Prohibitionist May Face Serious Challenge: After nearly 12 years in Washington, Carolyn McCarthy is no longer a newcomer to politics. "I knew nothing when I started," McCarthy admitted. "I was new to politics and I didn't know what I was getting into." This year, her Republican opponent, Mineola Village Mayor Jack Martins, is promising to make McCarthy's long tenure in Congress - rather than her newness - the main issue in the campaign. With a well-funded campaign, Martins may prove McCarthy's most serious challenge in years... http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/ny-usmcca285861972sep28,0,2692833.story?track=rss --- Michigan Man Stars in NRA Ad: A television advertisement by the National Rifle Association featuring Scott Siefert of Ogden Township is scheduled to begin airing Wednesday in Michigan. In the ad Seifert outlines his support for the right to keep and bear arms, and criticizes Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential candidate, for his gun-control positions. In one part of the ad, Seifert states: "Because I believe in traditional American values, go to church, exercise my right to own a firearm, Barack Obama says I'm bitter. Well, I'm not bitter; I'm blessed..." http://www.lenconnect.com/news/x1712016393/POLITICAL-NOTEBOOK-Lenawee-resident-featured-in-new-NRA-ad Jay Leno Comments: To give you an idea how bad the economy is, Wall Street investors are now clinging to their guns and religion. That's how bad. --- Federal Judge Rules Against Georgia Gun Owners: A judge has dismissed a lawsuit seeking to let licensed gun owners bring firearms into non-secure parts of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob ruled the gun advocacy group GeorgiaCarry.org, did not support its argument that guns should be allowed outside security checkpoints at Hartsfield-Jackson - the world's busiest airport, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Sunday. Georgia law allows weapons on public transit and GeorgiaCarry.org had argued that included Hartsfield-Jackson, the Journal-Constitution reported... http://www.timesoftheinternet.com/6901.html --- "Castle Doctrine" Prevailing in Florida: ..."If a knife had not been used, he would have been dead," one witness, Robert Lilly, told investigators of Thybulle. "They did not let up on him at all." Prosecutors say it was these words in part that led them to stop pursuing manslaughter charges against Bissoon this month, absolving her of criminal responsibility in the death of Christopher Sule, the 31-year-old man who died after she stabbed him in the back during the fight... (This article seems to capitalize on confusing the more limited term "castle doctrine" with the broader concept of "stand your ground." The latter concept means that an innocent defender has no duty to retreat before resorting to deadly force. As I recall, the NRA has used the narrower term in lobbying for what have often been stand-your-ground laws.) http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/tcoast/epaper/2008/09/28/roadrage_0929.html --- New York Defends Ballistic Database: New York's seven-year-old database of handgun "fingerprints" has yet to lead to a criminal prosecution, and questions linger about its effectiveness. Still, state police remain committed to the tool, saying that more time and a long-awaited link to a federal ballistics database could bring success. Since March 2001, identifying information about more than 200,000 new revolvers and semiautomatic pistols sold in New York have been entered into the Combined Ballistic Identification System database maintained by state police. New York and Maryland are the only states that maintain statewide databases... (The shift toward trying to link ejected cases to semi-automatic pistols is the result of the increasing prevalence of hammer-forged, polygonally rifled barrels, in brands such as HK, Glock, Springfield XD's and most Kahr pistols. Such barrels lack toolmarks to transfer to fired bullets. I am under the impression that bullet comparison is still the preferred approach with revolvers.) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/29/AR2008092900035.html http://www.newsmax.com/us/ballistics_database/2008/09/28/135281.html --- A Tale of Two Home Invasions: Tucson police are trying to learn who beat a 58-year-old man and his 42-year-old wife, critically injuring them, during a home invasion at the couple's house late Friday. The couple's year-old daughter was not injured in the attack, but her father sustained two broken arms and a broken neck and her mother sustained a head injury that caused her brain to swell, Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a police spokesman, said in a news release. Pacheco said three men and a young woman broke into a house in the 6900 block of South 12th Avenue about 10:20 p.m. Friday, demanded money and beat the woman with a blunt object, Pacheco said... http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/97989.php Pima County Sheriff's Department detectives have released the name of a man killed Tuesday by a homeowner deputies say he was assaulting. David Lee Taylor, 49, whose address was unavailable, was killed in the shooting, said Deputy Nicole Feldt, a sheriff's spokeswoman. Taylor was fatally shot after he entered the other man's Northeast Side house and dragged him out, sheriff's spokeswoman Dawn Hanke said last week. The shooting is being considered self-defense, Feldt said Sunday... http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/97990.php --- Meanwhile, in Phoenix...: A Phoenix woman shot and killed a man early Sunday after he forced his way into her home. Police said they received a call that a person was violating some type of court order at a home near 40th and Voltaire avenues. The caller stayed on the phone with dispatchers, but suddenly before police arrived, the man forced his way into her home. The woman tried to get away from him by going into a bedroom, but he followed her and she shot him. A 45-year-old man was pronounced dead. His name hasn't been released pending notification of family... (Staying on the phone with dispatchers helps create a valuable record.) http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/126912 --- Oops, Wrong Pigeons: Police said a man shot two men who were trying to rob him early Sunday morning, killing one man and wounding another. Investigators said the men were robbing a trio of men when one of the victims pulled out a gun and shot the two men at the corner of 52nd Street and Warrington Avenue in southwest Philadelphia. Police said one of the men died. The other was listed in stable condition as of Sunday morning. (Amazingly, this report correctly identifies who were the victims in this incident.) http://www.nbc10.com/news/17575437/detail.html?dl=mainclick --- St Louis Alderman Urges Citizens to Arms: Ward One Alderman Charles Quincy Troupe says shootings happen in his district on an almost regular basis, so he's calling on the more law abiding citizens of his Ward to be armed with guns for protection...Troupe is encouraging his constituents to arm themselves for protection, but also wants them to call police "your only challenge is to stay alive until police get there and the only way for you to do that, in many cases, is to own a gun, know how to use it, and more importantly know when to use it." http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7529748&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1 --- Your Papers, Please: Drivers entering the city from the Bronx via First Avenue last night encountered the first police checkpoint searching for illegal guns. Amid flashing lights and flares in the roadway, more than a dozen officers were pulling over every third car to ask for permission to search for guns and check for other crimes such as drunken driving. Within minutes of the checkpoint's opening shortly after 9 p.m., the first arrest was made when a driver failed a field sobriety test...But the goal for the night was to find guns and stop them from coming into Mount Vernon, a city that's already had seven homicides this year... http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809280380 --- Why the Gun Is Civilization: ...When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year-old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year-old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunken guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.. http://www.dillonprecision.com/docs/Sept_07_gun_is_civilization.pdf --- North Carolina Reporter Takes CCW Course: Let me start off by saying this: I am not the stereotypical gun enthusiast. I don't wax eloquent about the Second Amendment or the National Rifle Association. I don't think Democrats are out to steal my guns. I don't fear a zombie attack (the only reason that I can think of that even remotely explains why a private citizen would need to own an AK-47 or an M16). Actually, I don't even own a gun, which is typically considered an enthusiast necessity. Even so, I have gone shooting several times with my father and had expressed an interest in learning more. As a result, I found myself taking a concealed carry class Saturday in Greensboro... (Note the rear-leaning shooting stance, which enhances the effects of recoil, and the tanktop, which invites hot brass to visit sensitive skin.) http://www.enctoday.com/news/gun_49970_kfpress__article.html/don_vshortley.html --- Wisconsin Dealer Is Bloomberg Nemesis: Somewhere in the pile of outgoing packages at his gun emporium, Steve Lauer knows there may be an undercover purchase Mayor Bloomberg hopes to use to shut him down - and he doesn't care. "We'll take their money," said Lauer, proprietor of Lauer Custom Weaponry, which sells kits for painting guns that are illegal in New York, making him the target of an active investigation. "They can't stop us from shipping it," he said, adding that he has hundreds of city customers. "He cannot govern interstate commerce. He'd like to, but he can't." Ever since the city banned brightly colored guns in 2006, saying cops and kids might mistake them for toys, Lauer has relished his role as the pistol-packing provocateur of one of America's biggest gun opponents... http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/09/27/2008-09-27_wisconsin_gun_dealer_relishes_role_as_ma-1.html --- Firearm Ownership Rises in Turkey: Firearm ownership in Turkey has reached alarming figures, with the number of guns in the country estimated at 8 million, more than twice what it was seven years ago. According to current figures, 9 percent of the nation owns a firearm. Turkey has approximately 2.5 million registered guns, while an estimated 5.5 million guns are believed to be owned without licenses. The number of individuals with access to a firearm in their family home is estimated at 40 million. Nearly 280,000 vehicles on Turkey's roads have a gun stored in the glove box. Nearly 3,000 people yearly - eight every day - are killed by gun violence. Eighty percent of the guns in the country are kept in easily accessible areas, such as a holster, a glove box or a drawer. One out of every 20 people killed in gun violence is a child... http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=154589&bolum=101 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .