From GOA: Congress is moving closer to a showdown over the largest expansion of government in modern U.S. history - a bill which would require virtually every single American to buy government-approved health insurance, whether they wanted it or not. And, in the process, that bill would feed all of your most confidential medical data into an enormous database, which could be used to take away your guns. This is a bit complicated. But here's where we are: Once a year, the 1974 Budget Act allows Congress to pass a bill -- solely for the purpose of balancing the budget -- and that bill cannot be filibustered in the Senate. Hence, it can be passed with only fifty Democrat votes (plus the vice president), without any Republican support... (Second link can be used to generate an e-mail or letter to your senators.) http://gunowners.org/a042709.htm http://capwiz.com/gunowners/issues/alert/?alertid=13230271&PROCESS=Take+Action Tangentially Related: ...Last Sunday on "Meet the Press," Larry Summers, Obama's chief economic adviser, let the cat out of the bag on health care. In explaining why universal health care wasn't going to increase the deficit, Summers said that people are just getting too much unnecessary care. Summers claimed: "whether it's tonsillectomies or hysterectomies . . . procedures are done three times as frequently [in some parts of the country than others] and there's no benefit in terms of the health of the population. And by doing the right kind of cost-effectiveness, by making the right kinds of investments and protection, some experts that we - estimate that we could take as much as $700 billion a year out of our health care system." ... http://foxforum.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/04/27/lott_obama_health_care/ --- What's Wrong with Background Checks?: Among comments to my last piece, "Lautenberg gun show bill as bad as expected," several were from well-meaning gun owners who honestly questioned why S. 843 - ostensibly submitted to close the "gun show loophole" - is really so bad... In 1993, we were assured by Handgun Control, Inc. and the NRA alike that the National Instant Check System (NICS) would never be used to register guns. NICS transaction records, we were assured, were required to be expunged. Unfortunately, the fine print didn't say when they had to be expunged, and the Clinton administration immediately instructed the FBI to retain them indefinitely, creating a de facto gun registration system in violation of federal law. Although the Bush administration ordered transaction records expunged in 24 hours, Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have already proposed again retaining them... http://www.examiner.com/x-2698-Charlotte-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d27-Whats-the-big-deal-about-background-checks --- We Want Them Registered: The Obama administration wishes it hadn't happened. Most of the media has swept it under the rug. But they can't deny it any longer and there's no doubt about it ... They're coming after every law-abiding gun owner in America- and they want your name and personal information in a federal database. That's right- national registration of all firearms. And the speaker of the House - Nancy Pelos i- fully admitted her gun registration plan, in an admission wrapped around outright lies about the Second Amendment and our freedom... (My recollection is that the statement was made in the context of a new federal restriction on "assault weapons" and I was left with the impression that Pelosi felt she might have to settle for registering them under the National Firearms Act, like machine guns.) http://www.nranews.com/blogarticle.aspx?blogPostId=514 --- Waiting for 2010?: ... Anti-gun Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), recently leaked their plans on CBS program "60 Minutes" when she stated, "I'll pick the time and place. No question about it." So, what are they all waiting for? 2010... Now, having learned from their mistakes, the Democrats that are back in power are planning carefully. On November 2, 2010, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs. The Democrats will not allow their opposition to the will of the People to again cost them control, so will lay low until after that election. Once their power is assured, they will be free to strike at gun rights and have the next two years to run damage control and try to minimize the issue before the 2012 presidential race... http://www.examiner.com/x-2206-Cleveland-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d27-Biding-their-time-on-gun-control --- Bill Would Protect Veterans' RKBA: A bill aimed at protecting the gun rights of some veterans is under Senate consideration. The Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act, pending before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, would limit the circumstances in which a veteran's name could be added to a federal database used to do instant background checks for gun purchases. By law, anyone "adjudicated as a mental defective," such as people found to be a danger to themselves or others or who lack the mental capacity to manage their affairs, must be registered in the database. The bill, S 669, which has 15 co-sponsors, would prohibit VA from submitting names to the National Instant Criminal Background Check database unless a judicial authority finds the individuals to be a danger to themselves or others... http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/04/military_veterans_guns_042709w/ --- New Jersey Supremes to Weigh Local Ordinances: The New Jersey Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in the legal battle over a Jersey City ordinance that would limit handgun purchases. The discussion centered on whether the 2006 ordinance improperly preempts existing state gun laws by limiting handgun purchases to one per person each month. At issue is the ability of urban communities such as Camden, Newark, and Jersey City to reduce gun-related crime by more closely regulating handgun purchases. Supporters of the Jersey City ordinance say urban areas need tighter handgun sale standards to prevent surrogates from buying weapons for criminals. Opponents say that existing laws offer sufficient protection and that the ordinance punishes law-abiding citizens to advance a national gun-control agenda... (Legal purchases of handguns in New Jersey may already be the most regulated in the nation.) http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj/20090428_N_J__high_court_hears_gun-limit_case.html --- New York Likely to Pass More Infringements: For years, they were the state Legislature's evergreens: measures repeatedly passed by the Democrat-controlled Assembly, only to be blocked in the Republican-dominated Senate. But with both chambers now controlled by Democrats, several perennials are sprouting in both houses... With a 68-seat margin in the Assembly (109 to 41), Democrats should have no problem passing initiatives to "microstamp" firearms in order to create an identifying print on fired cartridges. Also up for debate are tighter restrictions on gun retailers and a move to require people to renew handgun permits every five years. Once those bills pass in the Assembly, gun control advocates will set their sights on the Senate and the Democrats' newly minted two-seat majority (32 to 30)... http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=794599 Nine gun-control bills are slated to come before the state Assembly this week. One of the bills would impose new requirements on firearm dealers, including more stringent record-keeping and employee training and prohibition of so-called straw purchases, when someone purchases a firearm on behalf of someone prohibited from carrying such a weapon. Dealers also would need to carry at least $1 million in liability insurance for criminal acts committed using weapons they sold. "The additional requirements set forth in this bill will help to reduce the diversion of firearms to the illegal market and will also assist police departments, prosecutors and other law enforcement officials in their efforts to trace and recover illegal weapons," the bill summary says. Another bill would require firearm license holders to renew them every five years and take safety courses... http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20090428/NEWS04/304289992 --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: A psychotherapist in an Upper East Side office. A young woman working in a grocery store. A city bus driver behind the wheel in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, on a lunchtime route. Each of these was featured last year in a snapshot of murder in New York City, where authorities have long been battling illegal firearms - and seeing a degree of success. But these people were killed by knives, contributing to a troubling statistic in homicides. In 2008, even as gun killings fell, the number of killings committed with knives or other "cutting instruments" rose 50 percent in New York City, the Police Department said: to 125 from 83. Some other large cities saw no such increase last year, and police officials and experts are at a loss to explain what is either a new trend or a spike... (Shades of the United Kingdom?) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/nyregion/28knives.html?ref=nyregion --- Open Carry Provokes Responses in Michigan: An apparent organized flexing of Second Amendment rights last weekend was a bit too Wild West for some local citizens and business owners. Police and deputies responded to a number of complaints about citizens packing sidearms at restaurants, stores and other public areas. None of the gun carriers was cited. Michigan's 2001 shall-issue concealed weapons law greatly increased the number of citizens packing handguns. The public, however, does not notice the guns because they are hidden under clothing. But a shopper with a handgun on his hip in Target is another matter. Security officers followed the man Saturday and contacted city police. "One of our officers had contact with the man in the parking lot, and that was the end of it," Lt. Christopher Simpson said. "He was carrying legally." ... Stellingworth and Undersheriff Thomas Finco said that citizens who exercise the right to carry guns openly should realize it alarms the public and police... http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2009/04/jackson_area_police_receive_se.html --- Wisconsin Open-Carry Movement May Reopen CCW Debate: Kenosha-area lawmakers are lining up behind a recent legal opinion confirming the legality of toting unconcealed firearms in public places. Some even say it could be an entrée to revisit the controversial issue of concealed carry in Wisconsin, though the current political winds in Madison would make that prospect appear unlikely. State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen last week issued a memo citing constitutional grounds allowing for the open carrying of firearms, so long as it is done without disturbing the peace and within specified restrictions, such as not taking a gun into a school. Some have questioned whether that is possible in many settings, particularly in urban areas. Milwaukee authorities have said Van Hollen's memo will not change the manner in which their officers approach people with guns... http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/bearing_arms_gun_memo_may_reopen_concealed_controversy_4827061.html --- Gunrunner - to Canada - Gets 32 Years: Ricardo Tolliver, 33, formerly of Cincinnati, Ohio was sentenced in federal court in Detroit to 32 years in prison after having admitted to being the leader of a network which acquired, obliterated, and smuggled firearms from the United States into Canada in exchange for Canadian drugs, announced United States Attorney Terrence Berg... The ATF investigation, Kentucky Bluegrass, named after the state origin of the trafficked firearms, began as a result of a traffic stop by deputies of the Monroe County Sheriff's Department in March 2005. During that stop deputies uncovered sixteen firearms, all that had the serial numbers obliterated, hidden in the trunk of a car. Also during the stop, one of the occupants used his cell phone to call Riccardo Tolliver and told him about the stop. ATF immediately initiated an investigation of Tolliver in cooperation with Canada's Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU) and ultimately identified Ricardo Tolliver as the head of a group of firearms traffickers operating in the northern Kentucky area that traded the firearms for Canadian marijuana... http://www.ammoland.com/2009/04/27/leader-of-firearms-trafficking-network-gets-32-year-sentence/ --- Oops, Wrong Ship: An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits. Six men in a small, white Zodiac-type boat approached the Msc Melody at about 1730 GMT Saturday and opened fire with automatic weapons, Msc Cruises director Domenico Pellegrino said. They retreated after the security officers returned fire and sprayed them with water hoses. The ship continued its journey with its windows darkened... But Saturday's exchange of fire between the Melody and pirates was one of the first reported between pirates and a nonmilitary ship. Civilian shipping and passenger ships have generally avoided arming crewmen or hiring armed security for reasons of safety, liability and compliance with the rules of the different countries where they dock. Pellegrino said the pistols on board the Melody were available to the commander and security agents. He said they were used as a deterrent, "in an emergency operation." ...Cruise line security work is a popular job for young Israelis who have recently been discharged from mandatory army service, as it is a good chance to save money and travel... http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97Q8K080&show_article=1 Related Commentary: http://www.examiner.com/x-2782-DC-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d26-More-guns-less-pirates --- Colt Rediscovers the Private Citizen: A walk through Colt's Manufacturing's facility hints at something big happening at one of the region's oldest companies. Prominently placed new machines, not yet two weeks old, stand out against the old. The latest generation of the Colt 45-caliber automatic handgun is made at the Colt's Manufacturing Co. plant in West Hartford. signaling a long-needed transition into 21st century manufacturing for Colt's commercial arm. It's the result of about $3 million the company invested in the state-of-the-art equipment. "It's something we should have done 10 years ago but couldn't for obvious reasons," said Martin Tavares, director of manufacturing. After a decade of focusing on defense contracts and sorting out a financial nightmare, Colt's Manufacturing Co. is renewing a push to regain its position in the commercial market - something that industry insiders say will not be easy... It's a sharp contrast from 10 years ago, when the then-struggling gun maker discontinued seven lines to regain financial stability... (Colt is a business professor's dream collection of case studies in how not to run a business.) http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news8683.html --- Big Brother to Stimulate Car Sales: Since the Obama administration's talk of banning so-called 'assault weapons' has resulted in a huge spike in semi-automatic weapon sales nationwide, the White House has recently begun a covert 'whisper campaign' suggesting the president might also ban U.S.-manufactured cars and trucks with fully-automatic transmissions, now dubbed 'assault vehicles'. President Obama reportedly hopes such chatter will give a much-needed boost to U.S. auto sales. "These fully-automatics are the weapon-of-choice in the vehicular-manslaughter industry," said one unnamed White House source. "The automatic transmission allows the killer to accelerate rapidly without the manual process of clutching and shifting gears. Assault vehicles murder roughly four times as many people each year as do firearms. If you include suicides, cars still kill nearly twice as many people compared with all types of guns." The administration source also noted that while people with criminal records make up the vast majority of gun-murder victims, 'assault vehicles' kill indiscriminately, murdering 39,800 Americans in 2008 alone... http://www.scrappleface.com/?p=3582 -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .