From GOA: Based on his voting record in the Illinois state senate and in the U.S. Senate, President-elect Barack Obama will be the most anti-Second Amendment president in the history of America. In January, the new President will govern alongside congressional leadership, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who are also extremely hostile to gun rights and who now enjoy greatly expanded majorities. There can be little doubt about the direction in which gun rights are headed. The questions are how far will the anti-gunners go and how fast will they move? Many comparisons have been made to the first two years of the first Clinton Administration, in which one party controlled both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. Almost all experts agree that it was Clinton's overreaching on issues like gun control that cost his party control of Congress. Barack Obama will start out governing with even larger majorities than did Clinton... http://www.gunowners.org/a110508.htm --- Brady Bunch Gloats Over Obama Victory: The strong Election Day showing for Democrats signals stronger support for "sensible gun laws" in this country and a "significant setback" for the National Rifle Association, a gun control group said Tuesday night. The Brady Campaign issued a statement even before Sen. Barack Obama was declared the winner, saying the political environment is better than it's been in years for "progress on gun violence prevention." ...Brady Campaign officials said it appears that the June Supreme Court decision in D.C. v. Heller may be starting to have an impact on political races - "with the gun lobby failing to convince law-abiding gun owners that an Obama-Biden Administration would infringe on anyone's basic Constitutional rights..." http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=38807 http://www.ohioccw.org/content/view/4106/53/ --- More on Washington Catch-22 Suit: A local gun rights organization and the National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the state Department of Licensing accusing it of perpetrating a Catch-22 by requiring resident aliens to obtain a specific license to buy a firearm, then refusing to issue it...The problem, Gottlieb says, is that the Department of Licensing has changed how it implements the law by seeking to use the national instant background check program before issuing the state alien firearms license. But the FBI - which runs the instant check program on those seeking to buy firearms - refuses to release information to Washington for its alien-licensing program, Gottlieb said. Washington is the only state in the country with an alien firearms licensing law, he said... http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/386392_guns05.html --- Two Illinois Counties Reject CCW Referendum: ...With all precincts reporting, 54.8 percent of McDonough County voters rejected the referendum - 6,468 opposed the measure, while 5,334, or 45.2 percent, were in favor. In Woodford County, the referendum passed with 54.4 percent of the vote - 9,655 in favor and 8,088, or 45.6 percent, opposed. Voters in LaSalle County, meanwhile, also rejected the referendum, with 24,755 or 52.6 percent opposed and 22,299 or 47.4 percent in favor. The referendum was advisory only, and was intended to send a message to legislators in Springfield. The measure made it on to regional ballots at the behest of members of the Winnebago County Board, the first in the state to add the referendum to its ballot and sent letters to all other county boards asking they do the same. Only 13 of Illinois' 101 other counties obliged. (No results are furnished for the other ten counties that placed the referendum on their ballots.) http://www.pjstar.com/news_elections/x1588605699/Votes-vary-on-concealed-weapons-referendums --- Utah Sees Surge in Firearm Sales: As polls and pundits in recent weeks increasingly pointed to the election of Barack Obama as the next president, scores of Utahns flocked to gun stores. Obama has supported renewing the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban, which stops the manufacture of several semiautomatic guns with large magazines. "Such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets," Obama's Web site states. Local gun dealers quickly are running out of stock of magazines for Colt AR-15s and AK models and many have seen a sharp increase in the sales of those guns..."I've seen a wider demographic of customers. There are more and more professionals. I see doctors getting assault weapons instead of just their hunting rifles," Bunten said... http://www.sltrib.com/ci_10912220 --- Sportsman's Warehouse Hit with Cooper Spillover: ...After the story broke on October 28 in USA TODAY and became the subject of my column on NewWest.Net five days later, gun owners angry with Cooper besieged Sportsman's Warehouse's 66 superstores and corporate headquarters with threats of a boycott if the company didn't stop selling Cooper's products. Then, gun owners angry with gun rights activists calling for the boycott went into those same stores threatening their own boycott if America's Premier Outfitter didn't continue selling Cooper products... (Maybe the Cooper rifles have not been selling because of the rush to buy the rifles than could be banned under Big Brother.) http://www.newwest.net/topic/article/sportsmans_warehouse_ceo_speaks_out_on_cooper_firearms_controversy/C37/L37/ --- Are They or Aren't They?: ...Sig Sauer representatives were scheduled to appear before Exeter Planning Board members on Oct. 23 for an application for a small addition to the Industrial Drive facility but later withdrew those plans. Although Sig Sauer employees say the firm is growing, the company underwent a staff reduction last month, reducing its overall workforce by "less than 10 percent..." (Overall, this is a very confusing article. SIG has made rifles for quite a while; perhaps the 556 will be the first to be manufactured in the US. Beretta's production of M9 pistols [92F] is mostly at a US plant, located in Maryland.] http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20081104-NEWS-811040329 --- Lead-Bullet Scare Comes to Montana: Local golden eagle migration research may indicate dangers associated with the use of lead bullets, especially health risks to human consumers of big game meat, researchers say. The high levels of lead found in the eagles is a result of the birds feeding on the carcasses of animals that were shot by hunters using lead bullets, meaning the meat could be unfit for people to eat...Veto said that when a bullet penetrates the body of an animal, the lead could fragment up to two feet from the entry wound, spreading poison throughout. "A lot of people think they're doing themselves a favor by avoiding beef and going out and shooting their own venison, when some may be bringing home lead to their wives and children," Veto said... http://www.montanakaimin.com/index.php/outdoors/outdoors_article/lead_bullets_may_harm_humans_and_golden_eagles/3152 --- Meanwhile, in North Dakota...: A North Dakota program that distributes venison to the needy will accept only deer killed with arrows, fearing that firearm-shot meat may contain lead fragments. "We're calling out to bow hunters to spend a little more time in the tree stand," said Ann Pollert, executive director of the North Dakota Community Action Partnership, which administers the Sportsmen Against Hunger Program. Officials in North Dakota and other states have warned about eating venison killed with lead ammunition since the spring, when a physician conducting tests using a CT scanner found lead in samples of donated deer meat... http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081104/D948DB684.html --- Tangentially Related: It appears that Barak Obama has offered the job of White House Chief of Staff to Rahm Emanuel. How interesting that the first name offered by our President elect who ran on the platform of hope and change is a veteran of the Clinton administration who has long been known to be Chicago mayor Richard Daley's eyes and ears in Washington, DC. Emanuel is said to aspire to the position of Speaker of the House, so it is uncertain if he will be interested in a serving in the White House again. If he accepts, it may be good news for House Republicans who will have to form alliances with so called Blue Dog Democrats. Emanuel is arguably more competent that the other Democrats in House leadership positions. http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/11/change_wears_some_familar_face.html -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .