The Beat Goes On: Now that President Obama has taken office, many Suncoast gun shops are seeing sales shoot up. With Democrats controlling congress, a sour economy, and a rise in burglaries - whatever the reason - gun shops say it is scaring people to take aim on their safety and their belongings... And some people are looking for ways to protect themselves and their belongings. "Gun sales are brisk. There has definitely been an upturn. People have gotten to a point of panic, we'll say," says Francis Misantone, owner of The Bullet Hole. She says people are stocking up. But it is not just the fear of burglaries, but also the fear of a new legislation. "It will be a lot easier for politicians in the White House to get things passed, which could amount to bans, restrictions, and things that will make it unbearable for the normal sportsman." ... http://www.wwsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=9831149 --- Brady Bunch Opens New Front in National-Park Carry Fight: The Bush Administration ignored warnings from senior career Interior Department officials that its last-minute rule change allowing the carrying of loaded, concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges was being hurried through in violation of Federal law, government documents obtained by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence show. The rule, which took effect on January 9, 2009, overturned Reagan-era restrictions on the carrying of loaded, concealed weapons in national parks. The documents were released late last week by the government in response to a lawsuit filed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The suit charges the new rule is unlawful because it was issued without any analysis of the rule's impacts on the environment and park visitors' safe use of the parks, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other federal laws... http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-12-2009/0004971531&EDATE= When Did This Group Hatch?: The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus announced today that 35 colleges and universities in 16 states have signed onto a resolution opposing legislation that would allow students to possess and carry firearms on campus. The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus is a project of GunFreeKids.org, a New York based nonprofit issue advocacy organization. In response to school shootings at Virginia Tech (2007) and Northern Illinois University (2008), the gun lobby is promoting state legislation that would preempt a public college or university's current policies restricting firearms on campus and allow students to keep firearms in their dormitory rooms and carry concealed handguns on campus - in classrooms and at sporting events and other school activities. One state - Utah - has already enacted such legislation... http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/02-12-2009/0004971655&EDATE= --- Confusion over New Hampshire Non-Resident Permits: There has been discussion as to whether the New Hampshire non-resident pistol/revolver permit is accepted in states outside of New Hampshire. The discussion centers around the following statement found on the New Hampshire web site. I have added the bold emphasis to highlight the portion in question: "PLEASE NOTE: The State of New Hampshire will only recognize resident concealed handgun licenses from these states. Concealed handgun licenses issued by the State of New Hampshire to out-of-state residents are ONLY valid within the State of New Hampshire."... http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6499 --- Four States Weigh Open Carry: Four Southern states -Texas, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Arkansas - are considering legislation that would allow people to carry handguns openly in a holster. These generally Second Amendment-friendly states are among the last six holdouts against open carrying of guns. Openly carrying handguns is legal in most states, even those that ban concealed firearms. New York and Florida also bar openly carrying handguns. The four other states that ban so-called open carry "are extremely gun-friendly. They understand the individual-rights aspect. Yet for whatever reason, the carry laws in these states are restrictive," says John Pierce, a co-founder of OpenCarry.org, which promotes gun rights... Says Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which opposes open-carry laws: "We don't want more people carrying guns either openly or concealed because the more guns you have in a situation, the more likely you are to get gun violence." ...(Yes, commons sense tells us that a person looking for a fight is more likely to look for someone he knows to be armed.) http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-02-11-guns_N.htm Oklahomans would be allowed to carry a visible rifle, shotgun or pistol without a handgun license under a bill filed by state Rep. Mike Ritze. "In Oklahoma, carrying a rifle or shotgun in your pickup is an accepted practice and most Oklahomans believe they should have the right to carry their guns openly if they have not been convicted of a crime," by Ritze, R-Broken Arrow. "I hope my fellow lawmakers will approve this bill in committee. It is an affirmation of their belief in our Second Amendment rights." House Bill 1414 specifies that the firearm would have to be carried in a belt holster, a scabbard or a case designed for carrying firearms that is "wholly or partially visible." Currently, Oklahomans by law may carry an unloaded, visible rifle, shotgun or pistol to hunt, in a class, at a sporting event or in a police or military function without a handgun license... (That verbiage sounds suspiciously like Arizona's.) http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0209/594446.html --- Wisconsin Open-Carry Arrest Update: It's less than a week until the Constitution gets another court hearing. To recap what happened, in August 2008 Brad Krause was arrested at gunpoint in West Allis, Wisconsin while planting trees in his yard. The reason: he lawfully possessed a holstered weapon. (Full story at: http://www.jpfo.org/alerts02/alert20081212b.htm ) His first hearing was December 16, where the story started to unfold under oath. The prosecution admitted into evidence a small semi-automatic handgun, positive retention holster, and self-defense ammunition, each item being the type of equipment police officers are known to use for their own protection, not the sort of thing criminals tend to carry... (Note that Wisconsin remains one of two states that have no statutory provision for lawful CCW by private citizens. There is a movement in the state to expand open carry, both to ensure that the right is not eroded and to prompt the legislature to re-evaluate the desirability of providing a legal means for CCW. A list member involved in that movement points out: ...Krause's next hearing is February 17, 2009 at the West Allis City Courtroom. If the court finds in favor of Mr. Krause, it may mean nearly every citizen can lawfully start carrying a weapon in public...) http://www.jpfo.org/articles-assd/wi-case-update.htm --- 90% of Illinois Sheriffs Support CCW: ... For the first time since it was founded in 1928, the ISA passed a resolution on Feb. 3, 2009, supporting a concealed-carry law, but only after gun owners complete an extensive application process including training courses in handgun use, safety and marksmanship. Henry County Sheriff and ISA President Gib Cady said the ISA has stayed neutral on the issue until the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a handgun ban in Washington D.C. last summer. urrently, only Illinois and Wisconsin do not have a concealed-carry law on the books. "We took an oath as sheriffs to uphold the Constitution of the United States," said Cady, a strong proponent of concealed-carry. "We polled all 102 sheriffs in Illinois and 90 percent of them were in support of the bill." ... http://www.galesburg.com/news/x682886271/Sheriffs-support-triggers-new-look-at-concealed-gun-law --- The Missing Link: ... For another thing, California law leaves discretion on who gets permits with the county sheriffs, and Hutchens interprets the code to limit permits to people who can make a compelling case for needing protection. She got blasted again this week for that position, because it's more restrictive than what had been in place. Sheriff only since last summer and a former high-ranking member of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, Hutchens has been told that she's out of step with the Orange County "culture." Given that only about 1,000 people have permits and the county has 3 million residents, I'm not sure how pervasive that "culture" is... (Even with Carona's more liberal CCW policy, applicants still had to jump through many hoops to obtain a CWP.) http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-parsons13-2009feb13,0,1147412.column --- Tennessee Could Penalize Publication of Permit Lists: The Tennessee legislature is considering legislation that would make it a felony to publish the state's concealed carry gun permits. For the last 10 years, gun backers in that state have bragged that permitted gun carriers aren't ever charged with gun crimes. That changed this week when a Memphis area man who had a permit and a gun shot another guy and was charged with second degree-murder. The Commercial Appeal in Memphis proceeded to post the state's concealed carry permit list, and now gun backers are pitching a fit... http://www.poynteronline.org/column.asp?id=2&aid=158447 --- SIG Pistols Contain Post-RFID "Tags": ... RuBee gets around some of the limitations of RFID by using magnetic or "inductive" waves rather than radio waves and using very long wavelengths, Stevens said. In addition, RuBee tags can both send and receive signals, unlike RFID tags, which can only be passively read by scanners, he said. That means RuBee tags can either communicate with a base station or form a peer-to-peer network. RuBee is a packet network protocol like Wi-Fi or ZigBee, according to Stevens... Visible Networks, founded in 2002 and based in Chatham, New Hampshire, makes its own RuBee chips and licenses the technology to other vendors. Epson Seiko makes RuBee tags, and gunmaker Sig Sauer builds tags into guns for use with tracking systems. Visible's chips range in price from a few dollars to more than US$100, depending on how specialized they are, Stevens said. The company has demonstrated RuBee with steel and water in a YouTube video. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/159414/rubee_aims_to_be_a_rugged_alternative_to_rfid.html Tangentially Related: Using inexpensive off-the-shelf components, an information security expert has built a mobile platform that can clone large numbers of the unique electronic identifiers used in US passport cards and next generation drivers licenses. The $250 proof-of-concept device - which researcher Chris Paget built in his spare time - operates out of his vehicle and contains everything needed to sniff and then clone RFID, or radio frequency identification, tags. During a recent 20-minute drive in downtown San Francisco, it successfully copied the RFID tags of two passport cards without the knowledge of their owners... http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/02/low_cost_rfid_cloner/ --- Lead-Bullet Ban Could Further Hurt California Economy: ... Hunters in the study were very clear when asked what their reaction to a lead ammunition ban would be: They would hunt less, cease hunting altogether or hunt outside California, a move that would certainly hurt state money derived from federal excise taxes. These are taxes that hunters pay when purchasing hunting and shooting equipment and are later returned to California for conservation and education programs, including species protection, habitat improvement and hunter access and safety. Last year California received more than $7.4 million from these taxes, monies that will disappear as hunters leave the state. Significant losses to businesses, many of them independent retail stores and bed and breakfasts associated with hunting in California, are also to be expected... http://www.ammoland.com/2009/02/12/threat-to-hunting-in-california-stands-to-further-cripple-golden-state-economy/ -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .