Happy New Year: We will soon be faced with some major political challenges. Here's hoping we can overcome them. --- 2008 as Seen by Ohio Gun Owners: Happy New Year, from Ohioans For Concealed Carry! 2008 was a very interesting year for gun rights in Ohio, and the United States. We kicked off the year in January by filing briefs in our landmark case Ohioans For Concealed Carry v. City of Clyde, which after many years finally worked its way up to the Ohio Supreme Court... http://www.ohioccw.org/content/view/4185/53/ --- Do as I Say, Not as I Do: Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris was a major promoter of the 1993 Gun Turn-In Day in Chicago. He was also a candidate for nomination as Governor of Illinois in 1994. Then the Chicago Tribune caught him with his handgun still at home. The Trib ran a story noting that while Attorney General Burris persuaded others to turn in their guns, he had somehow failed to persuade himself to do likewise. When asked why he didn't turn in his own gun, Burris told members of the Tribune's editorial board: "I just didn't get around to doing it." (Burris, for those who don't follow the news, is Governor Blagojevich's selection for the Senate seat vacated by Big Brother. None of the players in this drama are supporters of the RKBA.) http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTI5MGEwMDY0ZGU4NDU5MzYwOTQ4NzQxMmY1ZjU1N2Y= ...But logic has never been his strong suit. A longtime advocate of a national handgun ban, Burris organized Chicago's first Gun Turn-in Day in 1993. But when he ran for governor the following year, he admitted that he owned a handgun ("for protection,") and did not hand it over to police as he urged others to do. "He had simply forgotten about it," his spokesman said at the time - a claim that, if believable, suggested Burris was not exactly the model for conscientious gun ownership. "Honey, didn't I used to have a pistol around here? Any idea where it might be?" ... http://reason.com/news/show/130839.html Related Articles: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28447055/ http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/roland_burris_donations/2008/12/30/166509.html http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jan/01/blagojevich-prosecutor-short-on-time/ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/31/AR2008123102923.html --- Minnesota City Seeks Gun Ban: The Greenfield City Council is proposing an ordinance that would ban city employees from bringing guns to work. The move comes after council member-elect Howard Veldhuizen brought an unloaded gun to a city council meeting. Some residents believe it sends the wrong message and said they do not feel safe going to city council meetings anymore. The city council wanted to ban guns from the premise all together but doesn't have the authority under state law to prohibit weapons on city property. Other cities like Minneapolis have found a way around the law by enacting a similar ordinance prohibiting city employees from bringing guns to work. (But it appears that members of the public would still be able to carry legally concealed firearms to the meetings.) http://kstp.com/article/stories/S724661.shtml?cat=1 --- Kansas County Approves Shooting Range: Linn County Commissioners approved a conditional use permit for a proposed shooting range on Monday with several conditions. The commissioners received the permit in November for the shooting range CUP. The project was denied by the Linn County Planning and Zoning Board by a vote of 6-2 in October. Zoning board officials said the shooting range did not fit the character of the neighborhood. Other reasons were health, safety, welfare and property value concerns. After receiving recommendations from the commissioners, the zoning board approved the CUP by a vote of 6-1... On Monday a resolution approving a conditional use permit to construct and operate a private shooting range in a agriculture district was approved and signed by Linn County Commissioners. Before the resolution was approved, Goodison asked if .50 caliber weapons will be used after safety studies are completed. Commissioner Mike Page asked the applicant, Ward Goodison, about the concern he received regarding how far bullets from .50 caliber weapos travel. Goodison said there are bullets from deer hunting rifles that travel farther... http://www.graphic-online.com/index.php?id=507:shooting-range-cup-approved-with-conditions&option=com_content&catid=41:linn-county-news&Itemid=61 --- Oops, Wrong Car: During a Sunday night drive, the 19-year-old pulled over to pick up a dropped lighter. Seconds later, a man with a gun opened the passenger door and demanded money. Soon after, the gunman was dead, shot with the gun police say he had wielded. Authorities say the driver defended himself by the roadside in north Omaha, when he wrested away the gun and shot D'Vontae R. Hutchinson. But the driver's family says the weight of the shooting remains... (Note the risk of driving without all the doors being locked.) http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10526711 --- Oops, Wrong House: Sheriff's deputies were looking Tuesday for a burglar who was shot at by an armed homeowner in the 13000 block of Telegraph Road, authorities said. The homeowner was alerted by a barking, growling family dog about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, the Sheriff's Department reported. The homeowner, armed with a handgun, walked down her hallway and found a man who had apparently forced his way into the house, deputies said. Deputies said the burglar "brazenly and antagonistically challenged the homeowner." "Threatened by the aggressive behavior and fearing for her life," the homeowner "fired in self-defense at the confrontational suspect," the sheriff's report said. The burglar fled without taking any property. Authorities did not know Tuesday if the man was injured... http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/dec/31/burglar-flees-after-resident-fires-shot/ --- Prosecutors Still Mulling Mistaken-Home Shooting: Prosecutors are considering whether a Colorado law meant to protect homeowners against intruders applies in the case of a man killed outside a house he thought was his. The parents of 22-year-old Sean Kennedy said detectives have told them their son, who had been drinking, was shot Sunday night after breaking a window to try to get in through the back door of a house a block away from where he lived. "The detectives agreed from everything we told them and from the way things looked that was pretty much what happened," said Kennedy's mother, Lisa Kennedy. The street numbers of the house, 3212, were the same as the house where Kennedy lived. Kennedy's house had a wooden privacy fence in the backyard, while the home where he was shot had a chain-link fence. His friends said he was in no state to notice the difference after spending the evening drinking and watching the Denver Broncos game at a friend's house... (And how were the homeowners to have known all this?) http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_11344931 --- Interesting References: Ballistics Testing Group 2008 Publications - We appreciate the thoughtful discussions and valuable references provided by forum members over the years, and we are mindful of the regular requests by forum members to keep them appraised of our ongoing work. We've been busy in 2008, as attested by the list of publications below. The emails I've been getting also indicate our article on ballistic coefficients has recently been published by Varmint Hunter Magazine, though I have not yet received a copy in confirmation... http://www.eotacforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=58635 --- Tangentially Related: Just how dependent are you on your wireless phone? Just two days ago, the Chicago Tribune reported that a service outage affecting AT&T customers cut off wireless users across the Midwest all day Sunday. This outage in turn highlights a growing trend: According to the Tribune article, one out of every six U.S. households does not have a landline. That means just under 18 percent of U.S. households, up from 7 percent only three years ago, depend entirely on wireless technology for their communication needs... (Some of you will recall that "KE7QBY" appeared in my signature block, below, about a year ago. The potential to lose phone and internet service was my primary motivation to get licensed and active in amateur radio.) http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=85036 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .