Put a Hold on Holder's Nomination: A conservative senator would be a true American hero if he or she would put a hold on - i.e., threaten to filibuster - the nomination of Eric Holder to be the next attorney general. Let me be clear: I don't believe that conservatives should use the filibuster to block Holder. But I do think the filibuster is an excellent procedural tool to force a needed debate. Senators should explore Holder's views on the right to bear arms and the Elian Gonzales raid before they consent to his appointment... http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=29907 ...This nomination might also shed light on the kind of policies Obama will pursue. Despite Obama's new lip service to the Second Amendment, Holder signed onto a brief earlier this year reaffirming his long-held position that the Second Amendment confers no rights whatsoever to private citizens, and that the Supreme Court should have upheld D.C.'s absolute ban on handguns, even in homes. Holder also has far-left views on unrestricted abortion, and opposes the death penalty. And, in a war on terror, Holder believes that all the rights that U.S. citizens have in civilian courts should be extended to foreign terrorists captured abroad... http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YjM2ZjgzM2NiMmEzYTc4MWE5YjEzMzc3ZTk5NzRlMzE= ...While congressional leaders negotiated behind closed doors over proposed loans to Detroit automakers, several Republicans took the floor Wednesday and Thursday to discuss Covington & Burling's Eric Holder Jr. They called for Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to delay the Jan. 8 confirmation hearing for Holder, who of late has been dogged by his involvement in pardoning fugitive financier Marc Rich in the waning hours of the Clinton administration. But the comments from Republicans went further. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama questioned Holder's fitness to be attorney general. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said he wanted to delve into Holder's career in private practice. Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma threatened to prevent a vote... http://www.law.com/jsp/dc/PubArticleDC.jsp?id=1202426625433 The confirmation hearing for Eric Holder Jr. will be delayed after all - at least for a week. Following a back-and-forth last week over the timing of Holder's confirmation to be attorney general, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy said today that he's moving the hearing from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15. Leahy had previously resisted Republican requests to delay the hearing because he said the Justice Department needs stability and because Holder's nomination has been widely expected since mid-November... http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2008/12/leahy-agrees-to-postpone-holder-hearing-by-a-week.html --- The Beat Goes On: Pick up the morning newspaper or turn on the evening newscast and the story that you're bound to see is that America is facing an economic recession of historic proportions. Consumer spending is down and unemployment is up, but there is one item that Americans are rushing to buy - guns. Why? Well, as NRA-certified instructor Joel Rosenberg told the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "It's the Obama effect." Gun sales have skyrocketed ever since it became clear that Barack Obama was going to win the White House and be able to govern with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress... What's worse, the gun-control lobby is just waiting for January 20 so that they can push restrictions, if not outright bans, on firearms... Indeed, news reports like the one in The Hill have made it clear that the gun-control lobby thinks it is not whether, but when the new administration will attempt to enact gun restrictions... Only time will tell whether many Americans bought their guns just in time. http://www.rightsidenews.com/200812122963/editorial/buying-guns-just-in-time-the-obama-effect.html --- Accounts of my Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: The vaunted National Rifle Association and the rest of the gun lobby - for years presumed deadly to any politician who dared to buck them - were firing blanks in the recent election. Lobby-promoted candidates generally fared poorly. Candidates who support firearms controls that most people consider sensible were not routed, not even where typically hysterical campaigns were run against them. At least for this election cycle, the single-issue, guns-are-everything voter - the source of the lobby's political intimidation - turned out to be more pussycat than tiger... (For better or for worse, there's nothing like an anti-RKBA administration to swell the ranks of the NRA.) http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/392229_teepenonline16.html?source=rss --- List Member Defends National-Park Carry: ...It makes no sense to have large chunks of Montana where people are not allowed to protect themselves, like other "gun-free zones," actually "disarmed victim zones." Did you ever see any signs in Glacier or Yellowstone national parks for the bears, lions and wolves saying "Do not attack tourists, it's against regulations"? No? Well, those signs were never posted because large carnivores don't read or obey signs, just like two-legged predators would ignore such signs. Some argue that national parks are statistically safer than other parts of the U.S. Maybe so, but that's not much of a brag. Montana is also safer than other parts of the U.S., specifically because our people are allowed and prepared to defend themselves from predators, human and wild. See professor John Lott's seminal book on this subject, "More Guns, Less Crime." Relative rates of victimization notwithstanding, all of the people fatally attacked in national parks are dead n 100 percent. When seconds count, sometimes-armed park rangers are still minutes or hours away... http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/12/15/opinion/guest/guest53.txt --- Allegheny County Tops State in Carry Permits: Mike Egenlauf can't carry a police officer on his back, so he carries a .45-caliber semiautomatic handgun. "All too often the police are there to take witness statements and try and pick up the pieces, and not as often to stop the assailant," said Egenlauf, 33, an IT security analyst from Oakdale. "I realize I am not a cop and don't want to go out and stop crimes, but I do want to come home to my family at night." He's far from alone. About one in 20 people in Allegheny County has a permit to carry a concealed firearm, state police records show. With 60,000 licensed gun owners, the county has more than any county in the state. Statewide, more than 800,000 people can carry a concealed weapon... http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/news/mostread/s_602761.html --- Seattle Holds Gun-Ban Hearing: ..."Gun-free zones don't work unless enforced by metal detectors and armed guards. That is a fact that's punctuated by the recent shootings at Southcenter Mall, also a so-called gun-free zone," said an opponent of the ban at the meeting. "The only people, then, who will be armed in theses areas are criminals who don't care about the law in the first place and who they harm." Attorney General Rob McKenna issued a non-binding opinion in October that cities lack the authority to ban guns because local laws would conflict with state regulations. The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms says if Seattle is successful in banning guns on city property then other cities across Washington may do the same thing. Comments will be taken through the end of the month. http://www.komonews.com/news/36215484.html ... "Criminals will not follow this law and they will walk into city hall and they will shoot up a storm and nobody here will have something to protect themselves or the people they work with and care about," said Keli Carender. "I personally view carrying a gun as kind of like wearing a seatbelt. You probably never need it, but I still buckle up," said Brent Woodward... http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_121508WAB_gun_ban_plan_LJ.6642b557.html ...Although Nickels' proposal is an administrative one, anyone caught bringing a gun to a city park or building could be ticketed or arrested for criminal trespassing. State Attorney General Rob McKenna issued a decision in October stating that cities cannot pre-empt state gun laws. McKenna said the mayor's proposed restrictions would violate state law blocking cities from enacting gun rules... http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/392199_gunban16.html --- Lead Complaints Could Close New York Range: An environmental group is asking the state to close a Yaphank shooting range on the grounds that lead from used ammunition has seeped into the groundwater - a charge the range's owner denies... In a letter, campaign executive director Adrienne Esposito called on the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Pine Barrens Commission to shutter the range as a "first step to stopping further lead contamination." But range owner Mark Wroobel said Suffolk County tests the lead levels of drinking water at the range several times each year and has not found a problem in the two-and-a-half years since he took over the facility. State and federal agencies have also signed off on the lead levels, he said... http://www.newsday.com/news/local/suffolk/ny-liyaph5966258dec15,0,1610935.story --- Bringing a Pizza to a Gunfight: When a customer pulled a gun on pizza delivery man Eric Lopez Devictoria this week, the Pizza Hut employee fought back with the only thing he had. A large, steaming-hot pepperoni pie. Fearing for his life, Devictoria, 40, lobbed the pizza at the gunman who had ordered him into a residence in the 1900 block of Acapulco Drive shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, police said. The maneuver bought Devictoria enough time to run away, although he said he heard at least one gunshot... (Word is still pending as to whether Pizza Hut will fire this employee, as they normally do when their employees shoot back.) http://www.sun-sentinel.com/community/news/miramar/sfl-1212miramarpizza,0,232693.story --- Rule Three Reminder: ...A veteran NYPD detective who accidentally put a bullet in his knee after he stumbled out of a busted chair in a Brooklyn station house hobbled away last week with a cool $4.5 million jury verdict. Anderson Alexander, 49, sued the city for putting the defective chair into use at the 73rd Precinct in Ocean Hill-Brownsville where the detective had the misfortune to lean back while taking a rest following a lengthy New Year's Eve shift... Alexander, a Navy veteran, was asked to hold a 9mm Smith & Wesson belonging to another detective, Peter Schrammer, while Schrammer moved a suspect to a holding area. Alexander obliged and leaned back in his seat so he could slide the weapon into his waistband. "I thrust my weight back to try to get the gun into my waistband," he said. "And the chair didn't hold my weight . . . I began falling back . . . I tensed up. The gun discharged . . . and I wounded my knee." ... (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. Note that the S&W pistols used by NYPD are double-action-only.) http://www.policeone.com/treatment/articles/1760970-NYPD-detective-who-accidentally-shot-himself-wins-4-5M/ --- Rule Five Reminder: An elderly Jacksonville woman was accidentally shot in the leg at a Springfield grocery after the man in front of her in line dropped a gun while trying to pay for his purchases. Flossie Mae Bell, 70, told police she was waiting to cash out Friday afternoon at the Springfield Supperette, 1701 Pearl St., when the man in front of her dropped a leather pouch and she felt a pain in her legs. A store worker said he heard a loud pop like a firecracker. Bell said she realized after leaning over that she had been shot, according to a police report. She was treated at Shands Jacksonville hospital, police said. Police arrested Woodrow Monlyn Jr., 67, on a charge of carrying a concealed firearm. He remained in jail today in lieu of $15,000 bail. Monlyn told police he got the .25 caliber derringer pistol for protection and had never carried it in public before. He said he didn't know he needed a permit, according to a police report... (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. While this rule was initially promulgated to prevent unauthorized access, it has other applications as well. Note that most derringers, unergonomic at best, along with some .25-caliber pistols, lack drop-safety protection.) http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/crime/2008-12-13/woman_accidentally_shot_at_store -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .