Bloomberg versus NRA: Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would raise money for a national campaign to counter the political influence of the National Rifle Association, building on the recent defeat of federal legislation that would have eased prohibitions against carrying concealed weapons. "You know, the NRA doesn't spend that much money,'' said Bloomberg during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press'' program yesterday. "If you want to beat the NRA you have to go out and get your message out, and it costs money to do that." NRA President Wayne LaPierre didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Bloomberg has already contributed about $2.9 million to "Mayors Against Illegal Guns.'' The organization of 450 city chiefs, founded in 2006 by Bloomberg and Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston, lobbied to persuade the Senate to defeat a measure that would have allowed gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines... (This sounds like one more attempt by the left to use money to overwhelm an organization whose major strength is mobilization of the grassroots.) http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2009/08/10/ny_mayor_says_hed_raise_funds_for_anti_nra_effort/ --- The Beat Goes On: Business for Kevin Roth has been better in recent months. Roth, an approved concealed weapons instructor at Arms to Bear in Sparks, said he's seen an increase of about 30 percent in people signing up for his concealed weapons classes compared to last year. Roth's business reflects what the Washoe County [NV] Sheriff's Office has seen - an increase in requests for permits to carry concealed weapons in the past eight months. While some, including Roth, say higher unemployment and crime rates are one factor, others point to a fear of stricter gun control under the Obama administration... Washoe County saw the number of permit requests go from 96 in October to 181 in November, when Barack Obama was elected president. The number peaked at 288 applications in December but has steadily remained above or near 200 applications a month since then, according to statistics released by the sheriff's office... About 60 percent of Roth's business is middle-aged men but in the past six months, more senior citizens have registered, he said... (While my training is a pretty small-scale operation, I too have noted an increase in elderly students this year.) http://www.rgj.com/article/20090810/NEWS/90810020/1321/NEWS --- Thoughts on the Burress Case: The inanity of gun control is manifesting itself in the case of former New York Giants' wide receiver Plaxico Burress. Thanks to New York City's strict gun laws, which carry a mandatory minimum sentence, Burress is facing 3 1/2 years in the penitentiary. Burress, who had an expired concealed carry permit issued by the State of Florida, took his 40-caliber Glock with him to New York. While he was at a bar, the weapon slipped down his sweatpants and discharged when Burress was reaching for it. Burress was injured on the thigh. No one else was injured... Burress does have one other legal option though, a doomsday weapon that would strike fear in the heart of every gun-control advocate in the country, especially those in New York City. He ought to move to dismiss the indictment on the ground that he has the right to carry a concealed weapon anywhere in the country for purposes of self-defense and then carry that issue all the way to U.S. Supreme Court... http://mwcnews.net/content/view/32423&Itemid=1 --- Tennessee Restaurant Carry, One Month Later: Is it safe to go back to the restaurants? Has the smoke cleared? It's almost been almost a month since the law allowing gun-carry permit holders to carry in bars and restaurants if they're not drinking, and I haven't heard of even one violent incident. Have you? I've scoured the Internet, searched television, radio and newspaper Web sites. Nothing. Seems like I remember Nashville restaurateur Randy Rayburn saying just before the law went into effect, "In Tennessee, we apparently are going to have 225,000 vigilantes shooting in bars." Randy's an old friend of mine, and I have the utmost respect for him as a restaurateur, but he was wrong on this one. As was Adam Dread, another old friend. Dread feared some drunk would take a gun from a carry permit holder. Seeing as how nobody knows the vast majority of permit holders are packing, I don't see how that's even relevant to the argument. Dread also worried about the impact on tourism. There are 37 other states with similar laws on the books, and there's absolutely no indication it's had any effect on tourism... http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090809/COLUMNIST0130/908090328/1008/OPINION01 http://www.examiner.com/x-2206-Cleveland-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m8d11-Guns-in-restaurants-policy-proves-itself-in-Tennessee --- Oops, Wrong Re-Enactment: State police who responded to a report of gunshots in Old Lyme [CT] instead found some men re-enacting a World War II Jeep landing. Troopers and officers from the state Department of Environmental Protection were called to Calves Beach in Old Lyme late Sunday morning after neighbors reported hearing gunfire. DEP spokesman Dwayne Gardner says they found the men in costume on a restored World War II landing vessel, shooting blanks from a .50-caliber machine gun. He says Roy Gagne of Chester told them he and his friends were filming a re-enactment. It was not clear why. Gagne was cited for creating a public disturbance and for not having an operators license for the landing craft. Attempts to reach Gagne Sunday were not successful. He is not listed in the Chester directory. http://www.wcbs880.com/pages/4968585.php? --- S&W Picks Up Another Contract: Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 157-year old firearms maker, announced today that the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) has equipped its entire officer force with primary duty side arms from Smith & Wesson's Military & Police (M&P) Series of advanced-design polymer pistols. The Smith & Wesson M&P40, chambered in .40 S&W, will be issued to each officer of the Maryland NRP to replace currently issued non-Smith & Wesson firearms supplied by a European-based manufacturer... Other full-conversion in-state police departments and agencies that have selected the M&P pistol for use in Maryland include the Charles County Police Department, the Gaithersburg Police Department, Howard County Probation, Queen Anne's County Police Department, Seat Pleasant Police Department, St. Mary's County Sheriff's Office and the Greenbelt Police Department. The contract with Maryland DNR represents the first Maryland state agency that has converted to the M&P Series of pistols... (While I carry revolvers myself, I think the M&P is a good choice for departments that issue a single handgun. Its trigger stroke has just enough length to reduce anticipation, without being long and heavy enough to challenge officers with relatively weak hands and it offers the choice of three back straps, for adjustment to hand size. I note that one major European-based manufacturer, Glock, is promising adjustable back straps while another, Beretta, already offers them on the PX4, albeit as adjustable palm swells.) http://www.ammoland.com/2009/08/10/md-natural-resources-police-convert-to-smith-wesson-mp-pistols/ --- Tangentially Related: On June 25, in a late-term, 5-4 ruling marked by unconventional alliances and sharp disagreement between the justices, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts that the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause requires forensic experts whose reports are admitted into evidence to be made available for cross-examination. You might have already thought that you had the right to challenge a witness who offers powerful evidence of your guilt. But until six weeks ago, that wasn't the case in many states... In a recent cover story on forensics, Popular Mechanics summed up the problem: "Forensic science...was not developed by scientists. It was created by cops - often guided by little more than common sense - looking for reliable ways to match patterns from clues with evidence tied to suspects. What research has been done understandably focuses on finding new techniques for putting criminals in jail." In other words, where science is about process, forensics tends to be more concerned with outcomes... http://reason.com/news/show/135325.html A bipartisan pair of governors is opposing a new Defense Department proposal to handle natural and terrorism-related disasters, contending that a murky chain of command could lead to more problems than solutions. Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas (R), chairman of the National Governors Association, and Vice Chairman Gov. Joe Manchin (D) of West Virginia penned a letter opposing the Pentagon proposal, which they said would hinder a state's effort to respond to a disaster. Current law gives governors control over National Guard forces in their own states as well as any Guard units and Defense Department personnel imported from other states. The letter comes as the Pentagon proposes a legislative fix that would give the secretary of Defense the authority to assist in response to domestic disasters and, consequently, control over units stationed in an affected state... http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/governors-oppose-dod-emergency-powers-2009-08-10.html The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups. A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need." ...Some privacy groups say the proposal amounts to a "massive" and unexplained shift in government policy. In a statement Monday, American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Michael Macleod-Ball said the move could "allow the mass collection of personal information of every user of a federal government website." ... (I actually had a list member contact me several months ago, objecting to my practice of referring to our current president as "Big Brother.") http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/10/AR2009081002743.html -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .