Is Sotomayor a Done Deal?: ...Republicans have nothing significant to gain by making the hearing a media event, so they won't. For her part, Judge Sotomayor is likely to adhere to the modern tradition of saying as little as necessary. The result is a conspiracy of convenience in which not much is likely to happen... I don't expect the question of guns to play a significant role, beyond simply being mentioned. Judge Sotomayor sat on a panel concluding that the question of the Second Amendment's incorporation was previously settled by the Supreme Court, a result consistent with a Seventh Circuit panel that included Judges Posner and Easterbrook. That's a simple answer to the allegation that she is opposed to gun rights, and - beyond the committed gun rights community - this is an issue will get discussed simplistically... http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/the-sotomayor-confirmation-hearings-as-a-non-event/#more-10130 --- That 90% Lie and More: The two federal agencies most responsible for stemming the flow of firearms to Mexico agreed Tuesday to improve cooperation after they were sharply criticized by a congressional report for lack of coordination. The agreement between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will result in a more effective fight against the flood of US weapons that provide Mexican drug cartels with more than 90 percent of their firearms. Top federal law enforcement officials were in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to sign documents pledging to work together. The agreement is expected to result in increased seizures of trafficked weapons and more prosecutions and convictions, said David Ogden, the deputy attorney general. But "it's hard to say when we'll see results," he added. (Yes, it may be hard to see results when your initial premise is flawed. Perhaps they can show the Mexican army how to stop the theft of its own weapons and how to block the illegal importation of military-grade weapons by sea and across Mexico's southern border.) http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/9172/189/ --- RKBA Amendment Stymies Democrats over DC Vote Bill: ...House Democratic leaders recently scrapped plans to consider the voting rights legislation this summer, after acknowledging their ranks were split on the gun measure and that D.C. leaders were unwilling to compromise. It's not clear when the bill will be revived, and advocates worry the issue could linger indefinitely. The measure would negate the city's tough gun registration requirements and overturn its ban on rapid-fire semiautomatic weapons. Residents say the amendment puts the city in a bind: Winning the vote means forfeiting the right to set tough firearms policies in a city that had 186 homicides last year, while halting the bill jeopardizes a right they believe is 200 years overdue... (Never mind that DC is not a state and the Constitution specifies that only states are to have representation in Congress.) http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/reg/2009/07/01-39/Gun-bill-leaves-DC-voting-rights-in-limbo.html --- Tennessee City Pressured to Ban Park Carry: If Murfreesboro decides to allow guns in parks it could cost the city the annual Spring Fling event and the $3.5 million it brings in from tourism. The executive director of TSSAA said there is no way they would allow the week-long high school sport state tournaments to be played at a park where guns are allowed. A state law allowing people with carry permits to bring guns in parks goes into effect September first. However, local governments can opt out. Murfreesboro's City Council decided last week to postpone voting on a measure to uphold its ban on handguns in city parks. The state law allowing guns in parks takes effect September 1. http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=10622667 --- Updated Arizona CCW Statistics: As of July 1, Arizona shows a total of 131,830 active permits, with 972 revocations (0.7%). Of note, Arizona also lists 1,472 active instructors, with 28 revocations (1.9%) and 624 active training organizations, with 13 revocations (2.1%). I assume that most of the revocations for instructors and organizations are for certifying training that was not actually provided or not provided in full. The fact that the revocation rates are higher for instructors and training organizations than for permittees is not something that fills me with pride. When I moved back to Arizona, in 1999, there were approximately 62,000 active permits. The application rate is reported to have doubled when the training mandate was reduced from 16 to eight hours. I do not know if anyone has calculated the rate increase since Big Brother's election but the CWP Unit is reported to have a backlog of 6,000 applications and to be processing 200 per day. http://ccw.azdps.gov/Stats.htm --- Rule Four Reminder: The Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area's public shooting range has reopened, but only for shotgun use, a state [WV] Division of Natural Resources official said Tuesday. However, efforts are still under way to find another site at the wildlife management area where an additional range can be constructed, one that will be used for the "safe shooting of rifles and pistols," said DNR public information officer Hoy Murphy... Hoy said the range reopened Monday after it was temporarily closed in mid-May because of a safety problem. At that time, there was a problem with bullets intermittently hitting a home approximately a quarter mile downrange from the facility, he said. "The DNR determined that certain individuals were illegally placing targets on top of the bunkers instead of in front of them. In addition, some shooters were engaged in the rapid firing of semi-automatic rifles, which resulted in rifle muzzles rising over a safe line of sight toward the bunkers," he said... (Rule Four: Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/521705.html?nav=5006 --- Not Clear on the Concept: A Collin County judge at a training exercise got a very real shot in the face. The shot came from a gun loaded with blanks, but the damage was nearly blinding. The exercise Saturday involved Collin County sheriff deputies, court staff and McKinney police. In one of the mock scenarios, Judge John Roach Jr. was taken hostage by an angry gunman. "He was falling or pushed down by the SWAT team, which is natural," Roach said. "Then, he fired point blank at my head with a gunshot." While the man acting as the hostage taker was supposed to shoot .38 caliber blanks, it wasn't supposed to be in the direction of the judge. Roach said he immediately knew something had gone terribly wrong. "I leaned down and put my head in my hands and saw all the blood and knew I had been hurt," he said... (Blanks still expel a wad and partially burned granules of black powder. When I used blank-firing guns as a role-player in LASD's patrol school they had the muzzle blocked and the barrel vented to the bottom and we were still instructed not to fire them within a few feet of the deputies we were training.) http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090630_mo_shot.234e79d5.html --- Joe Bowman, Exhibition Shooter, Has Died: Joe Bowman, a Houston bootmaker turned shooting expert whose marksmanship drew the attention of some of the Hollywood stars he had revered, including Roy Rogers and John Wayne, died Monday. Houston's world-famous "Straight Shooter" was 84... Bowman counted among his friends a Who's Who of celebrities - 1960s actor James Drury, who starred in television's The Virginian, entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. and Dan Pastorini, former Houston Oilers quarterback, among others... Bowman's pistol prowess drew the attention of Hollywood stars. He also served as a consultant to actor Robert Duvall for his role as Gus in Lonesome Dove, his family said... Bowman also taught Houston Police Department officers and FBI agents about the finer points of gun handling, his son said. Bowman died in his sleep at a hotel during a trip back to Houston with his wife from a series of exhibitions in Albuquerque... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6505718.html --- Bringing Trained Fists to a Knife Fight: A drunken man who burst into his elderly neighbour's house, threatening him with a knife, "got what he deserved" when the pensioner, a former boxer, left him bruised and bleeding. Yesterday, Gregory McCalium, 23, was jailed for four-and-a half years for aggravated burglary. McCalium had partied all night before forcing his way into 72-year-old neighbour Frank Corti's home in Queens Close, Botley, Oxford, in August last year, brandishing a knife, Oxford Crown Court was told. He lunged at Mr Corti's stomach, but missed. Mr Corti - an ex-boxer who served with the Royal Engineers in North Africa from 1956-58 - was at home with his wife Margaret at the time of the incident. He dodged the knife and punched the intruder twice in the face, leaving him with a black eye and swollen lip. He then restrained McCalium until police arrived... http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6507063.html --- And They're Not Even English: Minster for Justice Dermot Ahern has warned of a "highly undesirable" culture of handgun use. He also rejected criticism from Fine Gael and Labour regarding his proposals to reform gun ownership laws. Charles Flanagan of Fine Gael and Labour's Pat Rabbitte had put down amendments to the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009, which went through committee stage yesterday. The proposed legislation would ban new handgun licences, except for those used in Olympic sports. Some 1,800 handguns have been licensed in the State since 2004. Mr Ahern said he was determined to stamp out a practice known as "practical shooting". His department had monitored with concern "competitions in which people shoot their way through multi-stage target courses based on real life combat scenarios, such as a home invasion or a hostage rescue". He said: "This activity is one that seeks to glorify and normalise attitudes to high-powered handguns and promote their use and ownership," he said. Mr Ahern said "practical shooting" was a "highly undesirable" recent development in Irish shooting sports... http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0619/1224249120046.html --- Colt Recall Notice: Colt's Manufacturing Company LLC has determined that the Slide Lock Safety and the Recoil Spring Guide Pad in certain Colt model pistols were not manufactured to Colt specifications and must be replaced. All of these Colt models were sold after March 2007 and the range of serial numbers affected by this product recall is as follows: 1911 WWI Replica (O1911) From: 4597WMK To: 5414WMK 1918 WWI Replica (O1918) From: 1001WWI To: 3431WWI New Agent (O7810D) From: GT01001 To: GT04505 Combat Elite (O8011XSE) From: CG10000E To: CG11293E Defender (O7000D) From: DR33036 To: DR35948 Talo Night Defender (O7000NDF) From: NDF0001 To: NDF0400 http://www.coltsmfg.com/recall.aspx --- More on the CBP Knife Ban: Eric Soderblom sells about 100 knives a year as the owner of Ruff's Sporting Goods in Flagstaff, Arizona, and thinks that new legislation proposed by the Customs and Border Protection Agency that would potentially outlaw any spring-assisted or auto-opening knife is "pointless." ...Sixty-one of the 275 members of the Congressional Sportsmen's Caucus sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging her to rescind the proposals, and Second Amendment lobbyists are in the midst of compiling signatures from the American Wildlife Conservation Partners, an alliance of sportsmen groups. That letter pointed out that some 35.6 million Americans carry and use some type of utilitarian knife which opens with one hand, and that 80 percent of all knives sold can be opened with one hand. "I don't understand what the intent of the law is," said Soderblom. "It doesn't have an effect on anything." (This article errs in referring to the CBP proposal as legislation - it is an administrative interpretation which, it is argued, could have wider implications if it becomes the basis for similar interpretations of state laws.) http://townhall.com/columnists/JillianBandes/2009/07/02/new_knife_legislation_pointless_or_dangerous?page=full --- From AzCDL: "Sine Die" is the Latin term the Arizona Legislature uses to signify the adjournment of the legislative session. The Senate adjourned this morning, July 1, 2009 at 7:30 AM. The House adjourned at 7:31 AM. It's officially over folks. Unless a Special Session is called by the Governor, we have a 6 month reprieve on any further legislative meddling in our lives. Unfortunately HB 2439, the AzCDL-requested CCW training reform bill that was amended to include Petty Offense and Defensive Display language, failed in the House at 5:10 AM this morning. It passed in the Senate Third Read by a 18-5-7 vote around 2 AM but when it was voted on in the House Final Read, it failed by one vote, 30-10 with 20 (Yes, twenty!) members not voting. Five of those twenty who were not present for the vote were Republicans who had indicated to us that they would vote for the bill. If they had been present, HB 2439 would have easily passed. You can find how every Representative voted here: http://tinyurl.com/HB2439FinalVote . The Republicans missing during the final vote were Nancy Barto (R7), Rich Crandall (R19), Adam Driggs (R11), Bill Konopnicki (R5), Lucy Mason (R1), and Doug Quelland (R10). If you are in their Districts, please keep this in mind next November. Despite the setback with HB 2439, there are four pro-rights bills that made it through the legislative gauntlet and are headed to the governor's desk. They are SB 1113, SB 1168, SB 1243 and SB 1449. SB 1113, a "Restaurant Carry" bill laden with concessions to appease opponents, passed in the House Third Read yesterday (6/30/09) by a 40-19-1 vote. Early this morning, it passed the Senate Final Read by a 19-8-3 vote. In the final version of SB 1113: - "Open carry" is not allowed in places serving alcohol. The firearm must be concealed. - Only individuals with CCW permits may carry a concealed firearm where alcohol is served. - The individual legally carrying the firearm may not consume alcohol. - The penalty for violating the law is a class 3 misdemeanor. - Establishments may prohibit firearms by posting a sign in a specified location. - It is an "affirmative defense" if the person violating the law "was not informed of the notice," the sign had "fallen down," the person is not a resident of Arizona, or the posted sign has not been up for 30 days. - However, lack of knowledge (by Arizona residents only) that firearms are prohibited in establishments serving alcohol is no longer a valid defense. SB 1168 is the Senate bill containing the "strike everything" amendment substituting the language of HB 2474. It passed the Senate Final Read by a vote of 18-9 with 3 not voting. SB 1168 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. HB 2474, the original "Parking Lot" bill, passed in the House and made it through Senate committees but was dropped when SB 1168 made it through the process first. SB 1243 passed the House Third Read by a vote of 42-12-6 on June 29. Since the language in SB 1243 remained unchanged, it was sent back to the Senate where it was formally sent to the Governor this morning. SB 1243 is the AzCDL-requested bill that codifies the defensive display of a firearm. Another very important bill that passed this session is SB 1449 which applies, retroactively, statutory changes relating to justification defenses in all cases in which the defendant did not plead guilty or no contest that were submitted to the fact finder as of April 24, 2006. In plain language this means that the restoration of the "innocent until proven guilty" language that passed out of the Legislature via SB 1145 in 2006 retroactively applies to cases pending at the time of passage. The most infamous of these was the trial of Harold Fish, who defended himself while hiking and was prosecuted under the 1997 "guilty until proven innocent" law. Even though SB 1145 became law in the middle of Mr. Fish's trial, he was convicted under the older law. You can read more about Mr. Fish's case here: http://www.haroldfishdefense.org/ . This has been a very bizarre legislative session. With the focus almost entirely on the budget, very little time was spent on non-budget bills, and there was a mad rush to end the session and filter out as many bills as possible. Without the constant pressure YOU provided via your emails, letter and phone calls, AzCDL's representatives (who went home this morning after staying all night lobbying and counting votes at the Capitol) would not have been able to keep pro-rights bill in the pipeline. Pat yourselves on the back - Job Well Done! Unfortunately, we're not out of the woods yet. The Legislature may have adjourned but the Governor now has a stack of bills on her desk to sign, ignore or veto. Her priority is the budget. The Legislature deliberately waited until Sine Die to send the budget to the Governor. If she vetoes the budget, state bureaucracies grind to a halt. A "do over" budget will require the Governor to call a Special legislative session, with more delays. It boils down to gamesmanship and who blinks first. All the non-budget bills might become pawns in the power struggle. Meanwhile, the next step is to start asking the Governor to sign these bills. Her email address is azgov@az.gov. You can also fax a letter to her at 602-542-1381. Or you can mail it to her at the following address: The Honorable Jan Brewer Governor of Arizona 1700 West Washington Phoenix, Arizona 85007 You can call her office, toll free, at 1-800-253-0883 or 602-543-4331. You can also go to the Governor's website, http://azgovernor.gov/Contact.asp, where you will find a fill-in-the-blanks form to register your opinion. For "subject", scroll down and select "Legislation." For "topic", fill in the number of the bill you are making a comment on (e.g., SB 1243). In the message/comment area, leave a polite message asking her to sign the bill you are referring to. We recommend a separate message for each bill. Stay tuned! We will notify you on the fate of legislation via these Alerts and Twitter. These alerts are a project of the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL), an all volunteer, non-profit, non-partisan grassroots organization. Renew today! 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 .