Weekly Reminder: HR 45 has not even gained one co-sponsor in committee and S 2099 died nine years ago. It is not necessary to forward the hysterical mailings to me. Friday, January 23, 2009 U.S. Representative Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) recently sponsored H.R. 45, also known as "Blair Holt's Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act." The bill is, at its core and as its name implies, a licensing and registration scheme. The measure calls for all handgun owners to submit to the federal government an application that shall include, among many other things: a photo; an address; a thumbprint; a completed, written firearm safety test; private mental health records; and a fee. And those are only some of the requirements to be licensed! The bill would further require the attorney general to establish a database of every handgun sale, transfer, and owner's address in America. Moreover, the bill would make it illegal to own or possess a "qualifying firearm" -- defined as "any handgun; or any semiautomatic firearm that can accept any detachable ammunition feeding device..." without one of the proposed licenses. Additionally, the bill would make it illegal to transfer ownership of a "qualifying firearm" to anyone who is not a licensed gun dealer or collector (with very few exceptions), and would require "qualifying firearm" owners to report all transfers to the attorney general's database. It would also be illegal for a licensed gun owner to fail to record a gun loss or theft within 72 hours, or fail to report a change of address within 60 days. Further, if a minor obtains a firearm and injures someone with it, the owner of the firearm may face a multiple-year jail sentence. H.R. 45 is essentially a reintroduction of H.R. 2666, which Rush introduced in 2007. H.R. 2666 contained much of the same language as H.R. 45, and was co-sponsored by several well-known anti-gun legislators--including Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. H.R. 45 currently has no co-sponsors. Rest assured that NRA-ILA will continue to monitor this bill closely, and will keep you informed of any developments if they materialize. http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=4329 Friday, May 29, 2009 In the last few weeks, NRA-ILA has received hundreds of e-mails warning us about "SB-2099," a bill that would supposedly require you to report all your guns on your income tax return every April 15. Like many rumors, there's just a grain of truth to this one. Someone's recycling an old alert, which wasn't even very accurate when it was new. There actually was a U.S. Senate bill with that number that would have taxed handguns - nine years ago. It was introduced by anti-gun Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and it would have included handguns under the National Firearms Act's tax and registration scheme. This has nothing to do with anyone's Form 1040, of course. Fortunately, S. 2099 disappeared without any action by the Senate, back when Bill Clinton was still in the White House. We reported about it back then, just as we report about new anti-gun bills every week. Now, it's time for gun owners to drop this old distraction and focus on the real threats at hand. http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=4925 --- From GOA: Congratulations! You have stymied the shady tactics used by Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi to try to pass the ObamaCare bill and - in the opening salvo of the battle - you blew them out of the water... As you remember, the ObamaCare bill would dump your gun-related health data into a federal database. It would also put your (government mandated) insurance at risk if you keep a loaded gun for self-defense. But there was a problem: The anti-gun health bills cost too much, and Obama had promised to pass a bill which would not raise the deficit by "one penny." So what Obama, Reid, and Pelosi did was to try to pass a separate bill (S. 1776) which would fund the anti-gun ObamaCare bill by raising the deficit another $247 billion dollars... With gun owners responding vigorously to our alerts on this issue, the motion to invoke "cloture" (or shut off debate) on the bill failed by a 47-53 vote - 13 votes short of the 60 votes the anti-gun socialists needed. The victory on S. 1776 means that it will be much harder for Obama, Reid and Pelosi to pick up the somewhat fiscally-minded Blue Dog Democrats they so desperately need to get their anti-gun ObamaCare legislation passed. So congratulations! It is true that this is only the first battle... but, if we continue battering Congress as we have, it will be the first of many victories... http://gunowners.org/a102309.htm --- LEOSA Clean-Up Bill: Congressman J. Randy Forbes (VA-04) introduced public safety legislation that will promote the responsible use of firearms in the United States by reforming regulations on retired law enforcement officials' right to carry concealed weapons. The bill, the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2007 (H.R. 2726), will modernize federal firearms laws to ensure that individual liberties are upheld and public safety is protected... Under current law, retired law enforcement officers must carry the required documents, including state-issued documentation verifying the officers' firearms qualifications, in order to carry a concealed firearm. However, some states have refused to issue this documentation. This legislation would provide an alternative to a state-issued document and would allow retired law enforcement officers to carry a certification from a firearms instructor stating that they meet the active duty standards for qualification in firearms training as established by the regulating agency in that state. This would allow retired members of law enforcement that left their agency in good standing to carry a concealed weapon. Additionally, this bill would amend federal criminal code to include Amtrak and executive branch police officers as qualified law enforcement officers eligible to carry concealed firearms... (Illinois, in particular, has been recalcitrant in offering its retirees the programs to document annual handgun "qualification," as required under LEOSA. At least initially, Illinois did not even have a state "qualification" standard. Yes, the whole concept is elitist - I don't require any reminders of that fact. It is also, contrary to the claims of some of its backers, a poor model for the rest of the population because of the inclusion of federal standards.) http://www.policeone.com/off-duty/articles/1957848 --- Amtrak Whines: Amtrak is raising serious objections to a proposal that would allow passengers to stow unloaded guns in their checked baggage, saying the train operator cannot screen passengers' bags the same way airlines do. The Senate passed a measure last month that would allow passengers to declare and check a weapon on the trains, something airline passengers can do now, provided the weapon is unloaded and in a hard and locked case. But Amtrak and some House members are against the idea. The House did not include the provision in their version of the bill approved by the Senate... Amtrak Police Chief John O'Connor said it's possible the system's random bag inspections could catch someone with an illegal weapon, but that Amtrak does not even have baggage cars on every train. He said he does not want any weapons, checked or unchecked, on his trains. But supporters see the measure as way to keep Second Amendment rights from being restricted... http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/23/amtrak-raises-objections-measure-allowing-guns-trains/ --- Why Don't We See This from Big-City Papers?: Felonious behavior is becoming more dangerous, if two recent incidents are any indication... In the second incident, the assailant was shot by someone who qualifies under the conceal and carry law. Sheriff Greg White is a proponent of the conceal and carry law, passed by lawmakers in 2003 after Missouri voters rejected a similar law in 1999. The law requires people to attain a standard of proficiency with weapons before they are permitted to carry a concealed gun. Proponents of the law believe it offers a greater sense of security and decreases crime by prompting felons to consider the consequences of armed confrontation. We confess to harboring some reservations about the concealed carry law. Our fear was an increase in guns in public would result in more guns being displayed prematurely and/or more accidents. White said recently: "All the fears over conceal and carry have never manifested." We concede the point. Anecdotal evidence does not suggest an increase in accidents or unprovoked gunplay. The evidence, however, does show people defending themselves from harm. The message being sent to felons is don't bring a weapon to a crime unless you're prepared to accept the risk. (Emphasis added.) http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/10/20/opinion/072op01hardlessonsy09.txt --- Georgia Students Debate RKBA: The College Republicans and Young Democrats held their second annual debate on Wednesday, addressing gun control and health care reform. "We simply had to do health care because of the prominent national debate and because it's the most pressing issue at the moment," College Republicans President Scott McAfee said. "As for gun control, we were looking for a 'perennial'-type issue, one that always seems to be on the national radar and interests many people." During the event, one representative from both of the parties engaged in debate on one of the topics... "The most common sense argument against gun control is that thugs and criminals ignore gun laws," Malik said. "These gun laws only harm innocent, law-abiding citizens. Also, as cliche as this may sound, guns don't kill people; people kill people." When Salvo asked about the scope of the Second Amendment, Malik said the amendment was designed in order to prevent government tyranny. "By unnecessarily controlling guns, we lay the seeds for government oppression for later on," Malik said... http://www.emorywheel.com/detail.php?n=27527 --- California Ammo Bill - What's the Next Step?: ...But all that has been discussed elsewhere already. My new concern is that this law will come to be seen as "a good first step"--and remember, to the forcible citizen disarmament lobby, every new restriction is "a good first step." ...Straw purchasers" of ammunition, though, will be much more difficult to prosecute - unless (we will inevitably be told, when criminal gun use is inevitably unaffected by AB 962) ammunition is also required to have serial numbers, with those numbers stored in a database. As it turns out, an effort has been underway to implement just such a plan- - "Ammunition Accountability" legislation. Although passed nowhere yet, efforts have been made (led, in large part, by the company that stands to profit enormously from passage of such laws) in at least 18 states, including California, which given the state's seeming unwillingness to come in at second place in anti-gun tyranny (just ask the Brady Campaign), is the obvious best bet for first state to pass it... http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d23-Is-California-AB-962-a-precursor-to-ammunition-accountability-laws --- RKBA Infringed in Nevada, Part 1: Is it possible that Nevada legislators who claim to support the Second Amendment actually oppose it? When one looks at state laws and the Nevada Constitution, it becomes apparent that either state legislators have never understood the intent of the Second Amendment, or they are in fact hostile toward it... The wording of the Nevada Constitution suggests it could be used to attempt to circumvent the original intent of the Second Amendment. State and local governments appear to have exploited this discrepancy to enact gun laws that infringe on Second Amendment rights. From Clark County's registration and waiting-period laws to state-level background checks and the unconstitutionality of concealed-weapon permits, Nevada's gun laws restrict individual liberty and allow the government to usurp more power than what it is granted by people through the U.S. Constitution. http://www.npri.org/publications/the-right-to-keep-and-bear-arms-in-nevada-part-i [Every citizen has the right to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes. Art. I, § 11(1) (enacted 1982)] --- Oops, Wrong House: An intruder broke into a home on Oscar Smith Drive in San Marcos [TX] Wednesday night and came out of the adventure with several gunshot wounds from a resident of the home. San Marcos police are investigating. Police responded to a call of someone trying to break into a home in the 700 block of Oscar Smith Drive. Three residents were inside when a man forced his way into the home through a back door. The suspect was armed with a BB gun resembling a real pistol. One of the residents fired numerous shots from a handgun, striking the intruder. The man fled on foot. Shortly after the 9:50 p.m. incident, a man arrived at Central Texas Medical Center (CTMC) with several gunshot wounds. He received primary treatment at the CTMC Emergency Room and was transferred to the University Medical Center at Brackenridge in Austin. The man was reported to be in stable condition Thursday morning... http://www.newstreamz.com/2009/10/22/intruder-shot-in-home-invasion/ http://www.examiner.com/x-18149-SelfDefense-Examiner~y2009m10d23-San-Marcos-TX-home-invader-shot-in-self-defense --- More Details on Ohio Shooting: When an armed robber barged into a North Side motel room Wednesday night and ordered the six people there to the floor, he put a 70-year-old woman closer to her handgun. The great-grandmother knelt between the beds, reached into her purse on the floor and pulled out her .357 Magnum pistol. She fired one shot at the robber, who staggered from the room, collapsed in the parking lot and died. "It's a wonder she didn't shoot us all," said her 51-year-old son, who was preparing to hand over his cash when he heard the gunshot. "She's the worst shot in the world. She said to me, 'God was with me tonight. You know I couldn't have done that myself.'" ... (As at home, when I am in a hotel room, my handguns remain in my holsters, until bedtime. Then they go into my shoes, alongside the bed, where they remain within reach, as do a pair of flashlights, right next to the shoes. In this report, the family had left the door open to keep track of the young family members next door, who presumably also had their door open.) http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/10/22/horse_shoot.html?sid=101 Media Coverage Biased: ...WBNS did a good job with their print copy, reporting that the defender has concealed carry license, and that the deceased attacker had a criminal history. However, in the accompanying video, the announcer leads with: "Police say a 70-year-old woman took the law into her own hands last night." Here is how Sergeant Weiner responded to the question: Did you tell reporters the lady "took the law into her own hands?" No. That phrase is not a fair and accurate depiction of what happened. She was simply defending herself. Had the perpetrator been arrested, he would have been charged with robbery. Also, when a perpetrator forces his way into a dwelling with a gun - it doesn't matter if he forced his way into an apartment, hotel room, or a house - we would also charge him with kidnapping." ... http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m10d23-Media-bias-Selfdefense-is-murder --- New TV Show: Lock 'N Load (Showtime, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET) is a lighthearted docu-series about gun culture and customer service as practiced in Denver. Practically an infomercial for a mom-and-pop weapons emporium called The Shootist, it celebrates small business (Wal-Mart gets disparaged by name on a few occasions) and big stopping power. Our guide stands - and, on occasion, dances for four or six beats - behind the counter. "I'm Josh. I'm a gunslinger," he says by way of introduction. Josh works a restrained rockabilly look, with statement sideburns and chain wallet. His chunky belt buckle conceals an ultra-compact pistol... http://www.slate.com/id/2233311/ --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: Gun Crime in Britain has risen by a shocking 35 per cent in just 12 months. Figures today show there were 10,000 incidents involving firearms recorded by the police last year - almost half of them in London, with 11 incidents a day. The rise is far worse than predictions which put the increase at 20 per cent. The startling jump in firearms offences generally is being driven by a 46 per cent surge in the use of handguns - now seen as fashion accessories in some inner cities. The figures, compiled by police forces in England and Wales, also show that overall crime went up by 9.3 per cent in the 12 months to September 2002. Domestic burglary was up 7.9 per cent and all major categories of crime rose. But it is the figures on guns that make the most disturbing reading and deal a blow to New Labour's "tough on crime" credentials... There were 9,974 gun crimes in 2001-2, including 97 fatalities and 558 serious injuries. Of these gun crimes, 4,192 took place in the capital... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-2848001-gun-crime-is-soaring.do ...In the 12 months to September, London saw a 17 percent rise in gun offenses, up from 1,484 to 1,737. According to government figures for England and Wales, there are about 50 to 60 shooting deaths in the country each year. Scotland Yard said the new armed patrols are taking place in Brixton, a south London district with a reputation as a drug dealing hotspot, and an area of north London dogged by a turf battle between rival Turkish drug gangs. The sweeps are being carried out about once a week by officers already attached to the specialist firearms unit. Some see the tactic as evidence the Britain may slowly be rethinking its policy on armed police. ''Since 9/11 they've become much more aware of the fact that it is a violent world out there,'' said Ayers... http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/23/world/AP-EU-Britain-Armed-Police.html?_r=1&scp=6&sq=gun%20crime%20NYC&st=cse The government has decided to maintain the present tight gun control despite a call for liberalizing the regulations on owning lethal weapons to help people defend themselves. Legislator Yu Tien of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party urged the government yesterday to follow the U.S. practice of easing the rules to allow law-abiding citizens to own handguns to protect themselves. Yu said that gun smuggling is "quite common" in Taiwan, which he said not only enables gangsters and the wealthy to buy guns easily but also boosts the price of illegal firearms on the black market. Possession of firearms by the general public would be a great deterrence against mob activities, he claimed. In response, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah said the government will not consider legalizing gun ownership by the country's citizens. Jiang said the disadvantages of allowing private gun ownership far outweigh the benefits and that the ministry may only consider allowing guards at security firms to carry firearms because of the special nature of their jobs... http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2009/10/23/229755/Strict-gun.htm --- 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 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .