of his Del Paso Heights home. His pregnant wife and two children, ages 2 and 3, slept in a back bedroom. As the would-be invaders forced the door open, the man told police, he believed he had to act. He stuck the barrel of his shotgun into the expanding gap and pulled the trigger. A 19-year-old man took a shot to the torso, stumbled several yards and fell dead. His accomplices - police don't know how many - fled. The attempted break-in took place about 12:20 a.m. Tuesday at a home on the 800 block of Carmelita Avenue, just off Rio Linda Boulevard, according to the Sacramento Police Department... http://www.sacbee.com/749/story/1224047.html http://www.sacbee.com/749/story/1221531.html --- The Usual Platitude: ... According to Hoppe, four men kicked in the front and back doors to gain entry to a house on the 52000 block of Government Road in Rushseba Township. The homeowner was sleeping when the burglars came calling at 2 a.m. Friday. She grabbed a 9 millimeter handgun and fired two rounds, but didn't hit anybody, authorities said... Hoppe said that homeowners "have the right to protect themselves in their homes," but advises that victims not confront thieves and simply call 911. (Yes and no. Optimally, one can remain in the designated safe room, from where one calls 911 but one remains prepared to defend the safe room, which is not simply calling 911.) http://www.startribune.com/local/27992039.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7EaDiaMDCiUT -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .