comments inside ( ) by Stephen Wenger
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DOJ Defends National-Park Carry Rule: The Obama administration is
legally defending a last-minute rule enacted by President George W.
Bush that allows concealed firearms in national parks, even as it is
internally reviewing whether the measure meets environmental muster.
In a response Friday to a lawsuit by gun-control and environmental
groups, the Justice Department sought to block a preliminary
injunction of the controversial rule. The regulation, which took
effect Jan. 9, allows visitors to bring concealed, loaded guns into
national parks and wildlife refuges; for more than two decades they
were allowed in such areas only if they were unloaded or stored and
dismantled… In its reply, the Justice Department wrote that the new
rule "does not alter the environmental status quo, and will not have
any significant impacts on public health and safety." But Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar has asked for an internal assessment of whether
the measure has any environmental impacts the government needs to take
into account, Interior spokesman Matt Lee-Ashley said yesterday…
(While the rule change occurred on Bush's watch, I think it's a
stretch to say that he enacted it.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021601151.html
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Congressional Democrats Urge Big Brother to Ban Imports: Congressman
Eliot Engel, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the
Western Hemisphere, wrote a letter signed by 53 Members of Congress
urging President Obama to "return to enforcement of the law banning
imports of assault weapons, which was previously enforced during the
administrations of Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton." The
letter was also led by Congressman Michael Castle (R-DE) and
Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). "The alarming prevalence of
imported assault weapons in the US has put our nation's police
officers at risk. Returning to the Bush 41/Clinton enforcement of the
ban on imported assault weapons will protect our brave police forces
and all people throughout New York and the United States," said Rep.
Engel. Engel added that returning to enforcement of the imported
assault weapons ban is "a no-brainer that would require no legislative
action." … (Most American police officers who are killed by gunfire
are killed with handguns. The "law" banning importation of certain
cosmetically impaired firearms consists of two executive orders, to my
knowledge.)
http://www.jpfo.org/articles-assd/engel-imports.htm
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Oops, Wrong House: A homeowner fatally shot a burglary suspect Sunday
afternoon at his northeast valley residence, Las Vegas police said.
Homicide Lt. Lew Roberts said that about 4:15 p.m., police responded
to a shooting at a residence at the 4600 block of Crystal Peak Drive,
near Cheyenne Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. Roberts said the
homeowner reported returning home and finding the suspect inside.
Police did not identify the suspect, who died at the scene, or the
homeowner. Roberts said the deceased appeared to be in his 30s. He did
not know whether the suspect was armed. Roberts said it appears the
homeowner would not be charged but emphasized that the investigation
was in its early stages. Roberts added the homeowner's gun appeared to
be registered. (Unlike the rest of Nevada, Clark County requires
registration of handguns.)
http://www.lvrj.com/news/39656762.html
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Florida Home-Defense Shooting – More Details: A popular middle school
band teacher shot and killed a masked gunman who broke into his house
and forced him into a gunfight early Monday, sheriff's officials said.
Heath Miller, 34, leveled a .38-caliber pistol and shot Robert Rashard
Tomlin, 22, at about 2 a.m. in a duplex Miller rents at 1382 White
Pine Drive in Wellington, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's
Office. Neither Miller, a music teacher at H.L. Watkins Middle School
in Palm Beach Gardens, nor his wife, Mirelle, was hurt in the attack…
Tomlin lived a few doors down from Miller and had roots in Pahokee,
according to sheriff's officials and family members. Detectives said
they had yet to pinpoint why Tomlin, who was dressed in black and
wielded a .40-caliber handgun, targeted Miller's duplex…
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/02/16/0216invader.html
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Rule Five Reminder: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has moved the two
rifles that she kept under the bed to protect her upstate New York
home, her spokesman said Monday. "Given that the location of the guns
has been disclosed, they have been moved for security reasons,"
Gillibrand's spokesman Matt Canter said. She relocated the guns over
the weekend while upstate to endorse Democrat Scott Murphy in the
March 31 election to replace her in the 20th District, he said. He
also said Gillibrand, mother of a 5-year-old and an infant, kept the
ammunition separate from the empty guns, and then later called to add
that the rifles were locked in a case while stored under the bed. She
had refused to describe her gun safety measures… (Rule Five: Maintain
control of your firearm. In retrospect, this sounds like a case of
"talisman effect," where mere ownership of a firearm is thought to
ward off evil. I believe that Gillibrand ran off at the mouth, in
order to maintain her gun-owner image. Firearms are of little use in
self-defense if kept unloaded with the ammunition stored separately.)
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/politics/ny-usgill0217,0,903835.story
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Texas Veterans Home Includes Range: Firing rifles and pistols at the
new outdoor shooting range is one of the latest activities for
residents of the Ambrosio Guillen State Veterans Home in Northeast El
Paso. On Friday, the scheduled day for shooting, a handful of Army
veterans take turns shooting at targets, while recalling their days in
the service… Willie Brown, activities coordinator at the home, loaded
the rifles and pistol with ammo, and reminded the shooters to keep the
weapons pointed down range. The weapons fire only .22- and
.177-caliber pellets. "We started this about five months ago, and some
of the residents really look forward to this," Brown said. "This is
probably the only nursing home in Texas with a shooting range." Brown
said active duty soldiers from the 1-56th Air Defense Artillery
Battalion at Fort Bliss set up the wooden frames with metal targets
for the mini range located on a desert patch behind the home…
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