From VCDL: The National Park Carry amendment has passed the House just now and becomes part of the Credit Card bill! The bill is headed to the President's desk and should be signed by Monday. (A Presidential spokesman said today that the President WOULD sign the bill, even if it had the National Parks Carry provision.) IMPORTANT NOTE: The National Park carry provision won't become effective until **9 months** after the President signs the Credit Card bill. That means it will be effective sometime in February of 2010. Hopefully the judicial order blocking the current National Park regulation that allows carry in National Parks will be overturned soon. That way we can start carrying in National Parks sooner than February. There is a good possibility that such a thing will happen. I will keep you posted as National Park Carry progresses and will let you know when you can start carrying in National Parks again. --- Big Brother Set to Sign Bill Today: ...Obama plans to sign on Friday an overhaul of credit card regulations that he blames in part for the economic downturn. Despite opposition from financial companies, the bill cleared Congress with broad support... The new rules, which would go into effect in nine months, would prohibit credit card companies from giving cards to people under 21 unless they can prove they have the means to pay the debt or a parent or guardian co-signs for the card... (This is the bill that contains the Coburn Amendment restoring national-park carry.) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/22/obama-set-approve-new-rules-credit-cards/ Could [White House] tourists pack heat with cameras? Not if Secret Service has anything to say about it. But a guns provision in the credit card bill President Barack Obama signs into law today touches pretty close to his new home. Obama never really wanted the provision, but he wanted credit card reform on his desk by Memorial Day, so he let slide an amendment that allows people to bring loaded guns into national parks. And the White House is a national park. A spokeswoman for D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty was quick to note "the provision in the credit card legislation will not apply to the national parks in the District." But Washington has no law that specifically says no guns are permitted in national parks - and why would they? Until now they didn't need one... (So what will happen if Congress passes the unconstitutional DC voting bill, which effectively obliterates many of DC's firearm prohibitions?) http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22863.html ... It's too early to celebrate Democratic respect for gun rights. Some Senate Democrats who voted for the national park amendment complained that they were painted into a corner on the issue. Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, the party's chief vote counter, told National Public Radio last week that they were concerned about "how many more times they'd have to face such votes." Democrats are torn between their constituents' support for gun rights and an Obama administration committed to gun control. (Gee, what a concept - legislators forced to honor the wishes of their constituents.) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/22/democrats-hang-fire-on-guns/ --- Dick Heller Interview: ... AFP asked Heller about the legal landscape since the ruling. "That's an interesting question," said Heller, noting that despite the challenges that lie ahead, it was still a worthwhile victory. "Because you never know how you would be doing had we not [won] it. It's been an emotional rollercoaster. . . one of exhilaration for years [while] thinking 'we have got to do something. What can we do?' Once we got started and got serious, then every few days was an up or down ride. You think you're on the path to the Supreme Court, but then you trip over something and it takes three weeks, or a year, to recover or re-implement a new legal strategy." ... http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/secondamendmenthero_52109.html The Washington Post on May 20 published an editorial that clearly demonstrates why that newspaper is losing readers: Somebody on the copy desk or on the editorial board needs a refresher course on civil rights as a reminder that one right is just as important as another. The Post is howling over the fact that a voting rights bill to allow District of Columbia residents full representation in the House of Representatives is being stalled by a measure that would strip the city's vehemently anti-gun council of the authority to regulate guns. The city council and mayor despise the ruling they got from the U.S. Supreme Court last year that struck down the long-standing handgun ban as a violation of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Since that ruling, the city has had to be dragged kicking and screaming to a point that they are now at least allowing citizens to register handguns, yet they are trying to micro-manage the program in such a manner as to discourage the greatest number of people from exercising their newly-restored Second Amendment rights... http://www.examiner.com/x-4525-Seattle-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Voting-rights-v-gun-rights-Washington-Post-shows-blind-bigotry-on-guns --- Lies, Damned Lies and Polls: One common tactic by the anti-gun crowd is to claim that gun rights are unpopular and to use their flawed poll results to try to back up that claim. Recently, several nationally recognized polling agencies have conducted studies proving that gun rights are, in fact, more popular now than they have been in years. Despite this, organizations like the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence continue to tout on their website that Ohio's concealed carry law is "unpopular." While they don't state data to support that claim on the site, it does frequently pop up in interviews, when OCAGV director Toby Hoover repeatedly states "the gun lobby knows that carrying hidden loaded handguns is not what Ohioans want. During 2001, the University of Cincinnati took a poll which resulted with 69 percent opposed to concealed weapons in public"... http://www.examiner.com/x-2206-Cleveland-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d22-Lying-about-gun-control-with-statistics --- Does "Gun Control" Benefit Law Enforcement?: ... Gun Control Laws actually have existed for hundreds of years. Of course, in colonial America they were vastly different than they are today. For instance, in colonial Massachusetts, it was required that any citizen traveling more than one mile from home be armed. Get that? It was required that they carry a gun! Can you imagine? In Massachusetts no less? ... In the end I believe that Gun Control laws are not of much benefit to law enforcement. Bad guys will get guns no matter what. Good guys - those citizens who respect and support us - present no threat in owning or carrying firearms (although I agree they need to be well trained!)... (I agree with Frank that armed citizens should be well trained but training requirements should not be a prerequisite to the exercise of a fundamental right.) http://www.officer.com/interactive/2009/05/21/does-gun-control-benefit-le/ --- Wisconsin Open-Carry Update: ... One month ago, Attorney General J B Van Hollen said in a memo to law enforcement publicly what has been the law in Wisconsin since forever. Open carry is lawful and is not by itself, disorderly conduct. His memo has (predictably) prompted talk at the Capitol of a bill to ban open carry. This is good. The people of Wisconsin passed an amendment in 1998 to protect their rights to bear arms for self defense and other lawful purposes. They have been prohibited from carrying a gun concealed for 137 years but since open carry is allowed, the states law and constitution worked well together. If open carry becomes prohibited, it will be impossible for anyone to exercise their constitutionally protected right and the Wisconsin Supreme Court will get to decide which (or perhaps both) law to overturn. This outcome will give some anti-gun democrats serious heartburn because they know your good judgement can't be trusted (you did elect them after all) but it is not likely to stop them from trying to deny you your rights anyway. You can fix this problem at the polls... http://www.examiner.com/x-5103-Wisconsin-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Gun-rights-advocates-make-progress --- Georgia Open-Carry Case: ... Georgian Luke Woodard thought he was going to have a good day when he purchased a winning lottery ticket at a convenience store in Paulding County, west of Atlanta, but his luck was about to take a turn for the worse. Before the day was over, Mr. Woodard found himself spending the night in a cold, concrete cell. The reason? Mr,. Woodard was carrying a pistol openly, where members of the public could see it. He cooperated fully with the police. He showed them his Georgia firearms license and his driver's license and submitted to being disarmed. The result? The police officers arrested Mr. Woodard, charged him with carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct, and seized both Mr. Woodard's firearm that his was carrying, and, inexplicably, a firearm that was in a case inside his car... http://www.examiner.com/x-5619-Atlanta-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Carrying-a-firearm-openly-is-not-illegal-in-Georgia --- Oklahoma Pharmacist Defends Shooting: Jerome Ersland was back at work Thursday filling prescriptions and hoping that by taking the life of a 16-year-old boy two days earlier, he had saved others. Rubbing an oversized bandage on his left forearm, where he said he was grazed by a robber's bullet, Ersland related details of what he said was a highly organized hit on the Reliable Discount Pharmacy. "I just regret anybody would get killed," Ersland said. "But if I wouldn't have been here, there would have been three people killed - the other pharmacist and the two techs." He also recalls the angry voices of people who gathered outside the pharmacy Tuesday night, shouting that he was a racist who unnecessarily took a life of the Seeworth Academy charter school student, Antwun Parker... http://newsok.com/pharmacist-is-glad-he-defended-store/article/3371710 --- Rule Four Reminder: A Toronto girl, 5, was recovering Friday from a wound to the chest caused by a stray bullet that came through her window and hit her in bed, police said. The unidentified girl was in the bedroom of a ground-floor apartment of a high-rise in the northwest region around 7:45 p.m. A man who had been visiting the apartment got into a dispute with other adults on the patio and as he left, opened fire on the group with two handguns, the Toronto Star reported. No one else was injured, police said... (Rule Four: Always be sure of your target and what's beyond it.) http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/22/Stray-bullet-hits-girl-asleep-in-bed/UPI-23071242993733/ --- Rule Five Reminder: A DA investigator has crapped out on one of the fundamental responsibilities people must assume when carrying a gun - being responsible for it... What the story doesn't tell us is what punishment LaBarre can expect. We know if he had not been one of the privileged "Only Ones," those deemed superior to you and me in terms of trustworthiness and competence with firearms, an arrest would have been made. After all, mere citizens are barred from carrying guns in Texas courthouses. We might lose them in the bathroom or something... (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm.) http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m5d21-And-now-for-a-little-bathroom-gun-humor-Only-Onesstyle --- Charley Reese, Partly Right, Partly Wrong: If you saw the recent video of "Old Mr. Grump" shooting the "Lucky Lawyer" in Los Angeles, you can learn a valuable lesson about which firearm to choose for self-defense. The press rarely reports what kinds of guns are used in crimes, and usually gets it wrong when it tries. Nevertheless, I have concluded Mr. Grump used a .22-caliber pistol. Otherwise, the Lucky Lawyer would not have remained on his feet for so long. Now, a .22, a .25 and a .32 will kill you, provided the bullet strikes a vital organ. Sometimes the person will bleed to death if the wounds are not treated promptly. But in a self-defense situation, you will not be comforted by the fact that your assailant bled to death an hour after he cut your throat or blew your brains out. And, as Mr. Grump demonstrated on camera, hitting a vital organ is not that easy for an untrained pistolero... (If Reese is referring to a fairly old news clip of a disgruntled client shooting his attorney outside a Van Nuys courthouse, the shooter used a .38-caliber revolver. The attorney collapsed moments after fleeing the shooter. The three most important components of stopping power are bullet placement, bullet placement and bullet placement. Having said that, I concur with the advice of a minimum power level of +P .38 Special.) http://www.lewrockwell.com/reese/reese3.html --- British Women Take Up Shooting: It's a sunlit May morning at the West London Shooting School in Northolt. Except today, there's something unusual in the air. For amid all the noise of gunshots and exploding clay pigeons, you can hear the sound of female voices. And that's something of a rarity because, along with rugby and boxing, shooting is not so much predominantly, as overwhelmingly a male sport. Look at any of the groups striding across the school's grounds, and there are at least eight men to every woman. This party, though, is different. The instructor is a man, but his three pupils are women. And the reason they're here is that they have come on one of the school's special one-day ladies courses aimed at giving women the basic skills of shotgun-wielding... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/countryside/5361334/National-Shooting-Week-shooting-dames.html --- Tangentially Related: Friends and acquaintances sometimes remark that the world is more dangerous now for kids than "when we were growing up." Cut to images of happy kids frolicking through fields of sunflowers. Not in my childhood. I don't think the world has ever been a particularly safe place for anyone, certainly not kids. I spent large swaths of my childhood unsupervised and getting into whatever trouble I could find. I seem to remember coming home for meals, at least breakfast and dinner. For lunch, I ducked into whatever friend's house I could find. There were certain obligations between parents and children when I was a kid, but more in line with a treaty observance by two wary nations than an actual desire to spend time together... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124295450040645671.html#mod=djemEditorialPage -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .