Here We Go, Again: People on the government's terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report... The new statistics, compiled in a report from the Government Accountability Office that is scheduled for public release next week, draw attention to an odd divergence in federal law: people placed on the government's terrorist watch list can be stopped from getting on a plane or getting a visa, but they cannot be stopped from buying a gun. Gun purchases must be approved unless federal officials can find some other disqualification of the would-be buyer, like being a felon, an illegal immigrant or a drug addict... "This is a glaring omission, and it's a security issue," Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who requested the study, said in an interview. Mr. Lautenberg plans to introduce legislation on Monday that would give the attorney general the discretion to block gun sales to people on terror watch lists... "We're concerned about the quality and the integrity of the list," said Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association. "There have been numerous studies and reports questioning the integrity, and we believe law-abiding people who are on the list by error should not be arbitrarily denied their civil rights" under the Second Amendment... http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/us/politics/20watch.html?_r=1&ref=us --- VPC Touts 90% Lie: "Over 90 Percent of Mexican Crime Guns Originate in U.S., New GAO Report Finds." That's the headline from the Violence Policy Center press release. It is a premeditated lie. True, the qualifier "traced by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over the last three years" is admitted in the body of the release, but even that doesn't tell a reader the number of guns withheld by Mexican authorities - or whether the ones submitted have been randomly selected or cherry-picked. Headlines are important. Often times while scanning through news, that is all that will be noticed or retained. They are also crafted to facilitate SEO - search engine optimization - and thus the likelihood that a piece will feature prominently in searches to maximize traffic. Skilled press release writers know this, and VPC has been issuing press releases for a long time... http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m6d19-Antigun-group-lies-about-GAO-report Related Analysis: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mike-sargent/2009/06/18/devil-details-la-times-ignores-substance-attacks-u-s-gun-manufacturers http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m6d19-GAO-report-being-deliberately-misinterpreted-for-sensationalism --- Local Gun Bans Faring Poorly: It's been a disappointing year for American cities seeking to curb violence via tough gun laws. Since last June, when the US Supreme Court struck down key parts of the District of Columbia's gun-control ordinance, cities have seen the 20,000 local gun regulations enacted over the years begin to slip from their grip, one by one. Philadelphia's ban on assault weapons and limits on handgun purchases are the latest to succumb, struck down Thursday by a state court. An appeal to the state Supreme Court is expected. In April, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an ordinance in California's Alameda County that banned gun shows, saying the Second Amendment of the US Constitution applies in the states. For years, strict gun laws in primarily Midwestern, Northeastern, and California cities have created an uneasy tension between the Second Amendment and crime-fighting realities on the ground. Then, the US Supreme Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, affirmed the constitutional right of individual Americans to own handguns, in a case known as District of Columbia v. Heller. In striking down parts of D.C.'s law, it opened the door to court challenges of other cities' ordinances restricting access to certain kinds of guns... (As I recall, the Ninth Circuit upheld the Alameda County ordinance but still ruled that the Second Amendment is binding on the states.) http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0620/p02s02-usgn.html --- DC Blinks: The D.C. government released emergency regulations yesterday that greatly expand the models of handguns that District residents can own, a shift designed to stave off another lawsuit over its compliance with the Second Amendment. City leaders sought to play down the effects of the new regulations, but gun rights advocates said they were another boost to their efforts to undo the District's long-held restrictions on personal possession of weapons. "We are gratified the District is recognizing their approach is unworkable and unconstitutional," said Alan Gura, who was the lead attorney in the District of Columbia v. Heller Supreme Court case. "There is now a whole new universe of guns that will now be available." ...Gun rights advocates protested, saying the list was too restrictive. Gura filed another lawsuit in federal court in March on behalf of three individuals who wanted a handgun that wasn't on the District's list. To avoid that litigation, Attorney General Peter Nickles said the city decided to expand its list of legal weapons to include those listed on Maryland's and Massachusetts's "safe gun rosters." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/19/AR2009061901822.html?hpid=topnews --- Tennessee Cities, Counties Can Regulate Guns in Parks: State lawmakers have put local officials on the hot seat with the recent passage of a law allowing guns to be carried in public parks. The legislation, which was signed into law last week by the governor, immediately opens state-owned parks to people who have handgun carry permits. Municipalities have until Sept. 1 to opt out of the new provision and ban guns from their own parks. State officials had considered a bill that would have exempted locally governed parks from the new gun law, but went forward with language that includes counties and cities. The final bill passed by a vote of 54-41 in the House and 24-8 in the Senate, with one lawmaker choosing not to vote... There are more than 45 parks overseen by the county and city governments in Williamson County. These include places with athletic fields, walking trails, Civil War sites and open wooded or grassy areas. If local officials take no action, then handgun carry permit holders can pack heat while watching baseball games, hiking or strolling by playgrounds... http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090619/COUNTY090101/906190336/Gun+debate+passes+to+county++cities --- NRA-ILA Alerts: List members are encouraged to check the alerts for the week, posted on the NRA-ILA website. http://www.nraila.org/GrassrootsAlerts/read.aspx --- From AzCDL: Today (6/19/09) at about 4:30 PM, SB 1270, the AzCDL-requested Constitutional Carry bill that removes the penalty for the lawful carrying of a concealed weapon without a permit, passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The vote was 4 to 3 and fell along party lines. Ironically, some of those speaking in opposition to SB 1270, while praising the existing CCW permit system, were the same people who opposed the introduction of the CCW permit back in 1994 with similar "blood will run in the streets" hyperbole. Law enforcement administrators opposing SB 1270 also spoke of the benefit of Arizona's CCW law as a tool for making arrests. From here, SB 1270 must go through the Rules Committee before being debated in the Senate Committee of the Whole (COW). With the accelerated schedule in the Senate, that could be as early as next week. Be ready! HB 2474, which prevents any private or public employer, property owner, etc., from banning any person from keeping a firearm in a locked vehicle in a parking area on the property, with specific limited exceptions, was taken off today's Senate Judiciary Committee agenda. HB 2474 is now on the Monday, June 22, 2009 agenda. The delay is due to HB 2474 being reassigned from the Commerce & Economic Development (CED) Committee to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Also on Monday's Senate Judiciary agenda is HB 2439, the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill that provides for an alternative 4 hour CCW course for first time permit applicants with prior firearms training. SB 1113, the Restaurant Carry bill, was transmitted to the House on June 17, 2009 after passing in the Senate. That same day it was assigned to the House Judiciary Committee, but has not yet been scheduled for a hearing. Stay tuned! When critical legislation moves, we will notify you via these Alerts. These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. AzCDL - Protecting Your Freedom http://www.azcdl.org/html/join_us_.html Copyright © 2009 Arizona Citizens Defense League, Inc., all rights reserved. -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .