More on U.S v. Hayes: ...Although the case has become a part of the national debate on the 2nd Amendment, Hayes never meant to become a standard bearer for gun rights, said Giatras, who has been practicing law since 1990. "His one goal is that he'd like to go hunting again with his sons," he said. "He didn't set out to somehow change the world. Nobody did here. All we were trying to do was get [the case] reviewed for Randy, and we ended up in the Supreme Court." Because it was the government's appeal, Nicole A. Saharsky, assistant to the Solicitor General, went first. After about 25 minutes, it was Giatras' turn... According to a 64-page transcript of Monday's arguments, Giatras completed three sentences before Justice Antonin Scalia interjected... From that point on, the justices peppered Giatras with questions, many concerning the grammar of the federal law. "The grammar issues were significant because this particular bill, what was introduced was not what was passed," Giatras said... http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/200811100610 Did the Justices Tip Their Hand?: Thousands of former gun owners who have a misdemeanor conviction for assaulting or threatening a spouse or girlfriend could have their gun rights restored because of a flaw in federal law. That prospect grew more likely yesterday after the Supreme Court gave a skeptical hearing to a government lawyer who argued that a crime of domestic violence should result in a loss of gun rights... But last year, a U.S. appeals court in Virginia cast doubt on the reach of the law. Its judges decided that the federal gun ban did not cover misdemeanor convictions involving assault or battery at home. Instead, it said the federal ban applied only to persons who were convicted under a state's domestic violence law... Justice Antonin Scalia was unswayed by that argument. "People are governed by the law that is passed, not by the law that Congress intended to pass," he said. He and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the law as written appeared to apply only to domestic violence measures, not the more common assault-and-battery laws... http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08316/927017-84.stm --- Pennsylvania City Passes Stolen-Gun Ordinance: Gun owners take note: The Pottsville City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Monday making failure to report a stolen firearm a crime. Under the new ordinance, gun owners have 24 hours to report a missing weapon, under penalty of a $500 fine. Second-time offenders face a $1,000 fine and up to 90 days in jail... One of those in opposition is Scott Thomas, who serves on the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania. Thomas believes it's unconstitutional for Pottsville to pass any gun law... http://www.republicanherald.com/articles/2008/11/11/news/local_news/pr_republican.20081111.a.pg3.pr11pvilleguns_s1.2080248_loc.txt --- Wishful Thinking in New Jersey: The press has been full of reports in recent days of gun shop owners across the country claiming sales have climbed dramatically since last Tuesday's election. Said owners attribute this supposed spike to Barack Obama's election as, per the quoted remarks of a Seattle gun shop owner: "He wants to take our guns from us and create a socialist society policed by his own police force." ...Overlooking the craziness of this gun retailer's sentiment, I am highly skeptical of the sales claims. Note that gun dealers are the ones making them. I've seen this happen numerous times over the years. Gun dealers have long believed it will gain them more sales if they rouse the press by claiming a huge spike in sales due to some major event (9/11, Katrina, Pelosi's ascension as Speaker of the House, Britney and Justin's break up). And, of course, if you're in a declining industry and dependent upon lethality for sales and profits, best to try and scare folks. But, the news is that it's a mainly just a sales technique. Nothing for the non-gun owning majority of us to be concerned about... (That's why shelves are empty and NICS has reported an increase in background checks. However, the increase in legal sales is certainly nothing that should concern non-gun-owners.) http://blog.nj.com/njv_bryan_miller/2008/11/postelection_spike_in_gun_sale.html Related Article: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2008/11/barack-obama-ha.html --- California Sheriff Under Fire for CWP Policy: In her first five months in office, newly appointed Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens has brought in a new management team, fired deputies accused of misconduct and tried to distance the department from the legacy of her indicted predecessor, Michael S. Carona. But the most controversy she has generated has been her decision to review the concealed weapons permits issued by Carona. Hutchens said she was concerned that more than 1,100 people held concealed carry permits issued by the former sheriff - nearly three times the number of permits issued in Los Angeles County. She assigned a lieutenant to review each concealed weapons permit to determine whether the holder had a valid reason for carrying a weapon in public and whether these were people whose safety was at risk... (L.A. County is virtually non-issue for anyone not connected with law enforcement.) http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-gunpermits12-2008nov12,0,2397334.story --- L.A. Sheriff to Ban Off-Duty Carry When Drinking: The sheriff of Los Angeles County plans to prohibit his off-duty deputies from carrying their guns while drinking because several have been accused in recent years of firing weapons while intoxicated. Sheriff Lee Baca said there has been a disturbing rise in alcohol-fueled misbehavior among his deputies. Since 2004, more than a dozen deputies have been accused of brandishing or shooting a gun while under the influence of alcohol. More than 60 have been arrested this year on alcohol-related charges, most for driving under the influence and most of them armed at the time. The deputies' union opposes the restriction. Union leader Steve Remige said it would let criminals know that deputies who had put them away would at times be unarmed. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27658642/ To celebrate his return from a tour of duty in Iraq, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Sullivan did what many young Marines do: He went out with a buddy to have a few drinks. A few, however, became a few too many. By the end of the evening, after consuming at least 11 drinks, Sullivan placed his loaded 9-millimeter Beretta into his longtime friend's mouth and pulled the trigger, prosecutors allege. Sullivan insists that they were horsing around and that the gun accidentally went off when the other man grabbed his arm. Regardless of how the gun was fired, Sullivan's friend was dead and his once promising law enforcement career was over. As Sheriff Lee Baca looked back on the 2006 shooting, he said the main culprit was alcohol... http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-influence11-2008nov11,0,50777,full.story --- Texas Woman Wins New Trial in Self-Defense Claim: For seven years Naomi Johnson has tried to prove she killed Terry Boulwen in self defense, and the Ninth District appeals court in Beaumont will let her keep trying. On Nov. 5 Chief Justice Steve McKeithen and Justice Charles Kreger awarded a new trial to Johnson, who faced 35 years in prison on a murder conviction. McKeithen and Kreger held that Jefferson County District Judge Layne Walker improperly withheld from the jury an instruction on self defense. Walker "prevented the jury from giving consideration to acquitting appellant by reason of her immediate need to defend herself from what she reasonably perceived to be an attempt by T. L. B. to cause her serious bodily injury or death," Kreger wrote... http://www.setexasrecord.com/news/215845-appeals-court-jury-not-trial-judge-gets-to-decide-credibility-of-evidence --- Toy Gun Nets Kindergartner One-Year Suspension: A kindergarten student with a toy gun in Tennessee has been lumped together with a high schooler who allegedly assaulted a classmate, a fifth-grader who was accused of writing a "hit list" of potential victims and another high schooler who brought a loaded gun clip to school - and all have been expelled... The offending toy weapon violated the school's zero-tolerance rules and resulted in a mandatory year-long suspension, the report said. The report did not reveal the name of the Andersonville Elementary School kindergarten student, who brought a toy gun in his backpack on a Thursday, and was expelled on Friday. "There's no tolerance for kids with weapons of any kind," school spokeswoman Karen Bridgeman told the newspaper... (I didn't realize that a toy gun was an actual wepaon.) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80747 --- Oops, Wrong ATM Patron: Two teens shot during a robbery attempt Friday apparently followed their victim to his home after seeing him withdraw money from an ATM miles away, police said. Seventeen-year-old Antonio Austin was killed in the confrontation. Nineteen-year-old Robert Howez was shot in the back and taken to the University of South Alabama Medical Center, where he was listed in fair condition Monday... Barber declined to identify the 60-year-old man who was the alleged robbery target, saying the man does not currently face criminal charges in the shooting, which has been characterized by Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. as a case of self-defense... http://www.al.com/news/press-register/metro.ssf?/base/news/1225793752299790.xml&coll=3 --- Bringing a Smelly Cheese to a Gunfight: A German supermarket cashier foiled three armed robbers by pelting them with cheese. The masked men demanded the store's daily takings at gunpoint in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, but cashier Martina Bolle, 50, refused to hand them over. Instead they fled when she grabbed packs of cheese from the deli counter and began bombarding the hapless gunmen with them. "She hit one of them smack in the face with a very ripe gorgonzola which must have been like getting a dose of natural CS gas," said one shopper. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3082138.html?menu=news.quirkies --- Rule Three Reminder: "There was an incident this morning at Ben Gurion airport when one of [Tony] Blair's bodyguards' guns accidentally went off," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. "An investigation was opened," he said. Airport authorities said the incident occurred as Mr Blair was about to board a plane at the international airport near Tel Aviv with the British guard... The incident will be embarrassing to the police team guarding Mr Blair after a former member of the security detail left her gun in a Starbucks lavatory in September. (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. We see one more example of the effects of Britain's anti-gun culture; reportedly, cops who show too much enthusiasm for firearms training are removed from the armed squads.) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/3440304/Tony-Blairs-bodyguard-fires-gun-in-airport.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1084842/Tony-Blairs-bodyguard-triggers-Israeli-airport-panic-gun-goes-off.html --- As Big Brother Prepares to Assume Command...: Northcom has announced that two more U.S. military units will be assigned for domestic homeland security missions, bringing the total number of combat ready service members operating inside the U.S. to around 4,700, as fears grow about the increasing militarization of law enforcement. The announcement follows the controversy surrounding a September 8 Army Times report (revised on September 30), which revealed that the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, fresh from combat duties in Iraq, would be operating inside America for tasks including "civil unrest and crowd control," a detail that was later denied by Northcom despite the concession that forces would be armed with both non-lethal and lethal weapons as well as having access to tanks... http://ignoranceisfutile.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/two-more-us-military-units-assigned-for-homeland-security/ --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: China's weapons laws are among the world's toughest. Its blanket ban on private ownership of rifles, pistols and even gun replicas is a core tenet of social policy. Still, a gun culture is taking hold. China may be freer from gun crime than many nations, and official statistics show overall crime on a continuous down trend. Yet, these days, reports about gun crimes turn up as often as several times a week even in the tightly controlled state-run media. The reports are often brief, without much follow-up as cases progress. Still, the splashy gunfights, murders, gun-factory raids and smuggling busts that get reported contrast with China's zero-tolerance stance on guns, and point to changes in criminals' behavior. But the trend is about more than crime. Guns are now fashionable in paintings and movies, while Chinese-language Web sites and glossy magazines cater to gun buffs. And legal shooting clubs in cities let customers fire away at targets for a fee. Bored with golfing, some affluent businessmen slip into the countryside for hunts... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122394012224530655.html -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .