From: Stephen P. Wenger http://www.spw-duf.info
comments by Stephen P. Wenger ()
-----------------------------------------------------------
Big Brother May Get to Pick Supreme Court Justice Soon: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told law students Friday there could be an opening on the Supreme Court soon but didn't hint at who might be leaving. Ginsburg, who spoke at New England Law's annual "Law Day," said the nine justices only take pictures together when a new member is added. "We haven't had any of those for some time, but surely we will soon," she said. She did not elaborate and declined to take questions from reporters at the event. Court watchers suggest Ginsburg, 88-year-old John Paul Stevens and 69-year-old David Souter are the most likely to retire…
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509167,00.html
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The Tip of the Iceberg?: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the Obama administration would soon unveil a plan for dealing with rising violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, including more resources to stem the flow of dollars and guns to warring drug gangs… Ms. Napolitano said the plan would include more resources aimed at stopping U.S.-acquired firearms and cash earned from illicit drug sales flowing back across the border. Money and guns are fueling the escalating violence in Mexico that is spilling into U.S. communities, including in Arizona. Ms. Napolitano was the state's governor before joining the Obama cabinet… Ms. Napolitano indicated there would be more so-called outbound enforcement: checking people and vehicles leaving the U.S. to see if they are carrying contraband. She said those efforts wouldn't hamper the job of stopping illegal immigration into the U.S… (BATFE is not part of J No's DHS so no mention is made of potential efforts to place limits on gun shows and to increase harassment of licensed dealers in border states.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123698458828525081.html
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/112002.php
---
He Never Met a Gun He Wouldn't Ban: Weak regulation of the U.S. civilian gun market and the gun industry's focus on increasingly lethal military-style firearms have combined to fuel the drug war in Mexico and violence in the United States, Violence Policy Center (VPC) Senior Policy Analyst Tom Diaz told a Congressional subcommittee today. For a copy of Diaz's testimony, please see http://www.vpc.org/diaztestify.pdf… Diaz pointed out that officials of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have stated that Mexican drug lords increasingly seek military-style weapons easily available on the U.S. civilian market. These include: the Barrett 50 caliber anti-armor sniper rifle capable of piercing armor plate from a mile and a half; semiautomatic
assault rifles, including variants of the Colt AR-15 and the Kalashnikov AK-47; and, the "vest-busting" anti-armor handgun the FN Herstal Five-seveN 5.7mm pistol, known as the "cop killer" in Mexico…
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=PRNI2&STORY=/www/story/03-12-2009/0004987594&EDATE=
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Government Destroys Once-Fired Brass: …In the email below from the Defense Logistics Agency you will see that DLA has effectively ordered the immediate non-sale and destruction of all once-fired military brass… Why is this a problem? The RKBA is only as good as the ammunition supply for the firearms we own. The shelves of the Nation's sporting goods stores are essentially bare of ammunition. The entire ammunition market in the U.S. is highly stressed… Against this background of ammunition shortage, about the only ammunition that continues to be somewhat available is that from second tier manufacturers who are remanufacturing ammunition from once-fired military cartridge brass. As of yesterday, that supply came to an end because of the DLA administrative decision to destroy ("demil") all fired military brass…
http://www.jpfo.org/alerts03/alert20090313.htm
---
Ensign Defends DC RKBA Amendment: …Contrary to the impression left by some on these pages, my amendment will not turn the District into the Wild West of the East Coast. It would apply federal gun control law to the city. It would prohibit anyone from carrying any firearm in public without a permit; would require residents to submit to an FBI background check when they purchase a firearm; and would apply federal restrictions regarding, among other things, mental health issues, felony convictions, immigration status and age. My amendment upholds the court's ruling while allowing reasonable regulations consistent with the constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Those who seek to mischaracterize this amendment are only spreading fear.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/12/AR2009031202998.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Tangentially Related: President Barack Obama has the wind in his sails. After a decisive victory, he has launched the greatest expansion of federal government in American history. Republicans, still licking their wounds from November's election, have yet to form an effective political opposition. For now, that leaves the Constitution's structural limits on governmental power as the only potent brake on government further reshaping our society. Accordingly, Republicans should be the first to insist that these requirements be strictly observed. Unfortunately, a number of congressional Republicans already are abandoning constitutional fidelity by supporting the D.C. Voting Rights Act. The fact that the Act's objective could easily be secured in a constitutionally proper manner makes their support all the worse…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123698916207626225.html#mod=djemEditorialPage
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NPS to Ban Lead: The National Park Service has set a goal of eliminating lead from fishing and hunting gear by 2010. Acting Park Service director Dan Wenk announced the goal Wednesday in Washington. Fragments of lead bullets are suspected to contaminate scavenger birds, like ravens and eagles, and lead used as fishing weights could poison waterfowl and other species. New regulations would have an effect in Grand Teton National Park, where hundreds of hunters kill elk every fall during an annual elk reduction program. Yellowstone National Park already has restricted the use of lead for fishing weights and lures; the initiative could extend restrictions to Grand Teton…
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=4354
The National Park Service has announced its intention to ban traditional ammunition containing lead in all its parks. The move would needlessly push hunters to use more costly ammo like tungsten, copper, and steel. The restrictions, set to take affect by the end of 2010, were announced without regard to science or soliciting feedback from sportsmens' groups. "The NPS announcement demonstrates either complete ignorance or complete arrogance as to the effect that this policy will have on hunters," says Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. "There is no science to support NPS' contention that the use of lead ammunition in hunting is causing environmental contamination, having a negative effect on wildlife, or posing a threat to the health of visitors or park staff… (The military currently uses tungsten-based bullets. To my knowledge, there has not been a complete study of the potential toxicity of tungsten, a suspected carcinogen, in this role.)
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-nra-says-ban-on-lead-ammo-is-anti-hunting-move
---
Illinois CCW Not Likely This Year: Illinois gun owners are calling on lawmakers to let them carry concealed weapons, but those calls will likely go unanswered. "I think we have the right to defend ourselves," said David Nelson of McCleansboro. He was one hundreds of citizens who gathered outside the Statehouse for Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day Wednesday. The demonstrators wanted lawmakers, especially the ones from Chicago, to know they want their gun rights protected. "You want to make a law for Chicago, make a law for Chicago, but the rest of the state is not Chicago," said Mark Wilson of Carbondale… The bill is making it's way through the House, but a Senate bill failed in committee Tuesday…
http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=7023&type=top
---
More on Atlanta Airport Carry Ban: A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that licensed firearms owners may not carry guns into parts of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. GeorgiaCarry.org, a gun-rights group, and state Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica) challenged the airport's ban on guns. They contended a law enacted last year overrode a longstanding policy prohibiting visitors to the airport from carrying firearms in non-secure areas… In September, Senior U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob threw out the suit. Shoob said public transit systems are not the same as airports and airline passengers are not allowed to carry firearms onboard. On Thursday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Shoob and called arguments raised by GeorgiaCarry.org and Bearden "meritless." …
http://www.ajc.com/traffic/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/03/12/gun_ban_airport.html
---
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Heller Claim: A Florida man didn't get very far with his claim that a constitutional right to bear arms should apply to convicted felons. Carlton D. Brye, serving 22 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, appealed on grounds including last year's Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia vs. Heller, which overturned a ban on gun possession in the nation's capital. Brye, arrested in Clearwater, Fla., in 2007, said the ruling upheld Second Amendment rights of all Americans to "use arms for self-defense." The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument Friday. A three-judge panel noted the Supreme Court cautioned that its 2008 opinion should not "cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons."
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/948811.html
---
Logic in Britain: The horror of the school shooting in Winnenden will be followed by calls for Germany's already restrictive gun laws to be tightened. But the hope that this will work is misplaced. After the Erfurt school shooting in 2002, guns controls were supposedly strengthened and before that, in 1972, Germany introduced draconian gun laws to combat Baader-Meinhof terrorism. In the first three years after the legislation was passed, German military and police armouries "lost" 34 machine guns, 198 sub-machineguns, 363 automatic rifles and 1,142 pistols: with such firepower available from the organs of the State itself, the Federal Republic did not have enough terrorists to go round. As we in Britain now know, having seen the doubling of handgun crime within five years of our total ban on pistols, "gun control" is a perverse concept…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5897827.ece
---
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509167,00.html
---
The Tip of the Iceberg?: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the Obama administration would soon unveil a plan for dealing with rising violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, including more resources to stem the flow of dollars and guns to warring drug gangs… Ms. Napolitano said the plan would include more resources aimed at stopping U.S.-acquired firearms and cash earned from illicit drug sales flowing back across the border. Money and guns are fueling the escalating violence in Mexico that is spilling into U.S. communities, including in Arizona. Ms. Napolitano was the state's governor before joining the Obama cabinet… Ms. Napolitano indicated there would be more so-called outbound enforcement: checking people and vehicles leaving the U.S. to see if they are carrying contraband. She said those efforts wouldn't hamper the job of stopping illegal immigration into the U.S… (BATFE is not part of J No's DHS so no mention is made of potential efforts to place limits on gun shows and to increase harassment of licensed dealers in border states.)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123698458828525081.html
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/112002.php
---
He Never Met a Gun He Wouldn't Ban: Weak regulation of the U.S. civilian gun market and the gun industry's focus on increasingly lethal military-style firearms have combined to fuel the drug war in Mexico and violence in the United States, Violence Policy Center (VPC) Senior Policy Analyst Tom Diaz told a Congressional subcommittee today. For a copy of Diaz's testimony, please see http://www.vpc.org/diaztestify.pdf… Diaz pointed out that officials of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have stated that Mexican drug lords increasingly seek military-style weapons easily available on the U.S. civilian market. These include: the Barrett 50 caliber anti-armor sniper rifle capable of piercing armor plate from a mile and a half; semiautomatic
assault rifles, including variants of the Colt AR-15 and the Kalashnikov AK-47; and, the "vest-busting" anti-armor handgun the FN Herstal Five-seveN 5.7mm pistol, known as the "cop killer" in Mexico…
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=PRNI2&STORY=/www/story/03-12-2009/0004987594&EDATE=
---
Government Destroys Once-Fired Brass: …In the email below from the Defense Logistics Agency you will see that DLA has effectively ordered the immediate non-sale and destruction of all once-fired military brass… Why is this a problem? The RKBA is only as good as the ammunition supply for the firearms we own. The shelves of the Nation's sporting goods stores are essentially bare of ammunition. The entire ammunition market in the U.S. is highly stressed… Against this background of ammunition shortage, about the only ammunition that continues to be somewhat available is that from second tier manufacturers who are remanufacturing ammunition from once-fired military cartridge brass. As of yesterday, that supply came to an end because of the DLA administrative decision to destroy ("demil") all fired military brass…
http://www.jpfo.org/alerts03/alert20090313.htm
---
Ensign Defends DC RKBA Amendment: …Contrary to the impression left by some on these pages, my amendment will not turn the District into the Wild West of the East Coast. It would apply federal gun control law to the city. It would prohibit anyone from carrying any firearm in public without a permit; would require residents to submit to an FBI background check when they purchase a firearm; and would apply federal restrictions regarding, among other things, mental health issues, felony convictions, immigration status and age. My amendment upholds the court's ruling while allowing reasonable regulations consistent with the constitutional right guaranteed by the Second Amendment. Those who seek to mischaracterize this amendment are only spreading fear.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/12/AR2009031202998.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Tangentially Related: President Barack Obama has the wind in his sails. After a decisive victory, he has launched the greatest expansion of federal government in American history. Republicans, still licking their wounds from November's election, have yet to form an effective political opposition. For now, that leaves the Constitution's structural limits on governmental power as the only potent brake on government further reshaping our society. Accordingly, Republicans should be the first to insist that these requirements be strictly observed. Unfortunately, a number of congressional Republicans already are abandoning constitutional fidelity by supporting the D.C. Voting Rights Act. The fact that the Act's objective could easily be secured in a constitutionally proper manner makes their support all the worse…
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123698916207626225.html#mod=djemEditorialPage
---
NPS to Ban Lead: The National Park Service has set a goal of eliminating lead from fishing and hunting gear by 2010. Acting Park Service director Dan Wenk announced the goal Wednesday in Washington. Fragments of lead bullets are suspected to contaminate scavenger birds, like ravens and eagles, and lead used as fishing weights could poison waterfowl and other species. New regulations would have an effect in Grand Teton National Park, where hundreds of hunters kill elk every fall during an annual elk reduction program. Yellowstone National Park already has restricted the use of lead for fishing weights and lures; the initiative could extend restrictions to Grand Teton…
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=4354
The National Park Service has announced its intention to ban traditional ammunition containing lead in all its parks. The move would needlessly push hunters to use more costly ammo like tungsten, copper, and steel. The restrictions, set to take affect by the end of 2010, were announced without regard to science or soliciting feedback from sportsmens' groups. "The NPS announcement demonstrates either complete ignorance or complete arrogance as to the effect that this policy will have on hunters," says Chris W. Cox, NRA chief lobbyist. "There is no science to support NPS' contention that the use of lead ammunition in hunting is causing environmental contamination, having a negative effect on wildlife, or posing a threat to the health of visitors or park staff… (The military currently uses tungsten-based bullets. To my knowledge, there has not been a complete study of the potential toxicity of tungsten, a suspected carcinogen, in this role.)
http://www.opposingviews.com/articles/opinion-nra-says-ban-on-lead-ammo-is-anti-hunting-move
---
Illinois CCW Not Likely This Year: Illinois gun owners are calling on lawmakers to let them carry concealed weapons, but those calls will likely go unanswered. "I think we have the right to defend ourselves," said David Nelson of McCleansboro. He was one hundreds of citizens who gathered outside the Statehouse for Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day Wednesday. The demonstrators wanted lawmakers, especially the ones from Chicago, to know they want their gun rights protected. "You want to make a law for Chicago, make a law for Chicago, but the rest of the state is not Chicago," said Mark Wilson of Carbondale… The bill is making it's way through the House, but a Senate bill failed in committee Tuesday…
http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=7023&type=top
---
More on Atlanta Airport Carry Ban: A federal appeals court on Thursday ruled that licensed firearms owners may not carry guns into parts of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. GeorgiaCarry.org, a gun-rights group, and state Rep. Timothy Bearden (R-Villa Rica) challenged the airport's ban on guns. They contended a law enacted last year overrode a longstanding policy prohibiting visitors to the airport from carrying firearms in non-secure areas… In September, Senior U.S. District Judge Marvin Shoob threw out the suit. Shoob said public transit systems are not the same as airports and airline passengers are not allowed to carry firearms onboard. On Thursday, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Shoob and called arguments raised by GeorgiaCarry.org and Bearden "meritless." …
http://www.ajc.com/traffic/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2009/03/12/gun_ban_airport.html
---
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Heller Claim: A Florida man didn't get very far with his claim that a constitutional right to bear arms should apply to convicted felons. Carlton D. Brye, serving 22 years for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, appealed on grounds including last year's Supreme Court ruling in District of Columbia vs. Heller, which overturned a ban on gun possession in the nation's capital. Brye, arrested in Clearwater, Fla., in 2007, said the ruling upheld Second Amendment rights of all Americans to "use arms for self-defense." The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument Friday. A three-judge panel noted the Supreme Court cautioned that its 2008 opinion should not "cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons."
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/948811.html
---
Logic in Britain: The horror of the school shooting in Winnenden will be followed by calls for Germany's already restrictive gun laws to be tightened. But the hope that this will work is misplaced. After the Erfurt school shooting in 2002, guns controls were supposedly strengthened and before that, in 1972, Germany introduced draconian gun laws to combat Baader-Meinhof terrorism. In the first three years after the legislation was passed, German military and police armouries "lost" 34 machine guns, 198 sub-machineguns, 363 automatic rifles and 1,142 pistols: with such firepower available from the organs of the State itself, the Federal Republic did not have enough terrorists to go round. As we in Britain now know, having seen the doubling of handgun crime within five years of our total ban on pistols, "gun control" is a perverse concept…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5897827.ece
---
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