100 Days and No New Infringements: ...Yet on Capitol Hill and in the White House, the response remains for the most part muted. Citing the perceived power of the National Rifle Association, calls for increased gun controls are dismissed on Capitol Hill as being unrealistic. With the selection of Eric Holder as Attorney General and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, President Obama made it clear that his cabinet choices would not be determined by who the NRA attacks on the covers of its magazines. And the administration did derail an NRA-backed effort to allow the carrying of concealed handguns in national parks. But now even AG Holder finds himself in the surprising position of citing the NRA's catch-all solution to gun violence: enforce the gun laws on the books... (Josh Sugarmann is the executive director and founder of the Violence Policy Center [VPC]. Yes, we have lost the short-lived rule allowing licensed CCW in national parks but Big Brother was wise enough to stand back and let a Clinton-appointed judge do that dirty work for him.) "The National Parks Service has announced it will not challenge a court order that temporarily stops the late-term Bush administration policy of allowing CCW-permit holders to carry in National Parks." That's the news media's backwards way of saying the bureaucrats running the National Parks are delighted they don't have to allow CCW-permit holders to exercise their civil rights in the parks, at least for now... Most obvious, there is NO environmental impact of carrying an unfired gun in a park or elsewhere. Even fired, at the rate CCW permitees fire their guns, the impact is so small it is essentially unmeasurable. The District Court/EPA/Brady effort is a transparent deception, used by hoplophobes and gun banners, to stop a ruling that would restore limited civil rights (for government permitees only) and could save lives and deter crime... http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/node/6659 Barely 100 days into the new Obama-Biden administration, ominous storm clouds are already gathering over your most fundamental right as a free citizen: Your right to own a gun to protect yourself, your family and your freedom. Betraying all their campaign promises to protect your right to keep and bear arms or your freedom to hunt, the Obama administration has put its chess pieces in place and set in motion its strategy to do just the opposite... Meanwhile, powerful members of the U.S. Senate and House have admitted that gun bans remain a top objective, but only "when the time is right." Which really means "when some awful tragedy conveniently captures national attention." ... http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31679 ...One of the rare exceptions to the nearly worshipful ratings, though, was from the forcible citizen disarmament lobby. While they express cautious optimism about the future, they've made pretty clear that with the election of the most rabidly anti-gun president in history, coupled with huge majorities of Democrats in both houses of Congress, and an almost uniformly radically anti-gun Cabinet, they're a bit disappointed with what they see as a lack of action so far... http://www.examiner.com/x-2581-St-Louis-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d30-One-hundred-days-in-citizen-disarmament-lobby-is-getting-restless --- Who Is the VPC?: ...The question is: Does Violence Policy Center actually represent the public's views? One way to determine if an organization has true public support is to see if they garner a certain amount of membership dues. For example, if an organization's total annual revenues is $1 million and $750,000 of that came from membership dues, then one can reasonably conclude that since dues represent 75% of revenue, the organization represents part of the public. Further, if annual dues are $25, then the organization has about 30,000 members... For the years 2000 through 2006, the total membership fees received was $0... http://www.examiner.com/x-2879-Austin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d30-Does-Violence-Policy-Center-Represent-the-People-Part-1 --- Ninth Circuit Decision Increases Likelihood for Supremes to Expand on Heller: When United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia penned the majority-opinion in the landmark Heller decision last year, he was roundly criticized by legal scholars (primarily from the dissenting position) for having created a document that left many legal questions regarding firearms unanswered. Justice Scalia's response was simple: the broad decision was written, and the lower courts would use the Heller decision to create legal precedents from other cases going forward. In other words, precedent-setting cases on the nuances of the matter of the individual right to keep and bear arms enumerated by the Second Amendment would follow. Seems Justice Scalia was as on target with that estimation as he was in the majority opinion. Less than a year after Heller, the Circuit Courts of the United States seem to be headed back to the Supreme Court with contrary findings on gun rights. It is highly likely the Supreme Court will, once again, hear a case and decide another piece of precedent-setting law... Tangentially Related: Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term. The vacancy will give President Obama his first chance to name a member of the high court and begin to shape its future direction... Factors in his decision no doubt include the election of President Obama, who would be more likely to appoint a successor attuned to the principles Souter has followed as a moderate-to-liberal member of the court's more liberal bloc over the past two decades...Given his first appointment to the high court, most observers expect Obama will appoint a woman, since the court currently has only one female justice and Obama was elected with strong support from women. But an Obama pick would be unlikely to change the ideological makeup of the court. Souter was a Republican appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, largely on the recommendation of New Hampshire's former Gov. John Sununu, who had become the first President Bush's chief of staff. But Souter surprised Bush and other Republicans by joining the court's more liberal wing... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103694193 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/01/supreme-court-justice-souter-retire-end-term/ A conservative politico likely to work on the coming judicial nomination battle sends over a memo circulating on the right, which targets three likely Obama nominees: Judge Sonia Sotomayor, Judge Diane Wood, and Solicitor General Elena Kagan. The early lines seem to be attacks on Kagan's lack of bench experience, Sotomayor's "temperament," and Wood's rulings on hot-button issues, including an application of a RICO statute in a case against hard-line anti-abortion activist Randall Terry... http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0509/Conservatives_target_Sotomayor_Kagan_Wood.html -- Those Left-Wing Supremes: ...The Supreme Court also ruled this week on a case involving a robbery during which the perpetrator accidentally fired his gun. He claimed that the automatic 10-year sentence for firing a weapon during a crime was too harsh for something that was an accident. The Court disagreed. Mandatory minimum sentences are another can of worms, but we agree with Chief Justice John Roberts, who pointed out that if criminals wanted to avoid the penalty for firing the gun, even by accident, they should "lock or unload the firearm, handle it with care during the underlying violent or drug trafficking crime, leave the gun at home or - best yet - avoid committing the felony in the first place." Funnier still is the dissent, written by Justice John Paul Stevens and joined by Stephen Breyer, which said, "Accidents happen, but they seldom give rise to criminal liability. Indeed, if they cause no harm, they seldom give rise to any liability. The court today nevertheless holds that petitioner is subject to a mandatory additional sentence - a species of criminal liability - for an accident that caused no harm." Call us crazy for pointing it out, but these are two of the justices who dissented from last year's Heller ruling, which affirmed the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. In other words, they are in the unusual position of defending a criminal who accidentally fired a weapon during a crime while maintaining that law-abiding citizens have no right to own a firearm... (This item is located on page 3 of the linked PDF) http://link.patriotpost.us/?136-552-552-190003-4382 --- Why the 90% Lie?: ...We can easily understand Mexico's reasons for preferring the 90% number to the more accurate 17%. Mexico does not want to openly discuss the many other sources of advanced weapons being used by the drug cartels. Thousands of advanced weapons and tons of military equipment are stolen from its own military and state police. Weapons are smuggled across its southern borders from Guatemala and by boats landing on its 8,000 miles of coastline, weapons that often originate in Venezuela, Colombia, and Nicaragua, or from purchases in Eastern Europe. But it is easier for a Mexican politician to blame the U.S. than to explain his own government's failure to police its borders, its ports of entry and its military installations. Did the Mexican ambassador mention that over 100,000 soldiers have deserted the Mexican army in the past seven years and that many of them took their weapons with them and joined the cartels? ... http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31649 --- The Gun-Show Lie: Last week, in a typically misleading move designed to bolster their political agenda rather than reduce violent crime, the Brady Campaign released a report calling for background checks on "all gun sales in America, including at gun shows." The Brady report was intentionally designed to correspond with, and bolster, a "gun show loophole" bill (S. 843) introduced this week by fanatical anti-gun Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ). In fact, the Brady report was released at the press conference Lautenberg held earlier this week... The bill is not about gun shows. Rather, S. 843 is a solution in search of a problem; numerous government studies have determined that gun shows are an insignificant or miniscule source of firearms misused in crime. For instance, a 2000 Bureau of Justice Statistics study, "Federal Firearms Offenders, 1992-98," found only 1.7% of federal prison inmates obtained their gun from a gun show. Similarly, a 1997 National Institute of Justice study reported less than 2% of criminals' guns come from gun shows... http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-nra-accuses-brady-campaign-of-misleading-public-on-gun-shows --- Bill Would Mandate Sale of Fired Cases: For four days in March, gun owners across the country were up in arms about a Department of Defense decision to not resell its spent brass casings. The DOD sells more than 100 million used casings a year - in .223 and .308 variants - to businesses such as Georgia Arms, near Atlanta, which in turn reloads the cartridges and sells them to the public. Rep. Jason Chaffetz says the decision not to resell was made intentionally by the Obama administration, and he plans to introduce legislation to ensure it doesn't happen again. It was "a concerted effort by this administration to short the supply" of ammunition, said the 3rd District Republican who views it as back-door gun control. Georgia Arms co-owner Larry Haynie agrees. He said he was told by government officials that it was a clerical error. "Hell no," he said when asked if he believed that. "That's just the government catch-all right there." ... http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/307490/17/ --- Montana Governor Signs Self-Defense Bill: Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer this week signed into law a new self-defense statute that will "steal the thunder" from gun prohibitionists who invariably whine that armed citizens might "take the law into their own hands." The new statute squarely puts the law in the hands of the citizens, by plainly stating they have no duty to retreat if attacked in a place where they have a right to be. The law also allows armed citizens to use force or threaten the use of force when he or she reasonably believes an attack is about to occur, or to stop an attack already in progress. There is also a section on citizen's arrest, and one that codifies the legality of open carry. It is a gun prohibitionist's nightmare, but for the armed Montana citizen - or anybody visiting the Big Sky Country - it may just be the best news they've had this year... http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d30-Montana-lawmakers-have-it-right-with-new-statute-on-selfdefense --- California Handgun Roster Challenged: The Second Amendment Foundation, The Calguns Foundation and four California residents today filed a lawsuit challenging a California state law and regulatory scheme that arbitrarily bans handguns based on a roster of "certified" handguns approved by the State. This case parallels a similar case filed in Washington, DC, Hanson v. District of Columbia. California uses this list despite a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer that protects handguns that ordinary people traditionally use for self-defense, and a recent ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. The California scheme will eventually ban the purchase of almost all new handguns... "The Glock-21 is the handgun I would choose for home defense, but California has decided the version I need is unacceptable. I was born without a right arm below my elbow and therefore the new ambidextrous version of the Glock-21 is the safest one for me. The identical model designed for right hand use is available in California, but I can't use it," said plaintiff Roy Vargas... http://saf.org/viewpr-new.asp?id=293 --- Connecticut Could Ban Machine Guns for Kids: Prompted by the death of an 8-year-old Connecticut boy at a Massachusetts gun club, the state Senate voted 31-2 Thursday on a measure designed to keep machine guns out of the hands of anyone under 16. The bill, which prohibits the transfer of such weapons to children, is in response to the death of Christopher K. Bizilj, an Ashford boy who lost control of a Micro Uzi submachine gun and accidentally shot himself in the head in Massachusetts in late October. The third-grader, who was 4 feet 3 and weighed 66 pounds, couldn't control the high-powered weapon's recoil. A Massachusetts grand jury has indicted a police chief, the gun club and two Connecticut men in connection with the accident at the machine gun event in Westfield... The bill requires approval by the House and Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell to become law... (While the Micro Uzi was most likely a poor ergonomic fit for Christopher, it's not exactly what I would call a high-powered weapon, firing a 9x19mm cartridge.) http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-session0501.artmay01,0,5863982.story --- Gun Raffles Raise Money for Charity: When Nampa gun store owner Roberta Regnier offered a chance to win an AR-15 rifle for anyone who brought in two cans of food, she got 7,000 entries and collected 10 tons of food for the Boise Rescue Mission. The winning ticket was drawn on April 15. The raffle piqued so much interest that Regnier's Alpha Omega Services is doing another one - the shop's third - this time for a new, 1927-style Tommy gun. Other businesses are catching on. Sheepdog Ammo in New Plymouth donated 1,000 rounds of ammunition to Regnier's raffle... http://www.idahostatesman.com/boise/story/752367.html --- No Charges in Negligent Shooting: The Arizona Attorney General's office says it won't file charges against a Sierra Vista woman who fatally shot her physician husband. Dr. Gary Forsberg was shot on Aug. 15 when he and his wife, Beverly Forsberg, were handling a gun in their house. She told police he was showing her how to use the weapon. Assistant Attorney General Mike Jette says the decision not to prosecute was made on the available evidence and doesn't mean that charges could not be filed in the future. The review was done by the state because the 61-year-old radiologist and his 67-year0old wife were friends with Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer... (The Rules are posted at http://www.spw-duf.info/safety.html.) http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/291104.php --- South Carolina Man Who Shot Robber Speaks to Press: The man who shot to death a gun-wielding would-be robber Saturday night at a Five Points Alcoholics Anonymous gathering spot is a well-known local attorney and an AA member who says he'd do it again in similar circumstances... Wednesday, in a 90-minute interview at his law office, Jim recounted - in second-by-second detail - how the shooting took place. He showed a reporter a .32- caliber Kel-Tec semi-automatic he said was similar to the one he drew from a rear pocket and used to shoot Helms... Jim said the incident took "10 seconds, max" to unfold... Columbia police have declined to release details, including any information about Helms, saying they are investigating. Prosecutors have not said whether they will charge Jim... (This article is two weeks old but is worth reading, both in terms of understanding the dynamics and of questioning why an attorney would state that he fired a shot after the robber had turned to flee.) http://www.thestate.com/breaking/story/751469.html --- Oops, Wrong Apartment: An 18-year-old Fort Worth man killed Tuesday afternoon inside a north Fort Worth apartment had apparently forced his way inside, armed with an aluminum bat, when he was shot by one of the apartment's residents, investigators said. Derek Splawn, a student in the Keller school district, had been upset with the apartment's 18-year-old resident and had reportedly threatened in an earlier telephone conversation "that he was tired of this and he was going to come over there," homicide Detective Curt Brannan said... Though the resident did not emerge, Brannan said, Splawn was able to force his way inside the apartment after the resident's roommate opened the front door to peek out and saw Splawn standing there with the bat. "Before he could get the door shut, the man [Splawn] pushed the door open and had taken several steps inside the doorway in the direction of the [18-year-old]," Brannan said. Brannan said the 18-year-old, in turn, picked up a shotgun he kept in the home and fired once, striking Splawn in the face... http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1348552.html --- Oops, Wrong Band Member: Sheriff's deputies are searching for two would-be robbers who grabbed a teenage girl as she walked to school, but were foiled when she fought back. The girl punched one man in the nose, kicked the other in the groin, then beat both with her marching band baton before running away. "The moral to this story is don't mess with the marching band girls, or you just might get what you deserve," said Deputy Michael Rust of the Lancaster [CA] Sheriff's Station. "Final score: Marching band 2, thugs 0." ... http://avpress.com/n/29/0429_s3.hts --- Winchester Reports Record Earnings: A run on ammunition helped trigger record quarterly earnings for its Winchester Division in East Alton, Olin Corp. said Tuesday. Olin's overall first-quarter 2009 net income was $46.7 million, or 60 cents per share, which compares to $37.3 million, or 50 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2008. Sales in the first quarter of 2009 were $400.6 million, compared to $399.1 million in the first quarter of 2008. Winchester first-quarter 2009 sales were $132.9 million, compared to $110.8 million in the first quarter of 2008... Rupp said the Winchester surge began "around the November presidential election." That comment would seem to support a growing theory among retailers that recent ammunition shortages are, in part, a reaction to whether the Obama administration would attempt to enact stricter gun control laws. Retailers around the country have reported ammo shortages going back months... http://www.thetelegraph.com/news/quarter-26207-first-winchester.html --- A Brief Biography of John Moses Browning: In France, his last name is considered a proper noun for the word pistol. He held 128 gun patents and designed and built 80 separate firearms - 44 of them manufactured by Winchester. It can be said without exaggeration that Browning's guns made Winchester. And Colt. And Remington, Savage, and Fabrique Nationale (FN). Not to mention his namesake company, Browning. Few are the gun manufacturers that have not bought a license to use one of many Browning's patents. His work includes the full spectrum of single shot, lever action, pump action, semi-automatic, and full-automatic firearms, with calibers ranging from .22 rimfires to 37mm cannon shells. His 1911 .45 pistol, Browning Automatic Rifle, 1917 .30 and .50 caliber machine guns are just some of his guns that became part and parcel in the US arsenal during several conflicts. His final design at the time of his death - the Browning Hi-Power pistol - would become a precedent for today's high-cap 9mm pistols... (Browning was truly a genius of firearm design but most of the Hi-Power's features, including the staggered column magazine, were actually the work of Dieudonné Saive. FN used Browning's name for the pistol because his design's were so well respected in Europe.) http://lewrockwell.com/shirtz/shirtz15.html -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .